A4
THE ASTORIAN • THuRSdAy, JuNE 6, 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
PUBLISHER’S NOTEBOOK
Volunteers needed for community events
‘I
remember when …” is a popular
conversation starter when you
talk to locals who recall good
times growing up in Clatsop County.
Those memories tend to be around
events — festivals, fairs, state champi-
onships, regatta parades. Those events
bind the community with a collective
memory and identity.
It’s festival season
again, kicked off with
the Crab, Seafood and
Wine festival, carry-
ing through the summer
with Sunday Market in
Astoria, concerts in the
Warrenton park, Asto-
KARI
ria Pride, Scandinavian
BORGEN
Festival, Fair, Regatta,
Brewfest ... and I’ve
just named a few. For those of us with-
out a long history here, it’s a time when
we can create new memories for a
future history that will include us and
our festival stories, too.
It’s worth the effort to take in our
local heritage, culture and food at sum-
mer events on the North Coast. For
one thing, it’s a lot of fun. Who doesn’t
like the idea of burning last year’s bad
mojo by throwing your hex on the fire
at the Scandinavian Festival? Beer gar-
dens and eating crab? Parade royalty
and queenie wrist-waves to the crowd?
Count me in.
But for all of us spectators who
Colin Murphey/The Astorian
Brightly-colored outfits are an integral part of the Scandinavian Midsummer Festival.
enjoy the fun, music and food that these
events bring us, someone had to plan it,
find a place for it and recruit people to
set it up, take tickets, clean up. Usually
those recruits are volunteers.
Volunteers aren’t saps with noth-
ing better to do. Most people I know
who volunteer have full schedules with
work and family. They also have a full
life — they prize the good things like
festivals and events that make our com-
munities vibrant for the people who
live here. Volunteers share a philoso-
phy — if it’s worth having, it’s worth
working for.
Unfortunately, filling volunteer
shifts for events has become a night-
mare for event planners. We’re all
pretty good at coming up with excuses
for not volunteering: not enough time,
too tired after work, what will I do
about the kids/spouse/parents/dog? All
the same excuses I use to avoid exer-
cise. But like avoiding exercise, it
really comes down to not making it
a habit. Volunteering is like exercis-
ing your community muscle. The more
often you do it, the stronger your com-
munity gets and the better you feel.
Think about events lost over the
years due to lack of interest. Usually
those stories start with “THEY should
have ...” or “If THEY only would
have” or “THEY should start that up
again.”
Guess what. We are THEY. If we
want to continue to have collective
memories of great fun at local events,
we need to exercise our community
muscle and volunteer.
There are always opportunities to
contribute during the events coming up
during the summer. You can search our
events calendar at dailyastorian.com/
events/. Or spend time with commu-
nity groups and nonprofits on the North
Coast — you can find them in our com-
munity pages most Thursdays.
LETTERS
Start with empathy
I
have met and helped many home-
less people over the years. I have heard
many stories of why they are where they
are. It is true, as some point out, that some
people are homeless by choice.
However, the reason for that choice
may not always be what we think. Learn-
ing disorders, phobias and chronic, debili-
tating health issues, for example, are often
behind someone’s inability to maintain a
job or residence. For many, the struggle
to maintain a “normal” life becomes too
much.
Over 10 percent of the U.S. homeless
population is veterans, many with Post
Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). So
many things, often out of our control, can
trap us in a downward spin cycle. Lack of
access to support systems, both familial
and community, helps to perpetuate these
cycles.
To those who have pulled themselves
up and out of difficult or dark places,
congratulations.
But not everyone has those prover-
bial bootstraps. We do not all process and
evolve at the same pace. In the meantime,
everyone deserves the respect we would
hope to receive if we were in the grip of an
overwhelming struggle. A hot meal, a safe
place to sleep, access to a safety net.
To try to solve the crisis of homeless-
ness, I think we must first decide to come
from a place of non-judgment, empathy
and understanding. Not always easy, but
if we start there, the answers will follow.
At the least, we will give our humanity a
much-needed workout.
RITA SMITH
Hammond
Teachers not paid enough
A
s you may have heard, the Red for
Ed program had about 25,000 teach-
ers, students and others marching through
downtown Portland and more places,
demanding a change in educational fund-
ing (“Oregon teachers walk out for more
funding,” May 8, The Astorian).
Teachers are not being paid enough,
while kids are not getting the supplies they
need in order to learn. This is a real prob-
lem. Without the funds, schools cannot
function properly.
Teachers already know that they’re not
going to become rich from being a teacher
— they do it because they love the job and
kids. I believe someone who loves see-
ing people succeed deserves the right to be
funded, and well paid.
