THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2017
FRIDAY EXCHANGE
5A
Gearhart repeal
I
have received a lot of questions
on the short-term rental repeal and
replace ordinance that will be on the
ballot this fall, which is financed by
a political firm out of California and
a vacation rental management corpo-
ration. I want to be perfectly clear on
what Measure 4-188 will mean for
the residents of Gearhart.
A yes vote will allow unlimited
short-term rentals in our single fam-
ily residential zones, no septic regu-
lations, and will get rid of state-cer-
tified safety inspections for fire and
life safety.
A no vote will continue our cur-
rent laws which include: a bal-
anced and responsible cap allowing
all short-term rental owners to con-
tinue to rent, adequate septic regula-
tions to protect neighbors from high
commercial use, and certified safety
inspections mandating legal fire
escapes to keep children, families
and visitors safe.
Our current laws also allow citi-
zens to rent multiple rooms or their
entire homes for 30 days or more
at any time, and allow funds from
short-term rental permits to go
toward our police and fire depart-
ments, through proceeds from our
general fund.
I campaigned last year on keep-
ing Gearhart the quiet residential
community we all know and love.
As your mayor, I made a vow to pro-
tect our citizens and I will continue
to fight along side you. Our residen-
tial property values, quality of life,
and sense of community are at stake.
With a no vote on Measure
4-188, we have the opportunity to
end the divisiveness, keeping Gear-
hart from becoming an investment
property community that would
allow outside corporations to buy
unlimited properties on any neigh-
borhood street.
Please contact me any time, and
I will go over our current law next
to the repeal and replace ordinance
with you, line by line. I won’t try to
convince you how to vote, but will
give you the facts so you can make
the best choice for our future.
MAYOR MATT BROWN
Gearhart
Gearhart = residential
he word community has many
definitions, as it can refer to peo-
ple, birds, insects, animals and such.
To us, the word refers to a group
of people with a common inter-
est, living in one town, in a pictur-
esque seacoast village, known for its
friendly residents.
When we decided to buy prop-
erty in Gearhart in March, after look-
ing at several coastal towns in Ore-
gon, we thought that we had found
that little picturesque seacoast vil-
lage, and were looking forward
to becoming one of the friendly
residents.
We were not wrong. Within one
week, we knew the names of all our
neighbors, because most stopped by
and introduced themselves. Since it
was springtime, many of them were
working diligently in their gardens,
and by the time summer came, their
homes could have won prizes in
House and Garden magazine.
“Oh yes,” I said to my husband,
“this is the place where we will hap-
pily spend the rest of our years.”
Unfortunately, in our opinion, a dark
cloud lurked on the horizon, attempt-
ing to destroy our Shangri-La.
We were extremely knowledge-
able of the term short-term rental,
before we moved to Gearhart, and
referred to it as the neighborhood
monster: a creature large, ugly and
frightening, which destroys resi-
dential communities. For those who
have never experienced living in a
community with short-term rentals,
this neighborhood monster will dam-
age and destroy any neighborhood if
let loose on the streets.
We experienced the effects of this
neighborhood monster while living
in Las Vegas. We had to keep our
doors locked at all times because of
robberies attributed to transient rent-
ers. We witnessed increased garbage
on the streets, people not picking
up after their pets, multiple vehi-
cles parked in neighborhoods where
it was mandatory to keep your cars
in the garage, and several noise vio-
lations, all due to this neighborhood
monster.
Our community laws meant noth-
ing to the short-term renters, as they
were on vacation and did not care
to respect the community. Worse
yet, many property owners were not
nearby, so these short-term renters
did as they pleased.
Out of all the coastal communi-
ties, we chose Gearhart because it
has an ordinance in place regulat-
ing short-term rentals. We implore
the voting residents to keep it this
way. Do not invite neighborhood
monsters into Gearhart. Let us keep
Gearhart residential. Please vote no
on Measure 4-188.
MALCOLM and JENNY
BARBIER BRUCE
Gearhart
T
More on watershed
L
ogging vernacular is rife with
euphemisms. Under adaptive
management, clearcuts masquer-
ade as thinning. My favorite term is
applied ecology, wherein a run-of-
the-mill clearcut mimics a cataclys-
mic event, such as the eruption of
Mount St. Helens.
To this skeptic, the removal of
non-native and disease-prone trees
would imply Douglas fir are not
endemic to the Bear Creek drain-
age. Poppycock. I would submit
that the harvest targeted Douglas fir
for removal because this specie had
been infested, and its annual growth
stunted by Swiss needle cast. Also,
by pure coincidence, the Douglas
fir are the highest value tree in any
watershed.
Of course, all this is unadorned
conjecture on my part, because I
will never learn all the facts by read-
ing The Daily Astorian, where it was
reported with unblinking guile that
the “thinning” really wasn’t about
the money (“Astoria keeps close eye
on timber in Bear Creek watershed,”
The Daily Astorian, Aug. 29).
Also, many thanks to Bud Hen-
derson for his letter, “Watershed
thinning” (The Daily Astorian, Sept.
