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About The Columbia press. (Astoria, Or.) 1949-current | View Entire Issue (June 26, 2020)
June 26, 2020 T he C olumbia P ress Senior 7 Mayor’s Message Moments by Henry Balensifer III with Emma Edwards We need computer buttons for life Accountability is a two-way street The “start” button on my computer gives me too many choices: Switch user, log off, lock, restart, sleep and hiber- nate. What if we humans (espe- cially us seniors) had such buttons to handle living our own lives? We do, to some extent, but don’t usually re- alize it. One day recently, I be- gan my day with the restart button. I couldn’t find the remote, which is the size of a credit card, for my Bose Radio. I had looked every- where. Many seniors have what I call a junk drawer and, of- ten, it holds such treasurers. And yes, it was there. Time to do the annual sorting of that drawer. I perused my choices for that restart and decided I needed to hit the switch user button. Remotes come in all sizes. So now I’ve switched to two drawers with one containing nothing but remotes. Howev- er, I still haven’t found the re- mote for my large oscillating fan. I had already found the small remote to my bedroom TV, which had been lost for a few months. No, it was not in the junk drawer, but in the sewing drawer. It’s been said you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. Maybe that’s true for dogs, but I think we seniors can learn new tricks. Choices, options and ener- gy slide into the options for learning as we age in place or perhaps become RVers, as my hubby and I did on our second retirement. We had many restarts in A number of factors have combined to create stress and strain on the mental health of many. Nerves are frayed from months on lockdown, there’s a changed landscape for businesses and doing busi- ness, plus unemployment, the continued failure of un- employment insurance as- sistance, the harassment of people wearing masks or not wearing masks in stores, and the sudden awareness of how different life experiences af- fect minority Americans and what to do about it. We also had a local incident of an off-duty officer alleged- ly engaged in racist behavior. We are investigating this as quickly as possible while en- suring thoroughness via an independent investigator. This way, the public can take confidence, regardless of the result, that the investiga- tion was impartial and done by someone with no attach- ments to our city or its police department. It’s also important to note that the city cannot legally fire people over allegations, nor should it. That’s also not a defense of the accused. While allegations may be sufficient to destroy a person’s career or life in public, it is not a le- gal basis for summary judg- our lives. We were never ready to hibernate. Sleep? I could and still do sleep easily, even at naptime. However, I think hubby was in the lock position and seemed able to manifest calmness in most any situation. In the “olden days,” cats were inside most of the day and outside all night. It seems once we got in bed I would say, “did you put the cat out?” and he would ei- ther get up and do the deed or say “yes dear, did you set the alarm?” In this era, neither applies as we can set an alarm weeks in advance or at the moment. And we would never allow a cat to be out all night. So comes the question: Can you teach an old dog new tricks? Ben Franklin once said, “We are all born stupid, but one must work hard to re- main ignorant.” Life, no matter the age, is about learning. As a widow who spends time with several other widows, I learned early in widowhood that “You nev- er know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have.” Hibernation is tempting sometimes, but not a solu- tion. There’s so much to learn, but it’s time to log off! Special columns in The Columbia Press Every week: Senior Moments with Emma Edwards Week 1: History in the Making Week 2: Financial Focus with Adam Miller Week 3: Off the Shelf by Kelly Knudsen Final week: Mayor’s Message by Henry Balensifer ment or termination. There must be proof, there must be evidence, there must be due process. The city manager initiated the investigation based on re- ports of a social media post. In the meantime, the officer is on administrative leave, thus removing the person in question from enforcement duty until their innocence or guilt can be determined. Additionally, it’s worth not- ing that the city charter bars elected officials from inter- fering with the operations/ personnel matters of the city. This isn’t New York, Minne- apolis, or Portland, where the Mayor can issue decrees regarding employees. All elected officials in the city are volunteers with day jobs or are retired. This is why the city entrusts by charter law employment decisions to a professional manager. Here in Warrenton, we’re starting to see and discuss more of the issues needing improvement in our city. In doing so, we will have to re- view things that many make us uncomfortable. Account- ability is a two-way street, and we must be committed to not being afraid of it -- but as an opportunity to become better. Should we always just keep doing what we’re doing because “it’s always been that way” or should we strive to see if there’s a better way to do it? The city manager, myself and the City Commission are not afraid to talk about doing things differently. Some of our greatest critics (you may have read their letters to the editor in this paper) have of- fered some good ideas once you dig into the real crux of the letters, and in some cas- es we’ve implemented those ideas. In short, I love and believe in Warrenton and its people. We’re family. Are we perfect? No. Are we doing OK overall? I’d say yes. Can we do better? Absolute- ly, and we will. County adopts ethics policy County commissioners ad- opted a new policy Wednes- day night on appropriate gov- ernmental conduct. The order applies to all county employees, contract employees, applicants, con- tractors and authorized vol- unteers. The policy is meant to re- inforce an organizational cul- ture that provides the oppor- tunity for all to report their concerns and complaints with assurance they’ll be investi- gated in a fair and timely fash- ion without retaliation. It covers the abuse, improp- er use or destruction of coun- ty resources; corruption such as using one’s influence in a business transaction; dishon- esty and a reckless disregard for truth; fraud; and misman- agement or misappropriation of assets, including needless waste. The county has partnered with the company EthicsPoint to provide a public hotline in which the public, employees or contractors can file a com- plaint by phone or email and remain confidential.