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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (March 1, 2017)
7A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1, 2017 Project: ‘People consider domestic violence dirty laundry’ Continued from Page 1A “I was viewing the media and what they had to show of Donald Trump, and it kind of got me thinking about wom- en’s rights, especially the way he was talking about women and to women,” she said. “So I decided to take the women’s studies class just to kind of educate myself a little better. Before that, I wouldn’t have considered myself a femi- nist. I was just kind of going through the motions, and not really paying attention to the kind of oppression women face.” Logan said she comes from a family with a his- tory of addiction and domes- tic abuse, and of not talking about women’s issues. “In my life, that was the norm, to see women being treated poorly.” Logan said Stokes’ classes started making her think about all the challenges and inequal- ities women have faced, from the wage gap and other dis- crimination to domestic vio- lence. Since then, Logan said, she’s in a lot more debates, voted for the first time and took part in the women’s March in Astoria last month. Still, she said, changing peo- ple’s minds is not easy. “Usually when I approach people about politics, they’re way more willing to banter about it and have a civil argu- ment,” she said. “But when it comes to women’s studies, it’s Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian Katie Leedy, a student at Clatsop Community College, hangs T-shirts for the Clothesline Project to raise awareness about violence against women. like, ‘Shut up; that’s not real.’ And I feel like that’s the reac- tion I get with 75 percent of the people I bring it up to.” Airing dirty laundry In 1990, the Men’s Rape Prevention Project released a statistic showing that while 58,000 American solders had died in Vietnam, 51,000 women had been killed by partners during the same time frame. The statistic galva- nized a coalition of women’s groups in Cape Cod, Mas- sachusetts, to start an educa- tional and prevention cam- paign — using the symbolism of laundry, commonly seen as women’s work — to address violence against women. Stokes, who has taught at the college and organized the local Clothesline Project since 2010, said people often don’t understand the continu- ing prevalence of domestic violence. More than one-third of all women and one-quarter of all men have experienced rape, physical violence or stalking by an intimate part- ner, according to the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “People consider domes- tic violence dirty laundry,” Stokes said. “No one wants to air their dirty laundry, and yet it’s happening everywhere.” Stokes said the Clothes- line Project provides an easy form of grassroots activism through which people can be artistic and express pro- Clatsop Community College Community members and students from Clatsop Communi- ty College’s women’s studies class spent a night last month painting T-shirts for the Clothesline Project, which is on dis- play in the third-floor lobby of Towler Hall through March 22. found feelings. The shirts for the project were provided by The Harbor, the region’s non- profit advocacy group for vic- tims of domestic and sexual violence. The group provides a 24-hour crisis hotline at 503-325-5735. Warrenton: ‘We’re dealing with how you grow a district’ Continued from Page 1A over the past decade, topping 1,000 students for the first time this school year. Part of the challenge is space. Warrenton Grade and High schools are both hemmed in by wetlands, which require mitigation elsewhere to fill and build on. The grade school, which is the sixth-most-pop- ulous K-8 school in the state, is also hemmed in by houses on two sides. Any new con- struction will also require more landscaping and parking spaces. “One of the concepts was maybe building behind the back of the high school in the wetlands,” Rankin said. “That’s a money pit, too, and it’s a time-consuming thing.” Growing up and afield With a reduced potential bond and a lack of space, the school district has talked about focusing any bond on one property. One idea is adding a second story at the high school to move middle school grades and ease crowding at the ele- mentary school. “It alleviates the prob- lem here and lets us focus on a single” property, Jeffery said. “And then what kind of space would be sufficient for a (grades) 7-12 high school?” Another option raised has been to move either John Mat- tila Field at the high school or the track at the grade school somewhere else, opening the fields up to development. “Why don’t you buy the city park?” asked Rankin. “They never use it anyway.” Jeffery said one concept has been to swing a deal with the city to provide mainte- nance for the park and build a football stadium there. Rankin said the district could take its baseball programs to the city park. The district also owns sev- eral acres in Hammond from the demolished Fort Ste- vens Junior High School. The property has little value now, but the school