THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, MARCH 17, 2017
FRIDAY EXCHANGE
Unscrupulous SEIU
oday’s labor laws offer
enough protection so that
in most situations there is lit-
tle need for the unscrupu-
lous unions, such as the Ser-
vice Employees International
Union (SEIU), which was
established in the late 1970s
by bringing Morton Shap-
iro out here from Chicago to
bring about a vote of the state
workers.
Shapiro was convicted
on mail fraud for his corrupt
activities during that 1979 ref-
erendum, but to my knowl-
edge, the election results
were never contested (http://
bit.ly/2mFYgPa). This cor-
rupt election brought about
the need for all state employ-
ees to join the union or pay the
so-called “Fair Share,” which
allowed them to claim a refund
of any of that money that was
used for political purposes.
Becoming a Fair Share
member was not enough to
obtain the refund of those
political funds. They must
also file a request during a
15-day period during the year.
This period varied for each
employee, making it very diffi-
cult for them to get their prom-
ised refunds.
So here, again, SEIU is ful-
filling their unscrupulous ways
to use those unreturned funds
to elect and control the Dem-
ocratic candidates. However,
there is now some good help
for these Fair Share employ-
ees from the Freedom Founda-
tion (www.freedomfoundation.
com). Check it out.
JIM ELVIN
Salem
T
Tragic proposal
he proposed sale of the
Elliott State Forest is a
tragedy in the making. Pub-
lic lands are to be held in the
public trust. They are islands
of biodiversity. If this sale pro-
ceeds, the decision to privatize
surely will be felt in the way
in which the Oregon Depart-
ment of Forestry manages our
remaining public forests.
It is difficult to ignore what
the sale of the Elliott might
mean for harvest levels in the
Clatsop State Forest or the Til-
lamook State Forest, if we
expect to maintain current lev-
els of revenue dedicated to
the Common School Fund.
On a related subject, the Linn
County lawsuit to intensify
harvest levels in our state for-
ests is proof that for the profit
seekers, more can never be
enough.
The phrase “sustainable
timber harvest” ought to be
stricken from the lexicon
whenever or wherever har-
vest levels are debated. The
expression is so time-worn it
has lost all meaning. We may
have sustainable harvests, or
we may have sustainable tim-
ber, but in the whole, the two
ideals are a contradiction and a
misconception.
The photo on the front page
March 7 of Astoria District
Forester Dan Goody and the
first growth Douglas fir stump
illustrates perfectly how far we
have come in the past 75 years
(“Forestry to reassess some
fire fees,” The Daily Asto-
rian). The stump itself stands
as a monument to the folly we
know as sustainable timber
harvests.
We cannot continue to cut
trees faster than they grow,
particularly the trees we have
stocking public lands. The
very idea that the Elliot State
Forest could be privatized con-
firms that the relatively mod-
est and conservative steward-
ship practiced by the Oregon
Department of Forestry can be
seen as a value-added and sus-
tainable manner of forestry.
GARY DURHEIM
Cannon Beach
T
Great compassion
he world is a better place
because of young people
like Hayden Spratt (“Free the
zoo animals” The Daily Asto-
rian, Feb. 24). Her compassion
for animals, and direct action
by writing a letter to the edi-
tor, is crucial for the present
and future generations. I also
agree that zoos are no fun for
the animals. Confined to small
spaces, in comparison to what
their natural habitat would be,
is unacceptable.
Portland’s most famous ele-
phant, Packy, was euthanized
on Feb. 10, a decision made
due to a chronic case of tuber-
culosis. Tuberculosis is com-
T
Judgmental and insulting
noted the editorial comments made
by the Skipanon Water Control Dis-
trict Board of Directors in both The
Daily Astorian (“Dam is obsolete and
potentially dangerous”) and Columbia
Press newspapers on March 10.
I found the commentary to be judg-
mental and insulting with its intent
to make the mayor of Warrenton and
the city commissioners appear to
be abusing the citizens of Warren-
ton by attempting to protect the inter-
ests of the city from the consequences
of decisions made by people who
would not be directly affected by these
decisions.
The Eighth Street Dam sits inside
the Warrenton city limits, and was
I
mon to pachyderms in cap-
tivity. A caring group called
FreeOregonZooElephants.org
has been trying for years to
have Packy released to a sanc-
tuary, where he could have
lived out the rest of his life as
an elephant and not an exhibit.
Sadly enough, this request for
his freedom was declined.
Thank you, Hayden, for
speaking out for the unaccept-
able conditions and exploita-
tion of zoo animals.
STACEY McKENNEY
Astoria
Tourist destination?
couple years ago, the city
fathers in Warrenton were
all up in arms because some
businessman wanted to open a
liquor store at the entrance to
town. “It’ll make Warrenton
look bad,” they cried. “People
coming into town will think
we’re all a bunch of drunks.”
