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THE ASTORIAN • SATuRdAy, MAy 22, 2021
OPINION
editor@dailyastorian.com
KARI BORGEN
Publisher
DERRICK DePLEDGE
Editor
Founded in 1873
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Circulation Manager
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Systems Manager
WRITER’S NOTEBOOK
Extend the lives of good people
W
ho hasn’t fantasized about
getting to travel back in time,
even if only for five minutes,
to nudge the future in a different direc-
tion? For me, one that comes to mind is
a quick trip to 1928 to beg my teenage
dad not to start smoking.
By now, he’d be long dead anyway.
Everyone has to die of something. So
what real difference would it make?
Apart from wishing for a kinder end for
a good man who spent
his last year drowning
every moment with cor-
rupted lungs, his living
even another 10 years
would have kept my
mother beside him in a
home she loved, might
MATT
have kept my nephew
WINTERS
out of prison, and would
have positively influ-
enced dozens of other lives, including
mine.
Extending the lives of good people is
intrinsically worthwhile.
Right now, it’s sad seeing people
cut down by COVID-19, in addition to
many others who face debilitating after-
effects and punishing hospital bills. Like
choosing not to smoke, there’s a very
simple way to probably avoid these trag-
edies. Get vaccinated.
This month my family lost a trea-
sured elder. My mother’s cousin, Mary,
an unofficial aunt to me, was cherished
by many for her humor, generosity and
warm hospitality. Profound kindness
radiated like a beacon from her hillside
home.
Living in a small Wyoming town sur-
rounded by neighbors whose first reflex
is to reject government advice, her
COVID death was avoidable. It makes
me smile to remember the time she
tricked me into riding the roller coaster,
and endless summer days picnicking
with her in the high desert. It’s wrench-
ing to consider that she might have
enjoyed another good decade of kindly
jokes and fruitful walks with her loving
husband, Bob.
This winter, my cousin, Karla, from
Michigan, took an untimely vacation to
Florida and died there after swiftly tak-
ing ill with severe COVID. Her loss
leaves a permanent rip in the fabric of
Hailey Hoffman/The Astorian
The one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine is one of three being used in the United States against the coronavirus.
our family.
I can’t post a COVID-related story to
our Facebook page without some ridic-
ulous jackass posting a laughing emoji,
dismissing the awful reality of a horri-
ble infection that continues to kill Amer-
icans every day. Although it’s obvi-
ously just done in a juvenile effort to
be snarky, sometimes it’s hard to avoid
wishing they get a personal taste of what
they’re ridiculing.
Aside from those who have been
tricked into thinking COVID is some
wicked liberal thought-control exper-
iment, there are many who worry that
the vaccine itself will eventually be dis-
covered to have serious negative conse-
quences. Wouldn’t be the first time. But
so far there’s no sign of such blowback.
The issues that have emerged — pos-
sibly including extremely rare blood
clotting from the Johnson & Johnson
vaccine — pale in comparison to the
risk of coming down with COVID. A
slightly sore arm was the worst I experi-
enced after each of two Moderna doses.
My 25-year-old daughter made the right
risk-benefit calculation by getting the
J&J shot. And my wife, despite legiti-
mate worries about allergic reactions to
almost everything, is set to get the J&J
shot in the next week. Even bearing in
mind that we may all eventually need
boosters as new virus variants emerge,
we feel incredible relief.
Some hold off on getting the shot
because they figure enough others will
eventually be immune, and that COVID
will soon fade into something more
like a chronic nuisance. Unfortunately,
too many “free riders” mean the bus
grinds to a stop — the dream of achiev-
ing “herd immunity” has already died
because of vaccination reluctance, a fac-
tor that also plays into the virus having
an opportunity to mutate in dangerous
new directions.
Don’t get the vaccine because
Anthony Fauci says so. Don’t get it
because I think it’s a good idea. Don’t
even get it to help America get back to
normal or to avoid the chance of spread-
ing the virus to others.
