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THE ASTORIAN • SATuRdAy, July 6, 2019
OPINION
editor@dailyastorian.com
KARI BORGEN
Publisher
JIM VAN NOSTRAND
Editor
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JEREMY FELDMAN
Circulation Manager
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Production Manager
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Systems Manager
OUR VIEW
Legislators did some good work in session
T
he partisan excesses and
political turmoil of the 2019
Oregon Legislature have
been well-documented. But the
now-finished legislative session also
should be remembered for some
good work on behalf of the entire
state.
Much of that work was bipar-
tisan. Much of it drew little pub-
lic attention. Much of it would help
rural Oregon.
There are many examples. Here
are a few.
The Legislature fulfilled its con-
stitutional mandate to write a bal-
anced state budget for 2019-21,
while also building up a healthy
rainy-day fund. By the way, Orego-
nians will get to keep their “kicker”
tax refund next year, although the
amount won’t be known until next
month.
Sen. Betsy Johnson, D-Scap-
poose, was a constant voice for fis-
cal sanity — and understanding
the needs of rural Oregon — in her
role as a Senate co-chair of the bud-
get-writing Ways & Means Com-
mittee. Her reputation for hold-
ing state officials accountable was
undaunted.
She and other lawmakers chal-
lenged public universities to learn
from community colleges by collab-
orating on their building needs and
addressing their deferred mainte-
nance instead of constantly seeking
state money for new buildings.
And Johnson was instrumental
in securing state money for projects
in Clatsop County — $1 million for
the cleanup and redevelopment of
Astoria Warehousing, $2 million
to help turn a former youth prison
in Warrenton into the new Clatsop
County Jail and $1 million for stage
and other improvements at the Lib-
erty Theatre.
A proposed university cen-
ter to train rural health care work-
ers received $10 million. The pro-
posed Southern Oregon Medical
Workforce Center in Roseburg
would be a collaboration with New-
berg-based George Fox University.
It would offer bachelor’s and grad-
uate degrees in allied health profes-
sions, such as physical therapy and
AP Photo/Andrew Selsky
Lawmakers convene at the Oregon Senate on June 29 after minority Republicans ended a walkout over a carbon-emissions bill.
mental health. The concept is that
people trained in rural Oregon are
more likely to take health-care jobs
in rural Oregon.
An increased 911 tax will help
emergency dispatch centers hire
more staff and modernize their tech-
nology. Although call volumes have
increased dramatically, the emer-
gency communication tax had not
increased in nearly 25 years, accord-
ing to the legislation’s tenacious
sponsor, Rep. Lynn Findley, R-Vale.
The monthly tax will rise over a
two-year period from the current 75
cents to $1.25 per phone line. That
measure, House Bill 2449, passed
the Senate in the Legislature’s final
hours. It was an illustration that
even the best ideas needed constant
attention and unending advocacy to
survive the legislative process.
Sen. Bill Hansell, R-Athena, and
Johnson sponsored SB 290, which
protects farmers, ranchers and vol-
unteers from civil liability for help-
ing fight wildfires. The legislation,
which passed unanimously in both
chambers, stemmed from the Sub-
station Fire that burned more than
78,000 acres of crop and range land
in Wasco and Sherman counties.
Another bipartisan bill success-
fully sponsored by Hansell and
Johnson aims to increase student
achievement and improve gradua-
tion rates through state coordination
with FFA programs.
Among major issues on lawmak-
ers’ agenda, they did a little bit to
pay down the Public Employees
Retirement System’s unfunded lia-
bility, although public-employee
unions howled that it was too much
and Republicans said that it was
too little. In one little-noticed but
important move, the Legislature
also allowed the Harney District
Hospital in Burns to offer a retire-
ment program other than PERS
and to fill job vacancies by rehir-
ing PERS retirees without affecting
those retirees’ pensions.
Oregon’s beleaguered child-wel-
fare system gained the money and
program changes to add 347 front-
line workers. Oregon State Police
can hire 40 troopers. Oregon State
University Extension Service —
one of the most popular programs
among legislators — gained new
investments for fire resilience, water
basin research, organic farming
and berry research. The Legislature
appropriated $14 million to rehabil-
itate the Wallowa Lake Dam after
Gov. Kate Brown visited the area
and learned the potential for a dam
disaster.
