A4
THE ASTORIAN • SATuRdAy, MAy 25, 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
GUEST COLUMN
Memorial Day reminds us of our highest ideals —
and the price we must sometimes pay for them
E
very year, I’m struck by the
powerful — and often, oppos-
ing — emotions that Memorial
Day stirs.
We celebrate our freedoms, and yet,
we mourn the cost that they required.
We look ahead to a bright future, while
we remember the tri-
als and challenges of
the past. We honor those
who served, but we
grieve their loss.
Celebration, and sad-
ness. Gratitude, and
remorse. Hope, and
KELLY
FITZPATRICK helplessness. Memorial
Day is unique in evok-
ing such a broad spec-
trum of feeling, because it is this hol-
iday that speaks most keenly to our
highest ideals, as well as the steep price
we are willing to pay for them.
Sadly, it is also a day that, for many,
has lost its significance. President
George W. Bush would often tell the
story of asking schoolchildren what the
meaning of Memorial Day is, only to
have them respond, “That’s the day the
pool opens!”
For many Oregonians, Memorial
Day is primarily the unofficial start
of the summer recreation season, a
chance to enjoy our amazing forests and
beaches, rivers and lakes and mountain
trails.
We should enjoy all that our state
has to offer, but we should also keep in
mind the words of another president,
John F. Kennedy: “A nation reveals
itself not only by the citizens it pro-
duces but also by the citizens it honors,
the citizens it remembers.”
We must remember the fallen
because the courage, the strength, the
selflessness and the sacrifice of each
one of these brave warriors is the ideal
to which we all should aspire.
On this Memorial Day, I think of
Bob Maxwell, a great American and
Oregonian whom we lost earlier this
month. Bob was a World War II com-
bat soldier, and until his death, the only
Medal of Honor recipient still living
in our state. While he did not die fight-
ing for our country, he fearlessly faced
death in a way few Americans ever
have.
He earned that medal — the U.S.
military’s highest decoration for valor
— for the courage he showed during a
Ryan Brennecke/Bend Bulletin
Robert ‘Bob’ Maxwell places a wreath in 2017 in front of the Army flag while taking part in the Wreaths Across America ceremony at First
Presbyterian Church in Bend. Maxwell, the nation’s oldest Medal of Honor recipient, died May 11 at the age of 98.
battle in September 1944, when a live
German hand grenade was tossed in
the midst of his squad. Without a sec-
ond thought, he hurled himself upon
it, shielding his comrades from the
blast with nothing but a blanket and his
unprotected body.
Maxwell cheated death that day,
though he carried shrapnel in his body
for the rest of his life. It was a life he
dedicated in humble service to the vet-
eran community, and to the memories
of his brothers in arms, who never got
the chance to come home.
We must never forget the true cost of
war. It is a price paid not in dollars and
cents, but with the blood of our heroes.
They were nothing less than the
best America had to offer, those who
answered the call when their nation
needed them, who paid the ultimate
price to protect us and our way of life.
The stories of their sacrifice are for-
ever woven into the fabric of our nation
and its history. They gave their lives on
the foreign soils of Europe, the black
sands of the South Pacific, the frozen
reaches of Korea, in the sweltering jun-
gles of Vietnam, the scorching deserts
of Afghanistan and Iraq, and in many
other places across the globe.
The United States lost more than
400,000 of its sons and daughters in
World War II — 2,826 from Oregon.
We know that 54,246 American service
members gave their lives in Korea (287
Oregonians); and 58,209 in Vietnam
(791 from our state).
In Iraq and Afghanistan, we lost
6,713 American service members —
142 Oregonians.
Each one of their names is etched on
slabs of granite that form the heart of
the Afghan/Iraqi Freedom Memorial,
located just a few steps from the Ore-
gon Department of Veterans’ Affairs
office building.
Each one of their names is read
aloud each year at our Memorial Day
ceremony, as we seek to honor and
remember their sacrifice.
Each one represents the loss of a
bright and shining light in the lives of
their families, a pain that they feel each
and every day — not just on Memorial
Day. We remember and honor their sac-
rifice as well.
They, too, paid a great price for the
freedoms we now enjoy.
On behalf of the Oregon Department
of Veterans’ Affairs, I urge all Orego-
nians to take a moment this Memorial
Day, to remember our fallen heroes who
gave their lives in service to our nation,
and say, “Thank you.”
