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THE ASTORIAN • THuRSdAy, dEcEmbER 26, 2019
OPINION
editor@dailyastorian.com
KARI BORGEN
Publisher
DERRICK DePLEDGE
Editor
Founded in 1873
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circulation manager
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OUR VIEW
There is magic in Christmas
T
he online post was a heart-
breaker. “It’s almost Christ-
mas and I’ve never felt less
Christmassy in my life.”
Sad, because it should be the
happiest time of the year. A time
for joy, music, feasting and fami-
lies. A time for love and together-
ness. A season that transcends the
religion on which it is based, one
that is celebrated with delightful
customs around the world.
But not everyone celebrates hol-
idays. For people suffering with
depression or loneliness, they are
often the worst times of the year.
Let’s reach out to our friends and
neighbors who might need com-
panionship and comfort, or just
understanding.
Christmas 2019 is fraught with
other difficulties, too.
Nationally, our country is polar-
ized by political upheaval that
will continue throughout 2020 and
inevitably beyond. As divided fac-
tions become entrenched, the tone
of the rhetoric is becoming more
vicious with each ugly revelation.
The only way for that tone of divi-
siveness to soften is if we all play
our part. The change must begin
with us, and we must encourage its
spread.
Locally, the North Coast has
been battered by last week’s storm
and saddened by families dev-
astated by untimely fires that
engulfed their homes in Warren-
ton and Astoria. The recent death
of a homeless woman, Gail Griffey,
on the streets of Astoria at 72 has
many people asking questions.
Answering them must be a priority,
starting early in the new year.
Amid these untimely trage-
dies we believe there is hope for
a happy Christmas. It is reflected
in the people working to make
the North Coast a better place. As
we highlighted at Thanksgiving,
we benefit significantly from car-
ing folks who work year-round to
Hailey Hoffman/The Astorian
Dancers at a Christmas-themed show at the Liberty Theatre.
enhance our community.
This year, groups extending from
South County to the Long Beach
Peninsula are cooking meals for
people with nowhere to go. They
are to be commended. We sus-
pect those groups might need some
practical help — setting up, serving
and cleaning up. What better gift to
give than some helping hands?
Last year at this time, we offered
a twofold message: Give the gift
of time and make a resolution to
ensure the upcoming year is one of
kindness. Extra helpers showing up
to volunteer at Wednesday’s com-
munal lunches would be a great
example of the gift of time to assist
others.
2020 is a leap year. That means
there are 366 potential days of
kindness — one more than usual.
Let’s make it count.
Of course, Christmas is not a
holiday for everyone. Our nation
has several hundred overseas mil-
itary bases where some 170,000
personnel are deployed on mis-
sions around the world. They are
away from their families, often in
harm’s way, loyally serving with-
out complaining.
Closer to home, police, fire
and emergency medical response
teams are working another shift to
keep us all safe. Dispatchers will
take calls and trained folks from
all these agencies will perform
their remarkable duties. And in our
region’s three hospitals in Astoria,
Seaside and Ilwaco, staff will be
away from their families, working
24/7 to maintain the health of our
loved ones.
How about we find ways to
show them some appreciation?
Right now, let’s enjoy the carol
singing, admire the brightly dec-
orated home light displays, and
savor our family get-togethers,
if we are fortunate to have them.
For those who embrace the Chris-
tian faith, it’s a time to reflect on
the holiday’s deeper significance.
For others with different faith tradi-
tions, it still can be a time to count
blessings.
So let’s appreciate what we have,
and play our role in enhancing the
North Coast. With time, with kind-
ness, with appreciation.
An upbeat reply to the online
lament at the beginning of this edi-
torial bears repeating.
“The magic of Christmas is in
your heart, my friend.”
Let’s pledge to make all our
hearts full. And give. By helping
others, we better ourselves. That
is the true spirit of the season. But
let’s make it last all of next year —
including that one extra day.
GUEST COLUMN
Rural lawmakers unload
S
tate Rep. Caddy McKeown, D-Coos
Bay, minced no words.
