Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (July 3, 2018)
6A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, JULY 3, 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 Don’t take healthy, plentiful water for granted O regon is known for its pristine we’re seeing, these kinds of things are drinking water — so good likely to be more frequent, longer-last- that some corporations want ing, more intense, and it’s an emerg- to bottle it for sale. But a new threat ing threat we need to respond to,” OHA has emerged: toxins produced by algae Director Patrick Allen said. blooms. The rules took effect Sunday and State and local officials were caught will last for the rest of the year while off-guard in late May when cyanotox- permanent regulations are written. ins were discovered for the first time Too little research has been done in treated drinking water in Oregon on toxic algal blooms and their health — Salem’s water supply. effects on humans, but the Officials were slow to alert OHA was smart to act. ‘Don’t go the public, and their ini- As for our state’s capi- into water tial announcements created tal, Salem was ahead of the confusion. Residents were that is foamy, curve in testing for cyano- outraged, and rightly so. toxins. Few Oregon lakes scummy, Most people could drink and rivers are monitored thick like the water without becoming routinely for the harmful ill, but the botched com- algae blooms and result- paint, pea- munications left them won- ing toxins, which can cause green, blue- symptoms similar to food dering how public officials would respond in the event poisoning. Still, the blooms green or of a true disaster, such as a have been found in 16 brownish devastating earthquake. Oregon counties during the red. A good past five years. Since then, the state and city of Salem have gotten Drinking water for rule of their act together. To her Salem and several other thumb for credit, Gov. Kate Brown communities comes from soon pushed the issue by the South Santiam River. you and declaring an emergency — The river flows from your pet is: an administrative action Detroit Lake, a popular rec- that allowed the Oregon reation area that has been When in National Guard to provide under on-and-off health doubt, stay water and enabled other advisories for algal blooms out!’ state agencies to help out. this year. On Friday, the Oregon The city of Salem is Health Authority issued temporary operating round-the-clock water distri- rules requiring water suppliers around bution sites — dispensing clean water the state to regularly test for cyano- from neighboring Keizer’s wells — bacteria — harmful algae blooms — while installing a treatment process to and alert the public when cyanotoxins remove cyanotoxins. are found. The list of affected systems Meanwhile, Douglas County includes Warrenton and Seaside. recently issued a permanent health “In an era of climate change that advisory about potential cyanotoxins in Sgt. Jennifer Lena/ 115th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment Spc. Joshua White, right, of the Oregon Army National Guard, and Andy Smetana, with the city of Salem, distribute water in Salem last month. ABOUT CYANOTOXINS Location: Since 2013, harmful algal blooms have been found at various times in Baker, Coos, Clackamas, Clatsop, Deschutes, Douglas, Jackson, Jefferson, Klamath, Lake, Lane, Lincoln, Linn, Marion, Morrow and Multnomah counties. However, most Oregon lakes and rivers are not regular- ly monitored for cyanotoxins. Appearance: Algal blooms generally appear as thick foam or scum on the water surface. They may resemble pea soup. They can be bright green, bluish-green, white or brownish-red. Exposure: Cyanotoxins can be ingested, whether accidentally while swimming or by drinking the tainted water. Inhalation is a low risk. Cyanotoxins cannot be absorbed through the skin but can create a skin rash. Health effects: Symptoms can include numbness, tingling and dizziness that can lead to difficulty breathing or heart problems and require immediate medical attention. Skin irritation, weakness, di- arrhea, nausea, cramps and fainting should also receive medical attention if they persist or worse. Vulnerable people and pets: When cyanotoxins are present in recreational water, children and pets are at increased risk for exposure due to their small size and high level of activity. In drinking water, cyanotoxins create a greater risk to children under age 6, adults age 65 and older, people with compromised immune systems or liver conditions, pregnant or nursing mothers, people on dialysis and other medically fragile individuals, as well as pets. Typical camping or home-use water filters do not remove cyanotoxins. Boiling may increase their concentration. Source: Oregon Health Authority the South Umpqua River and Lawson Bar. Other recent advisories included Lake