High-profile items such as fam-
ily leave, education funding, climate
change, gun control and rent con-
trol dominated the news at various
times during the past five months.
Amid dealing with those contro-
versial issues — for good or bad —
legislators collaborated on a lot of
good work.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Share the road
o all the operators of surrey bike rent-
als and the tourists who rent surreys:
Please emphasize the importance of stay-
ing closest to the right side of the road as
possible.
Too often traffic is backed up because
a surrey is biking down the center of Hol-
laday Drive in Seaside, alongside the cen-
ter yellow lane, as if they are a motorized
vehicle.
I often wonder if I were to rent a surrey,
if I would be informed to obey the laws
of bicycles, and need to stay nearest to the
curb as possible. Or, are renters merely
asked to read some policies, which we all
know no one actually reads.
When surreys are on the right side of
the road cars can safely pass by, surrey rid-
ers can enjoy their day and motorists can
get to work. Just as motorists are asked to
share the road with bicyclists, surreys need
to share the road with motorists by staying
away from the center yellow lane.
DAVID MUSCHAMP
Gearhart
T
Credit for Ship Inn
n regard to the food carts review, “13
food carts to try in Astoria this summer”
(Coast Weekend, June 26), please get your
facts straight and give credit where credit
is due.
While Enola’s Ship Out food cart is a
nice tribute to the now closed Ship Inn
restaurant, Enola was not the propri-
etress of the Ship Inn. The Ship Inn was
the vision and creation of the late Fenton
Stokeld and his wife, Jill Stokeld.
They moved from England, and brought
with them the idea of serving English-style
I
fish and chips here in Astoria. The Ship
Inn was opened by the Stokelds on June
7, 1974, and was successful for 43 years,
closing its doors on April 30, 2017 (“Ship
Inn furls sails, closes galley,” The Daily
Astorian, April 18, 2017).
STACEY McKENNEY
Astoria
Voters deserve explanation
hey say that behind every complaint
is a request. I request that the Coastal
Caucus explain to their constituents how
HB 3309 makes Oregonians safer.
This bill eliminated the tsunami reg-
ulatory line, and the requirement to con-
sult with the State Department of Geology
regarding construction of essential public
buildings in tsunami inundation zones.
This major change to longstanding pol-
icy was made outside the standing com-
mittee process, and without public tes-
timony. No alternative was provided.
Coastal voters deserve an explanation of
HB 3309.
PATRICK CORCORAN
Astoria
T
Lasers are disrespectful
ecent news highlighted some cit-
ies eliminating firework shows and,
instead, having laser light shows on Inde-
pendence Day.
In 1814, at the battle at Fort McHenry,
Francis Scott Key was inspired to write
the “Star Spangled Banner.” Do the words
“and the rocket’s red glare, the bomb
bursting in air/gave proof through the
night that our flag was still there” ring a
bell?
R
We do live in the land of the free. Many
veterans and servicemen then and now
sacrificed their lives so Americans could
have that freedom. Our public servants
risk their lives everyday in the same way.
Cities are free to do whatever they
want. Using lasers instead of a fireworks
show on the Fourth of July yes, is safer,
but disrespectful to the legacy of those
brave men.
TOM CASTRO
Astoria
Food security
ood security is a serious concern for
many in our county. To supplement
distributions made at food pantries, the
F
Oregon Food Bank devised the Seed to
Supper Program as a way of increasing
food security by teaching participants to
grow their own healthy vegetables.
With the Northwest Oregon Hous-
ing Authority as host agency, the Clat-
sop County Master Gardeners Association
recently completed teaching 12 hours of
best practices in vegetable gardening to 16
enthusiastic participants at two sites.
On behalf of these participants and
CCMGA’s volunteer facilitators, I want
to thank 7 Dees Garden Center, Columbia
Pacific Coordinated Care Organization and
Rick and Wendy Bigness for the generous
donations that make this far-reaching pro-
gram possible.
DEBRA FERENCY
Warrenton