A4
THE ASTORIAN • SATuRdAy, JuNE 4, 2022
OPINION
editor@dailyastorian.com
KARI BORGEN
Publisher
DERRICK DePLEDGE
Editor
Founded in 1873
SHANNON ARLINT
Circulation Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN
Production Manager
WRITER’S NOTEBOOK
Astoria’s historic buildings are our high card
THE HARVEy AWARdS
ARE A REMINdER
THAT ASTORIA’S
HOuSING STOCK ANd
ITS COMMERCIAL
ANd CHuRCH
ARCHITECTuRE ARE
THE VERy CORE OF
THIS TOWN.
T
here are many examples of what
brings a small town back from
atrophy.
One unheralded factor is that men
and women with what I call the carpen-
ter gene who show up. These are people
who see opportunity in the town’s his-
toric housing stock. And they have the
ability to repair, remodel and refurbish a
residence or commercial property.
That’s happened in
Astoria over the past
30 years. And that is
what’s celebrated in the
annual Dr. Edward Har-
vey Historic Preserva-
tion Awards given by the
Astoria City Council.
STEVE
Among this year’s
FORRESTER
honorees were Theodo-
sia Woods for the resto-
ration of her Italianate-style residence,
the Merwyn Apartments and Lucien
Swerdloff, director of Clatsop Com-
munity College’s historic preservation
program.
Harvey was one of the founders of
the Oregon State University Seafood
Lab in Astoria. His avocation was his-
toric preservation. He started marking
Astoria’s earliest historic homes with
medallions in the late 1960s. Many
of those markers remain visible. Har-
vey did this even before the national
preservation movement that Jacque-
line Kennedy would spark with her sav-
ing Grand Central Station in New York
City.
I had the good fortune to meet Har-
vey at a Boxing Day party in Astoria in
the 1970s. Also there that evening was
Lissa Brewer/The Astorian
The Alderbrook home of Theodosia Woods received a Dr. Edward Harvey Historic
Preservation Award.
Rolf Klep, founder of the Columbia
River Maritime Museum. Both of these
men exuded the passion for their causes.
The Merwyn’s rebirth was nothing
short of miraculous. This much abused
and neglected building had defied more
than one prior attempt at restoration.
Astoria is fortunate that the Portland
nonprofit Innovative Housing Inc. made
the Merwyn the object of its energies
and funding.
Clatsop Community College’s his-
toric preservation program has been an
avenue to careers for students. Describ-
ing Swerdloff’s role, the historian John
Goodenberger says, “Lucien is able
to see the big picture of the impor-
tance of the historic preservation pro-
gram, while seeing all the working parts
needed to create it. One of his many tal-
ents is his ability to manage all the parts
— classroom lectures, hands-on work-
shops, students, adjunct faculty, admin-
istration, local craftspeople, commu-
nity partners – and do so seemingly
effortlessly.”
Historic preservation has been one
of this newspaper’s core values for
decades. When the drive to acquire and
restore the Liberty Theatre took root
in the 1990s, The Astorian contributed
money at a key, early moment and the
newspaper absorbed the administrative
costs of the nonprofit Liberty Resto-
ration Inc.
Over the decades since Harvey’s
ethos took root, there have been sev-
eral significant restorations that brought
back decrepit properties. Some of the
most notable were the Hotel Elliott, the
Judge Guy Boyington Building and the
Astoria Column. Also there have been a
bevy of residential restorations.
The Harvey awards are a reminder
that Astoria’s housing stock and its
commercial and church architecture are
the very core of this town.
Steve Forrester, the former editor and
publisher of The Astorian, is the presi-
dent and CEO of EO Media Group.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Corporate forestry
O
regon’s current logging practices, the
Oregon Forest Practices Act, are per-
fect for the timber corporations. This law
is far weaker than Washington state or Cal-
ifornia laws that protect water supplies,
fish and wildlife and reduce landslides.
Steep-slope logging, road building and
logging near headwater streams is standard
practice here in Oregon. The taxes the tim-
ber corporations pay (or lack thereof) are
great, too.
This has left rural communities with
a huge hole in their budgets, resulting in
failing water infrastructure, unrepaired
roads, low funding for schools and inad-
equate health care. Over the last few
decades, multinational timber corporations
and Wall Street have bought up huge areas
of Oregons forest lands while good paying
forest jobs disappear.
What can Oregonians do to change
this? Adoption of the habitat conserva-
tion plan is only a beginning. Responsi-
ble forest stewardship will safeguard clean
water and recreational opportunities and
protect wildlife, including our salmon and
steelhead, which are threatened by these
practices. By revising logging regula-
tions, Oregon can revitalize rural commu-
nities, recover commercial fisheries and
strengthen our outdoor economy.
