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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (July 1, 2015)
4 A ❘ WEDNESDAY EDITION ❘ JULY 1, 2015 Siuslaw News P.O. Box 10 Florence, OR 97439 RYAN CRONK , EDITOR Opinion ❘ 541-902-3520 ❘ EDITOR @ THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM DEAR READERS: Seeking letters H ave something on your mind? Let the community know by writing a letter to the editor today. —Editor 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 Westlake offers beauty, amusement for holiday O RIGINALLY P UBLISHED J ULY 2, 1915 T HE W EST , V OL . 25, N O . 8 Westlake will celebrate Americanization Day on Saturday, July 3, 1915, with the greatest amusements and attractions of all for- mer years. Westlake is a town prettily situated on the west bank of Siltcoos Lake, the land rising gradually from the lake into the low hills cov- ered with pine and spruce timber. It is well protected from the west winds and affords a fine view, including Buckskin Bob’s camp, Siltcoos Club grounds, the Willamette Pacific Railroad on the opposite side as well as the islands and shores of the lake. Ten Mile Creek, the outlet of Siltcoos Lake, divides the town site into two parts which are connected by a bridge. The stream is navigable for small boats from the lake out to the ocean beach. There is so little fall to the creek that the water sometimes backs up from the creek into the lake. The people of Westlake are now raising funds to clear off the banks of Ten Mile Creek and remove obstructions from the stream and have subscribed about $300 for that purpose. Like Buckskin Bob’s camp, Siltcoos Club grounds and other places on Siltcoos Lake, Westlake has many other natural advantages for a fine summer resort, and the time is not far distant when large numbers of people will spend their vacations on the lake. The beauti- ful scenery, fine fishing and hunting, boating, fresh- and saltwater bathing and nice smooth ocean beach all within a short distance and with a railroad almost to the door make a combination that cannot be beaten anywhere in the county. At present, Westlake has about 90 inhabi- tants and 15 buildings, including dwellings, a saw mill, store, restaurant and a hotel now under construction. All of these have been erected in the last 15 months. On Saturday, there will be boating, racing, rowing games, fishing, sight-seeing and a ball game. At the picnic, Westlake hopes to have 200 people. A big dance will be conducted by a first- class orchestra, the Beagle Orchestra, who will also provide music several times during the day. The dance will take place in the hotel. There will be accommodations and a good time for all. NEIGHBORS Science and silliness B OB J ACKSON N EIGHBORHOOD C ORRESPONDENT For the Siuslaw News et again, a supposedly “illu- minating” article has appeared, this time in the New York Times: “Traces of Earliest Stars That Enriched Cosmos Are Spied” (June 17, 2015). Over the years I have amassed a scrapbook of ambiguous, conjectur- ing revelations emanating from these esteemed astronomers that only rein- forces my belief that a lot of time and money is spent needlessly searching the heavens for an obviously futile explanation to the age-old question of Y existence itself. In this latest hypothesis, astronomers said that they had dis- covered a lost generation of monster stars that ushered light into the uni- verse after the Big Bang and that jump-started the creation of the ele- ments needed for planets and life before disappearing forever (quite a mouthful statement). Bear with me. I have necessarily “watered down” much of this news item. “Modern-day stars like our sun have a healthy mix of heavy ele- ments, known as metals, but in the aftermath of the Big Bang only hydrogen, helium and small traces of lithium were available to make the first stars. Such stars could have been hundreds or thousands of times as massive as the sun, according to cal- culations, burning brightly and dying quickly, only 200 million years after the universe began. ... Spotting the older stars in action is one of the prime missions of the James Webb Space Telescope, to be launched by NASA in 2018.” They went on to state that in an astrophysical journal it was announced that they had spotted a recently discovered galaxy that exist- ed when the universe (whatever that is) was only 800 million years old. Its light has been traveling to us for 12.9 billion years, while succeeding gen- erations of stars have worked their magic to make the universe interest- ing. In my opinion, the last two words in this treatise seem sort of “juve- nile.” “This is the first direct evidence of the stars that ultimately allowed us all to be here by fabricating heavy ele- ments and changing the composition of the universe.” The article closed with this obser- vation: “It doesn’t really get any more exciting than this!” One of the “good old boys” might say this: “They ain’t whupped things like cancer or Alzheimer’s yet, so why are they wasting time and money looking for them there stars out there that may have disappeared billions of years ago?” We live in an age where colored pictures and sound are being sent through the air to a thin panel hang- ing on our wall, where doctors can look inside our bodies without sur- gery, where trans-ocean journeys that once took months are done now in a matter of a few hours, and yet even to this day we are unable to come up with a reasonable explanation for any beginning or any end to anything. We can fiddle with life, but we cannot create it or restore it once it is gone. And the unseen intangible, ethereal spiritual realm that perme- ates our lives, shall forever remain impervious to the most powerful of either telescopes or microscopes. So perhaps we shouldn’t be con- cerned by the unanswerable. Just sit back and enjoy this incredible life on this most incredible of all known planets. 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 should be limited to about 300 words and must include the writer’s full name, address and phone num- ber 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 vol- ume of letters received. Libelous and anony- mous letters as well as poetry will not be pub- lished. 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