THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2017
FRIDAY EXCHANGE
Housing opportunity
Korea and their very successful
program to develop intercontinen-
tal ballistic missiles (ICBM) with
nuclear warheads? After all, they
just want to join the small club of
nuclear armed-nations now num-
bering less than 10 out of 200.
North Korea simply recognizes the
grave danger the world is in when
nations don’t arm themselves.
Won’t we all be safer now that
at least one more country is prop-
erly armed? Should we be encour-
aging them, and helping the other
190 nations get armed? Isn’t North
Korea just trying to help? Similar to
when heavily armed “peace keep-
ers” show up at rallies these days
with their AKs to “protect” the pub-
lic from violence. Where is your
respect for the Second Amendment
principle if you wish to deny North
Korea its inalienable right to bear
arms?
CHRISTOPHER FARRAR
Astoria
storia Co-op’s new store design
is missing an opportunity.
We read that Astoria needs more
affordable housing for our work-
force. There are those in the city
who favor selling our parks to pro-
vide places for more housing stock.
The new Astoria Co-op could place
a few apartment units above their
proposed 10,000-square-foot store.
At their June 8 meeting, the gen-
eral manager agreed it wasn’t yet
designed, and the units would help
their employees.
The store uses most of a parcel
that is zoned for multifamily units.
The co-op’s blog tries to convince
us that “height limitations” are a
main reason for not adding afford-
able units. If they ask our city’s
planning department, they would
learn their site would permit even
more than a two story building.
Everything I’ve heard about the
owner/architect of the proposed
co-op building is very positive. I am
surprised he convinced our co-op
board to agree to a single story
building simply to save money. I
have always appreciated the slogan
of our founding “Mamas & Papas”
that reads “food for people, not for
profit.” I will find it very sad if our
city pushes to sell one of our parks
to use the land for affordable hous-
ing, because our co-op store was
built on one of our city’s few par-
cels zoned multifamily.
At our Sept. 17 annual meeting,
I hope other owners let our board
know we should use our new build-
ing to help provide workers and
retired people in our city affordable
housing. As a co-op member/owner,
I am in favor of the new store, but
believe we should provide more
for our community than what will
be shown at our annual meeting —
even if we must partner with groups
like the Oregon Housing Alliance
or Oregon Affordable Housing
Management Association.
Since the project has not been
submitted to the city perhaps “hous-
ing for people, not for profit”
should be a new slogan.
GEORGE (MICK) HAGUE
Astoria
best charged as misdemeanors,
and mandated to an in-county res-
idential rehab program that would
truly help those with drug addiction
problems.
Drug addiction is a medical
problem not a criminal one. Many
other states, including California,
don’t go after the user, but rather
the distributor or dealer. That is
worth enforcement and resources. I
support Oregon legislation to make
possession of small drug quantiles
misdemeanors and not felonies,
thus freeing our district attorney to
go after the criminals, not users.
I also think the ACLU of Ore-
gon is right to hold our elected offi-
cials accountable to the people they
serve.
TONI LEANCE
Astoria
No beach camping
DA defends status quo
have lived here on our beauti-
ful North Coast for over 15 years
now. I feel it is a privilege to live
in such a gorgeous environment. I
especially enjoy our beaches on a
daily basis.
On Monday, the Labor Day hol-
iday, early in the morning as I was
entering Del Rey Beach in Gear-
hart, I was disappointed to see lots
and lots of campers sleeping in their
tents and camps all up and down
the beach. This is not allowed here,
and there are signs indicating “No
camping, no tents.” Where are these
people going to the bathroom? Why
are they leaving their trash behind?
Is the safety of the beach being
compromised?
I am disturbed that Clatsop
County is not enforcing such an
important law, not patrolling and
informing campers that this is not
allowed here. Our beaches are valu-
able and precious, and they deserve
all the protection they can get.
KATHY HUMMEL
Seaside
A
A
I
Noise nuisance
want to reiterate what Val Lef-
fel wrote regarding traffic on
15th Street and Lexington Avenue
(“Speed zone,” The Daily Asto-
rian, Aug. 25). The speed, as well
as the noise (trucks, motorcycles) is
dangerous and bothersome. Mayor
Arline LaMear should pay attention
to her constituents and remedy the
situation.