15). In a few paragraphs, I learned
more about the Astoria watershed
and growth and volumes as these
measures apply to commercial har-
vests than I did in the entire article of
Aug. 29. I have been called by many
names, but never a casual observer.
GARY DURHEIM
Cannon Beach
Support DACA
resident Donald Trump’s
recent action to phase out the
Deferred Action for Children Arriv-
als (DACA) program was a heart-
less way to use these 800,000
young people as a political bargain-
ing chip. They must now live with
the extreme anxiety of not knowing
whether or not they will be deported
from the only country they have
known, while waiting to see if Con-
gress will pass legislation to grant
them a protected status.
Although 16 state attorneys gen-
eral have filed a challenge to his
action in a federal court, giving five
reasons why they think the original
DACA program was constitutional,
other legal scholars have given them
a less than fifty-fifty chance of being
successful.
That is why it is so import-
ant that citizens who support these
young people, 95 percent of whom
are working or going to school, and
who will be a significant boost to
our economy, urge Congress to pass
the Dream Act (S 1615/HR 3440)
promptly.
CAROLYN EADY
Astoria
P
Unintentional harm
I
n response to “Pope blasts climate
change doubters: cites moral duty
to act” (The Daily Astorian, Sept.
11): Pope Francis is right to be con-
cerned about the moral aspects of
climate change. However, he is unin-
tentionally encouraging the greatest
moral travesty of all.
Across the world people are suf-
fering due to the effects of dangerous
climate change. Yet aid agencies are
unable to secure sufficient funds to
help them because: Of the more than
$1 billion spent globally every day
on climate finance, only 6 percent of
it is goes to helping vulnerable peo-
ple adapt to climate change today.
The rest is spent trying to stop cli-
mate phenomena that might, or might
not, happen in the distant future.
As demonstrated by dozens of
open letters and other public lists,
many experts do not agree that we
face a man-made climate crisis. Con-
sider our Climate Scientists’ Register
(http://tinyurl.com/2es3rqx) which,
in only a few days in 2010, attracted
over 100 expert endorsers to the
statement: “We, the undersigned,
having assessed the relevant scien-
tific evidence, do not find convinc-
ing support for the hypothesis that
human emissions of carbon dioxide
are causing, or will in the foresee-
able future cause, dangerous global
warming.”
By promoting the belief that we
know we can control earth’s cli-
mate merely by reducing our carbon
dioxide emissions, Francis is unwit-
tingly encouraging governments to
put more importance on the possible
problems to be experienced by peo-
ple yet to be born than the real prob-
lems people are suffering today. That
is the real moral issue that should
most concern His Holiness.
TOM HARRIS
Executive director, International
Climate Science Coalition
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Disrespecting redheads
S
hame on Natalie St. John for
writing a discriminatory and dis-
paraging comment against children
with red hair. In her article “Hot
rods roar: End-of-summer car party
mostly safe, successful” (The Daily
Astorian, Sept. 13), in the “Younger,
wilder” section of the article, she
talks about the different classic cars,
describing the pristine, well taken
care of cars. Then she talks about the
cars that are jalopies, and old rust-
ed-up dented classic cars, commonly
known as “rat rods,” and refers to
those cars as “the redheaded step-
children of the hot rod world.”
Why is it that people continue to
use this outdated and racist phrase
against people with red hair? Its
wrong and demeaning to make dis-
paraging remarks toward anyone
because of their hair color, skin
color, race, religion, weight, gen-
der, etc. Everyone deserves to be
treated with kindness and respect
and compassion.
I am the proud wife to my hus-
band, who has strawberry blond
hair, and mom of my son, who has
red hair, and they are both amaz-
ing people. It broke my heart when
my husband and son read the article
— thinking they were going to be
reading an article about the hot rod
show in Long Beach, Washington
— only to read it and have a dis-
criminatory slur against them, just
because the color of their hair.
Shame on The Daily Astorian
for allowing their writers to write
discriminatory slurs against oth-
ers because of the color of their
hair, and to think it is all right to
insinuate that if you have red hair
that you’re a “stepchild,” and that
you’re not considered a valuable
person in society, and that people
with red hair are like the jalopies
and damaged cars of society.
If people tried to lift up all
human beings, instead of tearing
them down, the world would be a
better place to live. Instead, Natalie
St. John and The Daily Astorian
chose to tear others down in the
article that should have been fun.
KINDWYN HOGE
Seaside
Shine on solar power
I
n response to “Glimmer of
light for solar power” (The
Daily Astorian, Sept. 12): Solar
Power International began on Sept.
10 in Las Vegas with a panoply of
participants and technology in the
industry. Over 20,000 attendees,
700 booths and 19 countries dis-
played its availability.
Solar works in Western Oregon
and Washington. The physics of
photo voltaic cells have advanced
so rapidly, that even with over-
cast, they transmit power. Computer
controlled, tracking and develop-
ments from the U.S. space program
have morphed into the business.
Solar arrays, like Shoals Technol-
ogy Group, can now track the sun,
increasing cell collection.
Many companies have “plug and
play” units, so solar cell assembly,
transformer and inverter functions
are combined with batteries in a
seamless interaction. Some of those
businesses are ABB Group and LG.
