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Dear Friends,
I hope you all had a Very Merry Christmas and are poised to have a Happy New Year! By now, you are probably tired of hearing of my upcoming retirement and I want to promise you this will be the last chapter of this story.
I want you to know that it has been the greatest honor of my life to represent Tillamook County as Commissioner. While I know it is impossible to please everyone with all the decisions that confronted me during my tenure, please understand that every decision was made with the best interest of Tillamook County in mind.
I remember my first campaign slogan was “Citizen, Not Politician”, however after being sworn in, I found that every decision that you make as Commissioner is political, with some liking the decision, others hating it and most unaware or unconcerned.
Most of you will look upon my tenure as one focused on natural resource industries of timber, dairy and fisheries and the essential commodities shipped across the country and around the world while, at the same time, providing family-wage, fully benefited jobs for our communities. You may have also heard me assert “when it comes to clean water, habitat restoration and fish recovery, no Oregon County does this better than Tillamook County”.
While to some, these convictions might seem contradictory, in fact, when compared across the state and even around the nation, Tillamook County is a leader in natural resource extraction while continuing to protect the environment. Tillamook County should be proud of these accomplishments and continue to lead the way forward.
Additionally, I hope you all remember some of the other issues that I championed or at least was involved with I some form. These included FEMA BiOp, Tillamook Working Lands and Waters Cooperative, Salmon SuperHwy, Tillamook Lightwave, Oregon Broadband Advisory Council, Ocean Policy Advisory Council, Association of Oregon Counties, National Association of Counties, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Council of Forest Trust Lands Counties, Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children, South Tillamook County Emergency Volunteer Corp, Cape Kiwanda Master Plan…I could go on but you get the picture.
I started this list not to grandstand but to explain to you how much I loved what I did as your Commissioner. When you love your community and your job, there are never enough hours in the day to tackle the tough issues to try and make this community better…and I could never have done any of this alone. It took the support of you, all of you, on the local, state and federal level; citizens, staff, Commissioners, Legislators, you know who you are. Thank you for your friendship, encouragement and support…you are what I will miss the most in retirement.
There is one issue that has been troubling me over these past few months and I wish to clear my conscience. My doctors and I have been watching my PSA’s (prostate specific antigens) for the past 23 years when they started at 4. Over the years, my PSA grew slowly until earlier this year, it hit 8. I went to a urologist and a biopsy showed prostate cancer, albeit still a relatively low grade and, thankfully, a MRI showed no cancer outside of the prostate.
My urologist recommended surgical removal, but I wanted a second opinion and went to a radiation oncologist that specialized in prostate cancer. There have been great advancements in high dose, very targeted radiation treatments (SBRT) and I was told 5 treatments would suffice over the course of just 12 days with very limited side effects. This course of action seemed prudent for me and I decided to move forward.
There were many, many specialists visits in preparation of my treatments, which started on December 1st and culminated on December 11. At this time, I am fairly free of side effects, I feel great and I am told the treatments were a success. I will be watching future PSA levels to make sure there is no remaining cancer. Gentlemen, I implore you to get your PSA levels checked on a regular basis…the key to beating prostate cancer is to catch it early.
What bothered me the most over the past several months was the possibility that I have been out of pocket more than usual and may have missed some meetings and phone calls, and for that I apologize. Please know that I will always keep Tillamook County and Oregon close to my heart. I know I leave you all in good hands and for that, I am grateful.
s/ David Yamamoto
