T he C olumbia P ress
August 17, 2018
7
Varied, lively city session touches many topics
The Columbia Press
Warrenton City Commission-
ers discussed a wide range of
topics Tuesday night, touching
on everything from elk to disas-
ter preparedness, from blight to
Skipanon River flooding.
Spur 104: The project, which
is between Highway 101 and
Alternate Highway 101, would
change zoning on 20 acres of
mostly vacant land from res-
idential to commercial mixed
use. The move was delayed at
the July 24 meeting and again
Tuesday, when the city’s Com-
munity Development director
and a representative from the
Oregon Department of Trans-
portation told them their traffic
data may be out of date.
Disaster
preparedness:
The city agreed to co-sponsor a
community disaster prepared-
ness event Sept. 29 at the com-
munity center.
Blight: Commissioners de-
clared a home at 180 Second St.
a public nuisance. City employ-
ees have been working with the
property owner for more than
a month and some progress
has been made, but there still
are unlicensed junk cars on the
property.
Developer fees: Communi-
ty Development Director Kevin
Cronin asked commissioners to
increase the fees for some ser-
vices, which haven’t changed in
nearly a decade.
“I’m swimming in paper right
now,” Cronin said.
Eighty percent of his time is
spent on development review,
yet last year, the city collected
only $22,000 in fees for the ser-
vice.
“Do we want to keep selling the
service for less than the cost,”
Commissioner Rick Newton
asked. “No, I do not.”
Commissioner Tom Dyer sug-
gested a new fee schedule that
includes automatic increases to
adjust for inflation. The item will
be brought back to commission-
ers at a future meeting.
Elk: Mayor Henry Balensifer
expressed concern that police
had issued no tickets since the
city’s law against feeding wild-
life was adopted yet tourists and
residents still are engaging in
risky behavior.
Commissioner Pam Ackley
suggested placing information
signs at various locations.
“You’ve got a 600 to 800
pound bull elk with 16 to 18
pounds of antlers,” Commis-
sioner Mark Baldwin said. “How
far do we go to protect people
for their own stupidity? … What
are we going to warn people not
to do next, ‘Don’t drink from the
Skipanon?’”
Flooding: The city will send
a letter supporting funding of a
study of flooding possibilities on
the Skipanon River.
The Army Corps of Engineers
plans to assess flood risk with
flood gates in place.
This Week in Aboriginal History
by Carl A. Ellis
Indians sentenced for practicing witchcraft
Aug. 17, 1755: A group of
400 Indians from Canada at-
tacks the home and farm of
John Kilburn and other early
settlers farming in Walpole,
Conn. After a day of heavy
fighting on both sides, and
without dislodging Kilburn
and his family, the Indians
withdraw.
Aug. 18, 1812: Tribal
chiefs, unable to control their
warriors after four years of
unrest, refuse Ohio Gov. Wil-
liam Henry Harrison’s invi-
tation to attend a peace coun-
cil at Piqua.
Aug. 19, 1762: Thom-
as Velez Cachupin, a judge
and Spanish colonial gover-
nor, sentences several Indi-
ans living at Abiquiú (about
25 miles north of Santa Fe,
N.M.) for practicing witch-
craft. Their punishment is to
work as servants for Spanish
families.
Aug. 20, 1789: The First
Federal Congress passes the
Indian Treaties Act, which
funds U.S.-American Indian
treaty negotiations.
Aug. 21, 1831: The Shaw-
nee at Wapakoneta and the
Seneca on the Sandusky Riv-
er, both in Ohio, relinquish
their reservations by treaty
and move west.
Aug. 22, 1806: The Pike
Expedition, a military unit
sent out by President Thom-
as Jefferson, reaches a village
of the Little Osage near the
forks of the Osage River in
modern Missouri. Army Lt.
Zebulon Pike holds a council
here with both the Grand and
Little Osage.
Aug. 23, 1876: A treaty
between the Canadian gov-
ernment and the Plain, Wood
Cree and other tribes near
Fort Carlton, Fort Pitt and
Battle River is signed in Can-
ada.
Ellis is an author and his-
torian working on a book
about American Indians.
Learn more about American
Indian history at facebook.
com/snippetsintime.
Senior Moments
with Emma Edwards
Don’t wallow in regrets
Noted psychologist Bruce
Grierson has said “Regret is
the second-most common
emotion people mention in
daily life … and it’s the most
common negative emotion.”
Wanting to feel good is No.
1.
It got me thinking. And it
brought me to a subject that’s
close to most seniors’ hearts.
It can be summed up in one
word: regret.
I have a sign on a mirror
above my kitchen sink that
reads, “Be yourself; live life
with no regrets.”
Many of us remember Erma
Bombeck and her timely end-
of-life thoughts, such as “I
would have eaten less cottage
cheese and more ice cream.”
And her seize-the-moment
adage, which is another fa-
vorite of mine, “Remember
all those women on the Ti-
tanic who waved off the des-
sert cart!”
I think Erma said some-
thing about eating dessert
first. Good idea! No regrets!
Someone else said “Life’s
too short to waste even one
second on regrets.”
I think one of the saddest
moments is someone on their
deathbed starting out a sen-
tence with “I wish I had …”
I know Erma Bombeck of-
ten concentrated humorous-
Senior lunch menu
Monday, Aug. 20: Roasted pork loin, mashed potatoes and
gravy, red cabbage, spinach salad, pumpkin cake.
Thursday, Aug. 23: Meat loaf, mashed potatoes and gravy,
corn, romaine lettuce salad, berry trifle.
The Warrenton senior lunch program is at noon (doors
open at 10:30 a.m.) Mondays and Thursdays at Warrenton
Community Center, 170 SW Third St. Suggested donation is
$5 for ages 55 and older; $7 for those younger. For more
information, call 503-861-3502.
ly on not doing fun things in
life as she lay on her death-
bed, consumed by a deadly
kidney disease at the young
age of 69. There was definite-
ly a serious side to her, too.
“In the end, we only regret
the chances we didn’t take,”
she has said.
However, I still don’t want
to do that zip-line thing. May-
be laser tag, but no zip-line!
As seniors, we seem to have
more time to analyze situa-
tions. It happens to a lot of us,
including yours truly.
I think many of us have
learned the futility of regret.
Regret can tear us down into
the pit of depression. Oh yes,
regret can live with us, tear-
ing us down for a very long
time, sometimes for life.
It’s in the same department
as worry, which also can tear
us down. I used to laughingly
say worry was good because
anything bad that I chose to
worry about never happened.
But really, it’s not a joking
matter.
In my case, the best way to
conquer regret is to give it to
God in prayer. Then, if need
be, I actually take my hand
and brush it off my shoulders.
The only regret we should al-
low ourselves, I feel, is to be
sorry that we didn’t give it to
God sooner.
On a lighter note, at the
Warrenton Meal Site on
Monday, Dining Room Coor-
dinator Jeannie Moha shared
a sign she saw in a bathroom
last weekend.
This is what it said: “Wash
your hands and say your
prayers because God and
germs are everywhere.”
Had I not remembered to
share that with you I would
have wallowed in regret!