But imagine suddenly disappearing
from your family for no good reason.
You are more important than you can
possibly know. Don’t make your son or
daughter wish they had a time machine
so they could travel back to today and
implore you to get safe and free protec-
tion from this calamity.
Matt Winters is editor of the Chinook
Observer.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Tough conversations
From last year’s record-breaking fire
season, to bad ocean conditions, hotter
summers and reduced snowpack, it’s obvi-
ous that the Pacific Northwest and coastal
climates are changing.
Earlier this year, National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration Fisheries pro-
jected that climate change could cause
already low survival rates for Snake River
spring Chinook to plummet.
We need urgent actions to counteract
the fish-killing effects of warming oceans
and reduced river flows. We need to make
bold actions and significant investments
where we have management control:
Hydropower and habitat.
The Snake River basin represents the
coldest, most undisturbed habitat in the
lower 48 states: 30,000 miles of incredi-
bly important high-elevation, cold-water
spawning refuge in a warmer, drier future.
Unfortunately, only a very small per-
centage of the fish spawned in this pris-
tine habitat are able to return because of
the devastating impacts of the four lower
Snake River dams.
We are at the crossroads of a climate
and extinction crisis. Our salmon do not
have any more time to wait. Do we want
to tell our grandchildren we let salmon go
extinct? Or do we want a future with abun-
dant, fishable salmon runs that support
businesses and unforgettable experiences?
It is time to remove the four dams. U.S
Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., and U.S.
Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, are ready to
have tough conversations to find compre-
hensive solutions for this complex, perva-
sive issue. Other regional elected officials
need to get involved in crafting a legis-
lative solution that doubles wild salmon
returns, and provides stability to river-de-
pendent communities.
NORM RITCHIE
Rockaway Beach
A privilege
My experiences have proven to me that
being an American citizen is a privilege.
Being taught what the role of a citizen is
supposed to do in school is just a start.
Without the parents of these sponges
of learning actually being an example to
follow, these ideals are lost. It has been
proven many times that humans become
what they are fed, whether or not that feed
is for the body or the brain.
A good citizen tries their best to be
respectful of others, no matter what flag
they might fly. Citizens do much more
than vote. They are the rocks all commu-
nities are built upon, not brick and mortar.
Their participation in building the future of
any community is the key to whether that
society thrives or dies.
We all know that if you are not part
of any decision-making process, you get
what others assume you may need. Even
to survive, let alone your wants. And most
Americans believe their wants are their
needs. Just like animals in the slaughter
line, waiting for the others ahead to make
sounds of impending doom, these nonpar-
ticipants of this privilege are behaving the
same.
Like any tool, the more you use it, the
better you become at using that tool to
do your work. Democracy is no different.
Please get involved in your child’s future.
A little more effort on your part today
will make a difference in their tomorrow.
United we stand, divided we fall.
TROY HASKELL
Astoria
Political gesture
I have noted that our political leaders
have passed a new gun law intended more
as a political gesture rather than an effec-
tive deterrent to unnecessary gun violence.
As usual, this was passed with Democratic
votes and no Republican ones.
I am strongly in favor of requiring
gun locks in homes that have children or
immature, unstable young adults. The cur-
rent culture with the media hype displays
to unqualified people that there is power
and public exposure if they give in to their
desires to punish people they do not like.
Having said the above, I absolutely
object to requiring fully mature adults, liv-
ing in their own homes, being required to
have gun locks on their weapons. I have
possessed weapons for almost 60 years,
and I have never used one except during
my seven years of military service, where
it was required to survive in Vietnam.
I think it will be interesting for local
law enforcement people to seek proba-
ble cause search warrants to search my
home for any weapons without gun locks
on them. I assume this law is going to be
enforceable “after the fact,” as there is no
reasonable way it can be enforced when it
needs to be if children or young adults live
in the home.
I will retain an unlocked weapon in
my home to counter any uninvited per-
son coming into my home when I have no
advanced warning.
SCOTT WIDDICOMBE
Warrenton