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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TuESDAY, FEbRuARY 19, 2019
OPINION
editor@dailyastorian.com
KARI BORGEN
Publisher
JIM VAN NOSTRAND
Editor
Founded in 1873
JEREMY FELDMAN
Circulation Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN
Production Manager
CARL EARL
Systems Manager
WRITER’S NOTEBOOK
Kenyon brought learning, nurturing to Astor School
K
aren Kenyon was a stickler for
grammar and especially for
punctuation. Since she and her
husband, Ralph Wirfs, lived less than
two blocks from The Daily Astorian, I
suggested that if she would walk down
the hill around 8 a.m. on weekdays I
could give her a desk and a red pen.
One day Kenyon admitted that
she had pulled out a marker and cor-
rected the punctua-
tion on a shopkeeper’s
sign. In a town that nur-
tures outsized charac-
ters, her punctuation
shaming was a delight-
ful display of eccentric-
ity. I joked that our head-
STEVE
line
would read: “School
FORRESTER
librarian charged in
bizarre sign defacement
— ‘I couldn’t take it any more,’ says
Kenyon.”
Kenyon was a quiet presence. Behind
her Cheshire cat smile was love and
compassion that emerged in gestures
large and small.
As the librarian at Astor School in the
1990s, Kenyon brought a form of nur-
turing and learning to a succession of
young lives. She also made a difference
in the lives of many women when she
led the drive to create the Clatsop Com-
munity College program called WINGS
(Women Interested in Going to School).
Kenyon died recently, after succumb-
ing to a debilitating loss of memory.
Describing Kenyon’s gift, former
Astor teacher Ernie Atkinson says: “She
was an expert at teaching library skills
to very young students in a very unusual
and creative manner. As a character she
named Viola Swamp and using puppets
with very interesting voices and sound
effects, she was able to leave them with
excellent library skills and, at the same
bEHIND HER
CHESHIRE CAT SMILE,
WAS LOVE AND
COMPASSION THAT
EMERGED IN
GESTuRES LARGE
AND SMALL
Karen Kenyon and her husband, Ralph Wirfs.
time, keep us all laughing with tears in
our eyes. She read stories to the students
with such emotion and voice that they
would always applaud at the end and ask
for more.”
While working as a volunteer in the
Astor Library in the mornings, my wife
observed a number of children regularly
coming by the library for a hug from
“Miss Kenyon.”
Judy Bigby, who was principal of
Astor in those years, said Kenyon
brought authors and book illustrators to
show students the creative process. She
also taught the Great Books curriculum
to upper grade level readers.
When “Kindergarten Cop” was filmed
at Astor School in 1989, Kenyon hatched
the idea of having students interview the
movie’s actors. The video of those inter-
views is priceless. Our son asked one
of the movie’s child actors how much
money he made. The boy replied that his
agent took care of that.
After graduating with a degree in lit-
erature from Illinois Wesleyan Univer-
sity, Kenyon started writing for mag-
azines. But in a 2004 interview with
Lacey Hoyer, Kenyon said that work
wasn’t very satisfying, as she was “a
do-gooder at heart.”
Of all the details I have collected
about Karen Kenyon, this one particu-
larly delights me. Judy Atkinson, who
taught at Astor, remembers that, “We
often would walk after our school day
was over. Karen had designed small
cards that she would leave in someone’s
garden when it brought her delight.”
Following her death, Kenyon’s capac-
ity for friendship was described by the
Rev. Sallie Shippen, who had been the
first female priest of Grace Episcopal
Church. Wrote Shippen, “She tended the
garden of her family and friendships as
carefully and skillfully as she tended her
actual garden on 8th Street.”
Steve Forrester, the former editor and
publisher of The Daily Astorian, is the
president and CEO of EO Media Group.
LETTERS
Stop this folly
n stepping on his own declaration of a
(fake) “national emergency,” President
Donald Trump said, “I didn’t need to do
this.”
Actually, Trump had no right to do this.
It couldn’t be clearer in the Constitution
that no funds from the U.S. Treasury can
be spent except as appropriated by Con-
gress (Article I, Section 9, Clause 7). This
is a check on executive power.
Trump has ignored the Constitution; he
will take money appropriated by Congress
for primarily military purposes and use
those funds to build his wall.
It’s also a sickening display of autoc-
racy and gross disregard for the people and
environment around the border. Trump will
seize private property, homes and ranches.
