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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 2017)
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2017 FRIDAY EXCHANGE 5A Taxes, no flood control I have reviewed legal records of the Skipanon Water Control Dis- trict (SWCD) that are maintained in the Clatsop County Records Department. I found a legal doc- ument dated March 1960 which created the SWCD sub-district. This charter document specified its boundaries and its obligations of services to be performed in the future. This document specified that SWCD was to oversee construc- tion of flood control structures in order for drainage, flood or surface water control which will benefit the people petitioning for flood control along the Skipanon River. Fifty-plus percent of the prop- erty owners with property directly adjacent to the Skipanon River peti- tioned the Clatsop County Court to create the SWCD sub-district in order to meet the requirements of Oregon state law for flood control districts. This document has no sus- pend date of when it will no longer be in effect. Oregon state law forbids ignor- ing flood control, at the same time promoting “fish passage” improve- ments in lieu of flood control. Other documents in the SCWD file require the property owners in the new SWCD sub-district agree to a new property special tax assess- ment on their annual property tax bill in order to create funds to main- tain the new flood control structures into the indefinite future. These taxes would never end unless these documents were amended by the Clatsop County Court. SWCD-managed tide gates were locked open in 2012, and fully removed in 2015. There has been no flood control available along the Skipanon River since. Ongoing property taxes each year, without providing flood pro- tection, appear to be illegal to me. Taxes will be collected indefinitely unless someone sues the SWCD to correct this problem. SCOTT WIDDICOMBE Warrenton Robin Hood W e Americans are in a real-life old English folktale. We all know, or used to all know, the tale of Robin Hood. I am seeing most of us as the people of Nottingham, waiting for him to sail in with his dashing charisma and seemingly new ideas. We have the Sheriff of Notting- ham being played by Jeff Sessions, one of the most obviously bigoted people in our government, getting the law changed to be in a posi- tion to raise taxes. Meanwhile there is his greedy Royal Prince John — yes, President Donald Trump — a pampered nephew who is now in charge, while the true leader, King Richard the Lion King, is off war- ring, saving the wronged from the wicked to protect our home. President Barack Obama set such a high standard, any political mistakes aside, of what most Amer- icans fantasize how our president should behave. He even did what the overwhelming majority of you wanted. He was not white-skinned like all others had been, and it scared you away. Look at what that has achieved: No. 1, greed controls everything; No. 2, the sheriff’s loyalists are being staged in certain places of authority; and No. 3, no one who is loyal, or too afraid, does anything but point the finger in any other direction but themselves or their Prince John. One example of that is “Fox News and Friends.” Having enjoyed my two years of U.S. history in college, I am very concerned. We keep doing the same thing over and over, without ripping out all the rot, before figuring out how to rebuild. We need to come together, as the biggest together we can, to rip out all the rot. Please get off the bench and help any way you might. Even if you don’t agree with me, get informed, get involved, and vote. TROY HASKELL Astoria A Christmas sweater M y favorite Christmas gift was a sweater. At 16. I’d flown to Alaska to visit Tracy Jane Adams, a former schoolmate from Holy Cross in Las Cruces, New Mex- ico. I was too dumbfounded by my crush to advance our friendship, yet alone my youthful dreams of love, but fortunately her mother, Mar- jorie, liked me. Since I was there on Christmas Day she bought me a gift. I’m certain it was no great labor for Marjorie to find me a gift. She was a middle-class air traffic con- troller who simply added a gift, for the nice young man visiting, to her ample Christmas list. She didn’t spend a fortune. She purchased a decent sweater, the kind she’d get for her own son, amongst an array of other gifts. I, however, treasured that sweater, as priceless. My childhood was extremely painful and poor; yet in the U.S., regardless of how poor you are, you are surrounded of images of more affluent and happier lives. The gift was a middle-class sweater. It wasn’t the economic status it rep- resented, it was the romantic image of the middle-class family, and as a gift it made me feel worthy as a person. I don’t know if that sweater is still packed amongst my mother’s storage things, but I’ve never had the heart to throw that threadbare worn wonder out. Now the sweater was a tangible thing, but there were so many intan- gible things that lifted me up or put me down; things still do, though I’m more fortified to resist their effect, to either extreme. Naturally, I’m not blameless in injuring the self-worth of others, but I do strug- gle, in my little way, as I suppose most do, to be a giver of sweaters. Come Christmas Day, will we be more conscious of what we’re shar- ing? Is it Christmas if we’re not? And, as we turn the corner of a new year, can my mind and heart not truly hope for exactly that? Happy holidays; good health, cheer and love in the new year. MICHAEL A. “SASHA” MILLER Astoria Trump focuses on results W e all hear complaints about President Donald Trump’s egotistical personality. But we for- get we’re used to presidents who always try to hide how much of a hotshot they all think they are. President Trump appears secure about himself. He’s made billions without trying to hide any part of his personality. You get what you see. And that’s an attribute that helped get him elected. President Trump’s leadership qualities are unlike any other mod- ern presidents. He tweets and he’s blunt. He doesn’t use the pussy- footing-tell them-what they-want- to-hear stuff we always hear from career politicians. That’s another attribute that helped get him elected. American presidents almost always cater to American audiences in their foreign speeches. But not President Trump. He’s trying to get results like most business people do — not votes, like all politicians do. President Trump lives a result-ori- ented life. Career politicians seek votes to be elected for life. President Trump knows every- body understands blunt talk. For- eign leaders, especially, appreciate bluntness because the translation makes his policies clearer. Where President Trump’s per- sonality holds him back is Con- gress. Sadly enough, politicians there don’t really like results like the President does. That’s proba- bly why they just make promises so often. Results always seem to offend half the voters these days, and career politicians don’t like to do that. President Trump’s public per- sona in the media isn’t so hot, but that’s because of the anti-Trump media