4 A
SIUSLAW
NEWS
Last words
Letters to the editor
and press releases:
A
lways take hold of things by the smooth
handle.
— Thomas Jefferson
Email:
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To contact the editor:
editor@thesiuslawnews.com
SATURDAY
JANUARY
17
•
2015
Editor takes flight
F ROM THE E DITOR ’ S D ESK
T HERESA B AER
T
his is being writ-
ten on my last
day at the
Siuslaw News. Technically I don’t consider
myself a procrastinator, but even though the
words of this editorial have been running
through my brain for weeks, I am just now sit-
ting down to write it. All the perfect words and
turns of phrases, of course, have flown right out
of my head.
I certainly thought long and hard about leav-
ing this job and this town, and as the time to go
creeps up, I sure would like to cry a little.
While I’m doing that, I will share that work-
ing for the Siuslaw News has been a pretty wild
ride. I’ve met more people and learned more
about people than I could have imagined.
Incredible people in this area, and I am
absolutely honored that I’ve been allowed to
see into their lives, and that many of these peo-
ple have become extraordinary friends.
When I first took the editor’s chair in August
2007, I had lots of ideas and enthusiasm. I
don’t have quite so many ideas these days, but I
still believe the Siuslaw News will thrive and
succeed with the times, getting better every
year.
I can easily see that happening with the staff
in place now.
I’ve worked with Ryan Cronk, who will be
taking over as editor, for about seven years.
When I was cleaning out my office, I came
across a photo of him when he first started. Ha!
(said with love and laughter). Yes, this job
changes you. All Ryan has done is grow. His
writing skills are excellent, and he is bright and
smart and still has most of his memory intact.
Working with Ned Hickson since Day One
— some of you can imagine what that’s been
like. He is the glue that bonds the newsroom.
Always calm, always together and, of course,
with an outrageous sense of humor. It’s not
every job that allows the opportunities for belly
laughs every day.
Jack Davis hasn’t been in the newsroom for
quite a year, but he fit right in from the start. He
is genuinely interested in his town and learning
all its workings. He’s excellent at reading peo-
ple, and he has another amazing quality rarely
seen these days: Jack is chivalrous. He has come
sweeping into my office or out on a story on a
number of occasions to rescue me from whatev-
er fix from which I needed rescuing.
YESTERDAY’S NEWS
The newest addition to the newsroom is
Chantelle Meyer. She just started this week and
will be a full-time reporter working on the city,
police and government beat, and like the rest of
us, will have an array of other jobs and beats to
juggle. Chantelle worked with us as an intern
last summer and proved already that she can
stand being in the same room with the rest of
us for hours at a time. She is the crowning
addition to this team.
I will live forever with pride for having
worked in this newsroom for these eight years.
There are many co-workers here with whom I
have become great friends, so many people tak-
ing me under their wings and treating me like
family.
My love and thanks to you all. I will miss
each and everyone of you.
Finally, I say goodbye to my town. I have no
idea what the future holds for me once I move
back to Southern California, but I like to think
I’ll be back one day.
I have loved every minute living here sur-
rounded by ocean and lakes and trees and
wildlife and the best people on earth.
And so I close with an editorial not about
business or politics or government or ethics.
It’s about love.
MOMENTS IN TIME
The History Channel
• On Jan. 23, 1775, London merchants
petition Parliament for relief from the
financial hardship put upon them by the
curtailment of trade with the North
American colonies. Most critical to the
merchants’ concerns were the 2 million
pounds sterling in outstanding debts owed
to them.
• On Jan. 19, 1915, during World War I,
Britain suffers its first casualties from an
air attack when two German zeppelins
drop bombs on Great Yarmouth and
King’s Lynn on the eastern coast of
England.
• On Jan. 20, 1937, President Franklin
D. Roosevelt is inaugurated for the sec-
ond time as president. The Constitution
had originally set March 4 as the presi-
dential inauguration date to allow the
winner time to travel to the nation’s capi-
tal.
• On Jan. 25, 1949, the Academy of
Television Arts and Sciences holds its first
annual awards ceremony in Los Angeles.
The now-famous award statuette “Emmy”
was a feminized version of “immy,” the
shorthand term for the image orthicon
tube that was used in TV cameras until the
1960s.
VIEW FROM UPRIVER
Pooling our best efforts
to restore a precious dream
W ESLEY V OTH
For the Siuslaw News
USPS# 497-660
addition to shriveling up to refer to
what happens to thwarted dreams,
none of them pretty. Kind of like
the way in which an empty pool in
an unused building in a school
with a fraction of its former num-
bers is not pretty.
Currently there is a groundswell
of enthusiasm and optimism in
wresting the pool and all it has
meant from the naysayers and pes-
simists one and all. This
groundswell is an unprecedented
group of folk, combining some
involved from the pool’s begin-
ning, to those who have been try-
ing without much support to keep
the dream alive over the past 10
years, to those newly come to
either the community or the idea.
There is also interest from
beyond our immediate community.
Nothing short of better than ever
can do justice to or properly
honor the work and sacri-
fice of those who made
the pool possible in the
first place.
On a page in the calen-
dar mentioned to earlier is
a photograph of
Mapleton’s postmistress
from an earlier era, Ida
May, in her 90s when the
image was memorably
captured by Ned Hickson.
She is shown in the water
with a group of very
young children who are
learning to swim. That
photo is the essence of
what we want to hang on
to: this community,
together, whole, bathing
in the love and handiwork
of those who have gone
before us and made this
possible.
