THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, JUNE 30, 2017
FRIDAY EXCHANGE
5A
Quick police response
I
just wanted to publicly thank
the Astoria Police Department
for responding so quickly and effi-
ciently to my call last night about
a loud, disturbing man outside our
apartment building in the middle of
the night. I am so grateful that we
have access to the police, who are
there to help with a disturbing situ-
ation at just the punch of a few but-
tons. You make me feel safe and set
my mind at ease. Thank you for all
you do, APD. I appreciate you and
know that without you, my life, and
many others’, would not be quite as
comfortable or safe.
ERIN MOORE
Astoria
Homes, not motels
W
ith permanent housing in
short supply countywide, the
Gearhart City Council did well to
pass the 2016 ordinance regulating
and gradually phasing down short-
term rentals. The beneficial result
can already be seen: an increase
in permanent residency, including
long-term rentals.
According to state law, a short-
term rental is for 30 days or less;
locally, most short-term rentals are
for the equivalent of a weekend,
and can occur one after the other in
the same house, in a series of dis-
ruptions to the surrounding neigh-
borhood that include noise (loud
parties, barking dogs, gunning
engines, etc.), invasion of neigh-
bors’ privacy, crowded on-street
parking and traffic hazards, not to
mention the silent hazards of lit-
tered garbage, overloaded septic
systems and accelerated pollution
of groundwater throughout the city.
Short-term rentals contribute noth-
ing to the “diversity” of the com-
munity; on the contrary, they shat-
ter the very idea of community in a
neighborhood.
By contrast, long-term rent-
als provide permanent housing for
those who wish to settle in
Gearhart for a month or more, to
live and perhaps to earn a living
wage within the Clatsop County
economy, and to become good
neighbors to nearby permanent
residents.
Renting out the family cot-
tage for a month or more is a tradi-
tional and viable means of covering
the costs of ownership for sea-
sonal Gearhart homeowners. Unlike
the problematic case of short-term
rentals, no special regulations are
required by the city, since those
long-term rentals are considered a
residential, noncommercial use.
The “repeal and replace” peti-
tion now being promoted in
Gearhart — the so-called “Gearhart
Vacation Rental Ordinance Initia-
tive” — if successful, would repeal
the 2016 law that the City Council
had worked on for so many years
with so much public input.
The petition is a direct assault on
city government, second-guessing
the dedicated work of elected rep-
resentatives: it would allow every
single-family dwelling in Gearhart
to be commercialized as a short-
term rental, with little or no regula-
tion as compared with the existing
2016 ordinance. The quiet small-
town atmosphere of Gearhart would
quickly disappear as the town trans-
formed itself into a destination
resort.
Citizens of Gearhart, please
don’t let that happen. The “repeal
and replace” initiative can only ben-
efit absentee landlords who will
profit from turning homes into
motels.
NANCY DERRAH
Gearhart
Marching for equality
ecently I flew to Washington,
D.C., to join friends and peo-
ple from around the globe for the
National Equality March, which
was combined with the DC Pride
weekend. The march highlighted
peacefully the resistance to Presi-
dent Donald Trump’s rollback on
important policies on immigrants,
gay rights and people of color. It
was an awesome sight to see, thou-
sands upon thousands of mothers,
fathers, sons, daughters and friends
marching for change.
I enjoyed the opportunity to hold
my sign, “Bigotry is not an Amer-
ican value,” in front of the White
House. I have Muslim, Jewish and
people of color friends, who fear
the negativity directed toward them
in this current state of affairs. For
them, I marched and endured 100
degree heat, gladly.
It was a big surprise when
I ran into former Astorian Chris
Lang, a filmmaker who lives out-
side of Washington, while at the
National Museum of Art. Chris
worked at the T. Paul’s Urban Cafe
in high school and college sum-
mers. It was a great cap to a great
weekend.
PAUL FLUES
Astoria
R
Roadkill vs. slaughter
O
regon recently passed a law
allowing people to eat road-
kill (“Oregon joins states where
roadkill can be harvested for food,”
The Daily Astorian, June 22.). The
thought understandably makes
some people squeamish, but if one
wishes to eat animal flesh, then it’s
far more ethical to eat animals who
were accidentally killed on high-
ways than those who are killed in
slaughterhouses.