NANCY HUTCHINS
Astoria
I
Supporting ACLU
support the American Civil Lib-
erties Union “They Report to
you” campaign. I am sorry our dis-
trict attorney is opposed to the
accountability it represents (“ACLU
puts heat on elected prosecutors,”
The Daily Astorian, Aug. 29). For a
long time Josh Marquis has been on
the wrong side of the drug enforce-
ment issue. He opposed legaliza-
tion of marijuana, and has opposed
modernization of drug laws, includ-
ing quantity possession.
I had the pleasure to serve on the
grand jury and was very dismayed
to be reviewing mostly drug pos-
session cases. The quantities were
minuscule and yet people were
charged with felonies. These cases
seem to be the majority, thus taking
up valuable resources that could be
better spent on other criminal cases.
Marquis will say that most of
these cases are resolved in drug
court, but when defendants are
mandated to attend drug rehab,
there are no viable residential pro-
grams in Clatsop County to address
the very real need. These cases are
I
5A
Resist the Liar in Chief
ach day we wake up in our
warm comfies, drink our
warm java and think about the day
ahead. Each day we are confronted
by another lie, and the grandiose
dreams of Mr. Donald Trump; and
each day we ask ourselves, “When
will this nightmare end?”
It’s not a political issue any lon-
ger, it has now become a moral
issue. Are we going to let Trump
take us all down into the swamp
with him and his minority of sup-
porters, or stand up for what is right
and just? The true American Dream
belongs to all of us, not just a few.
Trump has proven in the past,
and now the present, that he is a
bigot, misogynist and a racist. Is
this the person we want to represent
us, a walking narcissist who thinks
of himself, family and cronies first?
We thought he would change, so we
gave him a chance.
Is this the new norm? Stir-
ring the pot of hatred — it is now
acceptable to some to follow this
deplorable thinking and prac-
tice hate and bigotry. It may have
always been with us, but Trump has
made it acceptable to promote this
ugliness in the open.
I have witnessed the pain of
my Muslim friend who gets hit on
the head with a water bottle flung
at him on mass transit in Portland,
and told to go back home. Pure evil
that Trump has made acceptable
through his uneducated and repul-
sive words. The America I want,
and I believe the majority wants, is
one that practices not tolerance, but
acceptance of persons regardless of
ethnicity, political ideology, culture,
religion, social status or the person
we choose to love.
It is unbelievable to me, as a
believer in Christ, that anyone
would see the qualities of Jesus in
Trump. But these are the people who
voted for him in droves. Really?
What would Jesus do? It is time to
stop pretending. This is not a dream,
as Trump would say, it’s a stark
cold lurid dream. We can stand by
and look like fools to the rest of our
world, or make a call for change.
I urge my fellow Americans to
oppose this agenda, write your let-
ters, post your signs, walk the walk,
speak up and don’t be shamed
by the minority. If we do noth-
ing, we are complicit. Our children
deserve so much better than this.
Resist the Liar in Chief. History is
watching; what will you tell your
grandchildren?
PAUL FLUES II
Astoria
E
s the Clatsop County district
attorney, Josh Marquis should
welcome accountability. There-
fore, it is puzzling as to why he
would be so opposed to the Amer-
ican Civil Liberties Union of Ore-
gon “They Report to You” cam-
paign (“ACLU puts heat on elected
prosecutors,” The Daily Astorian,
Aug. 29). It is true that Marquis has
never been held accountable in the
past. He was appointed to office in
the 1990s, and never faced an oppo-
nent since that time.
He has always defended the sta-
tus quo and opposed any effort to
improve the criminal justice sys-
tem. There have been few substan-
tive improvements in the crimi-
nal justice system since his tenure
began almost 30 years ago. Is that
why he is so nervous about the new
campaign?
