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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (May 17, 2017)
OPINION 6A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, MAY 17, 2017 Founded in 1873 DAVID F. PERO, Publisher & Editor LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor BETTY SMITH, Advertising Manager JEREMY FELDMAN, Circulation Manager DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager CARL EARL, Systems Manager Water under the bridge Compiled by Bob Duke From the pages of Astoria’s daily newspapers 10 years ago this week — 2007 A roof repair job at the Astoria post office has sparked concern among employees that the federal government isn’t protecting the integrity of the historic building. The city of Astoria has received several complaints about the work, but according to Community Development Director Rosemary Johnson, the city can’t do anything about it because it has no jurisdiction over the federal building at Eight and Commercial streets. Johnson said most work on commercial buildings in Astoria requires a building permit — even repairs. But the Astoria post office, which is on the national historic building register because it is the first post office built west of the Rocky Mountains, is exempt from the local review process. “Normally you’d have to do a historic review with any exterior alter- ation to a historic property, and if you’re changing the design or material, that has to go through the Historic Landmarks Commission for approval,” said Johnson. “The building is on the national historic building register, but it’s a federal building on federal property.” The girls’ Class 4A team leader after Day One of the Ore- gon state track and field meet? None other than your Astoria Fishermen. Three Astoria athletes racked up 24 points to help the Fish- ermen take the lead after one day of action at Eugene’s Hay- ward Field, which was packed with more fans than usual on the first day of the 2007 championship meet. And thanks to a first-, a second- and a third-place finish, the Astoria girls were atop the 4A leaderboard heading into today’s action. “We’re hoping to get a trophy,” said Astoria sophomore Charlene Harber, who could be scoring some big points today and Saturday in the 100-meter dash and triple jump. “We can always rely on Laura (Bobek) and Jamie (Coggins).” 50 years ago — 1967 The principal parties in the beach access controversy agreed today upon amendments to a bill maintaining public access to Ore- gon’s shoreline. Statements by Gov. Tom McCall, House Speaker F.F. Montgomery, State Treasurer Robert Straub and two legislative leaders said, “We have agreed on a compromise.” But it was Gov. McCall who appeared to be the winner in the battle over conflicting amend- The Daily Astorian/File ments offered to the bill. Gov. Tom McCall, left, and Rep. Under the compromise, Sid Bazett of Grants Pass sat on the state would maintain pub- the controversial Surfsand motel lic access to beach areas 16 feet logs at Cannon Beach as they above the mean sea level mark. and others toured the coast seek- This was the formula adopted ing a formula for HB 1601, which today by McCall and a group of would determine how much of oceanographers who toured the the beaches belong to whom. beaches Saturday. Montgomery had proposed a line 200 feet inland, or 7 feet above mean sea level, whichever was the lesser. The 16-foot mark generally takes in the dry sand area of northern Ore- gon beaches, according to the measurements made Saturday. First fish to be marked by means of clipping fins at the new Nehalem River Salmon hatchery were going through the pro- cess this week. The small fish are anesthetized, clipped, then placed in a “recovery” trough, as in a hospital. A move by the U.S. Maritime Administration apparently to move all “priority” ships from Astoria reserve fleet base to Olympia and Suisun Bay bases began Friday. The Victory type freighter Greece Victory, with workmen still batten- ing down the hatch covers, was shifted to the East Astoria mooring basin Friday morning, to be rigged for the ocean tow to Olympia. The Greece Victory is one of 13 priority ships that still remain at the Astoria base. Priority ships are those scheduled for continued preservation against a national emergency, as contrasted to the less efficient Liberty ships that are all scheduled for scrapping. There are 52 ships all told still at the Astoria base, but only 13 are of “priority” class. 75 years ago — 1942 With cheery smiles and hand-wavings for the few policemen and spectators standing around, the remaining Japanese pop- ulation of Clatsop and Columbia counties, consisting of 60 per- sons, left at 9 a.m. Wednesday under military convoy for the reception center in Portland. Thus evacuation of all Japanese and persons of Japanese ancestry from northwestern coastal counties of Oregon had been completed. The few Japanese in Tillamook County had either left or been evacuated before, and number of Japanese in Clatsop and Columbia counties had left before. Clatsop County has been given an additional allotment of 125 truck tires for this month, D.J. Lewis, county defense coordinator, was informed in a message received today from the state rationing board. The increased allotment will relieve the strain felt by logging opera- tors to a certain extent. Many logging trucks have been laid up because of lack of tires. Trump and the tattlers By FRANK BRUNI New York Times News Service F or a president so given to fantasy and fond of alternative facts, Donald Trump has been right about one thing all along: His government is a shockingly leaky vessel. Thank heaven for that. It’s not judges or senators who will save us from the worst of Trump, which is most of Trump. His undoing will come from within. Be as cynical as you want about Washington — I certainly indulge myself — but there remain insiders with consciences, and some of them actually work for the president. They’re willing to work against him if circumstances warrant it. Circumstances have been warrant- ing it, and here we are. What we’re witnessing is astonishing. I don’t mean Trump’s actions — including the infuriating