OPINION
4A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, OCTOBER 27, 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
OUR VIEW
E
ach week we recognize those people and organizations
in the community deserving of public praise for the good
things they do to make the North Coast a better place to
live, and also those who should be called out for their actions.
SHOUTOUTS
• Ron Craig, executive director and founder of the Astoria
International Film Festival, and volunteers who staged last
weekend’s 11th annual event at the Liberty Theatre. Attendees
were able to check out foreign films, American classics, doc-
umentaries and film shorts created by regional filmmakers, all
under the theme of “The Human Spirit.” The festival also fea-
tured a documentary tribute to James Beard, which was directed
by Beth Federici. Beard was a reknown chef who born in
Portland and spent many summers in Gearhart prior to his death
in 1985. After the documentary screening, festivalgoers were
encouraged to visit Baked Alaska on the Riverwalk to pay trib-
ute to Beard and share stories about him.
• Candace Pozdolski, a 911 Astoria lead dispatcher with
11 years of experience, who recently earned the state chapter
of the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials’
Telecommunicator of the Year Award. She also received an
Impact Award for her part in implementing a text to 911 system.
Pozdolski was recently promoted to the newly formed operations
supervisor position, which was
created to improve communica-
tion and management at the dis-
patch center. She will oversee
the planning, training and super-
vision of the daily operations of
the center.
• Warrenton resident Martin
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
McMaster, who with the help
Candace Pozdolski, lead dis-
of Pacific Seafoods, Warrenton
patcher at the Astoria 911
Dispatch, closely monitors Fiber Co./Nygaard Logging
her computer screens during and Zorich Trucking is keep-
a recent shift at the facility. ing a local Halloween tradition
Pozdolski was named the alive. For more than 70 years,
state’s Telecommunicator of
the Willner family has pro-
the Year Award.
vided pumpkins for Warrenton
and Astoria schoolchildren at the Quincy & Bessie Robinson
Community Park. This year, McMaster, a family friend, stepped
in to organize the effort and the companies made donations
for the pumpkin purchases to keep the tradition going in the
community.
• The all-volunteer members of Seaside Kids, Inc., who
recently staged the organization’s annual Pancake and Sausage
Feed at the Seaside Civic and Convention Center. The long-
standing breakfast-for-dinner fundraiser drew about 400 people
who indulged in all-you-can-eat pancakes and sausage, prepared
by Oregon Fine Foods and plated by volunteers. Young foot-
ball players dressed in their game jerseys filled water cups and
cleared plates and tables. The organization’s mission for more
than 60 years has been to provide healthy, wholesome athletic
activities annually to more than 600 local kids. Families don’t
pay for equipment or uniforms, which is made possible through
sponsorships, donations from businesses and fraternal organiza-
tions and fundraisers like the pancake feed.
• Local high school athletes who will be vying in the state
playoffs as the post-season starts this weekend for the region’s
sports teams. The Astoria football team will play in a Regional
Play-in game at Estacada, while the Astoria volleyball squad
travels for a first-round state playoff match Saturday at Baker.
Astoria soccer teams await opponents in the 4A Regional Play-in
round, while the Seaside boys soccer team has clinched a league
title and will host a first-round state playoff game on Wednesday.
The Seaside and Knappa football teams have also clinched
league titles, and will host first-round playoff games, Nov. 3 or 4.
CALLOUTS
• Scammers who targeted guests at a Cannon Beach hotel and
possibly others in the region, using room-service bills in attempts
to get guests’ credit card information. Cannon Beach police
reported that a fraudster contacted a hotel dining room/restaurant
by phone this week, claiming to be from the accounting depart-
ment and saying there had been problems posting room-service
credit card billings. Using that as his justification, the scammer
was able to get information from staff, including names, room
numbers and specific room-service meals. The scammer then
contacted the front desk asking to be transferred to guest rooms.
Using the information he obtained, he was able to convince the
guests that there had been a problem processing their credit cards.
Police said the guests provided him with their card information,
thinking it was a legitimate since he had such specific information.
Suggestions?
Do you have a Shoutout or Callout you think we should know about? Let
us know at news@dailyastorian.com and we’ll make sure to take a look.
Hey, men, sex harassment
is not just a ‘women’s issue’
By NICHOLAS KRISTOF
New York Times News Service
W
omen have been speak-
ing out over the last
few weeks about sex-
ual harassment and
assaults — passion-
ately, eloquently
and sometimes tear-
fully — and we
men have been (for
once!) rather silent.
That’s better
than jumping in, drowning out wom-
en’s voices, and mansplaining: Actu-
ally, I saw a TV show about this
once, and the real problem is. … But
we men can be more than passive
observers, and a start is surely to be
better at listening. So I asked some
smart, strong women how men can
become part of the solution.
I started with Gloria Steinem,
who emphasized that men can stand
up to make clear that inflicting
unwanted sexual attention on another
person is just plain wrong.
“Every time a man interrupts the
culture of dominance — and treats
both women and men as unique indi-
viduals who are valuable for our
hearts and minds and actions, not
for how we look or where we are in
some hierarchy — we are closer to
being linked, not ranked,” Steinem
told me. “Fathers have a big chance
to do this just by listening to their
daughters, and showing them that
they’re worth listening to. Co-work-
ers can do this by not commenting
on a woman’s appearance when they
wouldn’t say the same of a man.
“This is not rocket science,” Stei-
nem added. “It’s empathy.”
Need accountability
Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Face-
book, told me that she flinches a
bit at references to male “allies,”
because that can sound as if men are
wading in as a favor to women. In
fact, she noted, it’s in everybody’s
interest that we erase harassment
and discrimination — and a man’s
own team will perform better if he
includes women who feel safe and
respected.
