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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 19, 2015)
4 A ❘ SATURDAY EDITION ❘ DECEMBER 19, 2015 Siuslaw News P.O. Box 10 Florence, OR 97439 RYAN CRONK , EDITOR ❘ 541-902-3520 ❘ Opinion More funding needed for drug abuse prevention A community that believes in education, and has a “Drug- Abuse-Free” expectation, will help dependent children grow with love and learn to become self-sufficient. A child who stays in school to earn a high school diploma and training for a job has a lifeline to escape per- sistent poverty, generational dependency and drug abuse. Earning a living and becoming self-supporting gives a young per- son a sense of accomplishment and the maturity to choose healthy living and avoid drug abuse. Drug abuse affects the health and safety of young children, causing failure to thrive in infants and reducing the ability of a young brain to learn and remem- ber information. The National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare reports “400,000 infants each year are affected by prenatal alcohol or drug exposure in the United States.” Drug-addicted babies must be nursed through GUEST VIEWPOINT B Y J ENNY V ELINTY S IUSLAW A REA P ARTNERSHIP TO P REVENT S UBSTANCE A BUSE drug withdrawal until they can sleep and eat and need longterm services to recover. The use of drugs in the United States is increasing and communi- ties need to be aware of the high strength and potency of ampheta- mine, narcotic and opioid drugs, the rise of overdose drug deaths, and the increase in children hos- pitalized for drug ingestion due to neglect or intentional administra- tion of drugs. Victims of child sexual abuse, unwanted pregnancies and child trafficking are traumatized by fear, stress, anxiety, anger, depres- sion and self-harming behaviors. The rising costs of medical, psy- chiatric and rehabilitation treatments for abused children and young adults will continue to grow until drug abuse prevention becomes the norm in every U.S. community. Education to prevent drug abuse is more cost effective than treatment of drug dependency. Increased community aware- ness, education and offering non- alcoholic beverages at holiday events, all help to make drug abuse prevention a community norm. Drug abuse prevention funding is needed. In 2015, prevention education received less funding than recommended by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Of the mil- lions of dollars in taxes levied on legal drugs, only 25 percent goes to prevention. Oregon spends $9.8 million on tobacco prevention or 25 percent of $39.3 million recommended by CDC. The tobacco industry spends $115.8 million a year in Oregon. Drug abuse prevention educa- tion has prevented U.S. deaths from tobacco and deaths from HIV-AIDS and sexually-trans- ferred diseases. The reduction of deaths from adult diabetes, high blood pressure and kidney dis- eases is due to community educa- tion. Community surveys seek infor- mation by asking individuals for ways to cope with stress. In an outreach to educate for drug abuse prevention, the Siuslaw Area Partnership to Prevent Substance Abuse (SAPPSA) sur- veyed 500 community members, aged 9 to 90, in January 2015. Seventy percent recommended healthy ways to cope with stress, 15 percent believed drug use helped them and 15 percent used legal and illegal drugs. It was noted the latter 15 percent were younger than the average age of 44. Funding for SAPPSA to edu- cate community drug abuse pre- vention is enabled by deductible donations. LETTERS Gun safety I have a different opinion about arming people with guns than the politicians on television. I have owned guns from the time I was 12 years old. My mother could shoot a chicken hawk out of the air with the 12-gauge shotgun that she kept behind the kitchen door. One day I went hunting with a fellow and his son. I was told the son had passed the gun safety class for teens. I was with the boy and I asked him what kind of rifle he was using. He said a lever action. I asked him what caliber it was. He jacked a shell out of the gun and handed it to me. I told him not to point his gun at me because it had a shell in the barrel, and he said that it didn’t and it was right there in my hand. I told him to point his gun at a stump and pull the trigger. He did, and you should have seen his face when the gun went off. He was a boy who had graduated from gun classes. I do not think it would be a good or safe thing to arm teachers, no matter how many gun classes they took. It takes more than taking classes to know how to safely handle guns. Virgle Bechtold Florence Syrian refugees In the Dec. 9 issue, there was a letter by Tony Cavarno (“Accepting Facts as Facts”) who felt “poo-pooed,” as he says, by another writer who took issue with his stance against “mass Syrian refugee immigration” into the United States. When Mr. Cavarno implies that we need to adjust our values as Americans because “facts are facts,” I wish I knew what those facts are. Is he referring to an infiltration, by radicals, of vetted Syrian refugees? This is a “fact” that is “not a fact,” but rather a “hypothetical fact,” which, well, just sounds plain absurd. Mr. Cavarno’s antagonist herself (“Justice For All,” Dec. 5) overlooks a well-established fact: American history, throughout, is peppered with examples of bigotry, racism, scapegoating and other exclusionist behavior, in spite of the ideals of equality put forth in our founding documents. I’ll give a pair of very different, but vivid, examples. In one day in 1963, as a climax to a string of at least 20 previous bombings, there were three bombings of black churches by a small minority of white Christians in Birmingham, Ala. Our recent mass shootings, and the systematic violence perpetrated by the police against blacks, pale in comparison. More recently, just a few days ago, attacks against some Sikhs in California were reported, presumably because Sikhs wear turbans and EDITOR @ THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM YESTERDAY’S NEWS MOMENTS IN TIME The History Channel • On Dec. 24, 1851, a devastating fire at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., destroys two-thirds of its 55,000 volumes. Today the collection contains more than 17 mil- lion books. • On Dec. 