OPINION
4A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, APRIL 21, 2017
Founded in 1873
DAVID F. PERO, Publisher & Editor
LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor
BETTY SMITH, Advertising Manager
CARL EARL, Systems Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager
DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager
OUR VIEW
E
ach week we recognize those people and organizations
in the community deserving of public praise for the good
things they do to make the North Coast a better place to
live, and also those who should be called out for their actions.
SHOUTOUTS
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Summer traffic
s many know, summer traffic
in Astoria all the way through
Seaside is awful, and most hate
to drive on U.S. Highway 30 and
101. Although most who live in
Clatsop County would prefer to
stay off the roads, most have to
commute back and forth from and
to work. I speak for myself when I
say this, but making Highway 101
Business a main source of travel
going to Seaside and past, towards
Cannon Beach, would make traffic
less crazy.
ELLIE SMITH
Astoria
A
Damian Mulinix/EO Media Group
The Jane Barnes Revue — shown here in 2014 — pulled off another
successful fundraiser for the Astoria Downtown Historic District
Association this month.
• The organizers of the Jane Barnes Revue, an annual
fundraising event by the Astoria Downtown Historic District
Association which raised $18,000 earlier this month to con-
tinue downtown revitalization efforts. The event celebrates the
history of Jane Barnes and this year’s revue attracted an audi-
ence of about 200 people who were entertained by 13 men and
three women who donned “opposite” attire and danced down the
24-foot catwalk to music of their choosing.
• Jill Stokeld, who is heading into retirement at the end of the
month after owning and operating The Ship Inn in Astoria for 43
years. Stokeld, who founded the The Ship Inn with her husband,
Fenton, in 1974 had sold the restaurant last year to Bellingham,
Washington-based developer Mark Hollander but signed a one-
year lease to continue to operate the restaurant. The eatery had
been for sale since 2005, a year after her husband died. The inn
has been known for its English fare, and Stokeld says she will
miss operating it and interacting with customers, but is also
looking forward to volunteer activities that running a business
wouldn’t allow her time to participate in.
• Jessica Carr, who was named Elk of the Year by the
Seaside Elks Lodge 1748 last month. The award is the highest
honor a member can receive and recognizes the member’s ded-
ication to their lodge. Judy Newland was named Citizen of the
Year and Michael Heuvelhorst was named Officer of the Year
during the lodge’s annual installation of officers.
• Volunteers with the Keepers of North Head Lighthouse/
Friends of the Columbia River Gateway and those donat-
ing to efforts to restore the North Head Lighthouse in Ilwaco,
Washington, to how it looked when it was new in 1898. The
lighthouse was in poor shape from harsh weather and neglect
when it was acquired by Washington State Parks from the fed-
eral government in 2012, and major renovations have been tak-
ing place through public and private funding efforts.
• The Columbia Pacific Coordinated Care Organization,
which conducted its second annual opioid summit last Friday.
The summit brought together those in Clatsop, Columbia and
Tillamook counties involved in the opioid issue, from health care
and law enforcement to educators and the general public to dis-
cuss new ideas, learn and bring strategies back to better serve
their communities.
CALLOUTS
• Legislative leaders who continue to posture for creating
new taxes without addressing cost controls. While Oregon cur-
rently has a $1.6 billion deficit heading into the new biennium,
it is already going to set a record for new revenue flowing into
the state’s coffers with existing taxes. Huge cost drivers that
include health care and the Public Employees Retirement System
that have long-term impact have only been addressed superfi-
cially. Instead, a spate of bills were introduced trying to create
new taxes on everything from coffee to old cars to relieve the
short-term shortfall without addressing the long-term outlook.
Fortunately most of the goofy tax bills have already met their
demise, but others remain while some legislative leaders continue
to proclaim that without the new taxes there will be dire conse-
quences. Those bills should be shelved until the other side of the
ledger is addressed, not just for now, but for the future as well.
Suggestions?
Do you have a Shoutout or Callout you think we should know about? Let
us know at news@dailyastorian.com and we’ll make sure to take a look.
Don’t raise water bills
read with alarm the article that
included funding parks and
housing in the April 18 edition of
The Daily Astorian (“Astoria aims
to expand housing inventory”). I
would like the Astoria City Coun-
cil to take the water bill off of the
options to fund parks.
A dear friend of mine is liv-
ing on minimum social security,
which is $755 a month. That is
all that she has to live on, and she
gets by with the help of other ser-
vices that are offered to help with
food and medical. She has enough
for basic utilities, and although
she struggles in the winter, she is
able to heat her home.
My alarm is that to fund parks,
the concept of adding to the costs
of the water/sewage bill is dev-
astating to people like my friend.
Water is basic. Water/sewage is
approximately $130 every two
months. That is a lot on this kind
of income. Water is a neces-
sity, and she uses the minimum
as it is. Continued rate increases
means giving up something else,
like vitamins, or yet again turning
down the heat.
She takes advantage of, and
is grateful for, the $25 every six
months the city offers for those
in poverty, but it is not enough.
According to recent Census
Bureau statistics, 19.7 percent of
Astorians live below the poverty
rate. This is not just my friend’s
issue.
I love green space and the com-
munity aspects of parks and rec-
reation, but it is time for a sus-
tainability plan, and to quit just
reacting.
KATHLEEN PAINO
Astoria
I
Port staff hiding
udget Committee meetings are
a time for Port board members
and citizen members to publicly
review the practices and operation
of the Port in regard to their bud-
getary effects, and to recommend
fiscal changes as necessary. The
budget is then approved and pre-
sented to the Port Commission for
its approval.
