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THE ASTORIAN • SATuRdAy, dEcEmbER 7, 2019
OPINION
editor@dailyastorian.com
KARI BORGEN
Publisher
DERRICK DePLEDGE
Editor
Founded in 1873
JEREMY FELDMAN
circulation manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN
Production manager
CARL EARL
Systems manager
OUR VIEW
Trade war exposes Port’s vulnerability
I
nternational trade can be
complex.
But it is pretty clear what’s
happening at the Port of Astoria as
the United States and China engage
in a trade war.
Astoria Forest Products, a log
exporter, scaled back operations.
The last ship bound for China, the
African Raven, left in October. The
Port trimmed staff through attrition
to save money and moved out of its
nicer offices on Pier 1 to the older
Gateway Building.
As Edward Stratton reported in
October, the Chinese imposed tar-
iffs on hemlock, the most com-
mon type of lumber exported from
Astoria, along with Douglas fir
and spruce. Log exports total 50 to
55 million board feet per year and
make up between 20% and 25% of
the Port’s revenue.
A decade ago, there was some
skepticism when the Port granted
Westerlund Log Handlers a lease
for a log export venture. Several
prominent city and business lead-
ers worried log handling at the Port
would undermine seafood proces-
sors and emerging cruise ship traf-
fic. Local mills, like Hampton Lum-
ber in Warrenton, complained the
Chinese paid more and undercut the
domestic log market.
But log exports to China still
looked like a smart bet in 2014
A seagull sits on top of a pile of logs at the Port of Astoria.
when Astoria Forest Products —
which took over from Westerlund
amid a messy legal fight with the
Chinese — acquired the long-term
lease for Pier 1 as a log export dock
and Pier 3 for a log yard.
Some suspected the Port didn’t
fight harder to create a modern
boatyard on Pier 3 because it gave
Astoria Forest Products more room
to operate. The shift was a blow to
the idea of a marine cluster at the
Port and tilted the emphasis toward
logs.
Over the past year, the trade war
with China provided a vivid exam-
ple of how relying too much on
any one sector can make a port
vulnerable.
The Port’s new strategic plan
rightly places the focus of the next
two to four years on restoring finan-
cial sustainability, addressing aging
infrastructure and fostering public
trust. Longer term, the Port hopes to
maintain deep-draft terminal capa-
bilities, support commercial fishing
and cruise ships and market the air-
port industrial property.
In the risk analysis portion of the
strategic plan, the Port recognizes
the danger of depending on logs.
The long-term health of log exports
is expected to remain stable, the
plan notes, but commodity markets
are prone to short-term shocks.
Given the Port’s “signifi-
cant exposure to any decrease in
demand from China, long-term
strategies should include a consid-
eration of alternate export markets
as well as wood product innovation
which would allow swift and flexi-
ble options to alternate between log
exports and value-added wood pro-
duction,” the plan concludes.
We are hopeful the Port Com-
mission’s selection of Will Isom as
the Port’s executive director sig-
nals a new era of level-headed
leadership.
Isom, the finance director
appointed interim director after Jim
Knight resigned in June, has had
to deal with the shock of the trade
war with China up close. His back-
ground in finance and his experi-
ence at the Port over the past few
years should provide insight.
“Sometimes the long-term health
of the Port was sacrificed for short-
term gain,” Isom told the Colum-
bia Press. “In order to survive and
to thrive, you really have to make
decisions on a longer horizon.”
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Proper preparation
S
turgeon: I asked my friend Alan how
such an ugly fish could could taste so
good.
“It takes a good cook and proper
preparation,” was his reply.
A good cook and proper preparation!
JIM HALLAUX
Astoria
Three questions
T
hree questions for President Donald
Trump or any of his local supporters:
The Internal Revenue Service will
allow anyone filing a federal tax form to
share their return with anyone, even if
they are being audited, for one simple rea-
son. The IRS already has the original. The
taxpayer would not incur any new finan-
cial or legal problems by sharing. (bit.
ly/37BzLIb)
Thanks to President Trump’s father,
who rented office space to a doctor, Don-
ald Trump was given deferments during
the Vietnam War due to bone spurs in
his feet. This debilitating medical prob-
lem does not seem to keep him from play-
ing 18 holes of golf on a regular basis 50
years later? (bit.ly/2rlJyS6)
President Trump has proclaimed for
many years that he is a multibillionaire,
so why is he asking the National Rifle
Association to pay to help defend him?