As it happens, I doubt it hurt
Warrenton in the long run.
Astoria, of course, is much
too sophisticated to worry
about such things. For over 50
years, I’ve been hearing how
Astoria is going to be a tourist
destination someday. If only
we could come up with a rea-
son for people to come here
and, of course, spend their
money.
We run off any big busi-
ness that wants to come to the
area. We hate the sea lions —
although the fake killer whale
was entertaining. We have the
beach … no, that’s in Warren-
ton. We have the fishing …
no, that’s Warrenton, too. Fort
Stevens, the Peter Iredale …
nope, Warrenton again.
Wait … we do have some-
thing we’re getting famous for.
We have the panhandlers and
the potheads. We should have
a whole advertising program
just to promote this new situ-
ation. Maybe a slogan, “Wel-
come to Astoria, where you
can get harassed and high as
you go by!”
Let’s face it folks, as long
as this is the direction the city
wants to go, Astoria is never
going to be anything more
than the place you go through,
on your way somewhere else.
DAVE BERGQUIST
Gearhart
A
Where’s Jaime?
any Long Beach, Wash-
ington, Peninsula res-
idents (voters) wish that our
fourth-term U.S. representa-
tive, Jaime Herrera Beutler,
would appear in person to field
questions and address our con-
cerns at a town hall. Beutler
seems to prefer telephone town
halls — sometimes quickly
announced and conducted —
community coffee meetings or
sending surrogates to commu-
nities in her district. That’s not
sufficient.
Her predecessor, Brian
Baird, conducted over 300
town hall meetings during his
12-year tenure. Many were
held in Long Beach, where
residents (voters) were free
to ask tough questions, and
Baird agreed or disagreed
with their viewpoints. It was
truly democracy in action.
Rep. Beutler, however, hasn’t
shown up here, except for
fundraisers, meetings with
local Republicans or gath-
erings of specific targeted
groups.
In a recent letter to us,
Beutler claimed that “I value
your feedback and opinion. …
It’s important that you get the
chance to talk directly (empha-
sis ours) to your member of
Congress …”
M
built as part of the levee system that
protects the city of Warrenton during
“worst case” flooding in winter
months.
The city of Warrenton has no con-
trol when the Bonneville Dam is
forced to release larger than normal
amounts of water during periods of
very heavy rain upriver from Warren-
ton. These river flow increases, com-
bined with unusually high tides, sus-
tained winter rain and high winds in
the Warrenton area, have happened in
the past.
One needs to believe that the U.S.
Department of Agriculture were com-
plete fools for funding and building
this dam if they did not see a future
We’re providing an oppor-
tunity for her to live up to
her claims. We will establish
a venue for her appearance,
locate nonpartisan individu-
als to moderate and handle all
other logistical matters some-
time during her forthcom-
ing April 10-21 Congressio-
nal recess.
While Beutler may have
made personal town-hall
appearances in counties such
as Clark, Cowlitz, Klickitat,
Lewis, Skamania, Wahkia-
kum and Thurston counties,
she seems to have forgotten
Pacific County, with its 20,000
residents, many of us elderly
voters.
Pacific County constitu-
ents — Republicans, Demo-
crats, Independents and oth-
ers who agree with the need
for a Beutler personal appear-
ance — can call her Washing-
ton or Vancouver offices, send
a letter or postcard, email her
or show up at her doorstep to
express their concerns. Try
1107 Longworth HOB, Wash-
ington, D.C. 20515, 202-225-
3536; or in care of Gen. O. O.
Howard House, 750 Ander-
son St., Suite B, Vancouver,
WA 98661, 360-695-6292; or
http://herrerabeutler.house.
gov; or http://herrerabeutler.
house.gov/contact; or WA03.
HerreraBeutler@mail.house.
gov
U.S. representatives pay
most attention to phone calls
and postcards, less to emails
and petitions.
This event will be spon-
sored by DoGoodnics, a pen-
insula nonprofit agency.
ROBERT BRAKE
Ocean Park, Washington
potential flooding problem in the loca-
tion of the dam.
No one knows for sure if there will
be an unacceptable risk of upstream
flooding either in Warrenton itself,
or farther to the south of the Eighth
Street Dam.
For the SWCD to assume that there
will be very little to no risk of substan-
tial economic damage done to levees
or property south of the dam loca-
tion, if the dam is fully removed, is not
realistic. The SWCD goal is to pro-
vide unobstructed access to fish migra-
tion, which is political arrogance, in
my opinion.
SCOTT WIDDICOMBE
Warrenton
the big mountains rising above
Wallowa Lake and imagined
the “Valkyries of Norse and
German mythology” carrying
the fallen heroes, perhaps he
had Chief Joseph and his war-
riors in mind.
