4 A
The First Amendment
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SATURDAY
MARCH
28
•
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.
2015
LETTERS
YESTERDAY’S NEWS
Building bids
MOMENTS IN TIME
The History Channel
I want to compliment Mike Nielson on his let-
ter to the editor, “Unscrupulous Building
Contractors,” March 21. Although a bit older than
his sister, over the years I have gone through ren-
ovations, additions and painting projects of the
few houses I have owned. What I have learned is
never get an estimate, but ask for a bid.
This year I will have the exterior of my house
painted and I have made a detailed bid request
document that includes the scope of work,
including a physical inspection of the work to be
done and just not a walk around estimate. It is
very detailed and includes specifications of prod-
ucts, warranties and application processes.
It also includes payment schedules. Upfront I
will pay for material cost but nothing else.
Payment schedule will be broken down in two
phases, first being acceptance of prep work and
then final painting once accepted.
Ask for references and actually visit projects
that contractors have done and talk to the own-
ers. First, I need to get the leak in my roof done.
Win Jolley
Florence
• On April 2, 1863, responding to acute food
shortages, hundreds of women riot in
Richmond, Virginia, breaking windows and
looting stores, before Confederate President
Jefferson Davis threw his pocket change at
them from the top of a wagon. Davis ordered
the crowd to disperse or he would order the
militia to fire on them.
• On April 3, 1882, one of America’s most
famous criminals, Jesse James, is shot to death
by fellow gang member Bob Ford. Detective
magazines had glamorized the James gang,
turning them into Robin Hoods. In reality, Jesse
James was a ruthless killer who stole only for
himself.
• On March 31, 1931, Knute Rockne, the leg-
endary Notre Dame football coach, is killed in
a plane crash. He was 43. From 1918 to 1930,
Rockne compiled a record of 105 wins, 12 loss-
es and 5 ties, and won six national champi-
onships.
Kudos to volunteers
The sixth annual Shamrock Run took place
Saturday, March 14, this year. It was a very rainy
and windy day to say the least, but most runners
on the Oregon coast are used to this climate and
showed up for the run.
What is remarkable and commendable is all
the volunteers directing traffic and runners along
the course — all of them with a smile and an
encouraging word to the runners. They are not
paid for their effort, nor do they get the “glory”
of running the race and being a participant.
They have to be in their places along the
course long before the runners and walkers show
up, and stay there for a couple hours or more in
the pouring rain.
I want to say a big thank you to all these won-
derful people. You are very much appreciated.
Kerstin Johnsen
Florence
• On April 1, 1948, Soviet troops begin stop-
ping U.S. and British military trains traveling
through the Russian sector to and from Berlin.
In June, the Soviets began a full-scale blockade
of the U.S.-British-French sectors. Thus began
the Berlin Blockade, when U.S. aircraft began
dropping supplies into Berlin.
• On April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. is
shot to death at a hotel in Memphis, Tennessee.
A single shot fired by James Earl Ray from
more than 200 feet away struck King in the
neck. The death of America’s leading civil-
rights advocate sparked a wave of rioting in
black communities around the country.
• On April 5, 1976, Howard Hughes, one of
the richest men to emerge from the American
West, dies while flying from Acapulco to
Houston for medical treatment. Hughes’ bizarre
behavior grew worse in his final years, as he
became obsessed with privacy and sometimes
worked for days at a stretch in a black-cur-
tained room without sleeping.
VIEW FROM UPRIVER
Vernal fireworks
W ESLEY V OTH
For the Siuslaw News
T
he coming of spring and end of
Lenten, also known as the vernal
equinox, marks an explosion of green
leaf and blossom tint, a flurry of feather and
fur, a quickening in the egg masses in the
ditches, a swelling of life in the waterways as
myriads of salmon fry pass tail first down-
stream, wary of merganser and cormorant, of
mink and otter, of heron and kingfisher.
Mating swallows collide with me three times
in their frenzy while our daughter’s dog looks
on in surprise.
I always inventory what I see on the first
day of spring: violet green swallows and
band-tailed pigeons; the first bleeding hearts,
wild iris, Hooker’s fairybells and native trail-
ing blackberry blossoms; blooms on the Big-
leaf maples. There are leaves on the willows,
on the salmonberry, elderberry and thimble-
berry canes; up from the earth explode huge
leafed cow parsley, manroot vines, the fern
USPS# 497-660
fronds of bracken, lady, deer and
sword. Mosses and resurrection fern
grab the last direct sun they’ll get
before leaf fall.
On Sweet Creek Road, in the pas-
tures I notice three of last year’s fawns
with what appears to be deer hair-loss
syndrome. While the mothers seem
unaffected, these yearlings at first showed
what looked like white patches, and then
have kept working at these areas with teeth
and hoof and rubbing against things until the
winter coat is gone along both sides. The syn-
drome is apparently caused by heavy lice
infestation of a type unknown here prior to
1995, thought to have originally come from
deer of the eastern hemisphere raised domes-
tically in the United States. So far it has
seemed to cause problems for black-tailed
deer in lower elevations between the coast
and the Cascades in Oregon, Washington and
California, resulting in the deaths of many
affected deer. I hope these survive.
Several people have asked what was meant
in my last column by “terrestrial” birds. It
refers to land; terms for other types of birds
are aquatic focused — waterfowl and shore-
birds. For many of these latter, if not most,
native vegetation is also critical to their habi-
(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
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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
tat. In an article last week in this paper about
spraying in a recently logged area,
salmonberry was lumped with other “inva-
sives” such as Scot’s broom. While
salmonberry may be unwanted by someone
who is trying to grow Douglas-fir as a crop, it
is a native plant tough enough to outcompete
Scot’s broom in many settings, and I for one
hate to see it killed indiscriminately with her-
bicides.
Last year a Walton woman who wildcrafts
many local forest foods told me that she adds
the blossoms of Big-leaf maple to her sting-
ing nettle pesto and gets a result more like
guacamole. After some experimentation over
the last couple of days, I have found that
lightly steamed (5 minutes max) blossoms
with equal parts well steamed nettles, oil (I
like olive, sunflower, or grape seed), roasted
nuts (hazelnuts or walnuts or sunflower
seeds), parmesan cheese and a little salt, well
pureed in a blender or food processor yields a
great pesto or guacamole-like dip that is great
with dark bread, pasta, or corn chips.
Big-leaf maple blossoms are coming on
now, and due to variations in trees and tem-
perature and sunlight, will probably be find-
able somewhere locally for the next month.
Each emerging bract contains a flower stalk
and a leaf stalk — use just the flower stalk.
And if in your experimentation you find bet-
ter or more interesting results, don’t hesitate
to let me know.
• On March 30, 1980, a floating apartment
platform for oil workers in the North Sea 235
miles east of Scotland collapses, killing 123
people. No one was expecting that a large wave
would collapse and capsize the platform.
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