4 A
The First Amendment
Letters to the Editor:
C
ongress shall make no law respecting an
establishment of religion or prohibiting the
free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom
of speech, or of the press, or the right of the
people peaceably to assemble, and to petition
the Government for a redress of grievances.
Editor@TheSiuslawNews.com
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SATURDAY
FEBRUARY
28
•
2015
YESTERDAY’S NEWS
LETTERS
Suspend judgment
MOMENTS IN TIME
The History Channel
In response to the Feb. 21 letter signed by
Jimmie L. Moe, titled “Coming to
America”:
I really have no idea of Mr. Moe’s
upbringing or background. I can only say
that it is sometimes convenient to quote sta-
tistics and sources. These points can be
used in a myriad of ways taken out of con-
text.
The bottom line is that many white,
young, old, educated, non-educated, male,
female, privileged or non-privileged
Americans wouldn’t take the jobs that most
foreigners do in our country, the richest in
the world. You might take the time to look at
the next person that waits on you or does
services for you.
It is easy to judge those trying to better
their lives and escape many fears that none
of us can fathom.
Try and remember, Mr. Moe, that this
country was originally built, established and
founded, on those escaping religious and
political horrors.
Try to suspend judgment.
Sharon Stiles
Florence
• On March 5, 1839, Charlotte Bronte
writes to the Rev. Henry Nussey, declining
marriage. The 23-year-old Bronte told him
that he would find her “romantic and eccen-
tric,” and not practical enough to be a clergy-
man’s wife. Her novel “Jane Eyre” was pub-
lished eight years later.
• On March 3, 1865, President Abraham
Lincoln signs a bill creating the Bureau of
Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands.
Known as the Freedmen’s Bureau, this feder-
al agency oversaw the transition of blacks
from slavery to freedom.
• On March 4, 1888, Knute Rockne is born
in Voss, Norway. He would go on to become
one of the most successful coaches in the his-
tory of college football, leading Notre Dame
during its golden era in the 1920s. Rockne
won three undisputed national championships
with the Fighting Irish.
• On March 7, 1938, Janet Guthrie, the first
woman to compete in the Indianapolis 500
and Daytona 500 races, is born in Iowa. In
1976, she was the first woman to compete in
a NASCAR Winston Cup superspeedway
race.
Homeland un-Security
There’s an old saying, “Be careful for
what you wish.” How the terrorists must be
raising their rifles in victory with all the vit-
riol wasted on “dissing” the President.
It would seem that ISIS/ISIL, terrorists in
extremis, must be so pleased that their most
consistent ally is the U.S. Republican
Congress, which is currently refusing to
fund Homeland Security.
Who are the Republicans rooting for? Not
America or Americans, it seems.
Barbara Prisbe-Sutton
Oceanside, Calif.
Formerly of Florence
• On March 6, 1945, members of the Dutch
resistance attempting to hijack a food truck
unwittingly ambush German Lt. Gen. Hanns
Rauter, head of the Nazi SS in Holland. In
retaliation, the SS put to death 263 Dutch.
Rauter later was executed for war crimes.
• On March 2, 1978, in a famous case of
body-snatching, two men steal the corpse of
film actor Sir Charles Chaplin from a ceme-
tery in Switzerland. After a five-week investi-
gation, police arrested two auto mechanics,
who led them to Chaplin’s body.
VIEW FROM UPRIVER
Heartwarming
W ESLEY V OTH
For the Siuslaw News
F
irst of all, I would like to thank who-
ever is responsible for removing the
mattress from the waters of
Thompson Creek and the couch from
alongside the adjacent roadway that I men-
tioned in my last column. This may have
been the county road maintenance crew,
folks who do such a good job and whose
work I am aware of every day as half of my
mail route is along roads they maintain. Or
it may have been other good-hearted people
performing an act of kindness.
This last week I came across three men
out doing door-to-door religious work
along East Mapleton Road; they were stuck
because their vehicle had hung up on an
embankment while reversing out of a drive-
way of a house with no one home. They
probably felt embarrassed to have to go
back up the road and ask someone for help
USPS# 497-660
whom they had already disturbed and
perhaps even irritated.
They also happened to be in a
place with no cell service. I told
them I’d find help, and at the first
house up the road where I stopped,
kindly folks dropped what they were
doing and went and lent a hand, even
though they appeared to have little sympa-
thy for the reason the men were in the
neighborhood.
Warmer than usual daytimes here during
January and February has accelerated the
growth of many plants, leading to early
blossoms on numerous trees and shrubs.
This seems true for native as well as culti-
vated species. Looking inside my beehives,
something I don’t usually do until April or
May, I find honey production from plum
blossoms going full tilt, not just the usual
first gathering of early pollens like hazel-
nut, alder and willow.
Because of clear and freezing nighttime
temperatures a few times this week, many
have turned brown and some of these may
not set seed or fruit. I have been seeing the
first trilliums and salmonberry blossoms,
and even stinging nettle shoots already, and
(c) 2015 King Features Synd., Inc.
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Published every Wednesday and Saturday at 148 Maple St. in Florence, Lane County, Oregon. A member of the National
Newspaper Association and Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association. Periodicals postage paid at Florence, Ore.
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
Jenna Bartlett
Ryan Cronk
Susan Gutierrez
Cathy Dietz
Ron Annis
Jeremy Gentry
grass that needs to be cut or it will soon be
too high for the mower.
The river has continued a this-winter-pat-
tern of one week of higher than normal lev-
els followed by two weeks of below aver-
age, reflecting the rainfall for the water-
shed.
Another pattern of this winter has been
the heaviest rainfall on the weekends.
New life is being breathed into the
Mapleton Grange, an entity that had been
about to dissolve due to aging and dwin-
dling membership. This would have meant
the building and assets would have gone to
the state level organization and the building
with its meeting space lost to the communi-
ty. The building has been a neutral public
space for several local groups and hosted
dances and other community events for
many years.
Learning of this, several interested peo-
ple joined over the past few months and
others contributed money or stepped for-
ward to help in other ways. It remains to be
seen if new energy and old ways of doing
things can work together, but rumors that
there are any changes or limitations in who
might be welcome to rent or utilize the
space are untrue. The more use the building
gets the more likely the organization can
survive.
I wish it well — we need it.
• On March 8, 1982, the United States
issues a public statement accusing the Soviet
Union of using poison gas and chemical
weapons against rebel forces in Afghanistan.
Evidence to support these charges was large-
ly anecdotal. Some critics charged that the
accusations were a smokescreen behind
which the United States could go forward in
upgrading its own chemical weapons arsenal.
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. Kate Brown
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