people who constantly pound on the guy. From listening to his family, staff and social friends, he’s warm and friendly. And he appears to be a very generous person. Liberals always like to call a nonliberal president stupid, like they now call President Trump. His formal education was as Ivy League as most presidents. He got very good grades. He’s got better street sense than most career politicians. And, you become a billionaire by being a lot smarter than me, or any- body reading this letter. It seems to me name-calling and personal diatribes about President Trump are what’s not smart. Peo- ple around here have more intelli- gence than that, and might do better by discussing the president’s results instead. DON HASKELL Astoria Port’s sly moves T he Port of Astoria has now moved to pass Tongue Point from the public sector into pri- vate hands. This move has been applauded by The Daily Astorian and some in the public (“Tongue Point vote ends quest for bulk and container cargo,” Nov. 27). I say be careful what you wish for. Now away from public purview, I can see a very readily available partnership between new owners and a liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility. Plenty of money — cou- pled with Trumpkin regulators, and far more advanced infrastruc- ture than Jordan Cove — makes this spot ideal. Oh, the public can stomp its feet, but in this politi- cal climate, we’ve all seen money trumps all. One of my biggest complaints about the process is the Port of Astoria Commission has moved its public meetings to 4 p.m. to accom- modate one commissioner. All this does is exclude the public, and sti- fle public input, as 4 p.m. is a time most people cannot attend. If a commissioner cannot be available at normal public meeting times, they should resign. This is a pub- lic body. CHRIS CONNAWAY Astoria Are we headed to a new Korean war? By NICHOLAS KRISTOF New York Times News Service I f there was a message in North Korea’s launch of a new missile capable of reaching anywhere in the United States, it was that America’s strategy toward that coun- try is failing — and that war may be looming. The American public is far too complacent about the possibility of a war with North Korea, one that could be incompa- rably bloodier than any U.S. war in my lifetime. One assessment suggests that 1 million people could die on the first day. “If we have to go to war to stop this, we will,” U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, told CNN after the latest missile test. “We’re headed toward a war if things don’t change.” President Donald Trump himself has said he stands ready to “totally destroy” North Korea. His national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, says Trump “is willing to do any- thing necessary” to prevent North Korea from threatening the U.S. with nuclear weapons — which is precisely what Kim Jong Un did. One lesson from history: When a president and his advisers say they’re considering a war, take them seriously. The international security experts I’ve consulted offer esti- mates of the risk of war from 15 percent to more than 50 percent. That should be staggering. Trump said Wednesday that new sanctions were in the works and that “the situation will be handled.” But he has already been quite effective in increasing the economic pressure on North Korea, and it’s difficult to see how a 10th round of sanctions — after nine rounds so far since 2006 — will make a huge difference. The problem is twofold. First, the U.S. goal for North Korea — complete denuclearization — is implausible. Second, our strategy of economic sanctions is ineffec- tive against an isolated regime that earlier accepted the death by famine of perhaps 10 percent of its population. In short, we have a failed strat- egy to achieve a hopeless goal. The U.S. is also pursuing other approaches, including cyberattacks and missile defense, that are worthwhile but won’t force North Korea to hand over nuclear weap- ons. That’s the context in which military options become tempting for Trump. This problem is not Trump’s fault, and he’s right that previous administrations (back to the first President George Bush’s in the late AP Photo/Caleb Jones A Hawaii Civil Defense Warning Device, which sounds an alert siren during natural disasters, is shown in Honolulu. The alert system is tested monthly, but on Friday Hawaii residents will hear a new tone designed to alert people of an impending nuclear attack by North Korea. 1980s) have mostly kicked the can down the road. He’s also right that we’re running out of road, now that North Korea has shown the ability to send a missile some 8,000 miles, putting all of the U.S. within its theoretical range. (We may not be vulnerable yet. North Korea may not be able to attach a nuclear warhead to the missile so that it could survive the heat and friction of re-entering the atmosphere. But if it doesn’t have that capacity yet, it’s making swift progress toward that goal. It’s important to stop North Korea from the final testing needed to be confi- dent of its ability to strike the U.S.) Some analysts believe in retro- spect that it would have made sense for the U.S. to have attacked North Korea’s nuclear sites just as it was beginning its program, in the late 1980s. But even then, North Korea had the capacity to rain chemical and biological weapons on Seoul. In 1969, President Richard Nixon was tempted to strike at North Korea after it shot down an American spy plane, killing all 31 people aboard. Aides warned that any military strike could escalate into all-out war, and eventually Nixon backed down. Ever since, American presidents have likewise been periodically tempted to strike North Korea after one provocation or another, but have ended up showing restraint for fear of a cata- clysmic war. Hawks say that the continued American restraint has fostered a perception in North Korea that the U.S. is a paper tiger, and frankly there’s something to that. I worry that the U.S. and North Korea are both overconfident. On my recent visit to North Korea, officials repeatedly said that with their bunkers and tunnels, and ability to strike back, they could not only survive a nuclear war with the U.S., but would even prevail. In Washington, D.C., there’s sometimes a similar delusion that a war would be over in a day after the first barrage of American missiles. Remember that tiny Serbia withstood more than two months of NATO bombing in 1999 before agreeing to withdraw from Kosovo; North Korea is incomparably more prepared for enduring and waging war. I also worry that North Koreans are sometimes perceived as car- toonish, goose-stepping robots — a perfect, dehumanized enemy from central casting — and that an administration beset by problems at home may be more likely to project strength, take risks and stumble into a war. The last, best hope for the Korean Peninsula is some kind of negotiated deal in which Kim freezes his nuclear programs. North Korea just may be hinting in its latest statements that it is open to negotiations. So let’s try talking, rather than risk the first exchange of nuclear weapons in the history of our planet.