4 A
❘
SATURDAY EDITION
❘ MAY 30, 2015
RYAN CRONK , EDITOR
Siuslaw News
❘ 541-902-3520 ❘
EDITOR @ THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM
Opinion
P.O. Box 10
Florence, OR 97439
VIEW FROM UPRIVER
It doesn’t get better than this
W ESLEY V OTH
For the Siuslaw News
T
he main reason I continue to fish is to
get me out to places where I wouldn’t
be otherwise, and at times and in
weather I might otherwise have been home.
My friend Norman Beers and I used to talk
every year before Memorial Day weekend
about where we planned to fish for trout. Norm
usually fished Indian Creek for the spring
opener. I usually headed high in the Cascades
to a mountain lake near a cabin where I’ve
gone all my life, where I would often be the
first one to reach the lake through melting
snow.
This year I couldn’t get away, and decided
instead to fish the section of Indian Creek
where Norm spent what turned out to be
the last few hours of his life, and had
fished since boyhood.
It was a perfect morning for fishing the
creek, dawn coming on slowly with a
light misty rain. I didn’t see anyone else
on the road or parked or camped after I
turned off at Indiola. As I exited my vehi-
cle, the early joyous chorus of birds was just
starting up: the haunting call of the Swainson’s
thrush, the melodious song sparrows and win-
ter wrens and American robins each with their
own hymns.
As I began hiking down through the brush, I
jumped a large bull elk with thickly branched
velvety antlers grown to about 3 feet so far. He
wanted to be seen, and let me get a very good
look while regally displaying every fine feature
of his superiority in size and magnificence,
demonstrating his species’ characteristic nim-
bleness despite their mass, pushing straight
through the salmonberry thicket, across the
slippery rocked creek, and up the far muddy
bank with ease.
Even in my prime, which has been more
years ago now than I spent in childhood, I
moved through such terrain at a much more
circumspective pace. I won’t concede, howev-
er, that it is any less my element than his.
In the low and extremely clear water, I find
the trout in the riffles rather the pools, and
retain just one, a lovely perfect 10-inch beauty
that is a deeply golden brown with dark mot-
tled spots and the red slashes at the bottom of
the gill plates that identify it as a native cut-
throat. It is fat from feeding on salmon fry, and
I wrap it in lady fern fronds and carry it in my
jacket pocket just as I did as a youth.
Small crayfish, bright orange and obvious in
the water, remind me that when we were boys,
that is what we used as bait. Such is not legal
these days, the regulations restricting terminal
gear to artificial flies or spinners thought to
attract and put at risk mostly larger fish. I real-
ize suddenly that I’m carrying on a quiet con-
versation with Norm, feeling his company and
camaraderie in this place that held such mean-
ing for him. And that I can appreciate in much
the same ways.
I wade back up the creek, going as usual just
a little deeper than my boots are good for,
enjoying the feel of the water filling them as I
remove some heavy line from the stream
together with a tangle of salmon lures showing
that there are those who persist in fishing for
them here when it’s been a number of years
since this place was open for salmon.
Just before I leave the water to go back up
the bank, I watch a pacific jumping mouse
cross the stream by leaping from rock to rock
and then swimming the last part before disap-
pearing into the brush. I usually only see these
mice dead, or crossing the road in my head-
lights, so it’s great to watch one in action in
daylight. They are regular mouse sized, but
with tails as long as the trout in my pocket.
As I walk back to my vehicle it is not yet 7
a.m., and I pick and eat salmonberries, compet-
ing with several robins who make a point of
grabbing the best ones just ahead of me. I’ve
been eating these orange berries all month,
finding the first ones on May Day itself,
incredibly early.
Eating the fish later, its wild flavor reminds
me again of the day, of the sounds and smells
and preciousness of life and this place, what is
gone and what remains.
LETTERS
Dental work appreciation
The staff at Mapleton Elementary School
would like to extend a huge thank you to Dr.
Holmes, Dr. Linton and their staff for volun-
teering their time and services to help our stu-
dents.
We are truly grateful for the dental screenings
they do and the dental work they provide. They
do an amazing job, and we truly appreciate
them including our school in their efforts to
help our community.
Carrie McNeill
on behalf of Mapleton Elementary Staff
Invasion memo anniversary
The recent GOP race to characterize the Iraq
go-to-war decision as a “mistake” based on
“faulty intelligence” begs one to recall the
famous “Downing Street Memo,” leaked 10
years ago, May 2005, describing the 2002
White House mind-set for justifying invasion.