Sandberg also emphasized some-
thing I strongly believe: We need
not just sensitivity training, but also
accountability. That means firing not
only the men who sexually harass
but also the men and women who are
complicit.
“People need to be afraid not
just of doing these things, but also
of not doing anything when some-
one around them does it,” Sandberg
said. “If you know something is hap-
pening and you fail to take action,
whether you are a man or a woman
— especially when you are in power
— you are responsible, too.”
One dismissal sends a stronger
message throughout an organiza-
tion than 10,000 hours of sensitivity
training.
One dismissal
sends a
stronger
message
throughout an
organization
than 10,000
hours of
sensitivity
training.
Men have sometimes been prone
to disbelieve victims’ stories, and one
of the most distasteful aspects of the
Harvey Weinstein scandal was a rush
to refocus blame by questioning why
female victims didn’t speak up ear-
lier or go to police. That tendency to
victim-shame is precisely why survi-
vors are reluctant to speak up — and
let’s remember that culpability lies
with perpetrators, not victims.
One of the bravest voices has
been Ashley Judd, who broke the ice
by speaking up about Weinstein. So I
asked Judd how men can help.
“Men being willing to have dia-
logue with their families and friends,
and to disrupt sexist remarks, jokes
and behavior, is integral to change,”
she said. “Learning to let women
speak up, and being open and teach-
able, is crucial. Imagine if we could
simply say, ‘stop’ and ‘no,’ and men
stopped? These micro interpersonal
interactions hold transformative
power.”
Greater scrutiny
One unfortunate consequence of
greater scrutiny of these issues is that
male bosses are sometimes reluctant
to have dinner or drinks with female
employees, making it difficult for
women to build social relationships
with bosses and be promoted. I asked
Rosabeth Moss Kanter, a Harvard
Business School professor, about
this, and she said that the solution is
obvious.
“More women in all positions
of power,” she said. “And not as
tokens.”
I’m sure that some men reading
this are rolling their eyes. On Twitter,
one person responded to my denun-
ciation of sexual harassment with a
snide, “Do you have a penis at all?”
Sigh. We men simply have to under-
stand that there is nothing manly
about sexual assault.
Look, human relations are com-
plicated, we are sexual creatures and
it’s inevitable that there will be fine
lines and misunderstandings. But a
new ABC News/Washington Post
poll found that 54 percent of Amer-
ican women report having received
unwanted and inappropriate sexual
advances — meaning that this is a
huge national problem, and a chal-
lenge for us all. Civil rights weren’t
just a “black problem,” the Holocaust
wasn’t just a “Jewish problem” and
sexual harassment and discrimina-
tion are more than just a “women’s
problem.”
Men sometimes weigh in: As a
father of a young daughter, I deplore.
… But that sounds as if one cares
about women only if one has made
one, or as if one thinks of female col-
leagues as little girls. So let’s switch
to this paradigm: As a human being,
I want fellow humans treated fairly
and decently, not poked with less
respect than we would treat a pound
of beef at the supermarket.
I asked my wife, Sheryl WuDunn,
what her advice was for men, and
she was concise: “Put peer pressure
on each other to treat women better.”
Hey, men, let’s heed her advice.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Rolling in his grave
M
y father, Harry Miller, is roll-
ing over in his grave re: “Food
bank shake-up leads to a temporary
closure. (The Daily Astorian, Oct.
23, 2017) The South County Food
Bank was his “baby” for many years.
To see what’s happening now would
absolutely break his heart.
It’s a shame the board can’t get
their act together. Instead of actu-
ally speaking with all the volunteers,
as well as Karla Gann, they chose to
simply fire everyone. I don’t know
why this “shake-up” took place but
I’d certainly bet the problem lies
more with the board, not the volun-
teers. It’s too bad the volunteers and
the public were, apparently, left out
of this decision.
It would have been nice to try to
fix it before such a rash decision was
made. It was a huge slap in the face
to all the hard-working volunteers of
the food bank. I have no doubt Ms.
Gann is correct when she says 90
percent of the staff will not be back.
My heart breaks not only for the peo-
ple who need help but all the volun-
teers who can no longer help them.
Dad used to say, “They (the board)
haven’t got the sense God gave a
soda cracker.” Yep, Dad was right.
Let’s see who’s going to pick up all
those cracker crumbs now.
SYLVIA HERRLEY
Seaside
Questionable conduct
I
have noted several major issues
of poor executive decision-mak-
ing by senior government employ-
ees in Clatsop County, Astoria and
Warrenton.
The Astoria chief of police
decided to retire early when deci-
sions he made turned out to be
embarrassing. The former city man-
ager of Warrenton decided that he
had become a distraction in the city
because of actions he had engaged in
and so he decided to accept a separa-
tion economic package and move to
a different area.
In the last year I have seen the
Port of Astoria incur a substantial
financial penalty for a violation of
environmental laws and be required
to pay a large fine. Now I see the
Port of Astoria executive director be
judged in a court of law of dishon-
est testimony in a legal case against
the agency he leads that has led to a
potential fine for this agency of $4
million.
Like all human beings, I have
made my share of human misjudg-
ments that have cost me in my repu-
tation and/or pocketbook. The word
“mistake” comes up all of the time
in this day and age as an excuse for
very bad decision-making.
At some point we need to start
using the words “incompetent” or
“malfeasance” to describe what is
happening, especially when it comes
to high-level executives that are hired
to achieve outstanding results and are
well-compensated for their work.
I think the current Port of Astoria
commissioners need to look at their
own judgment in the recent decision
to grant a pay raise to the executive
director of the Port along with a con-
tract extension.
In my opinion the Port of Astoria
commissioners are perpetuating poor
work performance by the executive
director and this directly reflects on
them in this situation.
SCOTT WIDDICOMBE
Warrenton