“My communities have been in
a recession for about 40 years now,” she
told participants at the Oregon Leadership
Summit last week. “We have high rates of
poverty, child abuse, domestic violence,
obesity, the capital murder rate, shorter
life span, all because poverty has been
imposed on us for quite (some) time.”
Many residents still have pride in their
community but also sadness that their
children will leave for jobs and education
elsewhere.
Because the need for
social services is so great,
the local Department of
Social Services staff is so
large that it ranks among
the county’s main employ-
ers — a symptom of the
DICK
dearth of family-wage
HUGHES
jobs. McKeown wondered
how the advances in arti-
ficial intelligence and other technolo-
gies being touted at the leadership summit
would have any benefit to her region.
“We don’t want a handout. We don’t
want a hand up necessarily. We want to be
able to take care of ourselves, and that’s
very difficult when you live in rural parts
of Oregon.”
As McKeown spoke, fellow panel-
ist Rep. Lynn Findley, R-Vale, nodded in
agreement.
“It’s a matter of perception on urban
vs. rural. If you’re in Portland, you think
Wilsonville is rural. But if you’re in East-
ern Oregon, you’re pretty darn sure all of
western Oregon is urban,” he said.
Urban folks believe they are giv-
ing rural Oregon a helping hand, he said.
“But the perception from rural folks is, we
don’t get a helping hand. We get the boots
to the throat that we’re held down and
we’re struggling mightily because we’re
trying to live with a one-size-fits all regu-
latory system.”
Neither had kind words for the cur-
rent political relationship, which McK-
eown called passive-aggressive. Small
communities are treated as pawns for the
benefit of someone else’s political advan-
tage or disadvantage and not allowed
to help pull themselves out of their dire
circumstances.
“I don’t think our communities that are
struggling now and have been for some
time choose to have these issues. They are
imposed upon us. They are decisions that
are made outside our purview — in Salem
and on the East Coast,” McKeown said.
“The folks that I represent have very
broad points of view. One of the things
that they do agree on is that our economy
deserves to have a chance to improve, and
it really is a struggle for us to understand
why at times we are not allowed to have
those investments made.”
Neither Findley nor McKeown is run-
ning for reelection, and they were breaths
of fresh air amid the softball questions
posed by panel moderators. Findley is
seeking a state Senate seat.
Rural-urban relationships came up
throughout the 17th annual summit,
held at the Oregon Convention Center in
Portland.
Most information in the main ses-
sions probably was not new to people who
closely follow state and national business
and government. However, I’ve come to
realize that many around the Capitol, or
perhaps in other sectors, hold in-depth
knowledge of their particular issues but
might know little about other topics. For
example, legislators often are deeply
familiar only with the bills that have come
before their committees. Conferences
such as this might fill in the gaps.
Hailey Hoffman/The Astorian
The urban-rural divide in Oregon can play out in policy decisions.
Statewide elected officials, U.S. sen-
ators, members of Congress and legisla-
tors can attend the summit for free. Other
folks must pay, including city and county
elected officials, staff members, lobbyists,
representatives of nonprofits and members
of the public.
Despite the sun overheating the hall-
way — the convention center is a strange
building — lots of good networking
occurs there. Breakout sessions also allow
for more in-depth discussions.
Senate President Peter Courtney, D-Sa-
lem, told the gathering that it constituted
“an extraordinary group of people” and
suggested state agency heads should be
involved in such a retreat.
“The agency heads are more important
than even governors,” he said, adding that
business and agency management could
learn from one another, and include city
managers as well.
Elected officials cannot close the
urban-rural divide, he said, but city man-
agers and agency directors could help do
so.
The state budget is one place where the
Legislature does not discriminate against
rural Oregon, according to Courtney. But
when it was Findley’s turn to speak later
in the day, he recounted how Eastern Ore-
gonians had been rebuffed when seek-
ing help in getting the Legislature to think
outside the box.
dick Hughes has been covering the
Oregon political scene since 1976.