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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 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
JOHN D. BRUIJN
Production Manager
CARL EARL
Systems Manager
The Chamber of Commerce is asking opinions
of its members this week on a solution for down-
town highway congestion.
A special chamber committee has been study-
ing the problem for several weeks, particularly
with respect to possible rerouting of the highway
through the Astoria business district. Howard
Hendricks is chairman.
Compiled by Bob Duke
From the pages of Astoria’s daily newspapers
Work is progressing at the Northwest Aluminum com-
pany’s plant site as much as weather permits. Construction
West equipment is working on drainage of a gulch in the
northwest corner of the 200-acre cleared tract. Construction
West officials said it is still too wet under the earth surface
for real grading work to start, but drying is progressing fast.
10 years ago
this week — 2008
Leaders of a revolutionary project in oceanography have
spent the past year drafting designs for an ocean observatory
off the Pacific Northwest coast. Now, the team of experts at
the University of Washington has preliminary approval to
build their elaborate underwater research lab, part of which
will use power and bandwidth from Warrenton to study the
Cascadia Subduction Zone.
Program Director John Delaney, an oceanography profes-
sor at UW, toured the Oregon Coast this week with assistant
director Michael Kelly and project manager Pete Barletto to
discuss their vision with community members.
The project would install powerful fiberoptic cables on the
seafloor, allowing scientists to deploy robots, cameras and
sensors to study underwater biology, chemistry and geology
in greater detail then before.
While there’s little evidence today, salmon once
ran so thick down the Skipanon you could cross the
river walking on their backs. Old-timers say the fish
were so fat and juicy, they could satisfy a farmer’s
livestock.
Wild stocks may never return to the abundance
of local lore, but Warrenton High School students
are working to bring salmon back to a place they
haven’t lived for decades: the Skipanon River.
“See How They Run: WHS Fisheries Project”
has students rearing fish, tracking their migra-
tion patterns and measuring their effects on the
Skipanon River ecosystem. The idea is to develop
specific school programs related to salmon hatch-
ing, nurturing and growth, working closely with
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
fisheries biologists.
A new Australian reel, first of its kind to be sent
from Australia to the U.S., will be on display in
Cannon Beach when the Volunteer Beach Patrol
here dedicates a new rescue truck Saturday after-
noon to the memory of the late Delno McCoy.
The rescue reel is aluminum, on a stainless steel
frame, and has 45 yards of line that a swimmer
can carry into the surf to attach to a person in
distress.
75 years ago — 1943
1968 — Kirby Grant, idol of millions of younger tele-
vision viewers as “Sky King,” will star Wednesday at
two performances of the four-ring Carson and Barnes
circus in Tapiola park.
50 years ago — 1968
Victor Ogunnubi, a 21-year-old Nigerian, is a world
traveler and he likes Astoria better than any other place he’s
been.
“The people in Astoria are much more friendly than they
are on the east coast and in England and in other parts of the
world. Astoria’s much more of a ‘community’ city,” Ogun-
nubi said Monday.
The African has just finished spring term at Clatsop
Community college. He plans to work in a fish cannery this
summer, then enroll at a California college in the fall.
It’s fortunate Ogunnubi likes Astoria, because he’s
somewhat stranded here.
The most hectic week’s business in local shoe store his-
tory is coming to a close today with footwear emporiums
still swamped with customers, who have forced the locking
of shoe store doors several times in the past few days, when
their numbers taxed the facilities of establishments.
“We’ve done a normal month’s business in the last six
days,” declared a Commercial Street shoe man. “What does
it mean? Well, your guess is as good as ours. We proba-
bly won’t be able to replenish our stocks to the point where
they were before the rush began. We may just sell what
we’ve got and then out to the shipyard.”
Similar conditions in the shoe business here are under-
stood to exist in all parts of the country.
The meat supply situation in Astoria is again
approaching the critical stage today as retail meat
operators comb the countryside to secure beef to
replenish their scant stocks and deluge the whole-
sale meat establishments with inquiries about
when they may expect to be able to buy something
in the more regular trade channels.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
This is America?
n June 14, the U.S. Attorney General Jeff
Sessions and White House spokesperson
Sarah Huckabee Sanders both attempted, on
national TV, to justify, by using the Bible, the
current administration’s new policy of taking
innocent children away from their parents, and
incarcerating them in South Texas detention
centers. Hot! Got it?
In the U.S. today, there are thousands of
church groups who claim to follow the Bible;
so which denomination, group or individual’s
interpretation of the Bible is being used to jus-
tify this horrific action? Here’s a hint: It’s not
the church I attend.
This seems to me to be a clear violation of
America’s 242 years of separation of church
and state. One of the reasons the founding
fathers wrote the Constitution carefully was
to avoid this danger. Lock ’em up. Does that
sound familiar?
Using the Bible in a way that clearly hurts
others (especially children), seems contrary to
the central theme of the Bible, which is love
and specifically, the second greatest command-
ment, “thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself”
(Matthew 22:39).
I’m curious how Bible-thumping govern-
ment officials justify this new policy of incar-
cerating children, who are guilty of no crime,
to their own children. If it were their children
being incarcerated, would they believe in this
inhumane policy as fervently as they talk like
they do?
