4 A
❘
SATURDAY EDITION
❘ JUNE 13, 2015
RYAN CRONK , EDITOR
Siuslaw News
❘ 541-902-3520 ❘
Opinion
P.O. Box 10
Florence, OR 97439
BEWARE OF IRS PHONE SCAM
Bogus calls reported
in Florence
An aggressive and sophisticat-
ed phone scam targeting taxpay-
ers has been making the rounds
throughout the country, including
the Florence area.
According to the Internal
Revenue Service (IRS), callers
claim to be employees of the
IRS, but are not. These con
artists can sound convincing
when they call. They use fake
names and bogus IRS identifica-
tion badge numbers. They may
know a lot about their targets,
and they usually alter the caller
ID to make it look like the IRS is
calling.
Victims are told they owe
money to the IRS and it must be
paid promptly through a pre-
loaded debit card or wire trans-
fer. If the victim refuses to coop-
erate, they are then threatened
with arrest, deportation or sus-
pension of a business or driver’s
license. In many cases, the caller
becomes hostile and insulting.
Or, victims may be told they
have a refund due to try to trick
them into sharing private infor-
mation.
If the phone isn’t answered,
the scammers often leave an
“urgent” callback request.
The IRS reminds taxpayers
that it will never:
• call to demand immediate
payment, nor will the agency call
about taxes owed without first
having mailed you a bill;
• demand that you pay taxes
without giving you the opportu-
nity to question or appeal the
amount they say you owe;
• require you to use a specific
payment method for your taxes,
such as a prepaid debit card;
• ask for credit or debit card
numbers over the phone; or
• threaten to bring in local
police or other law-enforcement
groups to have you arrested for
not paying.
Fraudulent calls where the IRS
is mentioned can be reported to
the Treasury Inspector General
for Tax Administration at 1-800-
366-4484. For more information
on scams being tracked by the
IRS, visit www.irs.gov.
VIEW FROM UPRIVER
Dry humor
W ESLEY V OTH
For the Siuslaw News
S
eemingly overnight, there are fledged
birds everywhere, meaning they
hatched some time ago. The river is
filled with ducklings of several varieties and
a few goslings, which are on the go immedi-
ately after hatching. There is a similar differ-
ence between our local brush rabbits, which
are born blind and hairless, and varying hares
that also live here, but are born ready to run.
June is the month of fawns and elk calves,
and I have seen a number of these out in the
sunshine. Uncut, ungrazed pastures look like
meadows, with the grasses spreading clouds
of pollen that dust every surface, gilding spi-
derwebs and windshields, waterways and
nasal membranes, the latter causing grief for
some. A nearby hillside woodlot, cut a couple
of years ago, is thickly and riotously adorned
with every shade of foxglove.
I finally got the netting up on our blueber-
ries, although not before quite a few had
gone to the birds. For the second year in a
row we have let them have the currants. The
blackberry bloom is already peaking, mean-
ing that now is when pollinator colonies need
to be at full strength.
The bees I usually keep at our place died
suddenly in early spring; it may or may not
be related to the fact that it was just two days
after the railroad — 50 yards away — was
sprayed with herbicide.
The dry warm spring was very good for
bumblebees and other native pollinators, and
so our fruit trees and berries have all done
just fine without the honeybees. And now,
thanks to the kindness of other beekeepers, I
again have bees in the hives at my house, and
other colonies of mine elsewhere in the area
are doing well.
I don’t remember many Junes as warm as
this one, and it is rarely this dry this month in
this watershed. The measuring station near
where I live records data for the Siuslaw
River back to the 1960s, but some of it is not
retrievable. Typically the river drops slowly
from mid-June to mid-September. The last
time on record that it was this dry in mid-
June was 1992, but I can’t retrieve what that
meant by September of that year. I can’t
imagine that this bodes well.
Every year I try and pay attention to what
there is more of, and what seems missing that
EDITOR @ THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM
has always been here. This year: fewer
bats (in fact I haven’t seen any since
March, and they are usually plentiful
around our house at all times of the
year), but we are starting to see drag-
onflies after several years of none, and
a large nutria swam past, the first I’ve
seen behind our house, although more
and more frequently elsewhere in this river.
As a boy I shot one in our creek north of
Corvallis that weighed 25 pounds; I shot it
because I didn’t know what it was and want-
ed my wildlife biologist father to identify it
(we did things like that in those days). A
South American rodent raised by people for
fur and then released to become an invasive
pest when no one bought the pelts, these pro-
lific creatures are born open eyed and able to
eat any vegetation in their path including gar-
den vegetables.
Although I have yet to see signs, it is like-
ly that the last weekend in June will be the
Highway 36 54-mile-long yard sale —
Mapleton to Junction City, with many high
points; technically, the apex among them is
Low Pass.
YESTERDAY’S NEWS
MOMENTS IN TIME
The History Channel
• On June 15, 1215, following a revolt by
the English nobility, King John puts his royal
seal on the Magna Carta, or “Great Charter.”
The document guaranteed that the king would
respect feudal rights and privileges, uphold the
freedom of the church and maintain the nation’s
laws.
• On June 16, 1738, patriot printer, publish-
er and postmistress, Mary Katharine Goddard,
is born. She would later publish the first version
of the Declaration of Independence to include
all of the Congressional signatures. The docu-
ment appeared “printed by Mary Katherine
Goddard.”
• On June 18, 1812, the War of 1812 against
Great Britain begins. The American war decla-
ration had been called in response to the British
economic sanctions against the U.S. and the
impressment of American seaman into the
British Royal Navy.
• On June 19, 1905, in Pittsburgh, some 450
people attend the opening of the world’s first
nickelodeon. The storefront theater boasted 96
seats and charged each patron 5 cents to view a
15-minute motion picture show.
• On June 20, 1975, director Steven
Spielberg’s thriller “Jaws” debuts in U.S. the-
aters. Jaws starred Roy Scheider as police chief
Martin Brody and Richard Dreyfuss as a
marine biologist. The film’s mechanical shark
was named Bruce.
• On June 21, 1982, John W. Hinckley, Jr.,
who on March 30, 1981, shot President Ronald
Reagan outside a Washington, D.C., hotel, is
found not guilty of attempted murder by reason
of insanity.
• On June 17, 1994, after a dramatic “low-
speed chase” on I-405 witnessed by millions on
live television, former football star and actor
O.J. Simpson surrenders to Los Angeles police.
He was charged in the double-murder of his ex-
wife and her friend.
(c) 2015 King Features Synd., Inc.
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Postmaster, send address changes to: Siuslaw News, P.O. Box 10, Florence, OR 97439; phone 541-997-3441; fax
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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