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WEDNESDAY EDITION
❘ SEPTEMBER 23, 2015
Siuslaw News
P.O. Box 10
Florence, OR 97439
RYAN CRONK , EDITOR
❘ 541-902-3520 ❘
EDITOR @ THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM
Opinion
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
COMMUNITY TO SEE FIRST GAME ON LIGHTED FIELD
O RIGINALLY P UBLISHED S EPT . 21, 1951
T HE S IUSLAW O AR , V OL . 24, N O . 16
First game under the lights at Hans
Petersen Memorial Field will be played
tonight at 8 o’clock when Elmira High
brings its football team here for a non-league
encounter with the Siuslaw Vikings.
Long anticipated by the community is use
of Hans Petersen Memorial Field, designed
for all athletic events and sporting a turfed
field, batteries of lights for night playing
and 196-foot bleachers, capable of seating
1,000 people.
More work is yet contemplated to give
Florence one of the best athletic fields on
the coast.
The game tonight promises to be a real
test of power as the locals will have a lot of
untried manpower added to its standbys
coached by R.F. Richardson, head coach,
and E.L. Neal, assistant, who are new to the
school this year.
In order to build future teams, junior var-
sity games have been scheduled with
Reedsport and Newport junior and fresh-
men. Neal will coach the Siuslaw team. Its
first game will be played at 7:30 p.m.
Monday, Oct. 15, at Reedsport, then to
Newport Oct. 22 and Reedsport plays here
7:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 5.
The first league game for the Vikings will
be next Friday at Newport.
Expected to see action in the game tonight
are: Darrel Swigert QB, Dean Small RG,
Jim Wilson G, Richard Swigert C, Norland
Fautek LE, Len Tabor RH, Merle Tipler C,
Wesley Strahm E, Ronald Harmon RH,
SIUSLAW NEWS FILE PHOTO
Jerry Fitzpatrick LH, Keith Herring E,
James Faulkner LG, Kim Saylor BF, Larry
Dier LT, Bud Miles RT, Jack Dante FD,
Leon Coit RG, Ray Roberts E, Dean Price
OB, Pat Buckley FG, Dick Jone RT, Darrel
Moullet RT, Francis Frost LT, Bruce
Richardson HB, Frank Jackson TFB,
Richard Frock G, Harold Pearce E, Paul
Lane RT and Mike Buckley.
Elmira’s men will probably include Frank
Armstrong E, Jim Beardslee E, Jerry
Cristoffer FB, Wayne Dinnel HB, Pat
Glenn T, Larry Hargan G,Bob Heile Q,
Melvin Hockley E, Marion Hunter G,
Verne Ivy G, Ervin Linblom T, Dave
McKinner FB, Harvey Michael C and H.
Plowman E.
Officials from Eugene will be Williams,
Parker and Blankensop.
NEIGHBORS
Memories from the Skunk Works
B OB J ACKSON
N EIGHBORHOOD C ORRESPONDENT
For the Siuslaw News
I
t seems to me that the tree-lined
residential neighborhoods of this
ever expanding “River City”
called Florence contain an inordi-
nately large number of residents who
at various times in their lives have
been deeply involved in pursuits far
beyond the ken of the average hoi
polloi (like myself).
He introduced himself as Leland
(Lee) Fowler, 75 years young. He
told me that he lives off Willow
Loop, a nondescript collection of
comfortable homes east of Highway
101. He wanted to share some per-
sonal experiences prior to and during
the Cold War of the 1960s.
Lee spent a brief period of basic
training in the Army before going to
Glendale College, where he began
studies in technical illustration. This
led to employment under government
contracts for Lockheed Aircraft in
Burbank, Calif., as a technical illus-
trator that continued for nearly 10
years. He started on F-104 fighters,
going on to do schematics on the
Lockheed P-3 Orion sub hunter,
which led in 1964 to advancement in
a top secret area known as the Skunk
Works, which was headed by famed
Kelley Johnson until 1975.
A definite genius, Johnson had
designed the P-38, which was the
first operational twin-engine fighter
plane and also designed the first pres-
surized airliner. This was before
going on to his work on the legendary
U-2 spy plane and the Blackbird.
Special clearance was required at
that time for the original nine illustra-
tors. FOD (foreign object damage)
was a constant concern whenever
boarding these high-tech aircraft.
Even pocketed and supposedly harm-
less pencils and ballpoint pens could
set off alarms and bring security onto
the scene.
