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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, JUNE 25, 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 VIEWS
Society shouldn’t
live by the gun
T
Rob Hilson/For the Chinook Observer
Lt. Jessica Shafer, center, listens to opening
remarks at the change of command ceremony.
New commander
symbolizes a sea change
T
he appointment of Lt. Jess
Shafer as commanding
officer at U.S. Coast Guard
Station Cape Disappointment is
both symbolically and substan-
tively important. For anyone who
started their service career there as
an enlisted person to return, years
later, as the top boss is an extraor-
dinary professional achievement.
That the Coast Guard is over-
coming antiquated gender biases in
favor of recognizing talent speaks
well both of the organization and
Shafer.
Cape D station — while always
highly valued by the people of the
Lower Columbia and North Coast
— has not been without prob-
lems. Nine years ago, top man-
agers at the station were sum-
marily relieved of command and
transferred due to a “loss of confi-
dence” among higher-ups.
Late last year, two younger
male enlisted members were impli-
cated in an alleged rape, that police
said also involved sharing a video
of the crime with an unknown
number of other station personnel.
Coast Guard District 13’s open-
ness and speed in dealing with the
matter have been unimpressive.
Shafer exemplifies the Coast
Guard that acted with quiet her-
oism and competency to the
Hurricane Katrina catastrophe, a
response in which she participated.
We look to her to be an inspiring
leader on the local and regional
level. Her qualification as a “surf-
man” — the top tier of profes-
sional maritime rescuers — should
be more than enough to make
every young enlistee stand up
straighter and pay attention.
he experience of former Ilwaco
Pastor David George in killing
a violent gunman on June 17 in
the Walmart parking lot in Tumwater,
Washington, is worthy of deep
consideration.
George, an impressive citizen during
his decade-plus on the Long Beach
Peninsula before moving to a minis-
try in Oakville in Grays Harbor County,
is accurately called a hero for interven-
ing when a carjacker assaulted inno-
cent civilians. He clearly acted with
deliberation during a fast-moving emer-
gency, using a licensed concealed fire-
arm to stop an attacker who otherwise
might have caused more deaths and
injuries. An EMT, George then imme-
diately pivoted to providing first aid to
one of the victims. It’s hard to imagine
a more indispensable set of skills for the
situation.
Watching a video of George strug-
gling with the aftermath of killing a man
— even someone who left him with
few if any options — it’s clear he has a
struggle ahead. What he did presents a
daunting quandary for any true man of
God, or indeed any moral person. It is
good to see that he is well-supported by
loved ones.
George’s actions were immediately
made into a talking point by those who
regard a citizenry carrying firearms as
the only solution to America’s epidemic
of mass shootings, as well as more mun-
David George
dane crimes. And this might perhaps
be a valid point — if all armed citizens
were like George, which is to say thor-
oughly trained, mature, calm, respon-
sible and morally grounded. You can
safely bet he does not leave weap-
ons lying around where his grandchil-
dren reach them, nor is he likely to com-
mit suicide with a firearm. (Statistically,
middle-aged men who own pistols are
far more likely to turn them on them-
selves than use them for self-defense.)
Some of us are lucky in having Wild
West ancestors who wore sidearms day
in and day out as matter of personal pro-
tection. They worked extremely hard for
communities in which being armed to the
teeth wasn’t required. We should never
surrender to once again becoming a “live
by the gun, die by the gun” society.
SOUTHERN EXPOSURE
Is your running shoe hurting you?
E
very shoe can make you run farther
and faster. At least what their manu-
facturers want you to believe.
“Our J-Frame supports and guides
your foot without the use of heavy, rigid or
unforgiving materials,” reads a promotion
from Hoka shoes. “It gets its name from
the ‘J’ shape, which uses a firmer density
foam to support the inside of your foot and
heel. It’s stability plus Hoka comfort.”
Ever since P.F. Flyer’s sent kids dream-
ing of speed — “shoes guaranteed to make
a kid run faster and jump higher” — the
goal has been to get us
to purchase a competi-
tive edge.