The memo reflected a British intelligence
briefing to Prime Minister Blair based on meet-
ings between lead British and White House
national security staffs eight months before
invasion.
Important parts read as follows:
“Date: 23 July 2002
“Military action was now seen as inevitable.
Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through mili-
tary action, justified by the conjunction of ter-
rorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts
were being fixed around the policy ... no
patience with the UN route. ... There was little
discussion in Washington of the aftermath after
military action. ... It seemed clear that Bush had
made up his mind to take military action, even
if the timing was not yet decided. But the case
was thin. ... The Attorney-General said that the
desire for regime change was not a legal base
for military action.”
We all know what happened next.
Bush-Cheney “fixed” a series of false alarms
to justify a “solid case” for war — African ura-
nium, mobile biological weapons labs, nuclear
enrichment tubes, WMD missiles.
Every evening news show had its own con-
cocted “mushroom cloud” over an American
city courtesy of roving “White House Iraq
Group” staffers such as Condoleezza Rice.
The Downing Street Memo — undisputed by
the White House — anticipated this publicity
effort for what it was: a lie.
USPS# 497-660
Current GOP candidate efforts to dress up
Iraq chaos as originating from a “mistake” are
no different, no less cynical, no more moral.
Indeed, some of the same staffers are being
used. To complete the “optics” for this $2 tril-
lion fantasy, the GOP only needs the likes of
Sarah Palin or Chuch Norris, perhaps as
Secretaries of State and Defense.
Rand Dawson
Siltcoos Lake
Driver’s ed, a life skill
This week, the national news reported that
the main cause of teen deaths in the United
States continues to be from auto accidents, and
that most of those killed weren’t the driver.
Later, I was talking with a friend who told me
that our high school no longer offers driver’s
education as a class. To me, our high school
education should prepare a student for life,
whether that’s to continue with higher educa-
tion, or for basic entry into the job world.
Either way, proper driving is a skill that can
save lives, and, I think, ought to be part of that
education. Having a professional teacher
instruct the students in the best driving actions
and the rules of the road should be mandatory
for all capable students, for their safety and the
safety of others, and should be included in their
education at Siuslaw High School.
Better-informed voters
As a voter who tries to be informed on the
issues and candidates running for office, this
May election was frustrating for me because it
was very difficult, if not impossible, to find out
information about some of the candidates who
were running, most of whom were for boards of
directors for various Lane County entities (e.g.,
Lane Community College, Siuslaw School
Board, Port of Siuslaw, etc.).
When I received my voter’s pamphlet and,
later, ballot, I tried to match the candidates to
their statements in the voter’s pamphlet.
Unfortunately, the pamphlet did not contain
statements from over 50 percent of the candi-
dates (opposed or not) I was asked to vote for.
I did not receive any written material, nor
could I find a Facebook page or website or pub-
lished statement on the Internet when I searched
their names.
What I was looking for was a statement from
the candidates that told me three things: who
they are, why they are qualified to be on the
board and what they hope to accomplish as a
L ETTERS TO THE
E DITOR P OLICY
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editor concerning issues affecting the
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All submissions become the property of
Siuslaw News and will not be returned.
Write to:
Editor@TheSiuslawNews.com
Copyright 2015 © Siuslaw News
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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; fax
541-997-7979. All press releases may be sent to PressReleases@TheSiuslawNews.com.
John Bartlett
Jenna Bartlett
Ryan Cronk
Susan Gutierrez
Cathy Dietz
Ron Annis
Jeremy Gentry
Don’t handicap our students and increase the
danger to the rest of us. Put it in the require-
ments.
Jim O’Connell
Florence
board member — simple, straightforward,
something every candidate should be able to
articulate.
Without this information, it is difficult to
make an informed decision about whether or
not I should vote for a particular candidate.
I encourage every candidate for office,
whether for the first time or after numerous
elections, to please place a statement in the
voter’s pamphlet with answers to those three
simple questions.
I realize that most of these positions are non-
paid volunteer positions, but there is little or no
cost to including this information in the voter’s
pamphlet and letting the voters know something
about you.
At the next election cycle, it would be very
useful if the Siuslaw News sent a short ques-
tionnaire to each candidate running with just
those three questions.
A supplement to the paper with the candi-
dates’ responses before the election would
enable the voters to get to know the candidates
better and, perhaps in the end, make a more
informed decision that better represents how the
voter feels about the candidates.
Pat Reno
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