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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (March 11, 2015)
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 Press Releases: PressReleases@TheSiuslawNews.com WEDNESDAY MARCH 11 • 2015 1 2 5 T H A N N I V E R S A R Y F L A S H B A C K 1890 ❙ T T HE W EST F LORENCE T IMES T HE S IUSLAW O AR T HE S IUSLAW N EWS S IUSLAW N EWS ❙ 2015 his year marks Siuslaw News’ quasquicentennial, our 125th anniversary, a remarkable achievement for any business in a small community like Florence. To commemorate this milestone, throughout the year we’ll feature some of the town’s history as origi- nally published in the newspaper, including historic articles and photos from more than a century ago. Boy saved from fire O RIGINALLY P UBLISHED M ARCH 25, 1960 Billy Bones, 13-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Joe Bones, risked his life to save that of Bobby Stewart, 11-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Stewart, Friday night, when the tent they were sharing caught on fire during a campout. The boys were part of Boy Scout troop 191 camping out on Mapleton mountain. Twelve troop members along with Craig Bouchet, scout master, and his son, Don, a 17-year-old Explorer scout, were on the trip. The scoutmaster returned to Florence to attend a meeting at the Lutheran church, after the boys were all bedded down for the night, leaving them in the care of his son. Bobby Stewart awakened to find the tent on fire, apparently from a candle which had T HE S IUSLAW O AR , V OL . 32, N O . 43 been left burning. Although Stewart spread the alarm, he was unable to get out of his tightly zipped sleeping bag. Billy Bones, assistant senior patrol leader for the troop, pulled him from the tent in the sleeping bag. Stewart suffered burns to his ears, hands, shoulders and back. Bouchet returned to the area just as the tent was being consumed by flames about 10:45 p.m. He brought Stewart to the local hospital. The 7x7 foot wall-type tent and two sleeping bags were destroyed by the fire and a third partially destroyed. All were proper- ty of the troop. No personal gear was lost, according to Bouchet. LETTERS Historic need for USCG helicopter I hope that staffers for U.S. Sens. Merkley and Wyden in Washington, D.C., are reading this letter. They need to consider this story and work with their colleagues to help keep the U.S. Coast Guard Air Base in Newport, Ore., open. According to the March 4 issue of Siulsaw News in the 125th Anniversary Flashback series, a young Scott Milnes of Oregon State University was rescued in no small part because of two U.S. Coast Guard helicopters used in his search and rescue after 22 hours in the water near Heceta Head. That was in 1975. Google tells me Mr. Milnes graduated from OSU in 1979 with a degree in zoology. I wonder what he has done with his life since 1975. Perhaps some immeasurable good has come of his rescue. I hope so. Mr. Milnes would be celebrating his 59th birthday this year. He likely has paid lots in taxes to the U.S. government since then. These taxes have helped keep the Coast Guard helicopter base open in Newport. Let’s keep it open! The time to travel from the Newport Airport to the Heceta Head area and then search for a significant time and even have time then to make an air rescue is greatly increased by having a central Oregon coast base. Everyone who appreciates how profound the saving of one life can be should know that many lives have been saved since 1975. Many would be lost in the next 40 years should that base be closed. Write your congressman today and urge support to keep the U.S. Coast Guard Air Base in Newport open. Bill Olson Florence Broken medical industry First, I wish to give kudos to the clerks here in our PeaceHealth offices. You do so much and take the brunt of so many things from patients, and sometimes doctors and nurses. But, here comes the bad. The medical industry here is broken. My husband recently was injured in a freak accident to his left leg. Here begins the saga of this issue. Through a course of five weeks, with two good physicians and two not so good, my hus- band is still out of work. He had seen one orthopedist, but that one wasn’t there. So he had the experience of one doctor’s diagnosis not really melding with another. This second doctor gave him a leg brace, which went from ankle to thigh, four weeks after injury, even though the first doctor had questioned issuing a brace. My husband couldn’t even get into his car; his leg didn’t bend at all. When he went to the pharmacy, he fell three times because of the leg brace and severely cut his arm, falling into brush that had one- to two-inch thorns. When he got home, he called the doctor’s office. I heard every clean but frustrated word my hus- band said, but the staff felt he was threatening the doctor. In the past 16 years of being here, we have never threatened to hurt anyone over any of the myriad of things we have encoun- tered from PeaceHealth, such as the loss of my MRI for 1-1/2 months, during which the physician had to hand-search for it when it never reached her. It showed a woman’s fist-size tumor on my brain, and the technician never called to tell the doctor the MRI was being taken. Although this is our incident of irritation, I have heard horror stories from my friends, too. I am sure there are others who have had similar issues, and I am here to say we need to stand up for our issues and not be treat- USPS# 497-660 ed like we are the ones wrong, or denied treatment or told we will be dropped as serviceable. When you are wrong, PeaceHealth, admit it and change. We are all beginning to watch more, and we are done