Port Director Jim Knight
appears to interpret this duty as
simply presenting the Port’s bud-
get, and expecting the Port Budget
Committee to rubber stamp and
approve it with minimum input
and oversight.
I have served on local, county
and state budget committees over
the past 40 years, and I am trou-
bled at constraints Port staff has
put on the Port Budget Committee
that prevents it from doing its job.
Port staff has continually
refused to answer questions
about budget concerns that would
include: failing to be timely in
correcting nonpayment of rent
at the Riverwalk Inn and a ware-
B
house on Pier 2; Department of
Environmental Quality stormwa-
ter violation fines of $69,319, that
were not disclosed; loss of equip-
ment value abandoned by Port ten-
ants; and transferring Port interest
in buildings for less than their fair
market value.
The Port’s Budget Commit-
tee needs answers to these bud-
get concerns so it can properly
plan for the next year’s budget and
ensure financial accountability.
In my view, Commissioner Steve
Fulton has been asking these nec-
essary budget questions all along,
and the public benefits from his
insights.
Everyone should care, because
these budget concerns affect the
bottom line of the Port of Astoria,
its future and your property taxes.
RICHARD LEE
Port of Astoria
Budget Committee Chairman
Astoria
Thanks for open arms
hen moving from place to
place, nowhere has felt like
home until I moved to Astoria.
Oregon has been and will continue
to be my home.
When moving to this little
town, I knew nothing except that
it was going to be home. Every-
one here lives without sun, but
lives happily. Our sunshine comes
in liquid. At first, I had to make
adjustments from a fast-paced
city life to simple, small town life
— not an easy change, but very
necessary.
The people of our area have
made this transition easy for
me. School was easy — I loved
my counselor, other faculty and
friends at John Jacob Astor Ele-
mentary School. I have never been
so grateful for a place in my life.
The reason behind this letter
is to say thank you for your open
arms and community aid.
ANGELEEN SOMOZA
Astoria
W
Cross-train nurses
rovidence Seaside Hospital’s
CEO Kendall Sawa correctly
identified an important commu-
nity need at the recent Clatsop Eco-
nomic Development Resources
business awards; we need to attract
and retain more health care pro-
viders. “We continue to have chal-
lenges with recruiting providers to
our coast,” he said.
Sawa was talking about doc-
tors, but the same is true of nurses.
Nurses are the backbone of our
local hospitals. For example, Prov-
idence Seaside employs approxi-
mately 20 doctors and 85 registered
nurses.
When patients receive hospital
care, it usually comes from a nurse.
Because we rely heavily on nurses,
when the hospital doesn’t have
enough nurses in a specific depart-
ment — like labor and delivery or
intensive care — it turns patients
away; sending them on long,
expensive ambulance rides to Port-
land-area hospitals. This should
never happen.
We have the ability to care for
our patients here, and we should
welcome them with open arms. The
solution isn’t limited to recruiting
more health care providers. We can
provide the care our community
needs by cross-training nurses to
work in multiple departments.
Cross-training is standard prac-
tice in many rural hospitals. It
gives nurses the experience and
flexibility to meet changing patient
P
needs, and prevents community
members from being sent away
for health care. When one depart-
ment needs additional help, cross-
trained nurses working in a differ-
ent part of the hospital can move
there quickly to make sure patients
receive the care they need.
As an editorial in The Daily
Astorian said, we can’t afford com-
placency when it comes to our
health care system (“Proven lead-
ers position our hospitals for suc-
cess,” March 30).
Nurses at Providence Seaside
are eager to adopt local cross-train-
ing programs to help meet our
patients’ needs. We hope Provi-
dence Seaside Hospital’s admin-
istrators are willing to work with
nurses and embrace best practices,
like cross-training, to make sure all
our community members receive
the care they need, when and where
they need it.
MARY ROMANAGGI, RN
Seaside
Note: Romanaggi is an
emergency room nurse at
Providence Seaside Hospital, and
chairwoman of the Oregon Nurses
Association’s bargaining unit at
Providence Seaside.
Bond boondoggle
strongly object to the Astoria
Airport taxpayer-funded bond
measure that will appear on the
May 19 election ballot for the ben-
efit of the Life Flight emergency
medical evacuation company.
Life Flight has recently received
a grant from Connect Oregon to
enable them to fund building a
new hangar at the Astoria Airport.
Life flight has been a physi-
cal presence at the Astoria Air-
port since the spring of 2016, and
they appear to have no plans to
leave, regardless of where they
build their new hangar. Life Flight
is currently located in an area that
is close to the Coast Guard Air-
port operations property. There is
more than ample space at the loca-
tion now occupied by them if they
remove their existing building,
and put their new hangar in that
space. There are also other nontax
payer financed options nearby.
The bond measure has been
requested so that a new road
along with new larger water sup-
ply lines and other infrastruc-
ture improvements will be built
to support the location where Life
Flight would like to build a new
aircraft hangar.
These improvements, that will
be funded by the upcoming bond
measure, will locate the new han-
gar in a place that just happens
to be the next building over from
where two of the three Port com-
missioners — who voted for this
taxpayer-funded bond measure —
store their own private aircraft. It
appears to me that these two com-
missioners are very lucky peo-
ple to have this taxpayer-funded
improvement located so close to
the hangar where their privately
owned aircraft are stored.
I see no benefit for the Clat-
sop County taxpayer in paying
an estimated $0.1227 per $1,000
value of their property (approx
$25 per year for 3 years if your
property is assessed at $200,000)
to fund a request that has no real
value to the general voter, but has
real value to Life Flight and to
well-connected people with per-
sonal aircraft stored very nearby.
I see this bond issue as a boon-
doggle. Please vote no.
SCOTT WIDDICOMBE
Warrenton
I