Billy Chinook, Upper Klamath Lake and Dorena Reservoir. Oregon’s healthy, plentiful water has been in sharp contrast to much of the world. But we dare not take it for granted. tors around the world as worthy of praise and emulation. At the very same time, just days before meeting with North Korea, Trump was trash- ing America’s relationship with our closest allies and trading partners at the G-7 meeting of democratic nations. His primary focus there was to insist on the presence of another dicta- tor, his idol, Vladimir Putin. He heaps praise on the brutal North Korean dictator, and insults and starts a trade war with the Canadian prime minis- ter? Republicans, I implore you to wake up to what is going on with the person you elected to the presidency. He is leading us to a very dark place. Don’t think it can’t happen here. It has already begun. ERIC HALPERIN Gearhart is resigning. While ruling with the conserva- tives on most cases, he did come through for the liberals on several key issues. Anti-choice advocates are drooling at the mouth that President Donald Trump will get to appoint one of them to the Supreme Court. Instead of forcing women to have babies that they cannot take care of properly, shouldn’t we instead be working on caring for the children we already have here with good medical care, lead-free water, clean air to breath, nourishing food, and a gun- and vio- lence-free environment? JEAN HOOGE Astoria LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Sen. Johnson has represented us well I ’m writing this letter to take issue with the letter to the editor June 26 in which the writer states “Betsy Johnson is not a Demo- crat, let alone a moderate one,” and goes on to state Sen. Johnson should consider resign- ing from the Democratic Party (“Johnson out of touch with constituents,” The Daily Astorian). I am a Democrat who has voted for Betsy every election. She has represented us well during these past 20 years. She votes the way she believes is best for all, and sometimes that is not along strict party lines. She does not suffer fools. I trust her judgment, and com- mend her on voting the issue, not the party line. NELSON TAYLOR Astoria Trump has turned the economy around F or years, Congress and presidents used America’s tax laws and taxpayer dollars to improve the economies of foreign countries. That caused a growth of international corpora- tions, and led to more wealthy people around the world. But all that new wealth didn’t help aver- age Americans. In fact, just the opposite happened. Remember President Obama’s “new normal” approach, when he couldn’t improve our depressed economy? Remem- ber how he told us in 2010 to get used to “long-term” lower economic growth and high unemployment? And yet President Trump turned the econ- omy around in just months. And how he did it isn’t at all complicated. For starters, President Trump told the country he believed a presi- dent’s first duty is to America and the Consti- tution — not the world. And that belief was welcomed by Americans who hadn’t heard a president say those words for years. Oddly enough, that belief also helped make President Trump an outsider to the Washington establishment, including most of today’s extremely liberal journalists and TV pundits. For years, the Washington establishment had ignored hardworking, ordinary Ameri- cans. Trade policies greatly favored foreigners over Americans, and our manufacturing facil- ities were allowed to go to pot. By the time 2016 rolled around, those situations were seen as massive political blunders by the Washing- ton establishment. Democratic Party activists still continue to express bitterness about the election. Mean- while, President Trump’s common-sense eco- nomics and tax reform is quickly fixing past screw-ups by career politicians. DON HASKELL Astoria Trump leading us to a very dark place R egarding the letter to the editor “Trump’s foreign policy strategy is different” (The Daily Astorian, June 15), the writer is compli- mentary of President Donald Trump’s inter- action with North Korea, and Trump’s set- ting tariffs on our trading partners. He likened Trump to a knowing father dealing with an errant son. In fact, Trump slathered endless praise on a brutal dictator who kills or imprisons his political enemies, and impoverishes his peo- ple. Trump is envious of the Supreme Lead- er’s iron grip on his nation, and by his words and actions, Trump acknowledges dicta- Care for the children we already have L iberals cannot help but feel betrayed that Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy Why trust the FBI? O nly in the swamp known as Washington, D.C., can it be said we as a nation trusted the FBI, only to find out its director of nearly 50 years wore dresses, and now progressives trust the agency when it’s been caught with its pants down. MATT JANES Jeffers Gardens