22, 1864, Union Gen. William T. Sherman presents the captured city of Savannah, Georgia, to President Abraham Lincoln with the message, “I beg to present you, as a Christmas gift, the city of Savannah, with 150 heavy guns and plenty of ammunition, and also about 25,000 bales of cotton.” • On Dec. 23, 1888, in Arles, France, Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh, suffering from severe depression, cuts off the lower part of his left ear with a razor. He documented the event in a painting titled “Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear.” • On Dec. 27, 1900, prohibitionist Carry Nation smashes up a bar in Kansas, causing several thousand dollars in damage and landing in jail. Nation became famous for carrying a hatchet and wrecking saloons as part of her anti-alcohol crusade. • On Dec. 26, 1946, in Las Vegas, mobster Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel opens The Pink Flamingo Hotel & Casino. The grand opening was a flop. Gamblers had no rooms at the yet unfinished hotel, so they took their winnings and gambled elsewhere. • On Dec. 25, 1962, “To Kill a Mockingbird,” a film based on the 1960 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name by Harper Lee, opens in theaters. The American Film Institute has rated Atticus Finch (played by Gregory Peck) as the greatest movie hero of the 20th century. vaguely resemble Muslims, at least in the warped minds of a few grossly uninformed people. So it’s clear that, in the vast landscape of American history, bigotry — and violence — are not unusual. It even seems difficult to say which is more “dear to American values” — the “justice for all” sentiment or the exclusionist sentiment. The M&M analogy that Mr. Cavarno admires, like much of what bombards us on the Internet, is cute and trite. But in this case, it is also naive and simplistic. The refugees fleeing Syria have two choices: they can stay in Syria and die, or they can flee. Should Western nations just let them die? What would be your choice? Curt Buttke Florence Trump voters I’m sorry, but I’ve just got to say something here. Are you serious? Who are these Trump voters? Am I crazy? I am so embarrassed for America. We need to demand the America we want. It’s ours. That’s you, Republicans. I’m an Independent. This is your guy. I’m an American. This is your guy. Does it matter what people say? Does it matter what people know? Aren’t you embarrassed, too? You got to take over and cover your side of this game. Republicans, you’re letting me get my impression of “you” through Donald Trump. So is planet Earth. Like it or not, Trump is speaking for you unless “you” actually stand up and find someone else to enable. Your silence enables him, not mine. Listen to these people: “He just says it like it is.” What is “it” that he has said that actual- ly “is”? Is there no exploration of anything? These people don’t think that “knowing about stuff” is important. Didn’t we make this mis- take before? I’m not a partisan person. I know that there are huge numbers of Republicans out there who think that knowing about stuff is important, too. This is what it comes down to. The President needs to understand the things they say. The President needs to know how the world works. Not just to know how to come out with more money than the other guy in a real-estate deal. You can’t shoot from the hip in a chess game like George W. Bush. If the actual President doesn’t “know about stuff” himself, his advisors are actually in charge. Richard Pearl filled George W. Bush in on “how the world works.” Paul Wolfowitz and Dick Cheney were actually in charge. They pushed George W.’s child-like mind into invad- ing Iraq. His dad would have never fallen for this. Bush Sr. understood the relationship between cause and effect. It’s important for the President of the United States to not only know about the relationship between cause and effect, but respect it, and therefore be able to forecast it. We are in a chess game here. My request to Republicans is to pick one of your thinking guys. We got problems ahead. I’m an American. Don’t embarrass me again. Robert Quandt Dunes City • On Dec. 21, 1975, in Vienna, Austria, Carlos the Jackal leads a terrorist raid on a meeting of OPEC oil ministers, killing three people and taking 63 others hostage. After demands for a jet were met, all the hostages were released unharmed in Algeria. (c) 2015 King Features Synd., Inc. L ETTERS TO THE E DITOR P OLICY The Siuslaw News welcomes letters to the editor concerning issues affecting the Florence area and Lane County. Emailed letters are preferred. Handwritten or typed letters must be signed. All letters should be limited to about 300 words and must include the writer’s full name, address and phone number for verification. Letters are subject to editing for length, grammar and clarity. Publication of any letter is not guaranteed and depends on space available and the volume of letters received. Libelous and anonymous letters as well as poetry will not be published. All submissions become the property of Siuslaw News and will not be returned. Write to: Editor@TheSiuslawNews.com USPS# 497-660 Copyright 2015 © Siuslaw News John Bartlett Jenna Bartlett Ryan Cronk Susan Gutierrez Cathy Dietz Ron Annis Jeremy Gentry Publisher, ext. 327 General Manager, ext. 318 Editor, ext. 313 Advertising Director, ext. 326 Office Supervisor, ext. 312 Production Supervisor Press Manager DEADLINES: Wednesday Issue—General news, Monday noon; Budgets, four days prior to publication; Regular classified ads, Monday 1 p.m.; Display ads, Monday noon; Boxed and display classified ads, Friday 5 p.m. Saturday Issue—General news, Thursday noon; Budgets, two days prior to publication; Regular classified ads, Thursday 1 p.m.; Display ads, Thursday noon; Boxed and display classified ads, Wednesday 5 p.m. Soundings, Tuesday 5 p.m. NEWSPAPER SUBSCRIPTION RATES: In Lane County — 1-year subscription, $71; 10-weeks subscription, $18; Out of Lane County — 1-year subscription, $94; 10-weeks subscription, $24; Out of State — 1-year subscription, $120; Out of United States — 1-year subscription, $200; E-Edition Online Only (Anywhere) — 1-year subscription, $65. 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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