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.