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THE ASTORIAN • SATuRdAy, ApRIl 30, 2022
OPINION
editor@dailyastorian.com
KARI BORGEN
publisher
Founded in 1873
DERRICK DePLEDGE
Editor
SHANNON ARLINT
Circulation Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN
production Manager
WRITER’S NOTEBOOK
Astoria festival will feel weight of war in Ukraine
ar in Ukraine has forced
a new generation of Rus-
sian artists into the tough-
est choice of all. Do they defy the lies of
their nation’s leader by telling the truth,
or do they join in the dictator’s Big Lie?
This happened to German musicians
and conductors some 80 years ago when
they fled the moral stain of Adolf Hitler
and the Third Reich and headed to Amer-
ica. Those who stayed behind have been
tainted in the history of
classical music.
The stakes were high
during World War II,
as they are now. “War
Brings New Iron Cur-
tain Down on Russia’s
Storied Ballet Stages,”
STEVE
in the April 15 New
FORRESTER
York Times reported that
Vladimir Putin’s war in
Ukraine is decimating the fabled Bolshoi
Ballet. A number of the company’s prin-
cipal dancers have fled to other compa-
nies in other nations.
The highest visibility casualties in
Russian music and opera are the con-
ductor Valery Gergiev and the soprano
Anna Netrebko. They watched their
global careers evaporate suddenly sev-
eral weeks ago, when they refused to dis-
avow or criticize Putin.
Most recently, Gergiev’s protégé, an
American named Gavriel Heine, has
walked out of his conducting position
at the prestigious Mariinsky Theatre in
St. Petersburg. Appalled at the Ukraine
war, Heine will take his wife and son to
America.
The arts — particularly literature,
music and dance — are much more than
entertainment in Russia. Names such as
W
Bolshoi Theatre
Russian artists are under pressure because of the war in Ukraine.
Pushkin, Tolstoy and Tchaikovsky are
as hallowed as any others in the Russian
pantheon.
In 1977, I had the opportunity to see
performances of Russian works in Mos-
cow and St. Petersburg. I will never for-
get the enthusiasm in the huge hall where
the Bolshoi troupe dances. The emotion
of the crowd was akin to what goes on
at a football field when the home team is
winning. I attended with a tour group out
of New York City.
My seven days in Russia were not
uplifting. Being in Leonid Brezhnev’s
Soviet Union was a downer. I came away
with contempt for a people who put up
with Communist dictatorship.
However, seeing the Bolshoi danc-
ers and seeing Prokofiev’s opera “War
and Peace” were unforgettable. See-
ing Verdi’s opera “La Traviata” at the
Maly Kirov theater in St. Petersburg was
a time warp. The Maly Kirov was built
in Czarist times and its proscenium was
once emblazoned with the double eagle
of the royal family. That icon was sup-
planted with the hammer and cycle. As
I watched Verdi’s classic love story, it
occurred to me that the performers were
Russian comrades playing French aris-
tocrats for an audience of Russian com-
rades in a theater built by royalists.
Following that trip, I read a historian
who made the point that the transition
from the czars to Communist dictators
did change the form of Russia’s govern-
ment, but not the nation’s endemic traits
of secrecy, spying on citizens and sus-
picion of foreigners. Simon Morrison, a
Princeton music professor, echoed that
observation in the Times article about
the conductor Heine’s exodus from Rus-
sia. “Russia is just going to be more and
more closed,” said Morrison. “It’s going
to revert more and more to its own true
self, harsh as that may seem — a sealed-
off, angry, paranoid and resentful feudal
realm.”
Astoria’s Liberty Theatre will soon
become emotionally involved in the
bind that Russian artists find themselves.
The star performers of the new Third
Dimension Music Festival — begin-
ning June 11 — will be Sergey Antonov,
Ilya Kazantsev and Misha Keylin. These
Russians have made careers in America,
and they have denounced Putin’s war.
Over many Astoria festivals, Anton-
ov’s story has become familiar — his
Russian background, his family in New
York and also in Russia. Keylin’s wife is
Ukrainian.
“We have hundreds if not thousands
of friends in Ukraine. We’re all con-
nected,” Antonov said in an interview.
Audiences bring their own emotions
to a concert, and so do the performers.
Antonov spoke of how the weight of this
war affects a musician.
“For me that is one of the most pre-
cious aspects is that we are not machines.
