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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (May 22, 2018)
6A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, MAY 22, 2018 editor@dailyastorian.com KARI BORGEN Publisher JIM VAN NOSTRAND Editor Founded in 1873 JEREMY FELDMAN Circulation Manager DEBRA BLOOM Business Manager JOHN D. BRUIJN Production Manager CARL EARL Systems Manager OUR VIEW 20 years after an Oregon tragedy B efore Columbine, there was Thurston. It seems like only yesterday that 15-year-old Kip Kinkel shocked the conscience of Oregon — indeed, the world — by gunning down class- mates at Thurston High School in Springfield after ambushing his parents at home. But it’s been 20 years. Kinkel is 35 duct drills. Protocols have been rewrit- and imprisoned. The Oregon Supreme ten so first responders – thank God Court recently upheld his prison sen- for their courage and training — con- tence of nearly 112 years with no pos- front the shooter as quickly as possible sibility of parole. instead of awaiting SWAT’s arrival. Experts at his sentencing had tes- Threats and indicators of potential tified that his extreme psychosis was violence are taken seriously … much treatable but incurable. of the time. SafeOregon.com has been It was May 21, 1998, when Kipland created specifically for schoolchildren Philip Kinkel fatally shot two stu- to report threats, replacing the Oregon dents, wounded 25 others and later State Police tip line launched after tried to stab a police officer. The pre- Thurston and then dropped for lack of vious day at Thurston High, he had funding. bought a stolen pistol from a friend, Laws — including Oregon’s new been arrested and — supposedly wor- extreme-risk protection order — have ried about what his parents would been passed allowing courts and law think about his arrest — shot and enforcement to intervene if someone killed them. is deemed psychologically at risk of Twenty years. Columbine and harming self or others. Virginia Tech. Sandy Hook and Yet in many ways, we seemingly Fort Hood. Clackamas Town Center have made little progress. and Umpqua Community College. Access to mental health care is the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High No. 1 concern of Oregon high school School in Florida and the Route 91 students in a recent survey. Harvest country music festival in Las Deadly violence, whether by fire- Vegas. arms or other means, still plagues American society at levels far above As a state and as a nation, we have those of most industrialized coun- suffered much and learned some. tries. We still don’t know what drives “Active shooter” is now ingrained in our vocabulary. Schools, law one irrational person to kill, but many enforcement and medical units con- more not to. AP Photo/Don Ryan Kip Kinkel, middle, is led into the Marion County Courthouse in Salem in 2007. We have squandered an incalcula- ble number of dollars, days and brain cells arguing over whom to blame — mental illness, firearms, our culture — instead of finding common ground and community solutions. The resulting “opportunity cost” — what we could have achieved if we had pursued a dif- ferent course — is profound. Kip Kinkel came from a good home. His parents did their best, seek- ing both accountability and treatment for Kip. We owe it to them, to the Thurston students — and to all the other fam- ilies — to find that common ground and those collaborative solutions. AP Photo/Don Ryan Thurston High School student Kip Kinkel, 15, is led to his arraignment in Eugene in 1998. WHERE TO WRITE • U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D): 439 Cannon House Office Building, Wash- ington, D.C., 20515. Phone: 202- 225- 0855. Fax 202-225-9497. District office: 12725 SW Millikan Way, Suite 220, Bea- verton, 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, Washington, D.C. 20510. Phone: 202-224-3753. Web: www. merkley.senate.gov • U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D): 221 Dirk- sen Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C., 20510. Phone: 202-224-5244. Web: www.wyden.senate.gov • State Rep. Brad Witt (D): State Cap- itol, 900 Court Street N.E., H-373, Salem, OR 97301. Phone: 503-986-1431. Web: www.leg.state.or.us/witt/ Email: rep.brad- witt@state.or.us • State Rep. Deborah Boone (D): 900 Court St. N.E., H-481, Salem, OR 97301. Phone: 503-986-1432. Email: rep.deb- orah 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 johnson@state. or.us Web: www.betsyjohnson.com Dis- trict 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, Astoria, OR 97103. Phone: 503-741-3300. Email: admin@por- tofastoria.com • Clatsop County Board of Com- missioners: c/o County Manager, 800 Exchange St., Suite 410, Astoria, OR 97103. Phone: 503-325-1000. LETTERS County commissioners should comply with rules A serious problem is revealed in The Daily Astorian’s coverage of the current kerfuf- fle going on between Clatsop County Man- ager Cameron Moore and the Board of Com- missioners. The stories mention that Clatsop County has seen nine different managers over the past 16 years (“Clatsop County manager defends himself in return to commission meet- ing,” May 10). The average tenure for county managers, according to the International City/County Management Association, ranges from five to eight years. Micromanagement of county staff by