I know that when I was
there, and meditated on those
same mountains, my thoughts
were always with Chief
Joseph. It was there that he
did his vision quest as a young
man and received the native
name, Thunder Rolling on the
Mountain. Chief Joseph was a
giant among men who along
with his people will be remem-
bered long after all of the pub-
lishers, developers and media
groups are forgotten.
ROGER DORBAND
Astoria
Try thinking
ast week, I read in a local
newspaper about the con-
cern citizens are showing for
our big budget deficits. I, too,
am very concerned. But, I
would like to point out to citi-
zens that last year, ballot Mea-
sure 97, which would have
brought $3 billion in new rev-
enue to Oregon every year, did
not pass. How did you guys
miss this?
Wouldn’t it be great if
it had passed? Money for
important programs. Wells
Fargo, recently in trouble for
L
massive fraud against its cus-
tomers, and Comcast, were
among giant corporations that
paid out over $27 million to
defeat this bill.
Obviously, these corpora-
tions care about you, to put out
so much money. The bill was
defeated because you, dear
voter, did not want to put in a
2.5 percent tax on gross profits
over $25 million. Instead, you
choose to go without, or pay
more taxes yourself.
What happened to think-
ing? Oh — advertising take
the place of thinking, and who
has lots of money to adver-
tise? Corporations that pay
little or no taxes. Lots of
big shiny (expensive) cards
arrived in the mail, sometimes
two a week, telling you to vote
against this bill, and you did.
Really. Next time try thinking
to make a decision, it would
benefit your community.
DIXIE GAINER
Nehalem
Focus on health care
e seem to be talking
health care again, since
if you don’t deal correctly with
a problem, it keeps on being
there every time you look. So,
I get to say again that what
we need is a health care pro-
gram, not a health insurance
program. The insurance com-
panies are the meat and pota-
W
5A
toes of the problem. They
float atop the health care pond
like bloated frogs sucking up
huge profits, while contribut-
ing nothing but blabber and
misdirection.
Basically, we bet that we’re
going to get sick, hurt and
old; and they bet that we’re
not; and we both bet with our
money. It’s the slickest orga-
nized crime scene in his-
tory. How long until we real-
ize that the rest of the world
doesn’t do it this way, and it
works just fine for them? Let’s
pay for health care, not health
insurance.
JOSEPH WEBB
Astoria
New care act
o, as of March 13, the Con-
gressional Budget Office
(CBO) has provided us with its
initial analyses of the Repub-
licans’ new and improved
health care plan, the American
Health Care Act or, AHCA.
How about we call it the Con-
servative American Care Act
or, CACA.
BOB POTTER
Astoria
S
Inviting trouble?
his is a wonderful town,
and destination spot, that
is groaning over bad behav-
ior toward police, guests
and those who live in Asto-
ria (“Aggressive panhandling
sullies downtown core,” The
Daily Astorian, March 7).
Is it any wonder, with what
we are inviting here? To start
with, on the east end of town
the “lady” figure starts our
welcome. Questionable to
some, or most?
Then the drive through
town: How many shops of
alternative health and recre-
ation can a town need? It must
be for the visitors, and some
of the risky life choices we’re
mirroring come party here.
Finally, there are so many
breweries that bring life prob-
lems. Not intentional ones, but
discourse. Not to mention the
illegal availability of drugs and
meth.
What can we expect?
Maybe we should be a city on
our knees.
CAROLYN OLSON
Astoria
T
Chief Joseph
he recent article about
Wallowa County by The
Daily Astorian’s retired edi-
tor, Steve Forester, caught my
eye (“Wallowa County offers
a rich cultural experience,”
March 10). In 1978, I taught
for three months in an artist in
residency program in Enter-
prise. I was very excited to be
there at the foot of the Wal-
lowa Mountains because as a
young man I was taken by the
story of Chief Joseph and the
Wallowa Nez Perce.
Central to that story was
the chief, who was known
for his compassion as well as
his bravery. He was consid-
ered the ultimate warrior by
his adversaries who marveled
at his military strategy. The
long retreat he led attempt-
ing to move his people to Can-
ada and save them from over-
whelming forces stands as the
work of a military genius.
In surrender, when his peo-
ple could no longer continue in
the face of starvation and the
harsh elements, he gave one of
the most moving speeches in
American history, concluding
with the words, “From where
the sun now stands, I will fight
no more forever.”
While I don’t expect oth-
ers to share my veneration
of Chief Joseph, I am ada-
mant that he and his people
and their plight, as well as that
of all Native Americans, not
be forgotten or downplayed.
Joseph and his people sancti-
fied the Wallowa land by liv-
ing in harmony with it, some-
thing the white man has never
accomplished.
Consequently, I was dis-
appointed that the Nez Perce
received no reference in For-
rester’s article amid his hear-
alding of new development
and the success of his EO
Media Group. In fairness,
when Forrester meditated on
T
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