We transpose what’s happening inside of
us and in our relationships. We transpose
it on the instruments. That’s what’s so
meaningful to me in this art. I’m trying
to bring the audience into a story.
“The events like this are a huge
weight on us. Our desperation is that we
can only hope and pray that it will stop
immediately. The biggest weight is that
we have no control over what’s hap-
pened or will happen. And it is on top of
the COVID situation. We were silenced
for a year and a half.”
Steve Forrester, the former editor and
publisher of The Astorian, is the president
and CEO of EO Media Group.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Yes or no?
es or no? Yes means a modern, effi-
cient and earthquake resistant Gear-
hart fire and police station. Yes means
placing critical infrastructure on high
ground, out of the likely tsunami inun-
dation zone. Yes means adequate space
for equipment storage and first-responder
training.
Yes means decontamination areas and
adequate changing facilities, in compli-
ance with today’s standards. Yes means
secure storage for police evidence and
private spaces for victims reporting
crimes. Yes means providing basic infra-
structure and tools for our fire and police
to do their jobs.
Yes means supporting our volun-
teer firefighters, who sacrifice time with
their families to respond to our emergen-
cies. Yes means safety and security for
residents and visitors. Yes means com-
ing together as a community to do good
things for the good of Gearhart.
What does no offer? Nothing.
Join me in voting “yes” on Measure
4-213 for a new Gearhart fire and police
station.
BEBE MICHEL
Gearhart
Y
Falls short
n 1958, the current Gearhart fire sta-
tion was built from concrete block that
was not reinforced.
Now this facility falls far short of
serving the community’s needs. There is
only one unisex bathroom, and decon-
tamination showers and equipment for
hazardous waste exposure are not avail-
able. A ventilation exhaust fan system is
not available to protect firefighters.
It is clear that a new fire station in
a tsunami-safe location is necessary
for our community. We can pass Mea-
sure 4-213 now, or it will be on the bal-
lot again in two or four years. What will
the cost increase be at that time? Double,
50% more?
We are fortunate to have both male
and female volunteers. They deserve
the dignity to be safe and well cared for
while protecting us.
Vote “yes” to protect us all.
JUDITH REDEKOP
Gearhart
I
Exorbitant bond
here are about 1,550 registered vot-
ers in Gearhart. We are being asked
to finance an exorbitant bond of $14.5
million to build an extraordinarily expen-
sive fire station and police station.
Vagaries persist throughout this
demand thrust upon the voters. Where
are the hard costs for this? Is a new loca-
tion secured?
Why the need for dorm rooms, kitch-
ens, exercise rooms and other features?
T
Camp Rilea is an excellent resource for
training, and has plenty of dorm rooms
as well as a motel. It also offers a sub-
stantial rubble pile, mimicking earth-
quake damage to train on.
As for the land swap in question, if
the city chooses to pursue this, it will
be put before the Land Use Board of
Appeals in Salem.
I agree there is a need for a new fire-
house and police station. I also believe
that grants should have been pursued
years ago. It is regrettable that the city
did not have the expertise.
Please join me in voting “no.”
NORALEE TAYLOR
Gearhart
Location is everything
ome recent letters to the editor and
postcards have been critical of the
proposed Highlands Lane station loca-
tion and its impact on Gearhart Volunteer
Fire Department response times to tradi-
tional downtown Gearhart.
The fire department is not only
responsible for fire protection and emer-
gency medical services to the 1,900 res-
idents living within the city limits, they
are responsible for another 2,000 resi-
dents living in the 26-square-mile rural
fire protection district, which extends
north to Warrenton and east to the Lewis
and Clark River.
Many factors effect response times:
Where volunteers live and work; dis-
tance from the station; traffic and road
conditions; time of emergency call;
and communication effectiveness with
dispatch.
The proposed new station is only
1.7 miles from the existing one, and
with easy access to U.S. Highway 101,
response times for most residential
homes will be better, or unaffected.
The fire department constantly trains
with other agencies within the county in
order to provide effective mutual aid. We
are able to combine forces, and go any-
where when needed, even responding to
state conflagrations.
The suggestion of merging with our
mutual aid agency in Seaside would
make no financial sense without closing
our station. A combined station would
be 2.8 miles away from downtown Gear-
hart, and on the other side of a non-earth-
quake resilient bridge.
