4 A
❘
SATURDAY EDITION
❘ JUNE 27, 2015
RYAN CRONK , EDITOR
Siuslaw News
❘ 541-902-3520 ❘
Opinion
P.O. Box 10
Florence, OR 97439
VIEW FROM UPRIVER
YESTERDAY’S NEWS
Mapleton’s scaled-down 4th
W ESLEY V OTH
For the Siuslaw News
A
t least in the current millennium —
which is about all I can personally
attest to in Mapleton — the Fourth
of July celebration has been the biggest com-
munity gathering of the year, with fireworks
that rival any I’ve seen anywhere, and the
kind of spirit and heart that reaches out and
embraces family and friends and visitors and
passersby. It transcends politics, religion, age,
place of ancient or recent origin, and even
tries its best with family feuds. Well, OK,
maybe not always the last of these. Maybe
not every year.
As I’ve said before in these columns, the
event has been a lot the effort of Terry
Saubert, with encouragement and financial
support of a few predictable individuals and
families, and the entire community through
EDITOR @ THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM
the small donations placed in hats
around Mapleton and by people sup-
porting their local businesses who in
turn are among the big donors. And
this year, for reasons that needn’t be
spread further than they already are,
Terry no longer has access to the dock
just above the mouth of Knowles
Creek and Mapleton Bridge that has been the
launching pad for the legally sanctioned —
state and county permitted — fireworks for
the past 15 years. He learned of this too late
to make other arrangements.
Part of the state and county permitting
process involves submitting a plot map with
distances and structures and sight lines. Even
a small change of location means re-measur-
ing and reconfiguring, something Terry plans
to do and have in place for next year. Even
when there aren’t changes, the hard to obtain
permits have to be approved at least 30 days
in advance, and in hand to legally purchase
that level of fireworks. To get a decent price
on the products, the earlier before that the
better. Terry says he enjoys doing the fire-
works, and wishes things had worked out to
have the show as usual this year. His disap-
pointment was evident when we spoke this
last week.
So, it is a bit of a mystery what the Fourth
will be like here. Many Mapleton people that
I’ve talked to plan their usual gatherings
along the river anyway, and it will be inter-
esting to see what people do in the absence of
the usual official fireworks display. Who
knows, it may turn out to be even more mem-
orable if people have to be entirely responsi-
ble for their own entertainment. I hope we
can all do so safely and with tolerance.
This weekend, June 26-28, is the annual
Highway 36 Yard Sale. Highway 36 begins in
Mapleton at the confusing intersection with
Highway 126 and continues on 54 miles to
Junction City along some of the most scenic
country around. The highway traces the Lake
Creek arm of the Siuslaw Watershed, around
Triangle Lake, to the top of Low Pass and
down in to the Long Tom Watershed through
Goldson and Cheshire.
And in Mapleton, like many of the other
small communities along the route, signs will
attempt to entice folks a little away from the
highway itself. In other places, people bring
their goods down from the creeks and hol-
lows to the highway to sell.
It is always fun.
MOMENTS IN TIME
The History Channel
• On July 4, 1826, John Adams and Thomas
Jefferson, the second and third presidents of the
United States, respectively, die on the 50th
anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration
of Independence. Both men had been central in
drafting the historic document.
• On June 30, 1859, Frenchman Emile
Blondin becomes the first daredevil to walk
across Niagara Falls on a tightrope. Wearing
pink tights and a yellow tunic, Blondin crossed
a cable about 2 inches in diameter and 1,100-
feet long using only a balancing pole.
• On July 5, 1865, in London, revivalist
preacher William Booth and his wife Catherine
establish the Christian Mission, modeled after
the British army, with women given ranks equal
with men. In 1878, the organization was
renamed the Salvation Army, and two years
later the first U.S. branch opened in
Pennsylvania.
• On July 2, 1881, President James A.
Garfield is shot as he walks through a railroad
waiting room in Washington, D.C. His
assailant, Charles J. Guiteau, was a disgruntled
and perhaps insane office seeker. Garfield died
80 days later of blood poisoning.
• On July 1, 1951, Cleveland Indians ace
Bob Feller pitches the third no-hit game of his
career, making him the first modern pitcher
ever to throw three no-hitters. Feller made his
first start in 1936, when he was just 17.
• On July 3, 1985, the blockbuster action-
comedy “Back to the Future,” in which the
iconic DeLorean concept car is transformed
into a time-travel device, premieres.
• On June 29, 1995, the American space
shuttle Atlantis docks with the Russian space
station Mir to form the largest man-made satel-
lite ever to orbit the Earth. It was the 100th
human space mission in U.S. history.
(c) 2015 King Features Synd., Inc.
L ETTERS TO THE
E DITOR P OLICY
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
LETTERS
should be limited to about 300 words and
Get off the
fast track
It’s a shame that the fast-track
trade authority bill for the presi-
dent and the Trans-Pacific
Partnership passed. That shows
us how much corporate power
there is in this country.
Unfortunately, that power is only
going to increase with the pas-
sage of the TPP.
What have the Free Trade
Agreements done for us so far?
They have provided a lot of
cheap goods and profits for the
wealthiest corporations at the
expense of American jobs, the
exploitation of resources and
workers in other countries, and a
major contribution to climate
change through constant global
transport of goods.
It makes me want to not buy a
darn thing.
Julie MacFarlane
Florence
Being considerate
We recently had a “pedestrian
crossing safety enforcement pro-
gram” in Florence, which helps
pedestrian safety but occasionally
nabs someone who perhaps
shouldn’t be. It can be difficult to
determine if someone happens to
be standing on a corner, and not
moving forward, whether that
person is going to cross.
Well, on Saturday, I was head-
ing south on Highway 101 in
Florence and the traffic was
stopped in both directions. I was
in the third row back southbound
and couldn’t see why traffic was
stopped.
Finally, after some delay, traf-
fic began moving. The reason for
the long delay was someone had
crossed 101 while walking slow-
ly and doing something on a
hand-held device. Perhaps there
was an emergency and the person
crossing had to attend to it imme-
diately with their device.
But if it wasn’t, I think this was
an extremely inconsiderate and
selfish act.
I ask that we all try to be con-
siderate of others while being a
driver or a pedestrian to help
make everyone’s travels easier,
by handling emergencies on our
phones on the sidewalk or cross-
ing the street swiftly while tex-
ting.
James A. O’Connell
Florence
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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