FRIDAY EXCHANGE
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, APRIL 21, 2017
Campbell is role model
I
t has been my pleasure to know
Mr. Jim Campbell socially and
professionally for nearly 30 years.
He has always been a devoted hus-
band, professional man and pub-
lic servant. In his business, he has
excelled in marine construction,
while demonstrating a unique stew-
ardship of the environment. In his
recreational life, he has been diverse
and complex. From boating to
motorcycling, or flying to using his
motor home, he still is more active
than most people that I know.
All these things, while leading
the community in pursuit of excel-
lence with the Port of Astoria, which
is now in a much better posture than
just four years ago. His calm, steady
stance on the board of commission-
ers has benefited all those under
the veil of the Port of Astoria. His
demeanor during meetings, dealing
with fellow commissioners and relat-
ing to Port staff has been a model to
emulate.
Additionally, supportive of the
bond measure to improve the airport
to make a permanent home for Life
Flight North West, he is positioning
the Port of Astoria for future positive
growth. To preserve him in his place
as a commissioner for the Port of
Astoria is, by far, the best move.
PHILIP BALES
Astoria
Patrol Brownsmead roads
T
he Brownsmead area should be
patrolled more frequently, and
more road signs should be put up to
direct vehicles properly. Over the
years, I have witnessed people drive
as fast as they can on the longest
straight stretch in that area, because
there is no speed limit sign.
I have witnessed a couple of teen-
agers driving fast down the straight
stretch, knowing police officers do
not patrol that area very often. When
a herd of elk ran into the middle of
the road, they tried to slam on their
brakes but couldn’t stop in time,
because of the speed they were trav-
eling. They hit the elk and totaled
their truck.
Incidents like this cause harm
to people and our wildlife. Add-
ing more patrol officers in the area,
and more road signs, so everyone
will drive safely, will make Brown-
smead a safer area for its people and
its wildlife.
ANDREW BRYANT
Astoria
Spence has leadership
T
he Port of Astoria needs leader-
ship. We believe Frank Spence
will provide both the leadership
and the know-how to start the Port
on a course toward harmony and
accountability
For too long, the most notewor-
thy accomplishment of the present
Port Commission is to advertise its
ineptitude through the pages of this
newspaper and elsewhere. The time
has come for the Port Commission to
dedicate itself to making the Port into
the economic engine that it should
be, rather than the laughingstock it
has become.
Frank Spence brings to us a wide
experience, gained over decades of
leadership in varied civic enterprises.
He knows how things are supposed
to work, and he is just the person we
need to set the Port on a course of
efficiency and accountability.
Join us in making the Port Com-
mission into an organization we can
be proud of, and one that is a credit
to itself. Vote Frank Spence for Port
Commissioner
PHYLLIS COOK
JACK GUYOT
Astoria
Keep Fulton at Port
I
am writing in support of Port
Commissioner Stephen Fulton.
We need his attention to detail and
transparency on the Port Commis-
sion. Obviously, management is not
pleased with the questions and chal-
lenges that have been asked, and
isn’t that what we need?
This is our Port, and I am not con-
vinced that it is being managed with
intelligence or attention. Why is the
stormwater runoff project over bud-
get? Weather? Why were the com-
missioners not informed of the fines
being assessed?
Has Dr. Philip Bales been
approached about moving his han-
gar in deference to the Life Flight?
Has anyone asked him if he’d con-
sider a move, or is it just easier to put
out a bond measure so that we can
pay more in taxes? I support the Life
Flight program, but I’m not sure the
Port has considered all the options
with serious intent.
There have been improper actions
by the Port’s executive director, Jim
Knight, in withholding information.
Why not share information with the
commissioners? What is behind this?
There are so many questions with the
behavior of the Port management. Is
it any wonder that the commission-
Mental health care needed
C
latsop County is expanding
its hospitals, but it is lacking
in mental health care institutions.
Columbia Memorial Hospital and
Providence Seaside Hospital are
not certified to provide involun-
tary care, custody or treatment
ers are upset?
Please keep Fulton on the com-
mission. We need his dogged pursuit
for the truth.
LAURIE DRAGE
Astoria
Fulton is the choice
I
f you attended meetings of the
Port Commission, this is what you
would see: One commissioner obvi-
ously has read the materials pro-
vided by staff, researched the issues
highlighted by those materials, and
composed questions that need to be
answered. That commissioner is Ste-
phen Fulton.