Stakes rose and the
velocity of our runners
increased. The shat-
tering of the 4-min-
ute mile, the legend of
R.J. MARX Olympian Steve Prefon-
taine, the Oscar-winning,
cross-country journey of Forrest Gump —
all created a cultural image of the runner
against the world, a solo unaided by gad-
getry, an engine, a horse or a ball.
With one exception: the running shoe.
Justin Ter Har
Justin Ter Har, a co-author of a study
of running shoes.
Justin Ter Har
Chart measuring the wear of running shoes on a runner’s lower extremities —
ankles, knees and hips.
‘Born to Run’
thought to reduce the risk of injury with a
highly-cushioned midsole.
“The sweetest cushion” is how a 2016
television ad illustrated it, with “Mal-
lowman,” a giant running marshmallow
in a white padded suit reminiscent of the
Michelin Man, racing all over town to a
doo-wop soundtrack, leaping over side-
walks and little white dogs.
Ter Har’s thesis offers not only a
mini-buying guide, but a history lesson.
In the early 2000s, author Chris Mac-
Dougall’s “Born to Run” inspired runners
to emulate the barefoot style of Native
Mexicans who could run distances of up
to 100 miles at incredible speed.
Madison Avenue touted the image,
with the introduction of the minimal-
ist running shoe and claims that a lack of
cushioning would reduce injuries by pro-
moting a more natural foot-strike pattern.
The weekend warrior could opt to run
barefoot or in a minimalist shoe like a
Merrill Glove, with no “heel to toe” drop
and no midsole cushion.
The industry pivoted the other direc-
tion as the company Hoka One One
introduced a “maximal” running shoe,
Ter Har and Pollard sought to mea-
sure the loading force impacts of the
maximal and the traditional shoe.
In the study, 15 female recreational
runners, from age 23 to 51, with a mean
age of 34, ran a minimum of 15 miles per
week. Two shoes were chosen for com-
parison: the maximal Hoka One One and
a traditional New Balance.
Participants attended the biomechan-
ics laboratory for two separate testing
sessions, with seven to 10 days between
sessions.
For one of the testing sessions, the
participants wore the neutral running
shoe. For the other, they wore the more
cushioned.
Running shoes matter
Justin Ter Har will be the first
OSU-Cascades undergraduate to begin
a doctoral program in OSU’s neurome-
chanics program. He starts in the fall and
is the recipient of a graduate teaching
assistantship.
The Seaside High School grad is part
of an academic team that delivered the the-
sis, “Influence of Maximal Running Shoes
on Biomechanics Before and After a 5K
Run” on June 7 at the American College
of Sports Medicine Northwest Chapter
conference.
Ter Har, 24, knows the joy of run-
ning, first developing an interest as a fresh-
man in Bend. “Competing against myself
every day was an important thing to me,”
he said. “Now I run every other day about
five to seven miles.”
Locally, he likes to run at Gearhart’s
Del Rey Beach.
Ter Har and co-author Christine D.
Pollard studied the impact of shoes on a
runner’s lower extremity biomechanics
— actions of the ankles, knees, hips —
important for clinicians to reduce injury.
Justin Ter Har
The two running shoes used in Jus-
tin Ter Har’s study: the Hoka One
One maximal and New Balance tra-
ditional.
Surprising results
What surprised Ter Har and Pollard
was that despite their cushion, lower
extremity impacts of the cushioned Hoka
One One were greater than the traditional
shoe, a phenomenon Ter Har called
“totally counterintuitive.”
Runners should consider this poten-
tial increased risk when choosing shoes,
authors concluded, although more work
is necessary to better understand the lon-
ger-term impact of maximalist shoes.
Ter Har wears an Altra Superior 3.5,
with “a little bit of cushion,” considered
a partial minimalist shoe.
Meanwhile, after his June commence-
ment, he plans to continue his studies
as a postdoctoral scholar and graduate
teaching assistant.
“I’m interested in footwear in pread-
olescent children,” Ter Har said. “How
an implementation of a minimalist shoe
in children could actually make a large
effect on running-injury risk down the
road.”
R.J. Marx is The Daily Astorian’s
South County reporter and editor of
the Seaside Signal and Cannon Beach
Gazette.