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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, JUNE 7, 2018
editor@dailyastorian.com
KARI BORGEN
Publisher
JIM VAN NOSTRAND
Editor
Founded in 1873
JEREMY FELDMAN
Circulation Manager
DEBRA BLOOM
Business Manager
Water
under
the bridge
CARL EARL
Systems Manager
included in “Moods of the Columbia,” a book just
published by Archie Satterfield, former news man
with the Seaside Signal and Longview News, now
of Seattle.
Satterfield has compiled a slick-paper book, 13
inches square, containing 56 pages of photographs
by some of the top photographers of the Northwest,
all devoted to the Columbia in its various moods.
Compiled by Bob Duke
From the pages of Astoria’s daily newspapers
10 years ago
this week — 2008
Astoria has earned national recognition for its efforts to
promote “a sense of place” at the mouth of the Columbia
River.
It was announced Monday that it will be the focus of a
new initiative from the Ford Foundation, the New York-based
institution which is one of the world’s leading philanthropic
organizations, with an endowment of more than $12 billion.
Mayor Willis Van Dusen revealed the details at a press
conference attended by Astoria City Council members Pete
Roscoe, Russ Warr and Blair Henningsgaard, City Manager
Paul Benoit, Community Development Director Brett Estes
and other key leaders.
“It’s my privilege to be here with the City Council” to
announce that the Ford Foundation has selected Astoria as one
of four cities that will participate in a “very exciting visioning
plan that will help our community meet the challenges of the
future,” Van Dusen said.
This photograph of Sen. Robert Kennedy was taken at
Clatsop airport when he arrived May 24 on a campaign
visit. The shooting of Kennedy, so recent a visitor here,
shocked Clatsop residents early the morning of June 6.
Lights shone through the night in many homes as citizens
stayed up to watch the night’s events on television. Kenne-
dy moved freely about in big crowds during his local visit
and would have been an easy target for a madman’s bullet.
The historian Chet Orloff has said there is his-
tory on every street corner in Astoria, if you know
what you’re looking at. The same can be said of the
forests, rovers and streams that define Clatsop and
Pacific counties. A thousands-year-old native cul-
ture was flourishing when the American explor-
ers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark led their
expedition down the Columbia River.
Last weekend’s commemoration of the 50th
anniversary of the Fort Clatsop National Memorial
was a celebration of an aspect of the history that
makes the Columbia-Pacific region a special place.
The 44-year-old, recently remodeled club house
of Astoria Country Club burned to the ground early
Saturday morning in a fire of unknown origin.
George Abrahamsen, country club president,
said the building will be rebuilt.
Tempers flared at the Port of Astoria commission meeting
Tuesday as board members argued over Bornstein Seafoods’
request to lease parking space on Pier 1 for the Oregon Fish
Factory tourist attraction.
Commissioner Bill Hunsinger traded barbs with Andrew
JOHN D. BRUIJN
Production Manager
and Jay Bornstein, and Commissioner Floyd Holcom laid
blame on the Port for being disorganized.
But eventually the board agreed 3-1 to allow Port interim
Executive Director Ron Larsen to negotiate a three-year park-
ing lease of 26,720 square feet of land on Pier 1.
50 years ago — 1968
Latest word from Big Creek hatchery is that fish will have
pierced noses this year.
At least, that will be true for 86,000 tiny silver salmon now
being processed at the hatchery through an unusual device
which implants a minute sliver of coded wire in the nose of
each fish.
“It’s all part of a study in genetics,” explained Jim Gray-
bill, a graduate student at Oregon State University, who super-
vises the process.
A collection of noteworthy photographs of the
Columbia River, from its source to its mouth, is
There is a great deal of confusion about ownership of
beach lands that needs to be cleared up.
Bill Hay, Cannon Beach, whose fencing of beach property
he claims he owns was one of the things that stirred up all the
hullabaloo inland about saving the beaches, is proposing to
file suit to establish his title. This should result in a court deci-
sion that will help materially to clarify the situation.
It seems quite probable that the courts are going to find
some private titles to beach property are valid and that the
state, if it wants to save the beaches, must spend some money
to buy up such titles.
Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, felled like his president
brother by an assassin’s bullet, died early June 6.
75 years ago — 1943
One thousand dozen crabs, believed to be the largest haul
in the history of Pacific coast fishing, were caught at Destruc-
tion Island and delivered to Lars Andersen, Westport fish
buyer, by the 45-foot Lucin, captained by Roy Furfiord of
Westport.
At $2 a dozen, the price now being paid for crabs, the
12,000 crabs brought in $2,000 for Furfiord and his crew,
Even Sharp and Alex Peppin, both of Westport.
The catch was the largest Andersen has ever seen in 20
years as a buyer and fisherman. The crabs were the largest
Andersen had ever seen.
A cluster of compact, little homes — rolled into
Astoria on wheels and plunked on stilts where once
surged the waters of Scow Bay — will be opened late
this month to tap off the pressure of home-hungry
people due to arrive in this growing defense area.