Unlike cows, chickens and pigs,
most animals who are killed on
roads have lived a free life and died
a fast, unexpected death. Animals
raised for food, on the other hand,
are confined to filthy, crowded
cages, crates and sheds. They never
breathe fresh air or feel the warmth
of the sun on their backs. They’re
torn away from their loved ones,
and many are castrated, branded,
debeaked or subjected to other
painful procedures. At the slaugh-
terhouse, they’re often scalded or
dismembered while they’re still
conscious.
If the thought of supporting
such cruelty makes you sick to your
stomach, then opt for roadkill, or,
better yet, tasty vegan foods. See
www.PETA.org for free vegan reci-
pes and product suggestions.
HEATHER MOORE
PETA Foundation
Norfolk, Virginia
Fee is wrong
I
do not support attaching any fee
not related to sewer and water to
the sewer and water bill without the
consent of the customers. You might
think that balancing the parks’ bud-
get is more important than democ-
racy, but I do not.
If people short-pay their water
bills and then file as a class action,
that will not save the city any
money. Adverse impacts on our
credit ratings is actual damage,
with persistent financial impact
on access to credit, insurance and
employment.
This also presents a risk for
homeowners and businesses that
future city councils will follow this
precedent, and attach more unre-
lated fees to our essential services.
The 2016-2017 Quarter 3 Bud-
get Status report shows Astoria
Parks and Recreation to be exactly
on budget (http://bit.ly/2rU12jI).
What happened between March 31,
2017 and today?
Coincidently, the increase in the
parks budget for the year starting
July 1 is $100,000. Where did the
current shortfall come from? This is
the budgeted increase (see Page 50
at http://bit.ly/2rTFsMf). This solu-
tion might be efficient, and
you might be able to force it upon
ratepayers, but it is wrong. Where
did the current shortfall come
from?
ROGER LINDSLEY
Astoria
Campus policy support
O
n behalf of North Coast Pre-
vention Works, we are writing
in support of the Clatsop Commu-
nity College (CCC) Board’s deci-
sion to revise and improve their
proposed tobacco-free campus pol-
icy. We appreciate the foresight of
the CCC Board to not pass a pol-
icy with existing loopholes. As with
all work involving our community’s
health, we want it to be done right.
We know that tobacco-free cam-
pus policies have proven to work.
Not only do they protect people
from secondhand smoke and pro-
mote a clean environment, but they
also have a big impact on tobacco
use behavior. After decades of
research, we understand the devas-
tating effect tobacco use has on our
health.
We also know that due to
brain development, the younger
a person is when they start using
tobacco, the more likely they are to
struggle with a life-long addiction.
According to the 2014 Surgeon
General’s Report, nearly nine out
of 10 adult smokers started before
age 18, and nearly all started by
age 26.
We encourage the CCC Board to
not allow smoking in cars or Good
Neighbor Zones in their policy.
Both of these exceptions undermine
the policy’s intention and effec-
tiveness. They also undermine the
school’s message, which should be
an expressed interest in the health
of all students and faculty, not just
the visible ones.
Schools and public institutions
have an obligation to protect
those in their care, and a tobac-
co-free policy is a valuable tool in
this. We applaud CCC in its contin-
ued work on this policy and look
forward to the positive impact it
will have.
CHIEF MATHEW
WORKMAN, chairman
LAURA PARKER, vice
chairwoman
MARY JACKSON, historian
JILL QUACKENBUSH
North Coast Prevention Works
Executive Committee
Why do they even play the game?
By CHARLES
KRAUTHAMMER
Washington Post Writers Group
W
ASHINGTON — In
mathematics, when
you’re convinced of some
eternal truth but can’t quite prove
it, you offer it as a
hypothesis (with a
portentous capital
H) and invite the
world, future gen-
erations if need be,
to prove you right
or wrong. Often, a
cash prize is attached.
In that spirit, but without the
cash, I offer the Krauthammer
Conjecture: In sports, the pleasure
of winning is less than the pain of
losing. By any Benthamite pleasure/
pain calculation, the sum is less than
zero. A net negative of suffering.
