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❘
SATURDAY EDITION
❘ AUGUST 29, 2015
Siuslaw News
RYAN CRONK , EDITOR
❘ 541-902-3520 ❘
Opinion
P.O. Box 10
Florence, OR 97439
VIEW FROM UPRIVER
YESTERDAY’S NEWS
Joint tenancy
W ESLEY V OTH
For the Siuslaw News
“T
his land is your land, this land is
my land” — the thought-provok-
ing words of Woody Guthrie, who
knew this country better than most of the rest
of us ever will. In addition to land we jointly
own and manage as citizens of the United
States, or of the state of Oregon, there is the
4,623 acres we own and/or manage in the
form of parks as Lane County residents.
Common space for our own use, and also for
the purpose of attracting visitors and the eco-
nomic and other benefits they bring.
The folks we have hired to oversee these
parks would like our feedback on their draft of
a 20-year master plan for the 70 parks’ upkeep
and development. Copies of the draft can be
found at the Siuslaw Library and the Mapleton
Branch in the form of a notebook. I have been
through the whole thing, and it is fascinating.
Each park has its own page and you can see
what is planned, and not planned, for each
one. Maps at the end of the notebook are espe-
cially revealing, showing where the parks are
and their contexts.
There is a lot of discussion of how our
parks are funded and the challenges that lie
ahead, and I learned a lot of other
things as well. A graph on page 115
shows the very low amount of money
we spend on our county parks in every
category compared to other counties
nationwide. And there is a very telling
number: the average number of park
acres per full-time equivalent parks
employee is 312; the national average is 60.
One way of stating that is: our employees are
stretched five times thinner.
I was happy to see Archie Knowles
Campground included, and the ambitious
plans there. The parks are listed alphabetically,
so this one is at the beginning with Ada and
Austa, two other western Lane parks. I was
also glad to see that a restroom is eventually
planned for Tiernan Boat Landing. But the
state of many of the county parks in our area
(Deadwood Landing, Farnum Landing, Tide
Wayside, Linslaw, Schindler’s Landing,
Tiernan and Mapleton Landing) — especially
right now as the salmon season and boating
really gets underway — is terrible, without
much change envisioned. Others, like the way-
side at Triangle Lake or the Rock Dock (the
crabbing dock near the South Jetty) were bet-
ter the last times I was there.
A Mapleton resident forwarded me a copy
of an email exchange with county personnel
over the current state of the Mapleton Landing
boat ramp there by the gas station, and it did
not look like anything is about to change soon.
It is the public ramp furthest up the tidal sec-
tion of river. She said that there is a log
obstructing part of the ramp when the tide is
lower, and too much mud to be able to effec-
tively use it except at the highest tides.
For us in Mapleton it means we don’t have
a place here to launch our boats, and just at
the beginning of the time when salmon and
blueback move into our part of the river. For
people coming from elsewhere, they now have
no reason to spend any time (or money) here.
Maybe more Mapleton or other interested
voices need to be raised.
I was also surprised to learn of some other
Lane County park acreage in our area:
Linslaw is actually much bigger than it
appears — 27 acres and both sides of the
highway — with its own timber management
plan; 300-acre South Beach is the strip along
the river by the South Jetty; there is no public
access to 156-acre Clear Lake Dunes; and
Ocean Woods is 40 acres the county wants to
sell at the end of Heceta Park Way.
By the end of reading this draft, which
shows a lot of thought and work, I am happy
to continue to buy an annual park pass; as it
turns out, this is surprisingly a significant por-
tion of what can be counted on as a funding
source. I find that by carrying that pass with
me rather than keeping it in just one of our
vehicles, I have it whenever I want to stop in
at one of these fee areas, making me both
more likely to stop and less irritated that
something that used to be free no longer is.
The report also can be viewed online, and
the first of the open meetings will be on
Thursday, Sept. 10, from 6 to 8 p.m., in the
council chambers at Florence City Hall, 250
Highway 101.
LETTERS
the service to access the Eugene
area. A side benefit would be a
reduction of traffic on Highway
126 between Eugene and
Florence.
Paul Blaylock
Eugene
Feed the hungry
Tonight in Oregon over 12,000
people will be homeless. Many
tens of thousands more will be
hungry. We see them every day
when we stand in line with them
at the grocery stores. Or, they
linger outside, because they don’t
have the money to go inside and
buy what their bodies crave.
Food. Calories. Yes, some-
times booze and cigarettes are
craved for, too. Alcohol and nico-
tine are more powerful than sugar
in many ways, creating real crav-
ings for real substances. But food
is necessary.
Being hungry is a problem. It’s
a problem for all of us. Not
because their hunger belongs to
us tonight. It is a problem
because their desperate need for
food can lead to desperate
actions. To survive, they will get
what they need, and that may
involve a police report you will
be reading about on another page
of this newspaper.
“Well, then, lock them up!”
