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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 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
Looking ahead to the general election
N
ow that the dust has settled on
the 2018 primary, it is time
to look ahead to the general
election.
The number of young people eager
to register to vote is encouraging,
according to national reports. The law
allows teens who are 17 to register in
advance if they will be 18 on Nov. 6.
The last day to register is Oct. 16.
The number of registered voters in
Clatsop County is 27,251. Our primary
saw a 36-percent voter turnout. We
are not alone in feeling that is far, far
too low and we welcome all efforts to
increase it significantly in November.
We cannot stress this enough —
many Americans have fought and
died for your right to vote. Exercise it.
Elections have consequences.
State and national choices
Nationally, the 2018 midterms fig-
ure to be a referendum on the Donald
Trump presidency.
Every one of the 435 seats in the
U.S. House of Representatives is up
for grabs. So are 34 seats in the U.S.
Senate. So, too, are more than three
dozen governors’ seats, important
because they provide a platform for
states’ support of federal efforts.
Neither of Oregon’s U.S. senators
is on the ballot this year. U.S. Rep.
Suzanne Bonamici, a Democrat, seeks
to retain her seat representing the North
Coast in the House of Representatives,
opposed by Republican John Verbeek,
who won a three-way primary;
Libertarian Drew Layda will also be on
the ballot.
Statewide, a heated race involves lib-
eral Democratic Gov. Kate Brown, a
controversial figure who was appointed
to replace the disgraced John Kitzhaber
in 2015, then won the 2016 special
election. She is seeking to retain her
job, facing strong opposition from mod-
erate GOP candidate Knute Buehler,
a state representative from Bend. The
two faced off in 2012 when Brown was
elected secretary of state, an election
characterized by bickering that left an
unpleasant taste.
Betsy Johnson, our long-serv-
ing Democratic state senator from
Scappoose, is running unopposed
for re-election to another four-year
term. With District 32 House mem-
ber Deb Boone retiring at the end of
this year, surprise Democratic Party
primary winner Tiffiny Mitchell will
face Republican Vineeta Lower in
November.
County leadership changing
Our Clatsop County Board of
Commissioners’ election May 15 set-
tled races for two of the three seats.
Experienced community leader Mark
Kujala was elected and we look forward
to his commonsense, positive addi-
tion to the board; Lianne Thompson,
that love-her-or-dislike-her spark plug
from South County, was given another
four-year mandate. The third race was
so close that Pamela Wev and Peter
Roscoe must contest a November
runoff.
Because of the way county rules are
written, the two commissioners who
chose not to run again, Scott Lee and
Lisa Clement, are lame ducks through
this calendar year. The current board
is worth watching as the leadership
dynamic will change significantly in
January, whatever the result of the Wev-
Roscoe race.
County voters will be asked to
approve a 3 percent tax on the sale
of marijuana items like concentrates,
extracts and edibles in unincorporated
areas. The tax is predicted to bring in
$50,000, money not earmarked for any-
thing specific.
Big-ticket bond measures are
expected to be on the ballot. The county
plans to ask for $23.8 million to relo-
cate the jail to Warrenton. The Astoria
and Warrenton-Hammond school dis-
tricts may ask for $70 million and $32
million, respectively, for building proj-
ects. And the Sunset Empire Park and
Recreation District is looking for $15-
18 million to expand the aquatic facility
in Seaside.
Lots of city seats
May 30 was the first day for city can-
didates to file a declaration of candi-
dacy. They have until Aug. 28. Mayoral
seats and a host of city council offices
will be up for grabs.
• In Astoria, Mayor Arline LaMear is
stepping down after one term and City
Council seats held by Zetty Nemlowill
and Cindy Price will be contested.
• In Seaside, seats held by Mayor
Jay Barber and City Council members
Steve Wright, Tita Montero and Dana
Phillips are on the ballot.
• In Warrenton, Mayor Henry
Balensifer is up for re-election, as is
city commissioner Rick Newton.
• In Cannon Beach, the mayor’s job,
held by Sam Steidel, and City Council
seats held by George Vetter and Mike
Benefield are on the ballot;
• In Gearhart, City Council seats held
by Kerry Smith and Paulina Cockrum
will be contested.
A call for civility
As 2018 dawned, we printed a clar-
ion call on this page for civility. We’ll
repeat that message now.
We lamented the turmoil our nation
has endured since the divisive 2016
presidential election. Six months later,
nothing has really changed. The divi-
sive tone is surely not one any of us
would choose. The longer it lasts, the
worse it seems to get.
Like many of our readers, we yearn
for leaders who will put country before
party, behave ethically, and unite us in
a common cause. The rest of the world
used to look for us for leadership. Our
American “can-do” attitude was the
envy of the rest of the planet. That
respect has evaporated.
No one single person reading this
can fix that. But as individuals we can
play our part in soothing the tone, espe-
cially by making sure our local elec-
tions do not reflect the negativity of the
national and state contests. We have
a lot in common with our neighbors
despite the shrill voices of political dis-
content coming from both sides of the
aisle.
Embracing civility is one key step
to the healing that this country so obvi-
ously needs.