Skunk Works employees were a
select group of non-union people who
were under extreme stress because
they were under constant surveillance
at all times. Their mechanical illustra-
tions were occasionally supplemented
by free-hand sketches.
Kelley Johnson designed 500 mph,
U-2 single-jet engine spy plane, with
103-foot wingspan, cruised at 70,000
feet, and was eventually shot down
by a SAM missile over the Soviet
Union with Gary Powers at the con-
trols. (I recall Powers’ capture by the
Russians making international news
at the time).
Working as an illustrator on the
world’s fastest airplane, the SR-71
Blackbird was exciting. With a 55-
foot wingspan, the Blackbird flew at
2,200 mph and was able to outrun
missiles and fighter planes.
Lee Fowler related that the SR-71
Blackbird had been transported
secretly to Edwards Air Force Base
for final assembly. He even did illus-
trations of the secrecy tent that cov-
ered the airframe during construction.
After perhaps six years with the SR-
71, he never did get to actually see one
fly. They were flown out secretly in the
dead of night. However, he was able to
work with both Gary Powers and
Kelley Johnson.
The Blackbird is prominently dis-
played at sites like the Air and Space
Museum in Tucson, Ariz., Evergreen
Aviation Museum in McMinnville,
Ore., and the Air Museum at Balboa
Park in San Diego, Calif.
More proof that Florence, Ore. —
right here in “River City” — is pop-
ulated with citizens who retain a
valuable repository of historical
memories.
LETTERS
Citizenship to those
who work for us
I grew up in Southern California in a blue-
collar home as a preteen in the early 1950s.
We were fortunate in that we lived in an area
where food was available if you worked for it.
My father and I would go surf fishing and hunt-
ing for quail and dove, so we always had some-
thing in the small freezer.
We also raised chickens and rabbits in the
backyard to add to the freezer. The only red
meat we ate was liver or, once a year, a steak at
the company barbecue that my father worked
for. Beans and cornbread were always on the
menu with a nice slice of onion. I took for grant-
ed everything that either grew in our yard or
that was produced in the state. Almonds, wal-
nuts, corn, peaches, plumbs, figs, avocados,
artichokes and strawberries were a given.
It was a few years later that I discovered that
under-paid and ill-housed migrants from
Mexico were doing all the labor to put things on
our table and also on the East Coast.
In high school, I became friends and neigh-
bors with first-generation Mexican American
citizens, whose “illegal” parents still worked
the fields.
Now, on the news someone said that we
should step up like Germany and other
European countries and allow about 10,000
immigrants from Syria into our country.
Let’s first give citizenship to those from
Mexico who have lived and worked here for
years and have made their families here a
chance to become Americans before we accept
the importation from other countries.
Win Jolley
Florence
Beyond Obamacare event
Anyone interested in how Oregonians can
jumpstart comprehensive and affordable health
care might consider attending the live perform-
ance of “Mercy Killers” Thursday at 7 p.m. at
City Lights Cinemas.
This event will be more than a nationally
well-regarded one-man performance by
Michael Milligan built around a medical
tragedy that shaped his own life.
Representatives from Health Care for All
Oregon, a state-wide organization of physicians
and others, will offer a brief, detailed status of
efforts moving the Oregon Legislature and gen-
eral public toward a “Unified Payer” health
delivery system.
The governor signed a major law in July: HB
2828. So tales of Vermont succumbing to polit-
ical pressures and backing away from its initial
openness to implement “single-payer” (better
referred to as “Unified Payer”) need not become
the end-game for moving beyond the
Affordable Care Act.
Oregonians can work toward dumping our
dystopian dependence on insurance company
fine-print and enjoying significant administra-
tive savings. For starters, we create one com-
mon-sense risk-pool in order to reduce com-
plexity and insurance profits, while better con-
trolling costs.
Enjoy this well-regarded dramatic theatrical
event, and come up to speed on how we can all
help shape health care delivery before its too
late. Tickets are available at City Lights
Cinemas.
Rand Dawson
Siltcoos Lake
L ETTERS P OLICY
The Siuslaw News welcomes letters to the edi-
tor 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 number for verification.
Letters are subject to editing for length, gram-
mar and clarity. Publication of any letter is not
guaranteed and depends on space available and
the volume of letters received. Libelous and
anonymous letters as well as poetry will not be
published. 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
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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