Commissioner Fulton is consis-
tently the best prepared commis-
sioner, and the one with the most
pertinent questions and thoughtful
suggestions. Think of him as “the
proper oversight” commissioner,
because that is what Commissioner
Fulton provides — good oversight of
an organization that historically cuts
corners and acts before it thinks.
Some on the commission have
adopted a position of “let’s just leave
everything to staff.” They are ill pre-
pared for commission meetings, and
have little to offer as the discussions
proceed. The “leave
everything to staff” position is
inconsistent with Oregon law, and
the commission’s own bylaws. It is
the very position that got the com-
mission into such deep trouble with
previous executive directors.
We are fortunate to have Stephen
Fulton on the Port Commission. He
has earned our support in the upcom-
ing election.
DON DYER
Rosburg, Washington
Drop standardized tests
urrently I have taken five stan-
dardized tests during my first
three years of high school. I strongly
disagree with standardized testing.
As of 2015, we rank 13th in read-
ing (South Korea was first), 24th in
math (South Korea was first), and
17th in science (Finland was first).
We should follow Finland’s,
and other countries’ footsteps, and
change our education system so it
doesn’t rely so much on standard-
ized testing, which only focuses on
one particular day. It does not take
in to account any external factors,
such as family problems, not get-
ting any sleep or not getting proper
nutrition. It also causes stress within
teens.
Schools teach the individual and
help every student have the proper
tools that they need to succeed. But
standardized testing teaches uni-
formity, where every student is
given the same test, and is expected
to succeed, so its one size fits all.
That’s not how it should work.
Standardized testing also causes
teachers to teach for the test, which
leaves out many other important
things in the classroom, such as cre-
ativity and the joy of learning. I
honestly believe that if we want to
make bigger strides in our educa-
tion, we need to rely less on stan-
dardized testing in our country.
BRAEDON ELTAGONDE
Astoria
C
Privacy at school
I
would like to address the problem
some students face with privacy
issues at my school. I am a student
at Knappa High School, and I can
see where some people are coming
from. In our school, there is only
one bathroom stall that has a door in
the men’s bathroom, and this door
hardly locks.
I also feel like they need to put
up curtains in the shower stalls. Not
everyone feels comfortable with
being nude in front of people.
At our school, we need function-
ing doors, and people should be able
to answer nature’s call in privacy.
JACOB FRESH
Astoria
School safety
T
he tragic school shooting
recently in San Bernardino,
California, has caused concern at
schools across the nation. This dev-
astating event should remind all
school administrations that the
safety of students should be the No.
1 priority.
School lock-down procedures
should be practiced often, and stu-
for the mentally ill. Patients are
then forced to be sent to psychi-
atric hospitals elsewhere in the
state.
Because of the lack of other
resources, law enforcement are
the ones responding. More care
dents should be well educated on
how to perform lock-down pro-
cedures anywhere within the
school. Not only should students
be informed of these policies, but
school staff should be experts on the
safety material.
Security systems, including cam-
eras, school entrances, quick access
to authorities and door and win-
dow locking mechanisms should
be maintained and updated to keep
students and staff safe inside and
people with malicious intentions
outside.
EMILEE OLSON
Astoria
More lunch choices
S
tudents should have a little more
choice on what they choose for
lunch at school. If you don’t bring
a lunch to school, and you have a
hot lunch every day, there should be
more choices to fill the stomachs of
the high schoolers (a taco truck, in
my dreams).
If students had more of a choice
for food, there probably wouldn’t
be as much food wasted. The school
would be saving food, in a way —
instead of a student not liking the
food and throwing it away, they
could just choose to get something
they like. This would help both the
students and the school.
ANDREW GOOZEE
Astoria
Careless bus drivers
I
spent some time, a few years
back, in South Florida. I used to
be concerned about the folks there
who came from other countries
(island countries in particular) driv-
ing automobiles, and the fact that
they did not speak English, read
English and perhaps did not truly
understand our traffic laws, or have
a good grasp on what the road signs
meant.
I learned to drive defensively
to the extreme, and it no longer
seemed so bad; but what is up with
the local school bus drivers? I have
no idea how these individuals are
trained, or even if they are trained,
but I know that they scare me worse
than any Third World driver that I
ever encountered.