TRISTIN WALLACE
Astoria
Impeachment? Really?
T
he frustration of major media outlets
and Congressional Democrats is boil-
ing over since Robert Mueller’s investiga-
tion regarding Russian collusion concern-
ing the Trump campaign came up empty.
The president didn’t claim executive
privilege, didn’t withhold documents,
didn’t block testimony, didn’t give par-
dons, didn’t fire Mueller.
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.tiffinymitchell@oregonlegislature.gov.
Web: oregonlegislature.gov/mitchell
• State Rep. Brad Witt (D): State Capi-
tol, 900 Court St. NE, H-374, Salem, OR
97301. Phone: 503-986-1431. Email: Rep.
BradWitt@oregonlegislature.gov. Web: ore-
gonlegislature.gov/witt
• State Sen. Betsy Johnson (D): State
Capitol, 900 Court St. NE, S-209, Salem,
OR 97301. Phone: 503-986-1716. Email:
sen.betsyjohnson@oregonlegislature.
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, Washing-
But special prosecutor Mueller, in his
swan song, said this: “If we had had con-
fidence that the president clearly did not
commit a crime, we would have said so …
We did not, however, make a determina-
tion as to whether the president did commit
a crime.” How can anyone prove they did
not commit a crime that’s not described?
It was an investigation that should’ve
never been opened. It was based on a dos-
sier made up by a Trump-hating foreign
agent Christopher Steele, and secretly paid
for by the Hillary Clinton campaign. The
FBI even leaked the document to friendly
media outlets and when the story broke,
and pointed it out as corroborating evi-
dence to the Foreign Intelligence Surveil-
lance Act (FISA) court.
That is prosecutorial misconduct,
using the unlimited financial and tech-
nical resources of the government to go
after political enemies. The FISA court —
ton, DC 20515. Phone: 202-225-0855. Dis-
trict office: 12725 SW Millikan Way, Suite
220, Beaverton, OR 97005. Phone: 503-
469-6010. Web: bonamici.house.gov
• U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D): 221 Dirksen
Senate Office Building, Washington, DC
20510. Phone: 202-224-5244. Web: wyden.
senate.gov
• U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D): 313 Hart Sen-
ate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510.
Phone: 202-224-3753. Web: merkley.
senate.gov
• Port of Astoria: Executive Director, 10
Pier 1 Suite 308, Astoria, OR 97103. Phone:
503-741-3300. Email: admin@portofasto-
ria.com
• Clatsop County Board of Commission-
ers: C/O County Manager, 800 Exchange
St., Suite 410, Astoria, OR 97103. Phone:
503-325-1000.
meant to protect President Donald Trump’s
rights — allowed those rights to be tram-
pled on by a partisan Department of Jus-
tice, the FBI and CIA.
Regarding the “coverup,” a West Texas
reporter once put it this way: “While we
recognize that the subject did not actually
steal any horses, he is obviously guilty of
trying to resist being hanged for it.”
WAYNE MAYO
Scappoose
Support food bucks
W
e all know it’s hard to focus when
you’re hungry. Having children who
are well-fed and not hungry makes a dif-
ference in their individual performance,
and also how much they are contributing
to or disrupting the classroom situation.
Currently there is a bill, SB 727A, that
would fund expansion of the Double Up
Food Bucks Program, that matches Sup-
plemental Nutrition Assistance Program
(SNAP) dollars spent on produce at farm-
ers markets around the state.
This program incentivizes the purchase
of healthy fruits and vegetables, making
sure that all people have access to fresh
produce and giving the opportunity for
everyone to live a healthy life.
Programs like Double Up Food Bucks
not only prevent food insecurity, but also
promote healthy eating. This relatively
small investment in nutrition will lead to
the betterment of the health of all our citi-
zens, but particularly our children.
With the exciting investments on the
horizon for schools, the legislature should
support SB 727A to help our kids arrive to
school ready to learn.
BRIAN BABBITT
Astoria
Negative evidence?
I
do not normally read political news.
But since The Astorian boldly headlined
“Mueller: Russia report did not exoner-
ate Trump” (May 30) because of federal
rules, (which I assume, require evidence), I
decided to investigate Mueller.
There have been unsubstantiated web
rumors that he was a serial killer. After
448 pages of testimony I could find no evi-
dence of that. However, I found no evi-
dence to exonerate him either. If I had con-
fidence that he clearly did not commit a
crime, I would say so.
Is this now the American justice sys-
tem? It is my understanding that there
is either evidence or not. This system
employed by Mueller says there was no
evidence, but equally no … what? Neg-
ative evidence? Evidence that something
did not happen?
What a load of drivel.
ROBERT LIDDYCOAT
Seaside