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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 25, 2017)
OPINION 4A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2017 Founded in 1873 DAVID F. PERO, Publisher & Editor JIM VAN NOSTRAND, Managing Editor 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 What started out as a bomb scare that closed downtown Seaside on Broadway between Holladay Drive an Edgewood Street ended up being an anti-climactic accident. At 11:30 a.m. Saturday, a van fire was reported on Broadway Bridge near the Bridge Tender Tavern in Seaside. Shortly after firefighters arrived, they began evacuating nearby buildings and businesses after observing what looked like a small pipe bomb. According to Seaside Police Chief Bob Gross, firefighters were dis- patched to the van and on arrival reported hearing a “whooshing” sound coming from the vehicle. “Because of the smoke and sound, we suspected a bomb and called the Oregon State Police bomb squad,” said Gross. A member of the bomb squad, wearing a blast suit for safety, inspected the vehicle twice before an all-clear was issued. “It appears to just be a battery that overheated and exploded,” said Detec- tive Karl Farber, of Pendleton, of the OSP bomb squad. For 100 years, Astoria has been buying electricity from Pacific Power. If all goes as city leaders hope, some energy may be flow- ing in the opposite direction soon, as Astoria prepares to get into the power business. Like Rumpelstiltskin spinning straw into gold, spinning tur- bines could turn wind and rain — ingredients Astoria has in abundance — into cash for city coffers. Unlike the fairytale char- acter, Astoria is looking to science instead of alchemy to effect the transformation. 50 years ago — 1967 The Daily Astorian/File Hard aground this morning on the outer end of Clatsop Spit was the Greek freighter Captailannes S., which went ashore about 8:30 p.m. Sunday, battered by 15-foot waves. The Coast Guard he- licopter is putting Capt. John Markakis and other officers back on board, reversing the process used in darkness Sunday night to rescue the 20 men and two women. Wind gusts up to 54 mph shook the U.S. Weather Bureau’s Clatsop air- port station just before noon Friday as a cold front swept through the area. A warm front ahead of it moved through early this morning, causing high winds that continued all morning. Coast Guard helicopters lifted all the crew off a Greek freighter aground on Clatsop Spit Sunday night as 16-foot waves pounded the craft. Twenty men and two women rode ashore in the copters. The 384-foot Captaliannes S., inbound with 3,000 tons of Nor- wegian fish meal, was knocked out of the main channel by a large wave between 7 and 8 p.m. It went aground on the outer end of Clatsop Spit. It was one of the worst marine disasters at the river entrance in several years. As the small Greek freighter crashed on the sands where many ships’ bones lie buried, the crew was able to get off a brief radio appeal for help and to send up flares. Whether mail call or breakfast was the high point climaxing a long eve- ning was a tossup as a weary, relieved and happy-under-the-circumstances Greek crew spent most of the morning drinking coffee and discussing five hours of harrowing experience in the storm-tossed Columbia River entrance. Mail was brought from Portland by the ship’s agent. Attempts to pull the grounded Greek freighter Captaliannes S. from its position on the outside edge of Clatsop Spit were to be made again on Tuesday evening high tide after attempts by the tug Salvage Chief failed on two earlier high tides. For the first time since the Greek ship Captaliannes S. went aground on Clatsop Spit Sunday night, members of its crew staying at the John Jacob Astor Hotel had smiles on their faces when they came downstairs for break- fast at 9 a.m. Thursday. The smiles came from their feeling now that citizens of Astoria were helping them. The crew expressed thanks to the city for helping them obtain things they need. 75 years ago — 1942 ILWACO, Wash. — Bill O’Meara, electrician’s mate third class, who has been spending a 20-day furlough at his home here, was on duty on the USS Astoria when she was sunk by the Japs in Tulagi harbor, Solomon Islands, on August 7. Leaving Pearl Harbor shortly before Dec. 7, the Astoria steamed to southern seas water. O’Meara states the ship had withstood an almost continuous onslaught of major engagements with the Japs without a scar, and was then assigned in task force taking the U.S. Marines to Guadalcanal, when the fatal attack came. Last general standing guard By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN New York Times News Service A nd then there was one. In March, I wrote a column in the form of a memo to Secretary of Defense James Mattis, National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster, then-Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly, CIA Director Mike Pompeo and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. It began: “Dear Sirs, I am writing you today as the five adults with the most integrity in the Trump administration. Mattis, McMaster and Kelly, you all served our nation as generals in battle. Pompeo, you graduated first in your class at West