A4 • Friday, April 5, 2019 | Cannon Beach Gazette | CannonBeachGazette.com
Views from the Rock
Move on, nothing to fear here
er’s fi eld support based in Portland, is the
guy whose job is to shake people like us out
of paranoia.
Smart meters are a more effi cient way
of gathering home energy usage details.
“Instead of having a meter reader come out
once a month, data is reported on a real-
time basis. This is the fi rst time we’ve been
able to give you insight into what you’re
actually using.”
Smart meters have been in existence
for almost 20 years, Estlund said. They’re
all manufactured by Aclara Technologies,
which bought out the meter business from
General Electric.
Today, there are more than 70 million
smart meters throughout the country. Est-
lund has had a smart meter in his own Port-
land home since he moved in 15 years ago.
CANNON SHOTS
R.J. MARX
I
f you Google “smart meter dangers,”
you may soon fear for your mitochon-
dial functions like insomnia, tinnitus,
fatigue, nausea, dizziness, irritability, list-
lessness, heart palpitations, and changes in
cognitive behavior.
In the monograph “Smart Meters: Count-
down to a National Crisis of Illness and
Death,” John P. Thomas suggests millions
will experience chronic disability and fatal
illness from exposure.
Our cell proteins will become “per-
manently altered” and we may suffer
for decades “with chronic fatigue, unex-
plained anxiety, and attention defi cits until
a life-threatening illness makes its ugly
appearance.”
Unlikely? Every power company and
most scientists would say the levels of radi-
ation are lower than the cellphones pressed
against our thighs.
In a Feb. 12 City Council work session,
Pacifi c Power’s Alisa Dunlap came to Can-
non Beach to introduce councilors to smart
meters at a work session.
Residents questioned the safety of smart
meters, and lamented the lack of public
information available.
Resident Bob Thom said smart meters
are not “entirely safe.” He was concerned
about the lack of information presented by
the city and Pacifi c Power, and the lack of
press coverage given to the topic. He asked
that the changeover be delayed to educate
the public.
Former Seaside High School science
teacher Ed Johnson called smart meters a
“big money venture.”
“There’s been so little background infor-
mation put out to the general public that’s
not being provided by the corporations that
are responsible for the technology,” John-
son said after the Cannon Beach work ses-
sion. “They didn’t even vote on it, It was
just coming. I wasn’t very happy.”
The 5G network may adversely affect
humans and wildlife, he said. “You won’t
be able to go any place on this planet with-
out being impacted.”
In a similar presentation at Seaside City
Hall, Frank Erickson, a retired radiologist
with an impressive list of medical creden-
tials, told city councilors he had “seesawed”
whether to opt in or opt out for smart meter
installation at his own home. “I’m still
rethinking,” Erickson said.
Meet and greet
No wonder that the fi rst package
received at the Pacifi c Power meet and
greet March 5 at Seaside Brewing Co. was
a handout from the Utilities Telecom Coun-
Future shock?
R.J. Marx/Cannon Beach Gazette
Pacifi c Power customers in Clatsop County will be able to opt out of smart meters, but it will
come with a price.
R.J. Marx/Cannon Beach Gazette
Pacifi c Power General Manager Scott Morris and energy analyst Jason Turner at the Pacifi c
Power presentation in Seaside.
cil, “No Health Threat from Smart Meters.”
The same binder included the fact sheet,
“Electromagnetic Fields and Public Health:
Mobile Phones”; the monograph “Radiof-
requency Safety and Utility Smart Meters,”
Sept. 25, 2013; and “Aclara’s response
highlighting inaccuracies in ‘Evaluation of
the Aclaral-210+C AMI Meter,’” by Wil-
liam Bathgate.
Heavy titles, designed to counteract the
mountain of conspiracy theories, junk sci-
ence and speculation regarding higher fre-
quency radio waves.
Cory Estlund, manager of Pacifi c Pow-
After watching Robert Redford and Jane
Fonda in “The China Syndrome” almost
50 years ago, I learned never take any-
thing with radioactive material for granted.
The movie was released to nuclear indus-
try denials — and the timing couldn’t
have been worse, followed 12 days after
its opening by a meltdown at the Three
Mile Island nuclear plant near Harrisburg,
Pennsylvania.
Offi cial denials and industry cover-ups,
in not just the nuclear industry but in many
aspects of our lives, followed through the
decades: Love Canal; the Hanford site; the
Flint, Michigan, water crisis; and the Boe-
ing 737 MAX 8.
In the 1990s and early 2000s, I remem-
ber covering many meetings on the topic
of cell towers. Towers were ugly, for one
thing, sprouting up on mountains, hills
and then farms and backyards. And maybe
unhealthy — but one of the provisions of
the 1996 Telecommunications Act was to
ban challenges to cell tower sitings based
on potential health impacts.
Now smart meters join the great caval-
cade of American fears: fl uoride, cathode-ray
tubes, microwave ovens, pacemakers to our
ubiquitous cellphones, all of which have the
capacity to poison, radiate, fry or otherwise
contaminate us in one way or another.
One of the documents presented at
the Seaside Brewing information session
Included a white paper analysis of radio fre-
quency associated with “advanced metering
devices.”