In the last month, I have been
nearly hit by school buses at least
three times. One driver had his or
her bus (I was too busy avoiding the
wreck to look up and see gender) so
far over the center line when round-
ing a corner, that I had to practically
mount the curb on the right side and
come to a complete stop to keep
from being side-swiped.
Between driving like that, and
blocking entire roads, pulling out
from stop signs with no gap in traf-
fic, and failing to have any consid-
eration for other drivers, I begin to
wonder if any care is taken to test or
check the drivers who are responsi-
ble for carrying our children to and
from school safely.
I am sure that I have encoun-
tered only a rare few, and that most
school bus drivers are competent
and courteous. I think that even one
such driver, entrusted with the wel-
fare of our youth, is one too many?
As in so many other cases; that is
what I think, I could be wrong.
DAVID GRAVES
Astoria
Exemplary journalism
veryone I know was horrified
by the scenes of the gentleman
being dragged down the aisle of the
United Airlines plane. And yet, we
didn’t even know that the man’s
wife was sitting right next to him
and witnessed the brutality close-up.
I was dismayed when NBC’s
evening news anchor, Lester Holt,
a day after the incident, added that
the Kentucky physician had lost his
medical license on account of ille-
gal drug activities several years ago.
What in hell does the former have to
do with the latter? Does Holt imply
that Dr. Dao had it coming?
And wouldn’t you know it, The
Daily Astorian, printed the same
mindless AP rot, saying that the
“doctor was convicted more than
a decade ago of felony charges
involving his prescribing of drugs“
(“United to compensate people on
flight when man dragged off,” April
12).
Should I ever be abused by the law,
I want to let The Daily Astorian
E
and mental institutions in Clatsop
County would not only provide
care and help for the mentally ill,
but it would help with safety in
the county.
KAITLYN LANDWEHR
Astoria
know in advance that I spent a night
in jail in June of 1952 in East Ger-
many for getting too close to the
Iron Curtain.
ERHARD GROSS
Astoria
Keep board members
A
s a citizen who hadn’t paid a lot
of attention to our current care
center, I have read the board min-
utes and proposal for the new man-
agement company. Since the CEO,
who has done an excellent job wear-
ing two hats as CEO and man-
ager, has given her notice to resign,
it seemed logical to look at other
options for managing the future of
the district health programs.
The current Clatsop Care
Health District Board has done due
diligence determining what is best
for the community. A management
company, that has been vetted
carefully, seems the right choice to
make. Because of the complicated
work this current board has done, it
seems proper to keep them in their
positions at least until the next terms
of service and after the two-year
management agreement has been
tested.
They have the insight as to what
decisions make the most sense, and
have no agenda other than that. Try-
ing to integrate new board members
will detract from the serious busi-
ness of getting this new manage-
ment program rolling along. I hope
the community will support and
vote for our current board for their
current terms of office.
LAUREN HARMS
Astoria
5A
ing storms, making a much harsher
situation for our next generations.
We know approximately, not
exactly, how much our human activ-
ities cause the climate threat. But
when our house is burning, do we
debate whether the fire was caused
by electrical short, lightning or an
arsonist? No, we fight the fire.
What about “the economy”?
Last I heard, the economy exists to
serve human needs. The greatest of
all human needs is an earthly envi-
ronment in which we can thrive.
For now, and for future generations.
That’s our priority.
I don’t know exactly what I
should do, much less what you
should. I make mistakes, yielding
to indulgence or carelessness. But
I know that by keeping the climate
constantly in mind, we’ll all have a
better chance of a good future cli-
mate. The more of us who do so, the
greater the chance.
Our best plan is to each do what
we can, every day, and help oth-
ers do the same. Make good deeds
visible, support people’s efforts,
and call out the selfish cheaters
and pirates who defect from the
program.
DAVID LEE MYERS
Astoria
More on voting
R
teve Fulton is running for Port
Commissioner for a second term
because he believes in saving tax-
payer money, and maintaining the
Port of Astoria’s fiscal responsibil-
ity. The controversy surrounding
his criticism of developing the air-
port property is about financial mat-
ters. Does the Port have money to
build and support this expansion at
the airport?
Probably no, because that is what
the bond measure is about. Does
the Port have more than one busi-
ness entity besides Life Flight that
will be an addition to the airport to
add to the revenue to maintain the
new pavement, lighting and other
structures?
