OPINION
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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, MAY 5, 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
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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
This week’s Shoutouts go to:
• The Astoria-Warrenton Area Chamber of Commerce and
the sponsors, organizers and hundreds of volunteers who pitched
in last weekend to make the 35th annual Crab, Seafood & Wine
Festival a highly successful, family friendly event. The three-day
event attracted an estimated 18,000 people to the Clatsop County
Fair and Expo Center for food, wine, arts and crafts, live music
and a variety of other exhibits. More than 175 vendors participated
in the festival, including nonprofit groups. Chamber Executive
Director Skip Hauke gave much of the credit for the festival’s suc-
cess this year to event coordinator Kelsey Balensifer and said a
portion of the proceeds goes back to nonprofit organizations in the
community.
Submitted Photo
Tammy Heintz and Kayla Warner from Clatsop Community College
participated in the Earth Day Riverwalk Cleanup on April 22.
• The organizers and 48 volunteers who braved the weather
and collected about 300 pounds of garbage during the Earth Day
Riverwalk Cleanup on April 22. The volunteers, including teams
from Wauna Credit Union, Clatsop Community College and the
Astoria Coast Guard, picked up the garbage along the Riverwalk
from Buoy Beer all the way to Safeway despite the rainy, windy
weather. The event was sponsored by Wauna Credit Union, Buoy
Beer and SOLVE, which also provided cleaning supplies.
• Members of Gateway Lodge 175, which conducted its 57th
Warrenton High School Honor Student Banquet last month and
awarded 11 Baldwin Scholarships collectively worth $30,500
per year and renewable for four years, bringing the Gateway
Scholarship total for 2017 to $122,0000. Gateway 175 is a
Masonic Lodge and has awarded more than $1.32 million to
Warrenton High School seniors during the past 15 years. The
lodge began its scholarship program in 1960.
• The River Inn at Seaside, which was recognized by the
Asian American Hotel Owners Association with an award as a
national winner in the category of “Independent Hotel of the Year”
for its standard of excellence in quality, service and guest satisfac-
tion. Managing Director Masudur Khan was honored last month
before 6,500 attendees at the association’s awards ceremony in
San Antonio, Texas.
• Ed Heckard, a 72-year-old Ilwaco High School alumnus,
who completed his third Boston Marathon on April 17. Heckard,
who now lives in Mill Creek, Washington, completed the course
in 4:26:07 and finished 41st out of 138 runners in his age group.
Heckard didn’t take up long-distance running until after he
reached retirement age.
CALLOUTS
This week’s Callouts go to:
• The state Department of Revenue, which has about 100 open
positions, 31 of them in collections, despite receiving $10 million
from the Legislature to fill them during the current two-year budget
period that ends in June. Gov. Kate Brown last week called for
renewed efforts to collect hundreds of millions owed to the state,
and legislators including state Sen. Betsy Johnson, D-Scappoose,
are asking the department to explain why those positions remain
open, and what the department spent that money on. Shawn Waite,
director of the department’s administrative services division, told
legislators during recent budget hearings that some of the money
was spent on personal services and backfilling positions, but that
about $4.5 million should be left over. Johnson said she wants to
know why that information wasn’t disclosed to the Legislature.
“We appropriated money based on certain representations that
the agency made, and it appears that those promises haven’t been
kept,” she said.
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.
No shows
ast Wednesday, April 26, a can-
didate forum for those seeking
an Astoria Port Commission posi-
tion was held at the Warrenton High
School. Three of the candidates did
not appear. Two had agreed to partic-
ipate, and the third made excuse after
excuse for not coming.
What part of a representative
democracy do these men not under-
stand? They are seeking to repre-
sent all citizens of Clatsop County,
not just those who live in Astoria. By
not appearing, the 30-plus members
of the audience who came to hear
all the candidates did not hear what
these three know, why they are seek-
ing office, what they see as the issues
facing the Port and what solutions
they have to solve those issues.
These three have not demon-
strated they understand the basic
requirement of an elected official
to be accountable to the public they
seek to represent.
