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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (July 16, 2019)
A4 THE ASTORIAN • TuESdAy, July 16, 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 Sacrificing an aspen to Apollo make money in return for taking enor- mous physical and financial risks, most of us would rather stay home. Although I haven’t “read” science fic- tion since age 15 or so, in the past cou- ple years I’ve started listening to it while walking the dog and doing yard work — thanks to Audible, the Amazon-owned spoken book company. “The Singular- ity Trap” by Dennis E. Taylor held my attention a few weeks ago, laying out a plausible scenario in which private entrepreneurs mine metallic asteroids. For working people on the book’s fic- tional earth, it has become one of few ways to break out of poverty, heat and congestion. Similarly, PBS’s “Nova” recently out- lined preliminary plans to use the moon as a stepping stone to more-distant des- tinations — converting its surprising quantity of water into hydrogen and oxygen fuel for rocket ships. I was 11 when Apollo 11 landed on the moon. We all figured by now plenty of people would be living there in pressurized trailer parks, taking giant leaps for mankind. With so many having left to colonize the solar system, I fantasized about stay- ing behind on an emptier planet. My true love and I would live like Marlon Brando and Lauren Bacall on a pri- vate tropical island, our laughing children look- ing skyward to admire the moon’s city lights on warm summer nights. MATT What do 11-year-olds WINTERS aspire to these days, any- way? Getting rich has always been a popular target and surely remains so. Also still a mainstay is lust- ing after fame — in reach for a lucky few who are clever enough or rude enough on social media. Aside from that, there doesn’t really seem to be any overarching theme for dreams. Farfetched fantasies ought to be a birthright for every child. My “world” — a small Wyoming mountain town — was far safer than the world 11-year-olds know now. We were snug as bugs in a rug, to use a nostal- gic expression. We had both room and reason to dream big, being four and a half hours from the nearest big metrop- olis, Salt Lake City. The moon seemed nearer. Sacred and sacrosanct NASA/Neil A. Armstrong Buzz Aldrin salutes the deployed U.S. flag on the lunar surface 50 years ago. PART OF ME INTENSEly PREFERS TO PRESERVE OuR ANCIENT RElATIONSHIP WITH THE MOON AS IT SAIlS SACREd ANd SACROSANCT THROuGH THE SEASONS. WIll IT STIll SHINE AS BRIGHT WHEN THE FIRST STRIP MINES OPEN THERE? PROBABly. BuT WIll BOyS ANd GIRlS STIll lOOK uPON IT WITH AWE? An unlucky aspen A day after the Apollo 11 landing, my friend Cale Case and I were down by my family’s river bank 500 yards from our house, thoroughly caught up in the excitement of what had happened. To commemorate the occasion we carved a message in the bark of a poor aspen, something like “Yesterday, July 20, 1969 humans first landed on the moon — JCC MSW.” (It’d be fun to go back and find the tree, except that our commemoration may have killed it.) Cale, always a happy prankster, joked around and said the word “help” in lit- tle more than a conversational tone of voice and about two minutes later my worrywart dad came crashing through the brush to rescue us from the savage bear or whatever it was that had us. He was angry and perhaps just a little dis- appointed to find his heroics unneeded. Aggravating as his attention could some- times become, it was a comfort knowing I had a dad within earshot if I ever really needed help. His memory still holds me upright in times of need. He was indulgent when 14-year-old me presented detailed plans for a diri- gible/airship that I intended to fly down the Americas and over Antarctica. That indulgence didn’t extend to writing a check for requested aluminum alloy rib- bing, but we did take flying lessons together, and I did eventually fly hot-air balloons. And Cale used to fly his plane down to Cheyenne, where he’s still in the state Senate and probably has little fun at all. The dream drought The dreams and well-being of chil- dren are one of the best measures of the health of society. America is still a good place to live despite our disagree- able politics. But on this little old world there are too many places without hope — gnawing tragedies that send thou- sands crashing against our increasingly unfriendly borders. Even in our lucky nation, there are too few dreams and too much pessi- mism. Could it be that the millions we spent on the moon missions were a small price to pay for a sense of direction? Privately funded space explora- tion probably is our next real chance of stretching beyond earth. This makes sense. Realistically, unless people can Moon is a friend I miss seeing during our season of storms. But even in those terrible hours when it sounds like rav- enous banshees are successfully claw- ing their way through my darkened win- dow glass, it’s comforting to know the moon is still calmly shining just above the fray. If only my battered old pickup were capable of driving straight upward, I could glimpse her above the clouds in just a minute or two at highway speed. The movement of both the sun and moon have been compared to pendu- lums, majestically swinging through the days and seasons with rhythms our ancestors believed to reveal the secret mind of god. Who are we to say they were wrong? We’re just past summer solstice, when the sun’s annual pendulum is at the top of its arc and just gaining momentum toward fall equinox — Sept. 23 this year. Like a pendulum, as the sun nears and passes solstice, it stalls in its progress along the horizon and down the sky. The word solstice literally means “standstill of the sun.” After its current near-pause, it will begin racing back toward fall like a Hot Wheels car on a slick plastic track. Part of me intensely prefers to pre- serve our ancient relationship with the moon as it sails sacred and sacrosanct through the seasons. Will it still shine as bright when the first strip mines open there? Probably. But will boys and girls still look upon it with awe? Matt Winters is editor of the Chinook Observer in long Beach, Washington. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Standing up for us want to publicly give my heartfelt thanks to state Sen. Betsy Johnson, Sen. Arnie Roblan and Sen. Laurie Monnes Anderson for standing up for their dis- tricts over their party in the last legislative session. Surely they knew that there would be a political cost for that principled effort, but they chose to put the communities they represent as their highest priority. One recent letter to the editor suggested that Sen. Johnson isn’t a good Demo- crat because she at times votes against the party line (“Whose side is she on?” The Astorian, July 4). I don’t vote for Sen. Johnson because she is a Democrat, but because she con- sistently votes to support the community she represents. She is our representative in Salem first, and a Democrat second, and that is fine with me. I am confident that these three senators can support making substantive changes to reduce fossil fuel use, but it must be done in a way that doesn’t send employers and industries out of state. These senators should be commended for their honorable service to their constit- uents. I believe they saved Oregon from the massive unintended consequences of HB 2020. SCOTT McMULLEN Astoria I Locals paid enough n July 2, a letter writer asked the question: “Does eliminating locals pave the way for developers, so they can add 34 Airbnb-type vacation rent- als?” (“Follow the money,” The Astorian). Maybe. What do you call 34 Airbnbs in one building? A motel. Let me put in another motel on the riv- erfront, and I will give you 32 units of low-income housing. Great idea. I think O we should extend this idea to all the new motels being approved. Hollander Hospi- tality’s new motel should be required to supply low-income housing for the low- wage jobs being created. Call it “housing for the housekeepers.” I guess they will have to get 34 permits for the Airbnbs. All 34 units will have to be safety inspected. You will have a build- ing where, according to city code, all the Airbnb rooms will have to have a fire extinguisher, while the long-term rental units have no such requirement. I find that telling. The homestay lodging permit is designed to keep the locals from wanting to try having an Airbnb. Safety inspection is just code for “make it expensive.” A sub-headline on The Astorian front page recently read: “New license meant to curb illegal rentals” (“Astoria gets bet- ter grasp on homestay lodging,” July 13). It does not. It only hurts the small locals, while it opens the door for the big players. Here’s a way to fix this: Change the code so that next year all a local needs to show to get a homestay permit is their property tax bill. It will show that the locals have paid enough. JOHN GINDER Astoria by, everyone stood and cheered. I want to thank Jake Wright’s family for inviting me to join them, and I look forward to making this an annual event for my family. Thank you, Warrenton, for showing me that small-town America still exists, and is alive in your town. DAWN WHITE Tualatin Thank you, Warrenton Stop this clearcut had the pleasure of attending the Fourth of July festivities in Warrenton. I was extremely impressed with the friendliness and the welcoming attitude I received. Everyone I met was so nice, and warm. It was like a trip back in time; the patriotism and kindness like in the “good old days” is alive and flourishing in your lovely town. The parade was great fun. Such a wide variety of participants, and the military presence was a welcome sight. No pro- tests, no standing on the flag. Only stand- ing for the flag. When the veterans came O I n July 2, 65 citizens gathered at sce- nic Hug Point to protest the Oregon Department of Forestry’s (ODF) planned clearing of 77 acres of forest at Norriston Heights near Arcadia Beach. We urge you to join with these, and many other con- cerned residents of our North Coast com- munity, in saying: Stop this clearcut. Give thought to the negative impact it will have on the supply and quality of community drinking water; its threat to nearby old growth forests; the peril inflicted on protected wildlife in the area, especially the endangered marbled mur- relet; and the ugliness of such a cut along U.S. Highway 101 between Arcadia and Hug Point beaches. These are critical mat- ters that ODF has addressed in its plan, because they know that the public takes them seriously — so let’s do just that. In times past the clearing of a 70-acre forest would have been a normal event, but those times are long gone for many remaining stands of trees. Norriston Heights is one of them. Coastal Oregon must protect its fragile forests for human livability and to sustain threatened wildlife. Let’s leave this unique stand of trees alone to serve our commu- nity as a natural preserve of what once was a great forest. Join with your neighbors in saying “stop.” Learn more by searching online. Contact your state representatives and ODF. And, watch for further events and notifications where you can become involved in saving an important piece of our coastal life. DARRELL CLUKEY SUSAN GLARUM Cannon Beach