Kelly Fitzpatrick is an Army veteran
and the director of the Oregon depart-
ment of Veterans’ Affairs.
WHERE TO WRITE
• State Rep. Tiffiny
Mitchell (D): State
Capitol, 900 Court St. NE,
H-285, Salem, OR 97301.
Phone: 503-986-1432.
Email: rep.tiffinymitch-
ell@oregonlegislature.
gov. Web: oregonlegisla-
ture.gov/mitchell
• State Rep. Brad Witt
(D): State Capitol, 900
Court St. NE, H-374,
Salem, OR 97301. Phone:
503-986-1431. Email: Rep.
BradWitt@oregonlegisla-
ture.gov. Web: oregon-
legislature.gov/witt
• State Sen. Betsy John-
son (D): State Capitol,
900 Court St. NE, S-209,
Salem, OR 97301. Phone:
503-986-1716. Email: sen.
betsyjohnson@oregon-
legislature.gov. Web:
oregonlegislature.gov/
johnson. District Office:
P.O. Box R, Scappoose,
OR 97056. Phone: 503-
543-4046. Astoria office
phone: 503-338-1280
• U.S. Rep. Suzanne
Bonamici (D): 2231
Rayburn House Office
Building, Washington,
DC 20515. Phone: 202-
225-0855. District office:
12725 SW Millikan Way,
Suite 220, Beaverton, OR
97005. Phone: 503-469-
6010. Web: bonamici.
house.gov
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Seaside schools expensive
easide School District voters have cho-
sen their leadership, and I congratulate
Sandra Gomez on her election. I hope that
the main goal will be improving the results
being achieved by our underperforming
school district.
It is interesting that voters never made
an issue of the high cost of the new hill-
side campus. Our community is building a
school facility that ranks among the top 10
most expensive school projects on a per-
pupil-served basis in the U.S.
When discussing my alternative proj-
ect, the school architect said that he
never considered alternatives. The head
of the county planning commission said
that reducing costs by $80 million is not
important.
Do voters really expect this lack of
interest in cost can continue? Do elected
leaders not understand that the greatest
contributor to the rising cost of housing is
increased property taxes? Do leaders not
S
understand that we cannot keep shuffling
off the financing of our communities on
increasing visitor bed taxes?
The second home owners who can’t
vote in our elections — and who pro-
vide the bulk of the tax revenues for our
schools and local government — will
eventually seek less-costly vacation
options.
So our mayor is correct: I am too ana-
lytical. But keep your eyes peeled, because
I now intend to pursue the formation of a
public utility district for our area which
will reduce our electric bills by 30 percent,
provide renewable power and survive a
Cascadia event.
JOHN DUNZER
Seaside
Read the report
he Mueller report in the redacted pub-
lic form is out in paperback. Get your
copy. It is easy reading so far, and it cer-
T
tainly doesn’t support what William Barr
purports, or the White House purports.
Why let someone misrepresent, i.e. lie to
you, when you can read it for yourself?
I have some questions. Why do so
many liars cluster around the liar-in-chief?
Even Russia has been lying for him on
social media — Facebook, Twitter, Ins-
tagram and Tumblr — in a huge way. Do
you want to be influenced by Russia?
Why is said chief so afraid of having
his taxes and business records disclosed?
Tax evasion? Money laundering? For-
eign monetary leverage? Unregistered for-
eign agent? Emolument violation? Unscru-
pulous business transactions? Crooked?
“Lock him up?” All of the above?
MONICA TAYLOR
Astoria
Storm warning
W
hy don’t we hear of it from our
news media? We don’t even hear of
the looming disaster from the Democratic
Party. The U.S. is a boat loaded to the gun-
nels with rock, heading into a devastating
storm.
The rock is our national debt. The
storm is China’s intention to become the
world’s dominant economy. Our course is
set directly into this storm with tax cuts,
a bloated military and tariffs. The weight
of these foolhardy policies will result in a
failing economy.
With our economy in recession, it will
no longer be advantageous for China to
continue supporting our national debt.
China need only announce that they will
no longer be buying U.S. bonds to weaken
the dollar so greatly that it will no longer
be an acceptable international currency.
We have alienated the few nations
who could come to our economic aid. We
will emerge from this storm, afloat but as
another second-class world power along
with Britain, Japan and Russia.
THEODORE ‘TOD’ LUNDY
Astoria