I am voting for the three who
did attend and did answer the audi-
ence’s questions. Dick Hellberg, Pat
O’Grady and Steve Fulton will rep-
resent the public interest of all Clat-
sop County.
PATRICIA ROBERTS
Gearhart
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Re-elect Campbell
am writing to endorse the re-elec-
tion of James Campbell to Port
Commissioner Position 1.
I am very concerned over the
level of vitriol and lack of civility by
Jim’s opponent. His opponent’s base-
less accusations and outright misrep-
resentations of the truth are over the
line, in what should be a campaign of
issues and facts.
I have known Jim Campbell for
years. He is a gentleman. I know he
prepares well for Port Commission
meetings, and has the best interests
of the citizens of Clatsop County in
mind when he considers issues fac-
ing the Port. When Jim Campbell
was elected four years ago, the Port
finances were in complete disarray.
In addition, Port management and
leadership were ineffective.
Jim guided the Port into hiring a
professional executive director, Jim
Knight. It took herculean effort, but
the new management team cleaned
house on ineffective staff members,
and took the Port back into financial
stability.
Today, except for dissention
caused by two disruptive com-
missioners, the Port functions as
it should, creating wealth for the
taxpayers.
As a Port commissioner with over
16 year’s experience, Jim Campbell
knows how the interface between
the commissioners and the executive
director staff works. Commissioners
set policy and long-term goals. It is
up to the director and his staff to exe-
cute the policy.
The director makes the daily deci-
sions, implementing the goals set by
the commissioners. Commission-
ers who get involved in daily minutia
of the Port staff, and try to manage
in detail the daily tasks of the direc-
tor, cause disruption and negatively
impact staff morale. Jim Campbell is
not a commissioner who will direct
the director in the director’s routine
daily duties.
Please join me in voting for Jim
Campbell to return the Port Commis-
sion to a board of polite professionals
who will follow proper procedures
and good manners when debating
issues.
TERESA J. STEVENS
Warrenton
I
Need for free trade
he First Triumvirate was
described as an informal alliance
between three prominent men of the
late Roman Republic, Julius Cae-
T
sar, Pompey the Great and Marcus
Licinius Crassus. Now we have the
Second Triumvirate, being formed
with the association of Dick Hell-
berg, Pat O’Grady and Steve Ful-
ton, in their running for commission-
ers for the Port of Astoria. And, like
smart politicians, they are sharing
their advertising expenses.
Both Dick Hellberg and Steve
Fulton mention that their families
have lived in the Astoria area for
over 100 years — Dick’s family in
fishing, and Steve’s family with the
Port of Astoria. Has Dick’s fami-
ly’s influence increased the prosper-
ity of fisherman in the Astoria area
the past 20 years? Has Steve’s family
association with the Port of Astoria
increased the prosperity of the aver-
age citizen in the Astoria area?
I think not, in both cases. And
Steve’s relinquishing his position
as commissioner only to apply for
James Campbell’s commissioner
position. Talk about being in a bush
league.
Pat O’Grady makes the state-
ment, “No repeat of past Port his-
tory of hiding information.” Where
is his proof? Steve says he is running
to make the Port work for everyone.
My translation: Make the Port work
for the Longshoreman Association,
which is unionized, and a monopoly
on the Columbia River.
Violence almost erupted a couple
of years ago when a grain company
in Longview, Washington, wanted to
hire people other than people from
the Longshoreman Union. The sher-
iff had to be called out to keep people
from being hurt or killed.
The Longshoreman Union, in my
opinion, can bring commercial traf-
fic on the Columbia River to a stand-
still — if they choose. A monopoly.
We need not only free trade, but free
access to the Columbia River for all
commercial vehicles.
For these reasons, I urge you
to vote for James Campbell, Dirk
Rohne and Frank Spence.
TERRY SMITH
Warrenton
Postitive Port business
everal weeks ago The Daily Asto-
rian reported that Port Com-
missioners Robert Mushen (chair-
man), Jim Campbell and John
Raichl have largely been support-
ive of Jim Knight’s efforts to put the
Port of Astoria on a professional and
respected course (“Port Commis-
sion’s petty infighting needs to stop,”
The Daily Astorian, Feb. 14).