Delaying a new station only increases
the cost of materials, labor, interest rates
and safety code requirements.
Please vote “yes” on Measure 4-213.
RANDALL C. COMO
Assistant fire chief, Gearhart
S
Nate will show up
ate Pinkstaff will bring a renewed
vitality and integrity to the Clatsop
County Board of Commissioners. His
willingness to dig deeper into the issues
N
our county is facing and weigh the facts
is refreshing.
He admits he does not have training
in law enforcement, accounting, plan-
ning, public health or engineering. No
board member can have a background in
all these areas of expertise. We employ
our county managers and staff to run
the county. All board members receive
extensive training on ongoing projects
when seated on the board, regardless of
diplomas, or years of experience in any
field.
Nate will show up! He knows we
have work to do to fulfill urgent housing
needs, facilitate more child care, mental
health care and streamline the building
permit process. He seeks a more trans-
parent county government responsive to
you, the taxpayer. He will make current
serious issues priorities of the board.
Nate knows the North Coast and its
economic and geographical unique-
ness. Nate’s common-sense approach
to the job will be to represent you, the
taxpayers.
Nate appreciates this county’s natu-
ral resources that make the North Coast a
great place to live and work. He desires
to keep our area livable, while encour-
aging responsible growth. He deserves
your vote as your new District 3 county
commissioner.
LINDA BRIM
Astoria
Built by many
o agreements matter? The “Water
Under the Bridge” section of the
April 19 edition of The Astorian pictured
state Sen. Betsy Johnson and retired pro-
fessor Duncan Law, among others, in
2012, gathering for the groundbreaking
of the Garden of Surging Waves.
While the site of mixed housing has
now been slated for a to-be-arranged
place, no effort seems to have been made
to address the egregious neglect of what
was dedicated as a historical and cultural
park to honor the contributions of the
Chinese, not only in Astoria, but in all of
Oregon.
Hundreds of people contributed to the
development of this park, whether mon-
etarily, with time or with art. Once the
park opened, it was lauded as a place of
peace and contemplation by both tourists
and residents alike.
Now it is a place that many walk
around, rather than through. Once again,
the contributions of the Chinese have
fallen by the wayside. Addressing our
current socioeconomic dilemmas does
not give us license to ignore commit-
ments our city made in the past.
The Garden of Surging Waves
reminds us that Astoria was built by
many. Let us continue to honor that
work, and honor our commitment to the
garden.
MARIAN DERLET
Astoria
D
Never leave
omelessness in Seaside has dras-
tically changed in a negative way.
The camps the city has provided for the
homeless goes against citizens’ rights
and duties.
The homeless are allowed to live on
properties they do not own, and they are
allowed to put their waste in places that
people who are not homeless would get
heavily fined for.
The city’s plan to help the home-
less has just given them an opportunity
to never leave. This does not help the
homeless succeed.
ELLA JONES
Astoria
H
Programs of pride
am writing to support the good work
of Erin Carlsen and Osarch Orak at
LiFEBoat Services.
I have known Erin for over 13 years,
and have always seen her to be an amaz-
ing person, committed to walking her
talk. She has integrity and honesty, and
cares for people.
When I met Osarch, more recently,
I saw that he, too, worked tirelessly to
help others, knowing firsthand what’s
needed to support the folks who need it
most.
People are losing their homes all over
this country. In my work as a midwife, I
encounter more and more families here
on the coast who are struggling to find
housing that they can afford.
Any one of us could have a friend or
family member who falls on hard times,
or struggles with substance abuse or
mental health challenges. I say this to stir
up our compassion for others with the
knowledge that we are not separate from
one another.
Erin and Osarch’s work with Filling
Empty Bellies and Beacon Clubhouse
should be considered programs of pride.
As a community, we need to be thanking
them for their good work.
What are the ways that we can help,
too? Volunteer? Offer financial assis-
tance? Find the best location for their
services? Let’s pull together with com-
passion and support for those who are
working to make our community a lov-
ing place.
JENNIFER CHILDRESS
Nehalem
I
Never seen
n my years driving in our area, I’ve
never seen so many more chuckholes
on our highways and main streets. Why
are the highway and road departments
so slow this year with proper road patch-
ing? Les Schwab is loving you guys, and
selling new tires much faster.
BOB WESTERBERG
Astoria
I