Which makes you wonder why
anybody plays at all.
Winning is great. You get to hoot
and holler, hoist the trophy, shower
in champagne, ride the open parade
car and boycott the White House
victory ceremony (choose your
cause).
But, as most who have engaged
in competitive sports know, there’s
nothing to match the amplitude of
emotion brought by losing. When
the Cleveland Cavaliers lost the
2015 NBA Finals to Golden State,
LeBron James sat motionless in the
locker room, staring straight ahead,
still wearing his game jersey, for 45
minutes after the final buzzer.
Here was a guy immensely
wealthy, widely admired, at the peak
of his powers — yet stricken, incon-
solable. So it was for Ralph Branca,
who gave up Bobby Thomson’s shot
heard ‘round the world in 1951. So
too for Royals shortstop Freddie
Patek, a (literal) picture of dejection
sitting alone in the dugout with
his head down after his team lost
the 1977 pennant to the New York
Yankees.
In 1986, the “Today Show”
commemorated the 30th anniver-
sary of Don Larsen pitching the
only perfect game in World Series
history. They invited Larsen and his
battery mate, Yogi Berra. And Dale
Mitchell, the man who made the
last out. Mitchell was not amused.
“I ain’t flying 2,000 miles to talk
about striking out,” he fumed. And
anyway, the called third strike was
high and outside. It had been 30
years and Mitchell was still mad.
(Justly so. Even the Yankee fielders
acknowledged that the final pitch
was outside the strike zone.)
For every moment of triumph,
there is an unequal and opposite
feeling of despair. Take that iconic
photograph of Muhammad Ali
standing triumphantly over the
prostrate, semiconscious wreckage
of Sonny Liston. Great photo. Now
think of Liston. Do the pleasure/pain
calculus.
And we are talking here about
professional athletes — not even
the legions of Little Leaguers,
freshly eliminated from the playoffs,
sobbing and sniffling their way
home, assuaged only by gallons of
Baskin-Robbins.
Any parent can attest to the
Krauthammer Conjecture. What
surprises is how often it applies to
battle-hardened professionals mak-
ing millions.
I don’t feel sorry for them. They
can drown their sorrows in the
Olympic-sized infinity pool that
graces their Florida estate. (No state
income tax.) I am merely fascinated
that, despite their other substantial
compensations, some of them really
do care. Most interestingly, often the
very best.
Max Scherzer, ace pitcher for the
Washington Nationals, makes $30
million a year. On the mound, forget
the money. His will to win is scary.
Every time he registers a strikeout,
he stalks off the mound, circling,
head down, as if he’s just brought
down a mastodon.
On June 6, tiring as he
approached victory, he began growl-
ing — yes, like a hungry tiger — at
Chase Utley as he came to the plate.
“It was beautiful,” was the headline
of the blog entry by The Washington
Post’s Scott Allen.
When Scherzer gets like that,
managers are actually afraid to go
out and tell him he’s done. He goes
Mad Max. In one such instance last
year, as Scherzer labored, manager
Washington
Nationals
starting
pitcher Max
Scherzer
delivers a
pitch during
the third
inning of
a baseball
game against
the Chicago
Cubs
Tuesday in
Washington,
D.C. The
Nationals
won 6-1.
AP Photo
Nick Wass
Dusty Baker came out to the mound.
Scherzer glared.
“He asked me how I was feel-
ing,” Scherzer recounted, “and I said
I still feel strong … I still got one
more hitter in me.”
Asked Baker, demanding visual
confirmation: “Which eye should I
look at?”
Scherzer, who famously has one
blue and one brown eye, shot back:
“Look in the (expletive) brown
eye!”
“That’s the pitching one,” he jok-
ingly told reporters after the game.
Baker left him in.
After losing her first ever UFC
match, mixed martial artist Ronda
Rousey confessed that she was in
the corner of the medical room,
“literally sitting there thinking about
killing myself. In that exact second,
I’m like, ‘I’m nothing.’” It doesn’t
get lower than that.
Said Vince Lombardi, “Winning
isn’t everything. It’s the only thing.”
To which I add — conjecture — yes,
but losing is worse.