taking abuse. Roxanne Bowman Florence Herbicide spraying The recent notification for more herbicide spraying in the Clear Lake Watershed (CLW) and the North Florence Dunal Aquifer (NFDA) has again strengthened our community’s resolve to ensure the protection of our drinking water. The spraying on 80 acres is expected to begin as early as this week, and is expected to continue twice yearly (spring and fall) for up to four years. The first large-scale application took place in fall of 2013 and included an aerial spray that had the potential to also impact the Siuslaw Watershed. Prior to the spray, citizens filled the Heceta Water District office, and with the owner present, objected the spray. Heceta Water valiantly offered $40,000 to help defer manual clearing costs and community members offered aid. There are programs that also can help defer costs. The applications are taking place in the Watershed in what Lane County calls “the Clear Lake Watershed Protection Zone (CLWPZ).” What is uncertain is why the property in the “protected zone” is zoned forestry. The CLW provides drinking water for 4,500 in Florence. In a document on Lane County’s website, the CLWPZ is described as “recognized as an area deserving protection in order to maintain high water quality in Clear Lake.” It lists purposes that include “to protect the aquifer and surface waters (the Lakes) of the CLW” and “achieve the water quality standards ... to ensure that all uses within the CLW are consistent with the objective of achieving these water quality standards.” The property is not only within the CLW, but also in an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) designated Sole Source Aquifer (SSA). The NFDA is a large network of inter-connected lakes in our community. The EPA’s website defines a SSA as “one which supplies at last 50 percent of the drinking water consumed in the area overlying the aquifer.” The EPA also stipulates that “these areas can have no alternative drinking water source(s) which could physically, legally and economically supply all those that depend upon the aquifer for drinking water.” A document on the county’s website cites an EPA document that states, “Rapid infiltration rates into the sand cover combined Live and let live Right on to Sharon Stiles and Barbara Prisbe-Sutton for their letters of Feb. 28 (“Suspend Judgment” and “Homeland Un- Security,” respectively). My father’s great-grandfather and grandmother fled Germany to Russia because of the government oppression, but Russia was- n’t any better, so they went to the USA. My mother’s father’s father came from England. Does that make me have more right to live in the USA than someone who came to the USA a hundred years later? I don’t think there was a government official there to take down their names and tell them it was OK to live in the USA in the 1800s. I have relatives who are married to black people and Native Americans. I sit down at their table to eat just like anyone else’s table. A few years back, out of Denver, there was a raid by immigra- tion officers at a large rock pit. After they hauled the illegal immi- grants off, the owner had to shut down. He couldn’t find experi- enced workers to work for the wages he could afford to pay. I read a lot of western books, so I know a little of the Southwest history. Spain owned all the way from almost the Oregon border to the Gulf of Mexico, including Texas, Arizona and New Mexico. It was inhabited by Mexicans and Indians. So what gives Caucasians the right to think they have more right to live here than anyone else? I don’t know when the first slave ship came to America, but I would bet it was before my ancestors came here. We give visas to foreign students to go to school, then kick them out after we educate them. What a waste! We should let them stay if they want to. I believe in live and let live. Virgle Bechtold Florence Copyright 2015 © Siuslaw News 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. Mail subscription includes E-Edition. Website and E-Edition: www.TheSiuslawNews.com WHERE TO WRITE 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: 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 with a shallow water table make the NFDA highly susceptible to contamination from surface activity.... Possible sources of aquifer contamination include” (among other items) “pesticides and chemical fertilizers.” It goes on to state, “No feasible alternative sources to the North Florence Aquifer system exist in the area. Therefore, contamination of the aquifer would create ‘a signifi- cant hazard to public health.’” It is disturbing that large-scale forestry operations can take place in the direct vicinity of a drinking water source. This proj- ect is also adjoining and partially within a neighborhood. The neighborhood faces property devaluation, as well as stress and possible direct health implications from being in the immediate vicinity. Notifications are available only with subscription. The area is prone to runoff from clear-cut hills. Notification maps show fish streams that appear to flow directly into the water source. These receive a scant 20-foot buffer. Numerous studies link pesticides (herbicides) to a wide range of human health problems. The added adjuvants and surfactants can be more toxic than the herbicide itself. Let’s hope the property owners will realize, before it is too late, the importance of protecting our Watershed and the North Florence Dunal Aquifer. Also, county, state and governmental departments should enforce programs put in place to protect the safety of citizens and purity of our drinking water. Shauna Boyd Florence 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