accusation that he divulged highly classified information to Russian visitors — though those certainly qualify. I mean how quickly the details of this latest incident reached journalists. I mean how quickly so much of Trump’s embarrassing and outrageous behavior reaches jour- nalists, as government officials use the very media that he demonizes to expose his recklessness, ridicule his cluelessness, warn Americans about his intentions and head him off at the pass. This much leaking this soon into an administration explodes the norms of the White House every bit as much as Trump’s own conduct does, and it’s an indication more powerful than just about any other of what kind of president we have. He is so unprepared, shows such bad judgment and has such an erratic temper that he’s not trusted by people who are paid to bolster him and who get the most intimate, unvarnished look at him. No small number of them have decided that discretion isn’t always the keeping of secrets, not if it protects bad actors. They’re right. And they give me hope. In one of those nifty and incredibly revealing confluences of news developments, the story about Trump’s dangerously loose lips with the Russians came out on the same day that the hosts of “Morning Joe” spoke of Kellyanne Conway’s pri- vately admitted disgust for Trump, at least back during the campaign. This was Conway they were talking about, the high priestess of hyper-spin, who can look at the smallest droplet in the largest goblet and pronounce the glass half full. Even she saw the emptiness of Trump. Even she cringed. And if AP Photo/Susan Walsh A television set is on in the West Wing of the White House Monday. that’s the case, there must be more cringing around the president than we realized. It’s getting only worse. Last week in particular demonstrated that. He keeps giving his lieutenants lies to peddle, creating entirely avoidable messes and then railing if underlings don’t mop with sufficient cheer and success. Aides will suck up a whole lot for proximity to power, and partisans will make enormous compromises in the name of the team. But at the end of the day, they’re human. They have limits, dignity and the mobile phone numbers of dozens of reporters. Trump should understand that. He keeps telling us how smart he He keeps telling us how smart he is but showing us the opposite, and as our parents always warned us, actions speak louder than words. is but showing us the opposite, and as our parents always warned us, actions speak louder than words. Foolish: to demand such fierce loyalty from the people around you but give precious little in return. It loosens their lips. Foolish: to continue to treat the Russians with a double scoop of courtesy — here, guys, take a gan- der at this Islamic State intelligence! — amid a continuing investigation into, and intensifying suspicions about, your exact degree of coziness with Moscow. If he was wagering that his words to the Russians would never leave the room, well, that’s proof of yet more foolishness. With Trump, everything has been leaving the room, by some route or another. If he hasn’t learned that yet, he’s uneducable. There are people around Trump who see him for who and what he is. There are people who work in his administration not because they have great hopes for him but because they have modest hopes that they can bend things in a better direction or at least mitigate the damage. None of them were setting themselves up to be moles. But some of them are playing that part. And so we knew, even before Trump sat down with NBC’s Lester Holt, that the White House was spinning a fairy tale about why Trump fired James Comey. We knew about possible policy changes regarding climate change and LGBT rights before Trump was ready to publicize them, because aides decided to use the media as a check and a balance. We discovered this week that an administration official had presented to Trump, and that he believed, a fake cover of a Time magazine from the 1970s that warned of an impend- ing ice age. And we were briefed on his imprudent conversation with the Russians. All of this came from within, and much of it reflects a concern for country — and for truth — that’s greater than any concern for Trump. Foolish: the failure to account for your aides’ common sense and patriotism. “Don’t be tattletales” was another caution from our parents, but it was imperfect — or at least incomplete. Sometimes tattling is all that keeps danger at bay. Swampy as Washington can be, it still harbors creatures who get that. WHERE TO WRITE • U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D): 2338 Rayburn HOB, Washing- ton, D.C., 20515. Phone: 202- 225- 0855. Fax 202-225-9497. District office: 12725 SW Millikan Way, Suite 220, Beaverton, OR 97005. Phone: 503-469-6010. Fax 503-326- 5066. Web: bonamici.house. gov/ • U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D): 313 Hart Senate Office Building, Wash- ington, D.C. 20510. Phone: 202-224- 3753. Web: www.merkley.senate.gov • U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D): 221 Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C., 20510. Phone: 202-224-5244. Web: www.wyden. senate.gov • State Rep. Brad Witt (D): State Capitol, 900 Court Street N.E., H-373, Salem, OR 97301. Phone: 503-986-1431. Web: www.leg.state. or.us/witt/ Email: rep.bradwitt@ state.or.us • State Rep. Deborah Boone (D): 900 Court St. N.E., H-481, Salem, OR 97301. Phone: 503-986-1432. Email: rep.deborah boone@state. or.us District office: P.O. Box 928, Cannon Beach, OR 97110. Phone: 503-986-1432. Web: www.leg.state. or.us/ boone/ • State Sen. Betsy Johnson (D): State Capitol, 900 Court St. N.E., S-314, Salem, OR 97301. Telephone: 503-986-1716. Email: sen.betsy john- son@state.or.us Web: www.betsy- johnson.com District Office: P.O. Box R, Scappoose, OR 97056. Phone: 503-543-4046. Fax: 503-543-5296. Astoria office phone: 503-338-1280. • Port of Astoria: Executive Director, 10 Pier 1 Suite 308, Asto- ria, OR 97103. Phone: 503-741-3300. Email: admin@portofastoria.com • Clatsop County Board of Com- missioners: c/o County Manager, 800 Exchange St., Suite 410, Astoria, OR 97103. Phone: 503-325-1000.
