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About The Columbia press. (Astoria, Or.) 1949-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 24, 2021)
The Columbia Press September 24, 2021 5 Letter to the editor Personal attack by city commissioner After reading the article about verbal attacks on the Warrenton City Commission, I want to comment about how Gil Gramson, myself, and for- mer Mayor Mark Kujala were all verbally attacked by Com- missioner Mark Baldwin in December 2018 regarding a Pacific Seafood application for a zone text code change. I was representing the inter- ests of several of the vulnera- ble seniors who live by them- selves on Northwest 17th Place in the three-minute period the public is allowed to speak. I had asked for a one-minute ex- tension and Mayor Henry Bal- ensifer told me I had a strict three-minute limit and must immediately sit down. After public comments were completed, Commissioner Mark Baldwin requested to speak since he was not allowed to vote on the subject under discussion because of a conflict of interest. Commissioner Baldwin immediately attacked me by name, along with Gil Gramson and former Mayor Mark Kujala, because he felt Gil Gramson and I were only looking after our own inter- ests (shame on us) and he did not like the way the former mayor allowed people to talk past three minutes. Commissioner Baldwin took as much time as he wanted to tell everyone present how wonderful the people at Pacific Seafood are and how they only want to do good things in War- renton and how they always seek to do the right thing. One might think he was cheerleading for Pacific Sea- food in order to get more busi- ness for his company from them in the future. He further stated that he did not agree that many large com- panies seek to use the political system to their advantage. He was certain in his comments that Pacific Seafood only want- ed the best for Warrenton. Now that COVID-19 is in full bloom once again, we Campaign: Target is doctors seeking rural ‘missions’ Continued from Page 1 the Oregon Office of Rural Health, is the state’s 3RNET network coordinator who worked with Judd in con- necting Erikson to CMH. Erikson grew up in Mon- tana and wanted to be part of an organization that aligned with her goals for improv- ing access to health care for people who otherwise might have difficulty getting access to quality medical care. She also looked for a place that would support her efforts fo- cused on prevention. And, because Erikson loves the outdoors, she wanted to find a position where she could enjoy nature, too. After completing her resi- dency with The Family Med- icine Residency of Western Montana, she worked with Judd and Reed to join CMH. Now she cares for the com- munity in Warrenton, along with her growing brood of chickens, a cow and her fam- ily on their country property. “I found my first practice and a beautiful home,” Erik- son said. 3RNET’s “First. Next. For- ever.” campaign focuses on health care professionals who’ve found their first, next or forever career opportunity by using its online resources. Photos used in the cam- paign’s first iteration featur- ing Erikson were taken by Kristen Moss, manager of pa- tient experience at CMH, and Sarah Bello, CMH marketing and communications coordi- nator. To see the print campaign, go to 3rnet.org/first-next-for- ever. Vaccine: City’s EMS services could be disrupted Continued from Page 4 The city could lose 65 percent of the entire force and 94 percent of the EMS-trained crew. “I do not wish to live in your shoes. While the delta variant rages on, and hospitals see the worst thus far, there is a demand to act — which you’ve taken,” he wrote. “However, while this insidious disease creates hospital capacity is- sues and deaths — far more people in our city, county, and state die from strokes, heart attacks, and other caus- es that require fast attention from EMS providers.” Balensifer ended his letter on a threatening tone. “When my department goes from 23 strong to 8 — poten- tially less — due to a mandate on volunteers, I will be forced to declare an emergency and request the national guard or some other state asset you can provide be deployed to provide EMS services in my community,” Balensifer told the governor. “I will have no other choice.” Without volunteers, the fire chief said he’s prepared to move into the fire station and live there to prevent as much harm as possible to community members suffer- ing medical emergencies. The volunteer pool has dried up, Alsbury said. “We don’t have anybody pounding on the door to help.” have seen how Pacific Seafood stonewalled Clatsop County and Warrenton by refusing to discuss the details of what they knew about the outbreak, which was dominated by em- ployees at their facility. I object to being limited to a maximum of three minutes while Mark Baldwin was al- lowed to talk as long as he wished and was allowed to conduct direct verbal attacks aimed at local residents by name. Also, commissioner Baldwin had the final say with no rebuttal by those attacked. This is unfair. The mayor is supposed to have the judgment to know when a subject is of substantial interest to local residents and be willing to request an exten- sion of additional minutes for them to complete their com- ments. The other commission- ers can vote to decline. Howev- er, allowing unlimited time to commissioners while muzzling the public is grossly unfair. Scott Widdicombe Warrenton
