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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (June 3, 2015)
4 A ❘ WEDNESDAY EDITION ❘ JUNE 3, 2015 Siuslaw News P.O. Box 10 Florence, OR 97439 RYAN CRONK , EDITOR ❘ 541-902-3520 ❘ EDITOR @ THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM Opinion 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. —Editor Those were the good old days O RIGINALLY P UBLISHED J UNE 7, 1940 T HE S IUSLAW O AR , V OL . 13, N O . 1 After 12 years in one spot, it often brings an old time phrase, “those were the good old days.” To the Oar family, they were good days. It was when we turned the first wheel of the press to make a newspaper here, just 12 years ago. There have been so many changes since that June day in 1928 that one who spent all these days here cannot well recount. Yet in the weekly issues of the Oar, which has carefully preserved copies of every page, the history of Florence development is accu- rately laid, and are held as valued treasure. Before the Oar, there were other papers. The West was first, and except for a few skips of its earliest editions, in our keeping there are historical records dating back to 1890. Ralph Moore established The News in 1924 and The Times in 1926. It didn’t pay. There are records of other ventures in the newspaper game here but all failed. Moore lives here still because he likes it. Despite his advanced years he occasionally drops in to set a few sticks of his polished phrases. Another step or two in the town’s advance- ment and the Oar will have to use more equipment, more speed. In all these years it has never tried to fool itself nor anybody else. A plain honest-to- goodness building up for the general welfare of a stable, beautiful, remarkable country. “And what is so rare as a day in June,” reads an old poem. This is especially so here on the Oregon coast, where the ozone is swept by the cool breezes off the broad Pacific, and June days do not mark the start of torrid summer heat. Along about this time of the year, we have what many would call rare indeed — an ideal state. June! The month which sees the time of festivals swing into full procession. We humans, in our age-old desire to obtain respite from our cares of the work-a-day humdrum and from the world of stark reali- ties, observe the world of make-believe of these festivals. Along with the festivals, flowers brighten the shining month of June. NEIGHBORS Speed and spray on Siltcoos B OB J ACKSON N EIGHBORHOOD C ORRESPONDENT For the Siuslaw News irst off, I cannot remember any great ball games, probably because of a lack of interest. I do, however, vividly recall a lifelong obsession with speed, and it started on the magical surface of Siltcoos lake. Perchance I have mentioned this before — Siltcoos, about 7 miles south of Florence with a residual and mostly stable 3,164 acres, is the largest lake on the Oregon coast, and has attracted a wide variety of boaters over the years. My brother Fritz was two years younger than myself, but early on we were both mesmerized by the visit- ing boat clubs who came down in the summer on excursion trains from the Willamette Valley. They were mainly small, flat-bottomed “pump- kinseed”-type racers with ridiculous- ly small motors when compared to today. But they made a lot of noise F and threw up spectacular “rooster tails.” To a couple young boys living in an isolated logging community, it brought uncommon excitement into our lives. Dirt poor, to get out on the lake, we borrowed rowboats from boat- builders Perry Richardson and “Papa” Stevenson. Eventually we had managed to acquire a five-horse Champion outboard that we mounted on someone’s small skiff. It had an open exhaust that added to the excitement. With such a small motor, it required a lot of bouncing on the bow to get the boat planing and cre- ate even a small rooster tail, but for us, it was a happy start. It is strange how our perspective changes over the years. I remember that Floyd Wampler had a boat called a “sea-sled,” with a square bow and a strange inverted bottom. Because it had a big 10-horse Johnson, we thought he was a dare- devil as he showed off by making a series of sharp turns. For a short time, the Eugene yacht club had a float house headquartered at Westlake. One of the members had a speedboat, and we were fascinated watching him as he came in with the throttle wide open, and time after time he would round a piling with increasingly closer inches to spare. A famous race car driver once remarked that nothing quite matched the exhilaration of speed on the water. As for myself, there was the spanking sound of the bottom pounding the wave tops, the long slick behind, the prop wash, the spray, the boat itself seeming like a living thing. I can remember hitting the big ocean-like whitecaps on Siltcoos so hard that my vision turned red, but strangely with my twisted mind, it was an euphoric, heavenly experience. Speed is a relative term, some- times lesser speeds can be a memo- rable experience. Memories of driv- ing my varnished mahogany inboard Century runabout are a good exam- ple. The underwater exhaust gur- gling, then turning to a roar as the propwash shoots out behind and a wall of spray builds up alongside. This wasn’t a Spartan “hang on for dear life” raceboat experience. With a big American flag flapping on the stern, and a Century pennant waving on the bow, you were in the lap of luxury, feeling equal to any movie star. It was only a few years ago that I was offered a ride back in Westlake in a friend’s modern bass boat. I wondered why we needed a crash helmet and racing life jacket. I soon discovered why. This skinny, low freeboard boat was powered by a 250 horsepower Mercury outboard, which spells “GO” in anybody’s lan- guage. It was approaching noon, and the notorious northwest wind was beginning to build when we left the county dock at Westlake. Before I could even blink, we were alongside the sheltered western side of Booth island, where it was smooth as glass. The big black Mercury behind me was screaming, and I was thinking “this is not so bad.” But then we rounded the southern end of the island and head- ed out into the open lake, which was pounding rocky point with rolling whitecaps. We were in the trough of the waves and our speed was reading somewhere near 70. I was thinking about a time when I was horsing around and threw another guy and myself out of a boat, when we weren’t going half this fast. “Oh well, this would be an exciting way to die!” I had thought. We went through the narrow tule pass at Summer island and headed into the northwest chop, which at this speed was just a bone-jarring blurr. I kind of figured he was trying to scare me — and I have to admit to being a little nervous. Unbelievably, we were back at the dock in around two minutes (less time than it would have taken me to start my old 15 horse Neptune back in the 1940s). My friend Hoss has gone off to try scaring the angels now, but I will always be indebted to him for that short but incredible ride in a modern bass boat. LETTER Humane Society works wonders L ETTERS TO THE E DITOR P OLICY Many of you knew Jerry Copeland. He would stand on the corner of Highway 126 and Highway 101 and wave his flag for peace. This was a man who was a Marine and fought gal- lantly in World War II on Iwo Jima. He died and I was left with the caring for his cat, Priscilla. She was becoming a feral cat and the best I could get from her was a hiss. I fed her for seven months until Barbara Hall (Barb) from the Florence Area Humane Society called and said they could take her. That was not an easy task, but finally we were able to trap her. Such howling you have never heard. She refused all comfort and I thought that she would surely die. We waited a few days before we went back to the Humane Society and I could not believe it. Barb was on her hands and knees and here came Priscilla wanting to be loved and with a big purr. Barb had her in seventh heaven. Oh what wonders they do at the Humane Society! David W. Johnsen Florence 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 poet- ry 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. 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; fax 541-997-7979. All press releases may be sent to PressReleases@TheSiuslawNews.com. 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