commissioners is apparently a huge issue. Moore’s comment that “I have been asking, begging, pleading and demanding that these commissioners acquaint themselves with the rules that govern them and consistently com- ply with them” also speaks volumes (“Clatsop County manager apologizes for skipping meet- ings,” The Daily Astorian, May 1). I honestly don’t know whether Moore is a good manager or not. But clearly, the county Board of Commissioners has a problem. Nine managers in 16 years. Think about it. As a taxpayer, I demand that any candidates for commissioners’ seats, as well as the sit- ting commissioners who are not up for re-elec- tion, “acquaint themselves with the rules that govern them” and then demonstrate that they understand, and will “consistently comply with them.” If they don’t like the manager, for whatever reason, they have recourse to deal with that within those rules, and without engaging in a ridiculous dog and pony show like the one we have now. Otherwise, we, the taxpayers of Clatsop County, are headed for a very expensive legal disaster, and, unfortunately, the negative impact of constant turnover in the county manager’s office. BILL GRAFFIUS Gearhart The ever-changing version of truth T ruth has recently been buffeted by severe crosswinds. It has been assailed most severely by persons in the highest ranks of our government, and their revolving coterie of law- yers. Our president has shuffled his legal team so deftly that even the most astute observ- ers have difficulty staying abreast of what that might portent. The most recent addition to the president’s legal team has, even for the president’s most ardent supporters, created a certain crisis of certainty. While he identifies members of the FBI as “storm troopers,” he also makes a liar out of his president by telling his interviewer that the president, who has repeatedly denied having a stormy affair with a certain porn star, paid off the lawyer who provided the woman $130,000 in hush money. Both can’t be telling the truth, as their assertions clash head-on. The chief prevaricator continues to feed the media more than just “fake” news. But what can we expect from someone who claimed for years that Obama was not a born U.S. citizen, even though the U.S. Supreme Court said he was? The most incredible fact remains that many Americans continue to support President Don- ald Trump and his ever-changing version of truth. ELFI GROSS Astoria Kujala will keep us informed as commissioner ongratulations newly elected Commis- sioner Mark Kujala. It was a joy for me to see how you so handily won your race for the Clatsop County Board of Commissioners (Dis- trict 1). As a former Warrenton mayor, one thing for sure I know is that you will keep us informed. We here in Warrenton (especially us seniors) are delighted that you will be an advocate for us and our growing city. I believe Warrenton is the fastest-growing city in our county, and a lot of credit for that goes to Mark. One thing I especially remember when you were mayor, Mark, is how you kept us informed through your mayor column in The Colum- bia Press. We always knew what was going on. Your descriptive abilities go unmatched. Thanks for all the hard work you went to as you fought for the not-easy task of representing us. Hope it turns out to be a privilege. Congratu- lations, Mark. EMMA EDWARDS Warrenton C Trump presidency bad news for democracy am not qualified to comment on what may be happening with our federal justice sys- tem, but when Kentucky Sen. Mitch McCon- nell stonewalled Barack Obama’s nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court, I formed a few partisan opinions of my own. The letter “What’s happening with federal justice system?” (The Daily Astorian), published May 16, left me convinced there was nothing the writer and I could agree on, until I read his parting comment: “But what’s happening today to the presidency is bad news for American I democracy.” I could not agree more, nor could I have said it better. Thanks. GARY DURHEIM Seaside We have devalued process of voting aving been a candidate for local office in Columbia County through four election cycles, I’ve knocked on thousands of doors, put signs up, torn signs down, accepted contribu- tions, and worked hard to comply with election laws while running a business. I learned what it was to “value the voter.” Twice I lost by less than 1 percent. One forced a recount. In 1998, Oregon became the first state in the union to offer vote by mail. Then in 2016, Ore- gon passed the motor-voter law, coupling driv- ers’ licenses to voter registration, with the appar- ent result of almost 500,000 new voters since 2014. So explaining Oregon’s abysmal 33.6 percent turnout in the May 15 primary is a head-scratcher. What’s stranger, politically active Portland — that’s Multnomah, Washington and Clacka- mas counties — saw turnouts of 32.9 percent, 30.8 percent, and 28.1 percent, respectively. I’d suggest by reducing the steps, effort, and identification required of one to become a voter, we created the unintended, but very real conse- quence of devaluing the process of voting. When one takes the time to fill out and mail in the paperwork, read up on the issues and can- didates, then drive to the polls, making it there by 8 p.m., he hasn’t just voted. He’s invested in America. WAYNE MAYO Scappoose H