The trailer village, built by the federal public
housing authority, now contains 50 units. One hun-
dred more are to arrive. They were assigned here,
some coming from Tillamook, as result of local
appeals for housing help. And it is expected they will
be filled soon by war workers, construction employ-
ees, and civilian personnel at army and navy centers
who are working and being recruited to work at a
dozen spots in this county.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Redo the election, fair and legal
n May 14, the U.S. Senate Intelligence
Committee released its bipartisan report
on the 2016 presidential election, stating “the
Russian effort was extensive, sophisticated,
and ordered by President Putin himself for the
purpose of helping Donald Trump and hurting
Hillary Clinton.”
That’s unfair, and if it’s not illegal, it darn
well should be.
Put politics aside, and think objectively. In
the kindergarten sandbox, we learned when
a contest is conducted unfairly, or illegally,
a do-over is ordered. Remember? Shouldn’t
the same thing apply to adults? Yes. Redo the
election, fair and legal.
I can hear the naysayers: “Well you can’t,
impossible, costs too much, etc.” In my opin-
ion, we can’t afford not to. If we are who
we say we are, the beacon of hope, the shin-
ing light on the hill, the rule of law, then one
powerful way to show the world that we take
democracy seriously, is to go back and fix
this mess. “Next time” doesn’t cut it.
Some will say I’ve lost my mind, but if
there aren’t serious consequences to foreign
intervention, we not only become like those
we criticize, but it will be repeated; we will
surrender our democracy, and the freedoms
we cherish will be next.
The price tag for this would be, how much
do we value our democratic principles? Fairness
and law are as American as apple pie, right?
Think about calling your Congressional
representatives. There is a good chance they
will listen. The midterm elections are com-
ing up.
CARL DOMINEY
Astoria
O
There is an ugliness
permeating our nation
R
egarding the letter “Trump’s policies are
actually working” (The Daily Astorian,
May 29): I disagree strongly.
I see nothing but chaos. President Trump
feels that his erratic behavior keeps everyone
guessing, and himself in control. He is in con-
trol of, and central to, what is going on in the
media, but everything else is out of control.
Countries around the world that counted
on America’s leadership are looking for a
steady hand at the helm elsewhere. Tariffs
and trade polices change on a whim. Con-
tracts we made with other countries are
meaningless. Confusion may have worked
for Trump in his business deals, but it is not
going to work with the savvy leaders of our
former allies.
Sure, tax cuts for the wealthy brought the
stock market up, and employment up, but not
wages. There is nothing here for the aver-
age citizen except destruction of the envi-
ronment and continued deterioration of our
infrastructure.
There is an ugliness permeating our
nation, spurred on by Trump’s racism, intoler-
ance and crudeness.
We are not great again, and will not be,
until we get real leadership that is going to
carry us into a tomorrow that has us respect-
ing one another, and where there is real
opportunity and health for all.
JEAN HOOGE
Astoria
Why do so many people
tolerate President Trump?
his past week President Donald Trump
declared himself above the law, assert-
ing that he could even pardon himself for
any crime. Charles Stuart II of England sim-
ilarly declared himself above the law in the
17th century, though he asserted his right
stemmed from the Divinity. Perhaps, Mr.
Trump will declare himself to be divine in his
next elevation.
I do not want to remark further on this
foolishness in a democracy, but to wonder
out loud why so many people —Trump’s
so-called base — have tolerated this terri-
ble example in a U.S. president. For the very
same people who ignore the daily litany of
his bad behavior, his lies and his studied and
complete lack of understanding in matters (on
T
which all of our lives depend) would not tol-
erate such behavior in their own everyday
lives and interactions.
Who among his base would find it accept-
able for a child to bully or subvert a friend,
or to lie about one’s school grades, etc., etc.?
Why, then, are such allowances made for
King Donald’s very own despicable and/or
ignorant actions?
One wonders, given the human capacity to
defend vigorously one’s own deeply felt deci-
sions, whether lack of reflection in King Don-
ald’s base has not led to the current risk to
everyone on this planet.
K LAMBERT
Hammond
We expect commissioners to
ask tough questions
here has been discussion lately over how
county commissioners should conduct
their duties in relation to the county manager.
The Daily Astorian has framed it as a contro-
versy, an “Us vs. Them” argument.
If the issue is framed this way, we get
caught in an unwinnable argument. All agree
that elected officials haven’t been hired to run
daily operations or to micromanage. We do
expect our commissioners to ask tough ques-
tions, listen to their constituents, and make
hard and unpopular decisions when needed.
T
We don’t want our elected officials to exhibit
group think, fearing civil discourse.
If we allow county managers, or any
leader for that matter, to shape the narrative
of a business, and we don’t ask questions
or stay abreast of the information from all
sources, then we allow that person to manage
our tax monies without guidance or proper
oversight.
The philosophy of being super hands-off
allows poor leaders to run organizations into
the ground. Often, I think good board mem-
bers have an inkling something is wrong, but
don’t know what to do about it, mistakenly
thinking their hands are tied.
We must change this philosophy, because
it benefits the leader who is unaccountable,
and we taxpayers pay the price.
MINDY STOKES
Astoria
Thanks for sprucing up
Ocean View Cemetery
hat a delight it was to go to the Ocean
View Cemetery on Memorial Day
weekend and see the grounds looking so
good.
Thank you so much to all the people who
came out and spruced it up.
BARBARA DUNN
Ocean Park, Washington
W