It is the city itself, it seems, that is creat-
ing the real problem, by seeking to isolate and
demean human beings who are, for whatever
reason (at a moment in time) in a position of
being in need of warming.
There is no reason whatsoever that the
planners cannot refer to the clients of the
shelter merely as those in need, rather than
engaging in all manner of insults and assump-
tions about who they are, and how they have
to live, exercising their stereotype upon the
clients.
Many of the so-called homeless are not
homeless at all. They are simply victims of
housing inequality, perpetuated by society
and the city’s abuse and arrogance.
LOIS J. DuPEY
Astoria
Bill Clinton or John F. Kennedy is absurd;
does the writer not understand the difference
between sexual assault and infidelity? I don’t
agree with the latter but good god almighty,
there’s a huge difference between consenting
adults and unwanted assaults.
As far as Harvey Weinstein is concerned,
to compare him to the person occupying the
most influential office in the free world (for
now anyway) is ludicrous. The occupant of
the White House is meant to be someone we
look up to, not someone we’d hate to meet in
a dark alley.
Yes, we do agree that Donald Trump has
not only upset the apple cart, he has smashed
the apples, shot the horse and burned the cart.
If Robert Mueller can’t get rid of this empty
shell of an excuse for a human being, 2020
can’t come soon enough.
JOYCE CARRELL
Warrenton
views of Commissioners Lianne Thompson
and Kathleen Sullivan who … want the board
to exert more oversight.” I was disappointed
to read this.
Clatsop County has had a higher than
average turnover in county managers, so I
thought I would go to the county website and
see what our charter states about the role of a
county commissioner.
It states: “The (home rule) charter put
oversight of the daily operations into the
hands of a professional county manager
hired by the Board of Commissioners. The
Board of Commissioners was expanded to
five unpaid commissioners living in different
geographic areas of the county, and its role
was changed to strictly policy-making.” (bit.
ly/2xnAnmJ)
It appears to me that some of our county
commissioners have not done their home-
work. It seems pretty straightforward to me.
Commissioners = policymakers.
I like that Ms. Wev has a background in
land-use planning, and I like some of the
things she has to say, but it looks as though
she would not be helpful in regard to the
infighting with our Board of Commissioners.
This animosity, micromanaging and bully-
ing needs to stop, and Cameron Moore needs
to be allowed to do his job. I guess Mr. Ros-
coe gets my vote.
MARCIA FENSKE
Astoria
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Please don’t smoke on
the Seaside Promenade
am writing about smokers on the Seaside
Promenade. I run along the promenade
three days a week. The smokers walk, stand
and sit right on the promenade. They throw
their cigarette butts on the ground, as well.
I don’t see any signs posted indicating they
should not be smoking within 20 feet of oth-
ers on the promenade.
I have to inhale smoke during my run.
Families with children and other nonsmokers
have to inhale smoke as well. I just wanted to
let someone know, so maybe signs could be
put up for smokers to go away from the prom-
enade to smoke.
SANDRA GARVIN
Seaside
I
Discontent should
motivate your dreams
guess that we all get the feeling from time
to time, as the lyrics of the song go, “Is that
all there is?” A feeling that we’re not enough,
or that we’re not experiencing or realizing
all that we were intended to experience, that
there must be more to life than what we’re
experiencing.
Could it be that this feeling of discontent
is our creator’s “divinely designed” plan to
encourage us to experience, and become, all
that we were created to be? Let that feeling of
discontent motivate and encourage you, and
drive you in the direction of your dreams.
JIM BERNARD
Warrenton
I
Astoria Planning Commission
isolates and demeans homeless
n its zeal to create a fabric of regulation
around a seldom-functioning emergency
shelter in Astoria, the Planning Commission
has exceeded its mandate.
Without reason, the ordinance presented
at a commission hearing seeks to character-
ize those served by the shelter as subhumans.
In its two-paragraph outlandish definitions
section, those seeking or needing shelter are
described as living in a manner and sleeping
in accommodations, not consistent with being
humans.
Homeless (without a definite or indefinite
article), having been so defined, are then cat-
egorized in various ways and subject to vari-
ous deprivations of rights, throughout the rest
of the ordinance. Homeless are caricatured
as a despicable group of street vermin, being
allowed in for the night by a superior (uber-
mensch), by virtue of a mythical (inoperative)
shelter.
I
Trump has upset the
apple cart and burned it
n response to “Trump’s policies are actu-
ally working” (The Daily Astorian, May
29): Oh dear, where to start. I’m sure many
people in the county are asking the same
question. The letter writer actually forgot to
tell us where Trump’s policies are working,
maybe telling us what his policies actually
are might be a start — it seems to change on
a daily basis.
To compare President Donald Trump to
I
County commissioners are
simply policymakers
he headline in the May 23 edition of The
Daily Astorian reads, “Voters could settle
Clatsop County’s ideological split in Novem-
ber runoff,” and compares the positions of
Pamela Wev and Peter Roscoe.
Of special interest to me was the para-
graph pointing out that Ms. Wev “mirrors the
T