• On Jan. 21, 1977, President Jimmy
Carter grants an unconditional pardon to
hundreds of thousands of men who evad-
ed the draft during the Vietnam War.
Some 100,000 young Americans went
abroad, with 90 percent going to Canada.
The Canadian government had instructed
border guards not to ask too many ques-
tions.
• On Jan. 22, 1981, the final portrait of
John Lennon and wife, Yoko, appears on
the cover of Rolling Stone. The photo,
taken 12 hours before Lennon was assassi-
nated, shows a naked Lennon curled up in
a fetal embrace with a fully clothed Yoko.
Photographer Annie Liebowitz had been
told by a Rolling Stone editor, “Please get
me some pictures without [Yoko].”
he Siuslaw News welcomes letters
T
to the editor on subjects of general
interest to its readership. Brevity is
mandatory, and letters are subject to
editing. Libelous letters and poetry will
not be published. Thank-you letters are
generally inappropriate. Publication of
any letter is not guaranteed. Opinions
expressed here do not necessarily
reflect
those
of
News
Media
Corporation. Letters must be signed
over the writer’s name, address and
phone
number.
Send
letters
to:
editor@thesiuslawnews.com.
Copyright 2015 © Siuslaw News
Published every Wednesday and Saturday at 148 Maple St. in Florence, Lane County, Oregon. A member of the National
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Postmaster, send address changes to: The Siuslaw News, P.O. Box 10, Florence, OR 97439. Phone (541) 997-3441 (See
extension numbers below). FAX (541) 997-7979.
John Bartlett
Publisher, ext. 327
Jenna Bartlett
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Theresa Baer
Editor, ext. 313
Susan Gutierrez
Advertising Director, ext. 326
Ryan Cronk
Features Editor, ext. 314
Cathy Dietz
Office Supervisor, ext. 312
Ron Annis
Production Supervisor
Jeremy Gentry
Press Manager
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WHERE TO WRITE
S
ome ideas refuse to die qui-
etly. And sometimes dreams
that took a lot of effort have
a way of festering when they fall
on hard times, bringing out con-
flicting and sometimes acrimo-
nious sentiments among those in
the community carrying on.
Mapleton Pool is one such
example, one thing this entire com-
munity built together through a lot
of effort, now empty in an unused
building in a school with a fraction
of its former numbers, now at risk
of permanently becoming a former
hole.
Mapleton Pool began
as an idea in 1972. The
community was a more
prosperous place in
those days, but it was
still a long 14 years
from the first donation
to the day when the first
person jumped into the
completed pool. While
there is a family name
and a memorial
attached to that first
donation and that first
person in the pool,
according to a member
of that family now
active in its restoration,
it was never their inten-
tion that it be anything
but a community pool.
From the cover of a
calendar sold to raise
funds during another
period of strug-
gle in 2004,
“After that (first
donation), money came in from
many families and sources. Some
funds came bit by bit from auc-
tions, bake sales, bingo, concerts
and personal donations. Major
contributions and efforts came
from Davidson Industries, the
Mapleton Lion’s Club and compa-
nies like Lagler Logging Co.
Volunteer workers did much of the
construction work. Florence artist
Pauline Cox painted several
murals of water sports and family
fun on the pool walls. A
hydrotherapy spa and fitness room
were added years later, also fund-
ed by grants and gifts.”
Over the years, Mapleton resi-
dents swam there, from the
youngest to the oldest, learning
water skills through classes that
were part of both the school’s and
the community’s curriculum. It
was a place where all generations
of Mapleton got fit and recreated
together.
The great American poet
Langston Hughes in his signature
piece, titled “Harlem,” asks,
“What happens to a dream
deferred; does it shrivel up like a
raisin in the sun?”
Harlem, like Mapleton, had a
heyday, and the poet writes long
after economic depression helped
erase all but the memory of those
days. He uses a number of other
images like “rot” and “explode” in
• On Jan. 24, 1956, Look magazine
publishes the confessions of J.W. Milam
and Roy Bryant, two white men from
Mississippi who were acquitted in the
1955 kidnapping and murder of black
teenager Emmett Till. In August 1955, on
a visit to relatives, the 14-year-old Till
had allegedly whistled at a white woman
who ran a store.
Pres. Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, D.C. 20500
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461
TTY/TDD Comments: 202-456-6213
www.whitehouse.gov
Gov. John Kitzhaber
160 State Capitol
900 Court St.
Salem, OR 97301-4047
Governor’s Citizens’ Rep.
Message Line 503-378-4582
www.oregon.gov/gov
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden
221 Dirksen Senate Office Bldg
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-5244
541-431-0229
www.wyden.senate.gov
FAX: 503-986-1080
Email:
Sen.ArnieRoblan@state.or.us
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley
313 Hart Senate Office Bldg
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-3753/FAX: 202-228-3997
541-465-6750
State Rep. Caddy McKeown
(Dist. 9)
900 Court St. NE
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1409
Email:
rep.caddymckeown@state.or.us
U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio (4th Dist.)
2134 Rayburn HOB
Washington, DC 20515
202-225-6416/ 800-944-9603
541-269-2609/ 541-465-6732
www.defazio.house.gov
State Sen. Arnie Roblan (Dist. 5)
900 Court St. NE - S-417
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1705
West Lane County Commissioner
Jay Bozievich
125 E. Eighth St.
Eugene, OR 97401
541-682-4203
FAX: 541-682-4616
Email: Jay.Bozievich@co.lane.or.us