Then, they’ll get food. And that
night in jail will cost us all so
much more than what I am sug-
gesting to you now.
Go get all the canned foods in
your home and donate them to a
local food exchange or pantry
that serves the hungry and home-
less in western Lane County.
Visit and see for yourself what
they do there.
They provide more than need-
ed calories to single moms, wan-
dering souls and broken families.
They provide a kind of love and
sharing that says to every one
served: have some faith; you can
get through this; you can be
EDITOR @ THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM
Restore sanity
restored to safety and security;
you are cared for by this commu-
nity.
Who, then, is the greater sin-
ner? The one who hungers
because of a broken life made
from the cruelty and abandon-
ment of others or their own bad
decisions, or the one who can
read this and say, “It’s not my
problem. I don’t care!”
Bill Olson
Florence
Affordable
bus service
I would like to urge the City of
Florence and Lane Transit
District to work together to facil-
itate affordable bus service
between the Eugene area and
Florence.
I am unable to drive due to a
disability, and having a bus to
Florence would allow me to visit
the coast, shop and dine in Old
Town and other locations. I
believe that this service has been
needed for some time, and I am
quite sure I am not alone in this
belief.
Having bus service a couple
times a day to and from Florence
would not only help folks like me
get over there, but I’m sure many
residents of Florence would like
to be able to visit Eugene once in
a while as well. A one-year pilot
project would gauge the popular-
ity and use of this service. My
guess is that it will be wildly pop-
ular and very well utilized.
The current service provided
by TAC Transportation costs $25
one way, or $50 for a round trip,
which is not affordable to many.
And, the schedule only allows for
less than two hours in Florence
on a day trip.
I believe that the City of
Florence would benefit greatly
from having frequent and direct
service from Eugene that is con-
venient and affordable to bring
more folks over from the valley
for recreation, shopping, dining,
lodging and camping.
Additionally, I believe a lot of
folks from Florence would use
The political media seems to
be all about Donald Trump.
Should we be afraid of this man
or should we assume that some-
day soon the hot air will all
escape from the balloon and we
can get on with a sane election? I
for one am afraid.
Do we not remember the
rounding up of all the Japanese
into concentration camps? Do we
not remember a man by the name
of Adolf Hitler who profited by
making the Jews what was wrong
with Germany? We dismiss
Trump as assuming he can do
impossible things. This is
America and it couldn’t happen
here. Well, it could because
nations dismissed Hitler and his-
tory shows us the result.
I pray to God that Trump is not
elected as the Republican nomi-
nee or, even worse, president.
This man is what is wrong right
now and people are praising him
and encouraging him to get rid of
the illegals. This is not rational,
this is mob thinking.
Who then is next? What then is
the next step?
I cannot stop Trump, but I sure
am not going to vote for him, and
I do pray that a Higher Power will
somehow restore sanity to our
nation.
Don Frerichs
Florence
MOMENTS IN TIME
The History Channel
• On Sept. 6, 1522, the Vittoria, one of
Ferdinand Magellan’s five ships, arrives in
Spain, thus completing the first circumnaviga-
tion of the world. The Vittoria was commanded
by Juan Sebastian de Elcano, who took charge
after the murder of Magellan in the Philippines.
• On Sept. 2, 1666, the Great Fire of London
breaks out in the house of King Charles II’s
baker. When the fire was finally extinguished
four days later, more than four-fifths of London
was destroyed.
• On Sept. 4, 1886, Geronimo, the wiliest
and most dangerous Apache warrior of his
time, finally surrenders in Arizona. A brilliant
strategist, Geronimo never learned to use a gun,
yet he armed his men with the best modern
rifles he could obtain.
• On Aug. 31, 1955, William G. Cobb of the
General Motors Corp. demonstrates his 15-
inch-long “Sunmobile,” the world’s first solar-
powered automobile. When sunlight hit 12 pho-
toelectric cells made of selenium, an electric
current was produced that powered a tiny
motor.
• On Sept. 5, 1969, Lt. William Calley is
charged with six specifications of premeditated
murder in the death of 109 Vietnamese civilians
at My Lai in March 1968. Reportedly, the mas-
sacre was stopped only when a pilot landed his
helicopter between Calley’s troops and the flee-
ing South Vietnamese.
• On Sept. 3, 1977, Sadaharu Oh of Japan’s
Yomiuri Giants hits the 756th home run of his
career, breaking Hank Aaron’s record for career
home runs. Oh retired in 1980 with 868 home
runs, still a professional record.
• On Sept. 1, 1985, a joint U.S.-French
expedition locates the wreck of the RMS
Titanic, 73 years after it sank after being struck
by an iceberg in the North Atlantic. An experi-
mental, unmanned submersible found the ocean
liner at a depth of 13,000 feet.
(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.
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Libelous and anonymous letters as well
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All submissions become the property of
Siuslaw News and will not be returned.
Write to:
Editor@TheSiuslawNews.com
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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