Was a feasibility study done to
see what business entities would
move in after new infrastructure is
put in at the airport? I recall a com-
mercial airline business would fly
customers from that airport to Seat-
tle or Portland years back, but they
were never heard of again. Would
they have stayed if the airport prop-
erty was more developed? These are
questions the taxpayers should ask.
Port property along the Colum-
bia River is the primary source of
income for the Port, and affects
many constituents of Clatsop
County directly and indirectly.
Addressing the need for enhance-
ments for these assets should be pri-
mary, and the airport property sec-
ondary, to the Port Commissioners.
Steve Fulton tries to hold the com-
missioners accountable to this, and
that is why I am voting for him.
I ask that you consider voting for
him, too.
LILLY LEE
Astoria
ay Gardner seems to support
the way we vote (“The way we
vote,” The Daily Astorian, April
7). However, I am afraid it is far
from what the founders devised or
contemplated.
When our founders devised the
vote, they did not contemplate polit-
ical parties. In fact, they pretty
much ensured that they would
not come into being. The winner
became president. The runner-up
became vice president, president of
the Senate, and was charged with
making sure the next election was
conducted according to law. This to
me this is a perfect plan.
However, when Jefferson was
vice president, he ran for president
in the succeeding election. There
was some indication of irregularity.
Naturally Jefferson determined that
he had won. As can be easily imag-
ined some people, especially Aaron
Burr, were not pleased. Changes
were made.
The president and vice president
would run together as a unit, thus
marking the beginnings of political
parties. Today, political parties go
out of their way to give us the most
unpopular choices. I am happy that
the polls showed that the least bad
candidate prevailed in this election
cycle.
On the other hand, Bernie Sand-
ers ran a successful primary cam-
paign. Polls showed that he would
beat Trump in the presidential elec-
tion. So the brains down at the
Democrats’ smoky back room
decided to give Clinton, who the
polls showed would lose to Trump,
over 700 votes that were never
voted in the primaries. Did any of
the third parties, or Bernie Sand-
ers, pick up on this and run Bernie
Sanders for president?
Actually, as dictated by the
founding fathers, we do not vote for
the president. We vote for members
of the Electoral College. The found-
ing fathers determined that probably
there would be a plethora of presi-
dential candidates, on occasion.
Of course we do not know who
these electoral college dummies are.
We just know who they are sup-
posed to vote for. Some states give
all their electoral votes to the win-
ning candidate. Others proportion
them out to candidates according to
their total votes.
The idea behind this electoral
college is that these respected per-
sons would vote for the best candi-
date, or in the end, at least for one
that was an acceptable choice. I
understand that in the last election,
two electors actually had the gall to
refuse to vote.
BENJAMIN A. GREAVES
Seaside
Keep climate in mind
Investigate Life Flight
E
I
Fulton is accountable
S
arth Day Confession: I don’t
know how to live a life that’s
perfectly harmless to the earthly
environment in which human-
ity thrives. I love stuff made and
shipped using fossil fuels. I love to
drive and fly, burning too much fuel.
I love people, our sensitivity and
joy, creativity, compassion and ded-
ication to good. But there are too
many of us, each wanting things.
The fuel burned in just my car,
or my airline flight — that by itself
is harmless. But it’s not just me. It’s
multiplied by billions making the
same choices. The problem comes
from scaling up my behavior to the
worldwide population.
We’re all in this together. Every
fossil fuel we burn contributes to
global warming. A hotter climate
with rising sea levels floods cities
and farmlands, disrupts agricultural
production, and makes more damag-
would like to request that The
Daily Astorian provide the voters
of Clatsop County with an in-depth
analysis of the workings of Life
Flight. I have facetiously referred to
them as “Air Bankruptcy” because
of the high cost of trips to medical
trauma centers in Portland. It’s my
understanding that peoples’ medical
insurance is not guaranteed to cover
all the costs of transport.
Please assign a reporter to inves-
tigate why a raise in our property
taxes is justified for establishing
access to a new hangar at the Asto-
ria airport. Personally, I do not want
my taxes to benefit any private sec-
tor business, especially since the
Astoria School District may be ask-
ing for a bond in 2019. My pock-
ets are getting more shallow as time
goes on.
ROBERT POTTER
Astoria