LISA DWORKIN KERR
Cannon Beach
And? So?
ome of us come wired better
than others. As a case in point,
while the rest of us do OK, home-
less people seem to lack basic liv-
ing skills. And, as if programmed
to self-destruct, homeless peo-
ple appear purposefully to take the
wrong road at every juncture in
their lives. This leads many onlook-
ers to both divert their eyes, and
reserve their acts of kindness for
those who don’t set themselves up
to fail.
The American Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
(ASPCA) is more deserving of our
sympathies, according to some. The
homeless are unworthy, unfixable,
and flat-out unlovable, the hard-
core say. And? So? Among God’s
children, it is the least lovable who
need love most. What’s more, it’s
a common but monumental mis-
conception that all homeless people
deserve their plight.
Blessedly, the help given the
homeless by Clatsop County is
bountiful in its mercy. And specific
to the shelter residents at Helping
Hands Re-entry’s Seaside Emer-
gency Relief Center (http://bit.
ly/2vJjbHc), not even Santa Claus
forgets the homeless in their misery
during the holidays. This is because
a tiny band of self-appointed vol-
unteers have seen to it. With bells,
Santa Claus caps, seasonal dit-
ties and jokes, they show up every
Christmas to both hand out gifts,
and give the shelter residents hope.
The first Christmas had taken
shape to offset dread of the holi-
days spent alone. The takeaway was
so curative that a partner in “doing
good” has helped faithfully since
then. Christmas 2017, in honor
of Candi Ross, will mark the fifth
S
consecutive year that “loving the
unlovable” overcomes, while its
purveyors take away an abundance
of indescribably buoyant joy.
Please join us in our annual ser-
vitude to the perceived least of the
least. As one of the “Christmas for
homeless shelter” attachments, I
can attest that you will forget your
worst circumstances, feel on top of
the world, and enjoy Christmas like
you didn’t think you could. Plan-
ning is in progress now. Thank you;
and God bless you in advance.
ANNA RYAN
Seaside
Too many intoxicants
n trying to assess the many
changes that are happening in
Astoria now, one in particular
seems to me to have drawn insuffi-
cient public discussion: the ever-in-
creasing number of commercial
outlets for intoxicants. Our town of
10,000 people now has six mari-
juana stores, four breweries, a dis-
tillery, and a place specializing in
hard cider, not to mention bars, a
wine store, the state’s liquor store,
and groceries selling beer and wine.
Not surprisingly, Willamette Week
recently identified Astoria as the
best place in Oregon to get drunk.
Most of us, I think, do not object
to intoxicants in moderation. They
offer a partial, if temporary, release
from some of life’s difficulties, but
to make their availability omnipres-
ent, as we have done in Astoria, cre-
ates serious problems. Among them
is what appears to be an increase
in impaired driving. The official
records may not reflect this, since
our overworked police department
does not have the resources ade-
quately to enforce traffic laws.
It is, as many have observed, a
rare day now when one does not
see speeding or the running of stop
signs, and it is reasonable to assume
that some of this increase is due to
impaired driving, and traceable to
Astoria’s focus on the profits from
intoxicants.
Another problem with having so
many outlets for alcohol and mari-
juana is that it makes recovery from
addiction more difficult. It is harder
to break a craving if you are every-
where confronted by what you want
to avoid.
Most important, too much mar-
keting of alcohol and marijuana
makes a strong impression on chil-
dren. To permit, for example, a
large marijuana store to locate in
the middle of one of Astoria’s pri-
mary business blocks is to imply
to children that intoxicants are
safe, important for a good life, and
greatly to be anticipated. The lesson
is too simple.
Were I a young parent, I would
think carefully before choosing
Astoria as a place to raise a family.
ROBERT ADAMS
Astoria
I
Draconian budget cuts
he Trump administration has
promised to slash funding for
important programs like the arts,
humanities, public media and med-
ical research. The total amount,
just $741 million for the Corpora-
tion for Public Broadcasting (CPB),
National Endowment for the Arts
(NEA) and National Endowment
for the Humanities (NEH) is a very
small percentage of the proposed
$4.1 trillion budget for 2017-18.