National Geographic reports a wall will
likely exacerbate flooding, destroy migra-
tion routes and habitat for thousands of
species of animals, and disrupt several
wildlife conservation areas and parks. The
environmental laws will not apply.
The wall is a huge waste of taxpayer
money — $20 to $40 billion that could be
used to pay down the debt, provide health
care, address climate change and improve
education.
The excuse that the wall will stop drugs
is belied by Trump’s own administration’s
statistics that cartels smuggle drugs into
the U.S. mostly through ports of entry.
Also, Trump’s own administration’s num-
bers show arrests for illegal immigration
across the southern border have been at
historical lows for some years.
As Trump admitted, there is no emer-
gency. The wall is a monument to Trump’s
ego and racism. We must stop this folly.
LAURA ALLEN
Seaside
I
Gun violence
n the anniversary of the Parkland
High School shooting, the cover of
The Daily Astorian’s Coast River Business
journal has a picture of a local gun store
owner, Jeff Kelland, with his description
of gun control legislation “gunpocalypse”
in bold letters (“Firearms sales boom, but
‘gunpocalypse’ looms in Oregon,” Feb.
14).
Is there any wonder his business is suf-
fering? He peddles in irrational hyste-
ria. I don’t see NAPA Auto Parts selling
more tools when Obama is in office and
less tools with President Donald Trump in
office because, as he bemoans, “there was
no panic with Trump in the White House.”
He admits to peddling in hysteria. What
a business plan. He promotes the fear
of gun confiscation, and his customers
become reluctant to buy anything. He said
“if they know you have it, then they can
say it’s illegal, and you can get a knock
O
on your door,” I assume from jack-booted
government agents. This is truly absurd.
This is exactly the problem. Using hys-
teria to prevent solving a very solvable
gun violence problem. I want him to enjoy
his guns and have a successful business.
But take a second to reflect on the fact
that nearly 40,000 Americans died in 2017
from gun violence, and that by resisting
any urge to be part of the solution, your
business cannot thrive like it should.
JIM SPURR
Cannon Beach
National emergency
here is a national emergency right
now. A would-be dictator is in the
White House who has just bypassed the
will of Congress to declare a national
emergency to get his ridiculous border
wall built in response to a fabricated crisis.
Then he jetted to Mar-a-Largo for a
weekend getaway, sending us a message
that even he doesn’t believe there is a cri-
sis worthy of this extreme unprecedented
action. This leaves us with the very fright-
ening scenario of his (and his enablers’)
real agenda.
Consolidate power in the White House,
delivering a near death blow to what
T
remains of our democracy with an act that
borders on martial law. Is this really what
we want?
Congress has the power to pass a res-
olution of disapproval of this declaration.
Please call your representatives today and
urge them to do so.
JULIA HESSE
Astoria
Renewable energy
he Daily Astorian’s Feb. 14 story
“State Legislature considers com-
munity energy bill” contains an incorrect
assertion that Pacific Power has prevented
renewable development in Oregon.
In fact, just last summer, Pacific Power
and Facebook jointly announced an agree-
ment to build two large projects, total-
ing 100 megawatts of new solar, in the
Prineville area to power a nearby data cen-
ter. In all, there are more than 40 wind and
solar projects in Oregon owned by third-
party developers that Pacific Power has
connected to the grid that serves customers
in Astoria and beyond.
Right here in Astoria, Pacific Power’s
Blue Sky renewable energy program has
supported the solar array on the Boying-
ton Building and a small hydro project.
This is in addition to Pacific Power’s own
Energy Vision 2020 initiative, which will
build enough new wind power to cost-ef-
fectively serve more than 400,000 homes
during the next two years, and upgrade
existing wind projects in the Columbia
River Gorge and in Wyoming with lon-
ger blades and newer technology to boost
output.
ALISA DUNLAP
Regional business manager,
Pacific Power
Warrenton
T
What in the world?
regon Senate Bill 608 breezed
through the Senate last week. It is the
first state rent control measure in the coun-
try. Once again, Oregon is on the cutting
edge.
A Democratic state senator representing
Clatsop County voted against the bill. The
bill would prevent price gouging, and keep
Oregonians in their homes.
I say if a senator leans like a Republi-
can, votes like a Republican, she’s a Betsy
Johnson. What in the world?
MARY TANGUAY WEBB
Astoria
O