(nyti.ms/2Rk8R1X)
I would think that a billionaire could
pay his own bills?
I will appreciate getting answers to
these questions.
CHUCK MEYER
Astoria
A felon at heart
D
ecades ago, I set out to commit a fel-
ony, and failed, despite multiple
attempts.
True, Multnomah County might have
convicted me of felony distribution of
marijuana if Michael Schrunk, Mult-
nomah’s district attorney at the time,
hadn’t paused on his way to work. He
laughed at my “Marijuana for Sale” sign,
as he patted my shoulder, which made
him a material witness.
I looked forward to hearing him
explain, in court, his response to my fel-
ony. The felony was dropped.
The law has long been a tool of bad
actors, often based upon deception, prej-
udices and false conceptions, and it never
gives equal footing to rich and poor alike.
It’s another person’s religion to me, a
faith that, commonly enough, protects the
most harmful practices, organizations and
people, while punishing the transgenera-
tional victims of socioeconomic injustice.
I will not abide in falsehoods and the
reinjury of victims … knowingly.
Being forthright, I’m attempting an
action which is deemed a felony. I see
psilocybin mushrooms as a possible way
to transform the remnant legacy of severe
childhood trauma and adult cultural inju-
ries. I also see their use as part my search
in consciousness and conscience. This
isn’t an advocation of any drug use.
One day there may yet be again adults
in the room, who take upon themselves
the endless burden of steering people
toward what may benefit them, and away
from what is likely to injure or way-
lay them; knowing these are very indi-
vidualistic circumstances, but a commu-
nal responsibility. Until then … a felon at
heart?
MICHAEL “SASHA” MILLER
Astoria
Worst thing
M
y family went to the Christmas
lighting in Astoria last weekend,
and in of itself, it was great. But the worst
thing about the evening was dodging
human and dog waste on the sidewalks
we had to walk on to the event.
It is disgusting and appalling that Asto-
ria does nothing to clean it up. The city
fathers do everything in the world to
encourage people to come shop down-
town, and tourists to come, yet you allow
human and animal waste to accumulate
on the sidewalks of what was beautiful
Astoria.
If I owned a business in downtown
Astoria, and had to clean that up every
day before I opened my business, I would
shut that business in a heartbeat and move
it out of Astoria.
If I were a tourist and had to walk
through human and dog waste on the
sidewalks of Astoria, I would never come
to Astoria again.
This is Astoria’s living room. Would
you allow human and dog waste on your
living room floor? Astoria is becoming
the armpit of the north Oregon Coast.
What a disgrace.
SHARON DAVIS-ROBINSON
Gearhart
Sad heart
D
ear Founding Fathers: With a sad
heart I write to you that after three
tries, I think I’ve found loopholes in the
Constitution you so brilliantly created.
Individuals wanting their leg of the
three-legged government stool to be lon-
ger (i.e. controlling) than the other two
has been a recurring theme. But today
it seems especially dangerous. Possible
exploitable loopholes:
• 50% voter turnout means minority
rules. Do the math. Yet, we profess the
majority rules.
• One vote doesn’t matter. Whose
vote? Mine? Yours? Historically, two
presidential impeachments and two pres-
idential elections were decided by the
number one.
• Accepting illegal election results.
Kindergartners in the sandbox know you
“do over” what wasn’t fair (legal).
• Why vote? It’s hopeless. No. But it
will be, if we don’t exercise our constitu-
tional privilege.
In my opinion, publicly saying things
that are easily proved false endangers a
basic principle of democracy — the truth
shall make you free.
A wiser person than me said democ-
racy will only last if enough people care
to defend it. I say dang true. How about
you?
President John F. Kennedy challenged
Americans when he said, “Ask not what
your country can do for you — ask what
you can do for your country.”
So, George Washington, Alexander
Hamilton and Benjamin Franklin, it turns
out the mess we’re in today isn’t your
fault. The good news is all these loop-
holes are closable by “we the people.”
So whether you march, call, write or
cheer “USA, USA,” let’s all vote. It’s our
country.
CARL DOMINEY
Astoria