Yet, should Trump prevail, fund-
ing for CPB would soon be cut to
zero, and the NEA and NEH would
be eliminated entirely, the first time
any president has proposed such
a measure. That’s shameful, espe-
T
cially in light of proposed spending
increases for defense and homeland
security at the expense of programs
that inform and enrich us.
CPB, for example, provides
Americans with universal access
to educational and informational
programming, one of America’s
best investments, costing approx-
imately just $1.35 per citizen per
year. Such funding goes to local
radio stations like Coast Commu-
nity Radio (KMUN, 91.9 FM). We
coast dwellers depend on such sta-
tions for local news and entertain-
ment. Why, then, threaten such fed-
eral-supported agencies that enrich
us and provide much-needed ser-
vices at low cost?
I strongly oppose congressio-
nal proposals to reduce invest-
ments in public broadcasting, the
arts and humanities and health care.
Moreover, it doesn’t make sense to
reduce spending on Medicaid, food
stamps and assistance programs
for the disabled, while increas-
ing already-inflated military bud-
gets and adding incredibly expen-
sive ships and planes to our fleets.
For example, at $13 billion, the
USS Ford is the most expensive
ship in history. The F-35 $400 bil-
lion stealth fighter plane program is
another example of reckless, unnec-
essary spending.
To find out just how valuable
your tax dollar investments can be,
check out the three-part Discovery
Channel series, “First in Human.”
It’s about saving lives through med-
ical research, the right thing to do.
Trump has proposed a $5.8 billion
cut for National Institutes of Health
(NIH) in 2018, though Congress,
in one of those rare, makes-good-
sense bills, approved a $2 billion
increase for 2017.
Draconian cuts in much-needed
programs like NIH, CPB, NEA and
NEH just don’t make sense.
DR. ROBERT BRAKE
Ocean Park, Washington
Cavalier attitudes
’ve appeared before the Planning
Commission and now the Asto-
ria City Council and watched them
openly flout their own development
code (“Astoria council approves
Shooting Stars child center,” The
Daily Astorian, Sept. 6). Take note,
all you developers.
It even got humorous Tues-
day night, when it was implied that
talking to one’s baby in the womb,
or singing to the baby while chang-
ing its diapers, makes one an educa-
tional institution.
What’s more disturbing to me
is, after watching both bodies go
through hand-wringing machina-
tions over the safety of our home-
less population, they turn around
and show a cavalier disdain for
the most vulnerable, our children,
as evidenced in the councilors’
commentary.
CHRIS CONNAWAY
Astoria
I
Arming the world
dvocates of Second Amend-
ment rights to keep and bear
arms often support their position by
arguing that if more people were
armed at all times and in all places,
we the citizens would be much
safer than if guns were restricted or
confiscated. The hypothesis is based
on the belief that responsible armed
citizens using overwhelming fire-
power would quickly neutralize any
errant maniac attempting to carry
out an act of terrorism using gun
violence.
Should the U.S. extend the Sec-
ond Amendment argument to North
A
Debarking dogs is cruel
t is disturbing that, in this day an
age, a court would order someone
to mutilate their dogs, as the Ore-
gon Court of Appeals has done by
ruling that five dogs must have their
vocal cords cut out because they are
“annoying” their neighbors (“Ore-
gon court rules couple must sur-
gically ‘debark’ dogs,” The Daily
Astorian, Aug. 31) .
Debarking dogs for doing
what’s natural is unjustifiably cruel.
Debarking is not a minor opera-
tion. Like declawing, it is an inva-
sive surgery that puts dogs at risk of
hemorrhaging, infection, necrosis,
pneumonia and respiratory distress.
Vocal cord tissue can regrow within
a few weeks, which means the dogs
may regain the ability to bark. Will
they be forced to go under the knife
again?
Dogs who are socialized and live
inside with their families are saf-
est and happiest and less likely to
keep the neighbors up all night with
their barking. A barking dog is usu-
ally a neglected dog — be sure to
alert authorities whenever you sus-
pect a dog is being denied proper
food, shelter, vet care or other basic
necessities.
CRAIG SHAPIRO
People for the Ethical Treatment
of Animals (PETA) Foundation
Norfolk, Virginia
I