Making it easier for the con-
struction industry is Quick Mount
(http://quickmountpv.com), secur-
ing safe secure mountings of solar
displays.
Other developments come in the
make up of batteries. Eliminating
the use of cobalt, a nasty child labor
industry, these new lithium, iron
and phosphate battery technologies
offer high power and energy den-
sity, excellent safety performance
and extensive life cycling. Compa-
nies such as SimplPhi and others
are leading the field.
The sun is our new energy system.
PAMELA MATTSON
McDONALD
Astoria
Sobering documentary
he new Netflix documentary
“Heroin(e)” is a sad and sober-
ing film, but one I believe every-
one must watch. I served on a grand
jury a few years ago as an alter-
nate one day here in Astoria. Five of
the seven cases we heard were for
heroin possession. I’m certain that
since then the problem has grown
exponentially.
There are many layers to the
onion of this tragedy. Bad parent-
ing, lack of parental discipline or
boundaries, lack of a quality educa-
tion or skills for good jobs in small
and large cities. This creates a need
for government entitlements of
all kinds, and way too many peo-
ple with no moral code of conduct
nor a belief in any form of a higher
being. Drug addiction can consume
anyone from any background, but
without these issues being honestly
addressed people are more likely to
fall prey to addiction.
Anyone who thinks pot legal-
ization, or lax laws for possession
of other controlled substances are a
good thing live in a bubble, are in
denial and don’t consider the dark
side of this crisis. Legalizing mari-
juana was the first small step into the
rabbit hole. Legalization will have
long-term effects on future genera-
tions, especially young children —
it’s a mathematical certainty. For
people with addictive personali-
ties, not all of course, pot is a gate-
way drug.
The human costs are heartbreak-
ing, but the financial costs are just
as staggering. One of the emergency
medical technicians said in the film
that if left unchecked, it could bank-
rupt the entire U.S.
Colorado, Oregon and Washing-
ton may believe that the tax revenues
created by legalization of marijuana
are a risk verses reward scenario, but
eventually that well will run dry with
higher dropout rates, criminal activ-
ity, increased incarceration and drug
rehab costs and sky-high entitlement
spending.
There are no easy answers. Long
jail sentences may not be the answer,
and of course drug rehab funding
T
must increase, but enabling people
and not having any consequences is
no remedy either. We must begin to
condemn drug use, just as we have
cigarettes, or Astoria could follow
in the same footsteps of Huntington,
West Virginia, in “Heroin(e).”
JEFF JACQUES
Astoria
Voting is the answer
’ve been a member of the Indivis-
ible North Coast Oregon move-
ment in Astoria since its inaugural
meeting earlier this year at the First
United Methodist Church. As some-
one who isn’t a huge fan of the cur-
rent president, I was inspired by the
idea of “resisting” the new admin-
istration’s agenda. I was optimis-
tic that maybe — just maybe — a
grassroots group of real people with
shared ideals could somehow fight
to protect our democracy and values
if we all just banded together and
shouted loudly enough.
Now, eight months into the new
administration, I still found myself
feeling powerless. I’d gone to meet-
ings, rallies and hounded my mem-
bers of Congress, but the threats
were (and are) still there. After some
thought, it finally occurred to me
that my high school civics teacher
was right: Yelling isn’t the answer.
Silence is. In fact, the real answer is
the very easiest, and something our
country is woefully inept at: Voting.
While our Canadian neighbors
have had an average turnout of 70.7
percent since 1867, Americans have
forgotten that voting is the only way
to exercise individual power in a
society. It’s a right people fought
and died for, that racial minorities
have only had since the 1800s, and
that women have had for less than
a century. Though the presence of
the Electoral College has discour-
aged many, the truth is that the elec-
tion could have ended differently
had more people only shown up to
cast a ballot.
National Voter Registration Day
is Tuesday. And though the near-
est election isn’t until 2018, this is
an issue we need to discuss now.
I would implore everyone to take
Tuesday as an opportunity to regis-
ter, if you haven’t already. Talk to
your neighbors, friends and family
in other states about voting. Impress
upon them the importance. It’s a lot
quieter than yelling, and way more
effective.
TIFFINY MITCHELL
Astoria
I
Teeing off on women
V
iolence against women is a
widespread, tragic reality in this
country, and the numbers are stag-
gering. According to the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, 1
in 4 women will experience physi-
cal and/or sexual violence during her
lifetime. The resulting physical and
psychological scars left by this abuse
brand these women forever.
For those of you who are chuck-
ling or even guffawing at Presi-
dent Donald Trump’s re-tweeting of
“Trump’s Amazing Golf Swing,” a
doctored video featuring Trump tee-
ing off, and his golf ball slamming
Hillary Clinton squarely between her
shoulders and dropping her to her
knees, please substitute your daugh-
ter/wife/mother/grandmother/sister
in Hillary’s stead.
If this optic leaves you mind-
blind and still in the throes of hyster-
ical laughter, comedian Kathy Grif-
fin has just the video for you. Google
it. It’s a real knee slapper.
KATHLEEN ZUNKEL
Warrenton