board has dis- cussed having it rezoned and subdivided into housing lots. But Rankin said the upfront costs of building infrastructure and utilities for a subdivision would be huge, with no return on the investment for years. A good problem Jeffery said that since becoming an administrator in 2001, he’s overseen budget cuts up until his last few years at Warrenton. “This is a really fun prob- lem to have,” he said. “We’re dealing with how you grow a district.” Jeffery said that next month, he will bring in a com- pany that builds schools to further educate the district on what it could do with a $20 million to $30 million bond, or what it will need to satisfy the demands of a growing district. Bill: Memorial set for Saturday Continued from Page 1A Leather, said. “He would walk all over town. I was just one of the many places he’d stop by. I knew him for years. Every day he would come in and say ‘hello’ for 10 or 15 minutes, then he’d go on to the next guy.” The attack Thomas, a Seaside High School graduate, joined the military at 17. The attack that killed almost 2,400 people and launched the U.S. into war took place two months after Thomas’ 20th birthday. “As a very young sailor in the United States Navy, Bill had a front-row seat to history,” Capt. Bruce Jones, former Coast Guard Sector Columbia River commander said at the 2015 Pearl Harbor ceremony in Seaside. “But he was much more than a specta- tor. He fought back, returning to his ship, the USS Medusa, as the attacking Japanese air- craft swarmed overhead. And he manned aircraft guns alongside his shipmates, and in the midst of great chaos and devastation. “He often told the story of looking up during the attack and seeing one of the Jap- anese pilots looking down with a sheepish grin on his face while showing his gold tooth,” Vandenberg said. “He told me he will never forget the look on his face and how it later made him sick to his stomach as he recalled that fatal day.” “If you had a baseball or a stone you could have thrown it and hit a plane,” Thomas told the Seaside Signal in 2011. “They were that close.” Thomas was severely wounded in action later in the war while serving aboard the USS Phelps, a ship that fought at the Battle of Mid- way and protected forces at Guadalcanal. The Daily Astorian/File Photo Pearl Harbor survivor Bill Thomas, right, tossed the wreath into the Necanicum River during the Pearl Harbor Day of Remembrance ceremony in 2015. At left is Clatsop County Veterans Service Officer Luke Thomas. Thomas was sent to Ala- meda, California, for conva- lescence, Beal said, and lived and worked in San Francisco for many years. After travels on a dredge to Alaska and Vietnam as a civilian member of the Army Corps of Engineers, Thomas returned to the Northwest in a maintenance capacity for schools in Portland. In remembrance In the 1970s, Thomas moved to Seaside where he rallied for veterans and pro- posed a Pearl Harbor memo- rial on the First Avenue Bridge, Beal said. Thomas was “the impetus” for Seaside’s Pearl Harbor remembrance, former Mayor Don Larson said in 2015. The annual event brings the community together to reflect on the attack that left a lasting impression on the country’s collective memory. “The remembrance cer- emony for him was one of the most incredibly poi- gnant points of connectivity between current times and the dark days of World War II,” Johnson said. “Bill wanted to make sure the Pearl Harbor remem- brance ceremony would con- tinue long after he was gone so that the youth and cit- izens of our community would never forget the brave men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country,” Vandenberg said. Thomas was “very involved” in the planning and scheduling of speakers during the annual ceremony, Van- denberg added. “He knew more about naval history than most peo- ple forget,” Beal said. “He had limited education, but he was self-educated. He was an amazing guy in a lot of ways.” Due to ill-health, Thomas was unable to attend Sea- side’s 2016 ceremony, but he was honored in a written statement from Johnson. “Bill was only 20 when the world turned upside down,” Johnson wrote. “He was tested in ways many of us never are. These young men and women understand that war is not a video game … It’s a pleasure and honor to say thank you to Bill Thomas.” A memorial for Thomas takes place Saturday at 1 p.m., American Legion Post 99, 1315 Broadway, Seaside. Be in the know A colonoscopy may be your best option for cancer screening and prevention. Talk to your doctor and learn more about your options online at www.columbiamemorial.org. 3 Facts for Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month 1. Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in the U.S. Finding it now could save your life. 2. Everyone over the age of 50 should be screened. Ask your doctor if you should be screened sooner. 3. There are several colorectal cancer screening tests, includ- ing affordable, simple, at-home screening options. Call 503-338-4075 now to make an appointment. 2111 Exchange St., Astoria, Oregon • 503-325-4321 www.columbiamemorial.org • A Planetree-Designated Hospital