8.27.6 - Longview to Astoria

Oregon Senator Ron Wyden showed up to a couple of town hall meetings last Thursday; the first at the Columbia River Maritime Museum in Astoria.

The audience had a lot to say about liquefied natural gas projects proposed for the lower Columbia River. Senator Wyden listened as citizens talked about everything from health care to fisheries management. But things really heated up, both for and against, when the discussion turned to LNG.

"If you look at the potential...not even just terrorist risk...we become this huge bullseye when this happens...We need projects like this. Sixty families, 65 families will have family wage jobs with benefits."

Wyden said he'd do all he could to address people's concerns about LNG, but didn't want to mislead anyone. He said a Senate vote had already given the federal government ultimate jurisdiction over the siting process. Wyden voted against the measure, in favor of local control. But he was blunt about the outcome.

Ron Wyden: "And that's really what the vote in the Senate meant -- is that FERC is basically given, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the power to just sort of walk all over local communities. It was a big mistake and I think Congress is going to regret it."

Wyden pledged to help citizens get more information on the proposals currently in the works. He said he'd partner with Betsy Johnson to seek common ground and evaluate the proposed terminals to see which one might be the most viable.

So far a total of four energy companies have proposed LNG ship terminals on the lower 35 miles of the Columbia River.

In the end, Wyden wouldn't go on the record for or against LNG, which isn't all that surprising these days.

A few hours later in St Helens, Wyden showed up for another Town Hall meeting. Lots of topics: Funding for Senior Centers, NW Power rates, the Cost of the Iraq War, and even Illegal immigration. But again, no one got any definitive answers, (at least they were given the opportunity to state their concerns to the Senator.)

Mayor Peterson was seen (!!!) at this meeting with Senator Ron Wyden, along with the mayor of Columbia City, several people from the Port Commission, Columbia River PUD, a County State Rep and Senator, as well as Two Columbia County Commissioners.

Curious to read y'all's take on Wyden's St Helens visit in Thursday's latest Update edition.

-Tom

8.10.6 - Longview to St Helens

photo Phil Gilston

The Scuttlebutt:
Nice to stroll through St Helens the other day...talk to some of y'all.
Lemme tell ya...Y'all seemed pissed.
Couple items:

• City Attorney Richard Appichello is on administrative leave. People were wondering why. Publically, no one downtown seems to want to go on record about it.
• Greg Jenks from the Port of St. Helens is also on Administrative leave. Hmmm...does one have anything to do with the other? One fella thought it didn't.
• Everyone on the Fireworks Committee resigned (including Jimmie & Diane Dillard and Donna Smith). One person theorized that they were not being allowed to make any meaningful decisions. The rumor is that they are in search of a new 501c-3 non-profit umbrella to get out from under the city boys.

What's goin' on here?
Ok, in terms of fireworks--a good metaphor, I think--here are some folks donating time in a committee (some of them, donating more than 20 years of their own time organizing the St. Helens 4th of July) working throughout the year collecting money and donations, organizing the event, and suddenly being told that they don't have any authority. All because they are using the Columbia Foundation's 501c-3?
So...what does the city have to do with The Columbia Foundation?
And why, all-of-a-sudden, have things changed?

WTF? people seem to be askin' me. WTF? indeed. Nice to be back. I'm keepin' my eyes open.
-Tom

8.2.6 - Home

New Canon HD Camcorder unveiled in Tokyo this week

It sure is nice to be back in the NW. I have a few more days off at home with Lorraine which is just as good as vacation for me. And, I see the front office boys in Longview already have some runs scheduled for me this week through St Helens, so I'll be seein' y'all soon.
In the meantime, I've been perusing the internets and found this new Hi-Def DVD Camcorder.
Oh please, PLEASE Santa! Bring me one for Christmas! ;)
-Tom

TOKYO (Reuters) - Canon Inc. unveiled a digital video camera for home users on Wednesday that can record high-definition movies.

Canon, the world's largest maker of digital cameras, said the HV10, its first high-definition video model for home use, will be available globally from September. It will be priced at around 150,000 yen ($1,310) in Japan.

"The market for high-definition camcorders isn't saturated yet, so the two companies can have a healthy competition," said John Yang, an analyst from Standard & Poors.

"They still have the challenge to spur demand for such high-end products in the mass market."

Canon said it expects to win a 20 percent share of the Japanese market for home-use digital video cameras this autumn, helped by sales of new models. It estimates the market for high-definition models will jump to 250,000 units in 2006 from 70,000 last year.

The Canon video camera launched on Wednesday is the first to be fitted with its CMOS imaging sensor, a technology adopted from its best-selling digital single-lens reflex cameras.