If the government really wants to quote
the Bible on this issue, then they might try the
Golden Rule (Matthew 7:12)
CARL DOMINEY
Astoria
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An invitation to earthly heaven
would encourage you to enjoy my “trail
of surprises.” I enter the Warrenton Water-
front Trail at Seventh Place and Main Avenue.
I follow the trail north to what I refer to as my
Walden Pond. It’s a pond that forms as Alder
Creek flows into the Columbia River.
There are comfortable benches that are stra-
tegically located for perfect viewing. Usu-
ally, on my morning jaunts I see deer, elk and
eagles, and occasionally a ship or fishing boat
traversing the mighty Columbia.
However, on this morning, I was treated to
an unusual performance by our Creator’s cre-
ation — a kingfisher was hovering over my
Walden Pond, then spotting a fish and div-
ing in for a catch. Nearby was a beautiful blue
heron stalking in a few feet of water, seeking
its morning breakfast.
All of a sudden, a playful otter surfaced, and
the kingfisher made a dive for it as though say-
ing “this is my territory, stay out of it.” To top
it off, out of seeming nowhere, a coyote came
sneaking out on the sand flats seeking its prey.
In addition to all the wild creatures, there
was an array of beautiful foxgloves, salmon
berries and snow on the mountains in full
bloom. As a bonus, you get the aroma of nature
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and almost pure oxygen to fill your lungs. “O
Lord, how great are thy works!” (Psalms 92:5)
Why not treat yourself to the beauty, won-
der and peace of a visit to the Warrenton Water-
front Trail?
JIM BERNARD
Warrenton
We are not those kind of people
y father was an immigrant. He came
to this country and could not speak
English. He learned English, and built busi-
nesses that hired people. This was the coun-
try of opportunity for those “tempest tossed”
foreigners who were looking for freedom and
opportunity.
Our country seems to be mimicking the
period of time in Germany, when the German
citizenry silently lost freedom after freedom
and then went to war.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions joined in
this right-wing circus when he quoted the Bible
with a passage that was used by the folks who
brought us apartheid, slavery and the Holo-
caust. We are not those kind of people. We are
Americans.
I also take umbrage with the Christians
who support President Donald Trump. That
means they support lying, debauchery, sleazy
business practices, abject racism and more. I
don’t understand this at all. It does not seem
to fall within the beliefs of true Christians. I
remember hearing a saying … “The only thing
about Christianity is that it hasn’t been tried.”
I’m beginning to think that may be true.
Would Trump and Sessions subject their
precious and pampered grandchildren to
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this treatment at the border of abuse and
mistreatment?
This last Saturday was the 143rd day of this
presidency that Trump golfed.
Write letters, contact Congress, talk to your
neighbors, join protests, vote and thank Sen.
Jeff Merkley.
We shall overcome.
MARY TANGUAY WEBB
Astoria
Our president is proving
himself untrustworthy
resident Donald Trump is a liar. He can-
not be believed. Over 3,000 of Trump’s lies
have been documented in a period of 466 days,
according to CNN (cnn.it/2jyODPP). That is
six or seven lies a day that Trump has made
in the execution of his office as president of
the U.S. To blatantly accept his lying, as a fair
number of Americans do, does not bode well
for our country.
It is almost as if Trump sees his survival
in the defeat of truth. To be Trump is to swear
allegiance to falsity. To be in his administration
is to promote his falsity and deny truth.
Lying is not a virtue. Liars lose trust and
fidelity.
Our president is proving himself untrust-
worthy. When the president of the U.S. can-
not be trusted, then America’s standing in the
world is weakened.
What will happen to the loyalty and sup-
port of America’s allies, as they are lied to
constantly?
What will become of our nation, as it
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accepts Trump’s lies as truth?
DARRELL CLUKEY
Cannon Beach
Confession of a sea lover
have always loved the sea. I have seen the
Atlantic, the Gulf of Mexico, the Mediter-
ranean and the Caribbean, but most of all, the
Pacific. I have had a love affair with the Pacific
Ocean, from the Gulf of Alaska to San Diego,
for almost all my life.
I have loved the changing beauty of the
Pacific Ocean — the tides, the angry ocean and
the still waters. I have loved the birds, especially
the gulls, the fish, the animals and the other life
of the sea. I have loved the ships and different
boats, the wharf, the bridges and the beaches.
But with all my love I have a problem: a
fear of being on the sea. To me, there is a dif-
ference between having a fear of, and a respect
for, the sea. I have both. Not that I haven’t
sailed in different boats. I have sailed in the
waters of Alaska from Gustavus to Haines
(Inside Passage), much of this trip in a fetal
position from seasickness.
I have sailed to land near Homer, Alaska. I
have been fishing off Cozumel, Mexico, again
getting seasick. I have gone on cruise ships.
These don’t count. Now I have a chance to sail
around the world. I probably will not do this,
although it would be the envy of many people.
What I will gratefully do instead of sailing
is love the sea, and look at Young’s Bay from
my deck in Astoria. Hopefully, some of my
ashes will go to sea.
NORM HOOGE
Astoria
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