While I didn’t understand a word of it,
I do like the word “advanced” better than
“smart” to describe these contraptions.
“Smart” gives it a human quality that
you don’t necessarily want in an electronic
device, especially when it is monitoring
your electric orange-juice squeezer.
It’s a little too close to another famously
intrusive device, the HAL 9000 com-
puter in Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space
Odyssey.”
“Good morning, Dave … How are you
this morning?”
PUBLIC MEETINGS
What’s a man to wear in Cannon Beach?
Tuesday, April 9
Cannon Beach City Council, 5:30 p.m., work ses-
sion, City Hall, 163 E. Gower St.
VIEW FROM
THE PORCH
Thursday, April 11
Cannon Beach Academy, board meeting,
5:30 p.m., 3781 S. Hemlock, Cannon Beach.
EVE MARX
Monday, April 15
Cannon Beach Rural Fire Protection District
Board of Directors, 6 p.m., 188 E. Sunset Blvd.
Y
ears ago, my husband and I were
at an event. It was one of those
end-of-week things where you
steal away for a half hour from whatever
you were doing to run in, kiss people on
both cheeks, make small talk, congratu-
late. If you get a chance to swig down a
quick drink and eat enough hors d’oeuvres
to confuse your stomach into believing
you’ve had dinner, so much the better. Or
that was the plan.
Not long after our arrival, a man
approached my husband to critique his
outfi t, or, more accurately, the lack of it.
It appeared what my husband was miss-
ing at this event was a sports coat. The fact
he had just come from his offi ce where
he never wore a sports coat did not com-
pute. In fact, it didn’t matter. The critic
was annoyed by what seemed to him to be
a slight, or a sign of disrespect at the infor-
mality of my husband’s outfi t.
Not long after, we were at another
event. This time he wore a sports coat.
He also wore a pressed white shirt, a tie,
real trousers and leather shoes. A woman
who had helped to organize the event
approached. She took a good look at what
my husband was wearing and told him
he needed a new outfi t. Her recommen-
dation was for him to lose the white shirt
and tie and his boxy, light colored coat
and replace it with a good quality black
tee shirt and a more fi tted black jacket. I
looked around the room and that is exactly
what all the other men in the room were
Publisher
Kari Borgen
Editor
R.J. Marx
Circulation
Advertising
Manager
Sales
Jeremy Feldman Holly Larkins
Production
Manager
John D. Bruijn
Tuesday, April 16
Cannon Beach Public Works Committee, 9 a.m.,
City Hall, 163 E. Gower St.
Seaside School District Board of Directors, 6 p.m.,
1801 S. Franklin. Seaside.
Thursday, April 18
Parks and Community Services Committee,
9 a.m., City Hall, 163 E. Gower St.
Cannon Beach Design Review Board Meeting,
6 p.m., City Hall, 163 E. Gower St.
Stylish stuff for men and women at Ter Har’s in Cannon Beach.
wearing. Should I mention this was an art
I kind of miss men dressing up.
event?
I haven’t talked to too many guys
You may have noticed the dress code
about this, but my impression is men are
in Cannon Beach is beach casual. This
super happy with the dress code in Can-
holds true for dining at any restaurant or
non Beach. I think a lot of guys if given
attending any social
their druthers would
or business func-
never wear long
‘PRETTY MUCH THE
tion. Ever since
pants again.
ONLY THING A MAN
we’ve moved to the
Or a sports
Left Edge, my hus-
jacket.
CAN’T WEAR OUT TO
band has given up
And feel safe
on fancy clothes.
knowing
a shirt from
DINNER IN CANNON
There isn’t a single
Tommy Bahama is
BEACH IS A WET SUIT.’ really dressing up.
restaurant in Cannon
Beach where a man
Pretty much the
is required to wear a
only thing a man
sports jacket, let alone a tie. Shorts, even
can’t wear out to dinner in Cannon Beach
board shorts, are acceptable everywhere. If is a wet suit.
you’re wearing a shirt with a collar, you’re
Which is not to say that men’s fashion
already overdressed.
here is dead. All a guy really needs to rock
Truth be told, I’m not sure how I feel
a look is a great pair of Birkenstocks and a
about this.
killer pair of sunglasses.
Contributing writers
Joseph Bernt
Eve Marx
Dave Fisher
Nancy McCarthy
Rita Goldfarb
Cara Mico
Rain Jordan
CANNON BEACH GAZETTE
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Oregon 97138
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Thursday, April 25
Cannon Beach Planning Commission, 6 p.m.,
City Hall, 163 E. Gower St.
Friday, April 26
Emergency Preparedness Committee, 9 a.m.,
163 E. Gower St.
Tuesday, May 7
Cannon Beach City Council, 7 p.m., City Hall, 163
E. Gower St.
Thursday, May 9
Cannon Beach Academy, board meeting,
5:30 p.m., 3781 S. Hemlock, Cannon Beach.
Monday, May 13
Cannon Beach Rural Fire Protection District
Board of Directors, 6 p.m., 188 E. Sunset Blvd.
Tuesday, May 14
Cannon Beach City Council, 5:30 p.m., work ses-
sion, City Hall, 163 E. Gower St.
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