The article went on to point out
that Knight is also well-respected
by other port professionals, as Port
of Portland Executive Director Bill
Wyatt noted during a recent visit
here, saying that “Astoria is lucky to
have him.” I would just like to say a
big “thank you” to Knight, Mushen,
Campbell and Raichl for putting the
Port back in business in a respectable
and responsible way, after so many
years of turmoil and scandal. The
entire county benefits from the Port’s
economic success.
Since that report, Campbell has
filed to retain his seat; and two excel-
lent candidates have filed to fill the
two empty seats, Dirk Rohne and
Frank Spence. Spence has served
this community in several capaci-
ties and, importantly, on the Port’s
Budget Committee, for the past three
years.
Rohne served two terms on the
Clatsop County Commission during
a critical period in its recent history,
notably when a majority of maple in
this county were fighting the incur-
sion of LNG proposals.
You, Knight, should take great
encouragement from the many letters
in the editorial section on Fridays in
The Daily Astorian, particularly the
April 14 edition. Many good people
have written in support of Campbell,
Rohne and Spence for commission-
S
ers in the May 16 special election to
help you continue to build a well-
run, financially sound and environ-
mentally conscious port.
Again, thank you.
LETITIA TARVER
Astoria
Port management
’m new to the area, and struck
by the number of articles and let-
ters regarding the Astoria Port Com-
mission. The two most important
business issues appear to be a late
water treatment project that failed
to account for bad weather, and an
expensive bond measure to make
modest improvements to the medical
helicopter facility — but the Decem-
ber audit on the website shows more
serious problems.
A million dollar loss last year, a
significant finding about the lack of
an inventory of Port assets (there are
over 600, worth nearly $30 million),
and a request for more detail on pen-
sion obligations. I haven’t seen a
commissioner or candidate state how
they would solve these problems.
I also haven’t seen any admit that
they did a poor job last year, and
need to improve. So why are we vot-
ing for incumbents and past commis-
sioners? We need people with recent
experience managing profitable orga-
nizations with large budgets. Being
a good neighbor should be a require-
ment, not a qualification.
ED VERDURMEN
Seaside
I
Service above self
s a longtime observer of the Port
of Astoria leadership challenges,
I am excited to see productive oppor-
tunities on this year’s ballot for the
visionary growth that is necessary for
our Port to productively serve this
community.
One of these opportunities, due
to the North Coast’s unique geo-
graphic setting, is creating a strong
and healthy Life Flight facility. Such
a facility needs to be optimized for
staffing, maintenance and, if we are
wise, built in a way to also ensure
growth potential for future vital life
saving resources.
That is why both Lynne and I are
voting in favor of Bond Measure
4-187, which is not only intrinsically
worthy, but financially modest, when
considering the long-term benefits to
our community. We are convinced
that support of this project is criti-
cal to quality of life for ourselves and
our neighbors and now is the time to
get this done.
I am also pleased that James
Campbell, Dirk Rohne and Frank
Spence are willing to serve on the
Port Commission, as I know they all
embrace the core values of profes-
sionalism, team building and positive
regard for organizational discipline.
Such values are absolutely nec-
essary to not only ensure produc-
tive meetings, but will make possi-
ble progressive agendas the Port of
Astoria so desperately needs to move
forward. These attitudes and com-
mitments to professional standards
that these three bring will foster and
stabilize a more civil social/politi-
cal environment, an environment our
public bodies must maintain in order
to attract future generations of will-
ing public volunteer leadership.
I can assure you that these three
individuals are indeed great people,
committed to bringing needed pro-
fessional expertise and good man-
ners so necessary to build an effec-
tive team in order to get good works
underway. Best yet, they are not nar-
rowly focused, as James Campbell,
Dirk Rohne and Frank Spence are
willing to serve all of us with our
diverse needs and interests with the
sole motive of “service above self.”
JERRY L. OSTERMILLER
Astoria
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