Point. … Tillerson, you ran one of America’s largest companies. I am writing you directly because I believe you are the last ‘few good men’ who can stand up and reverse the moral rot that has infected the Trump administration from the top.” Well, so much for that. McMaster doesn’t seem to have built much of a relationship with Trump, not one that can constrain him. Tillerson blew himself up by reportedly calling the president a “(bleeping) moron” and then starring in a hostage video in which he sang the president’s praises and assured us that Trump was actually “smart.” After Trump tweeted that Tillerson was wasting his time negotiating with North Korea, Tillerson had to publicly assure us that he had not been “castrated” by Trump — which meant that he had. On Thursday, Pompeo showed how much he has sold his soul. In an answer to a question, Pompeo told a conference held by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a conservative think tank, that “the intelligence commu- nity’s assessment is that the Russian meddling that took place did not affect the outcome of the election.” That was a baldfaced lie. The CIA, FBI and NSA issued a report in January concluding that Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, personally “ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the U.S. presidential election,” designed to denigrate Hillary Clinton and aid Trump. At the same time, these agencies declared, “We did not make an assessment of the impact that Russian activities had on the outcome of the 2016 election,” which was outside their writ and expertise. Pompeo just made that up, no doubt to please Trump. Finally, sadly, Kelly squandered his moral authority by starring in his own White House podium hostage video. It began well. Kelly AP Photo/Alex Brandon Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, right, speaks during a meeting with Israe- li Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, left, at the Pentagon this month. Trump needs to know that it is now your way or the highway — not his. That is how you talk to a bully. It’s the only language he understands. spoke eloquently and with great dignity about the pain of losing a son in battle, as he and his wife did, and about certain bedrock values that our society has lost in how we treat one another. He even seemed to explain how the president’s phone call to the widow of a Green Beret killed in Niger got garbled. If only he had stopped there. But instead, he began to talk like Trump, gratuitously smearing a black congresswoman who was a friend of the Green Beret’s bereaved family — with provably false charges. It was tragic. In an instant, he went from Kelly to Kellyanne Conway, just another Trump apologist. Sarah Huckabee Sanders must have known that Kelly had lost his moral authority, because, the next day, when reporters challenged Kelly’s comments about the congresswoman, the White House spokeswoman tried to shut them up by holding up Kelly’s formal uniform, saying, “If you want to get into a debate with a four-star Marine general, I think that’s some- thing highly inappropriate.” Sorry, Sarah, when a general lies, he loses his moral and formal credibility. That leaves Mattis as the last man standing — the only one who has not been infected by Trump’s metastasizing ethical cancer, the only one who has not visibly lied on Trump’s behalf, and who can still put some fear into Trump. Well, Mattis, here’s some free advice to the last man standing: Don’t just stand there. If you just stand there, you’ll be next. Because Trump and Sanders will be looking to enlist your old uniform next in their defense — that is, if Trump doesn’t throw you under the bus first to escape responsibility for the bungled operation in Niger. Secretary Mattis, we don’t need any more diagnosis of the problem. We need action. And I am not talking about a coup. I mean you need to lead McMaster, Tillerson and Kelly (Pompeo is a lost cause) in telling Trump that if he does not change his ways, you will all quit, en masse. Trump needs to know that it is now your way or the highway — not his. That is how you talk to a bully. It’s the only language he understands. Tell him: No more ridiculous tweeting attacks on people every morning; no more telling senators who forge bipartisan compromises on immigration or health care that he’s with them one day and against them the next; no more casual lying; no more feeding the base white supremacist “red meat” — no more distracting us from the real work of forging compromises for the American people and no more eroding the American creed. Led by you and you only, Mattis, your little squadron with Tillerson, Kelly and McMaster still has power. And if you can’t together force Trump onto an agenda of national healing and progress, then you should together tell him that he can govern with his kids and Sanders — because you took an oath to defend the Constitution, not to wipe up Trump’s daily filth with the uniform three of you wore so honorably. WHERE TO WRITE • U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D): 439 Cannon House Office Building, Washington, D.C., 20515. Phone: 202- 225-0855. Fax 202-225- 9497. District office: 12725 SW Mil- likan 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.
