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
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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.
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