Let’s work together to keep our forests
alive and thriving for many generations to
come. We are caretakers of the planet, only
borrowing it from our grandchildren. As
my beloved father used to say, “Always
return something in better condition than
you found it.”
SHERYL BOS
Astoria
Fan the flames
ave Bergquist, I read your letter (The
Astorian, May 24), and was surprised
it was put into print, but nonetheless you
were provided an avenue to express your
opinion. Mine follows.
Why don’t we just leave your big
a**hole in your brain, where it needs
to remain. In the face of a 2 to 1 defeat,
you’re so unhinged you actually, with
some twisted thought process, have elected
to ignore a very biased and delusional six-
year process, and defend the indefensible.
Your very poorly written and highly
demeaning comments simply mimic a
long list of rude and snarky comments of
the “yes” group, all of which preceded
your snarkiness. By piling your attitude on
top of the existing “yes” vote attitudes, it
serves only to fan the flames of disunity in
an already divided community.
Further, your comments will be remem-
bered in the context of future and renewed
fire station efforts. You have managed to
offend the vast majority of Gearharters
with your words, and have chipped away
at the compassion most of us hold for first
responders.
Your words indicate to me you fashion
yourself quite a creative writer, but to me
D
LETTERS WELCOME
Letters should be exclusive to The
Astorian. Letters should be fewer
than 250 words and must include the
writer’s name, address and phone
number. You will be contacted to
confirm authorship. All letters are
subject to editing for space, gram-
mar and factual accuracy. Only two
letters per writer are allowed each
month. Letters written in response
you’re a verbal bully who enjoys shocking
people. So let’s recap: You and your sup-
porters received a stinging defeat, and you
need to take yourself and your big a**hole
back to Astoria, where you are apparently
appreciated more than in Gearhart.
Once you do so … please don’t come
back!
JACK ZIMMERMAN
Gearhart
Tired
re you tired of the two-party system
that keeps failing all of us? For over
25 years, I’ve fought hard trying to hold
our so-called elected officials accountable.
The Democrats and the Republicans do
nothing except fight each other.
I was at a City Council meeting in Sea-
side when they passed the homeless camp-
ing ordnance. What a disgrace that was.
I challenged them to fix the problem, and
A
to other letter writers should address
the issue at hand and should refer to
the headline and date the letter was
published. Discourse should be civil.
Send via email to editor@dailyasto-
rian.com, online at bit.ly/astorianlet-
ters, in person at 949 Exchange St.
in Astoria or mail to Letters to the
Editor, P.O. Box 210, Astoria, OR.,
97103.
not just put a Band-Aid on it. What did
they do? Just put a Band-Aid on it, and
passed it down to the next group.
We have basically three different cate-
gories of why someone would be home-
less. No. 1 is the cost of rentals; No. 2,
they just don’t want to work; and No. 3,
they have mental health issues.
Each county should have a mental
health clinic to assess why each person
is homeless, and give them the help they
need. Not just a camping spot.
The ones who just don’t want to work
— they should be given 24 hours to leave
the county.
Let’s fix the problem, not just do the
feel-good thing. If you’re as tired as I am,
and want to see real solutions, join us as
we start the Constitution Party in Clat-
sop County. We need real leaders who will
stand up for us, the ones who pay the taxes
that they like to spend.
JAMES HOFFMAN
Gearhart
Out of touch
T
here have been times in the past
where I have been proud to call
Betsy Johnson my state senator. In fact,
she visited my classroom more than
once, and hosted my class at the Ore-
gon State Capitol. She introduced us to
then-Secretary of State Kate Brown, and
gave our class a copy of the Oregon Blue
Book.
However, as was evidenced by her
public interview at the TEDxPortland,
she is out of touch with the values of
the majority of Oregonians. Her stance
on guns, after the tragedies that have
occurred these past few weeks, is not
only out of touch, but is neolithic.
She should abandon her run for gov-
ernor. The right has their candidate in
Christine Drazan. The left, of course has
Tina Kotek, and as Johnson drifts further
and further to the right, her effect on the
progressive voter is almost nil. I know
she lost my vote years ago, when I real-
ized she put guns ahead of people.
The other day I saw a woman wearing
a hat that said “Guns, God, Trump” from
top to bottom, and I couldn’t help but
think about Johnson’s candidacy. While
she has gotten a lot done as senator —
and I commend her for that — her drift
to the far right of the political spectrum
has made her a liability to this state.
And, yes, while she may be a “daugh-
ter of Oregon,” who will put up “one hel-
luva fight,” that won’t be enough for vot-
ers in the fall.
DON ANDERSON
Astoria