4 A
❘
WEDNESDAY EDITION
❘ DECEMBER 16, 2015
Siuslaw News
P.O. Box 10
Florence, OR 97439
RYAN CRONK , EDITOR
❘ 541-902-3520 ❘
EDITOR @ THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM
Opinion
E XTRAORDINARY P EOPLE
Robert (Bob) DuBose
C ATHERINE J. R OURKE
For the Siuslaw News
_____________
A
s a man who conducted
diplomatic relations during
the Cold War era, Bob
DuBose is now facing another kind
of war against the cold.
Every year for the past decade at
least one homeless person has died
from hypothermia in the Florence
area. That chilling fact spurred Bob
and his wife, the Rev. Georgia
DuBose, a vicar at St. Andrew’s
Episcopal Church, into action last
year during a meeting to address the
need for an emergency cold weather
shelter.
“I was deeply disturbed,” Bob said.
So he told the group, “Let’s do some-
thing instead of just talking about it.”
It was the voice of experience.
Since Bob and Georgia had operated
a shelter in Harpers Ferry, W. Va.,
before moving to Florence in 2014,
they stepped up to help organize the
Florence Emergency Cold Weather
Shelter Committee (FECWSC).
As FECWSC chairman, Bob
works with “a very vibrant team” of
groups and individuals dedicated to
the cause: the Masonic Lodge, the
Helping Hands Coalition, the
Presbyterian Church of the Siuslaw,
Rotary, Siuslaw Outreach Services,
Florence United Methodist Church,
the Florence Seventh-Day Adventist
Church, St. Vincent de Paul Society,
the Church of Latter-Day Saints,
Florence Food Share and others.
Bob wasted no time applying his
diplomacy skills to contact FEMA,
the Red Cross and other agencies for
the shelter’s needs, such as cots and
blankets.
“We won’t have people in sleep-
ing bags,” he said. “Sheets and pil-
lows provide so much more dignity.”
With a facility provided by the
Masonic Lodge, the FECWSC pro-
vides emergency food and shelter for
homeless men, women and their pets
when the wind chill dips below
freezing.
“It’s really just about keeping peo-
ple alive,” Bob said.
But it’s also a daunting task with
multifaceted complexities.
Volunteers remain ready to go at a
moment’s notice — no easy feat dur-
ing the holiday season — with a
long list of functions.
“It’s quite a chore putting up
dozens of people, so every volunteer
is crucial,” said Georgia, who man-
ages the training. “We really need
more help with everything imagina-
ble, from laundry to publicity.”
Bob bears the huge responsibility
of deciding when to open the shelter.
That requires constant monitoring of
multiple weather sites and medical
alerts when the weather poses a life-
threatening danger.
For people living out in the ele-
ments, the season to be jolly is the
most dreaded time of the year. As
storms battered the area last week
with record rain and wind gusts clos-
ing the port, the homeless huddled
under building overhangs and in
doorways trying to stay dry. Despite
the harsh weather, temperatures
weren’t severe enough to open the
facility.
Bob and the FECWSC team are
working tirelessly to raise communi-
ty awareness about the need for a
year-round shelter.
“Plans are afoot to establish one,
but it’s going to take a lot of money
and manpower,” he said. “We have
huge support from the community
Bob and the Rev. Georgia
DuBose work with a team of
local groups and volunteers
to provide an emergency
cold weather shelter for the
homeless in Florence.
PHOTO BY CATHERINE ROURKE
and the volunteerism here is remark-
able. I have learned to love this
beautiful little riverfront city and its
amazing spirit of compassion.”
An Arkansas native who received
a bachelor’s degree from Harvard
and a master’s degree from
Berkeley, Bob chose careers reflect-
ing that compassion. After serving in
the Navy, he became a journalist and
“civil rights agitator,” then joined
the Foreign Service in 1964 as a
diplomat in Rwanda.
“It was the most isolated foreign
post in the world at that time,” he
said.
While most people would have
retired after 30 years in the Foreign
Service, Bob had other plans.
“It was time to do something for
humanity,” he said.
With positions as director of
Counter-Terrorism Intelligence and
director of Office of Arms Control,
he negotiated arms control with 75
different nations on a daily basis.
Bob served as chief U.S. negotia-
tor of the Chemical Weapons
Convention and co-creator of the
structure of the Organization for the
Prohibition of Chemical Weapons,
which received the Nobel Peace
Prize in 2013.
His idea of “retirement” meant
serving on the town council, the his-
toric landmarks commission and var-
ious local charity organizations,
including the county homeless coali-
tion in Harpers Ferry. That desire to
serve humanity now continues with
Florence’s less-fortunate people.
“My life has just been about try-
ing to help bring peace and love to
this jangled world, and it’s so fulfill-
ing to help others,” Bob said. “There
are a lot of folks really struggling
here. It takes two minutes to call or
become a volunteer on our website,
and the holidays are when we often
need help.”
So in between the shopping and
festivities, take some time to volun-
teer at the FECWSC. National
Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day
falls on Dec. 21, the longest night of
the year, to remember those who
have died due to lack of shelter. It’s
a great day to extend a random act
of kindness to the homeless and
remember that laying one’s head to
rest is our birthright. Call 804-439-
1775 or visit www.coldshelter.org to
do something extraordinary for
humanity this season.
______________________
Catherine J. Rourke is an award-
winning writer, journalist and book
editor who teaches creative writing
at the Florence Regional Arts
Alliance. She may be contacted at
CJReditor@gmail.com.
Florence Emergency
Cold Weather Shelter
— how you can help
___________
Attend volunteer training
on Thursday, Dec. 17, from 4
to 6 p.m., at 410 Ninth St.
Call Norma Wood at 804-
439-1775 for volunteer info,
or visit www.coldshelter.org.
LETTERS
values to be put on hold?
In regards to the second letter and that ques-
tion about the M&Ms (“Accepting Facts as
Facts,” Dec. 9). Of course not. What is the ques-
tion? Exposing children to poison? So the
answer that is proposed would be that no immi-
grants should be allowed with respect to the
possible inherent danger.
This country has been built on the back of
immigrants. It continues to prosper in a global
environment, full of interactions with some of
the 1.6 billion Muslims that inhabit the planet.
Isolationism has no place in the world, the
present one we all live in.
World trade, international finances and glob-
al health issues cannot be ignored or wished
away. These are the facts.
Justin Lavespere
Florence
Corral your carts
I was stuck in the Safeway parking lot last
weekend for about 45 minutes. Why? Someone
didn’t corral their small grocery cart. It ran into
the back of my car and the lower basket was
firmly wedged under the bumper.
The upper basket prevented me from opening
the back door and getting to the jack. I couldn’t
get the basket loose, neither could the assistant
manager or the cart gal. We worked in tandem
to try to get the cart unstuck, and of course, it
was raining like crazy.
I finally called my husband and he brought
down a jack, lifted the car and the cart got
unhooked. By the time I got home I was soaked
to the skin from the waist down and our ice
cream had melted.
I’ll admit, I’ve not always corralled my cart,
especially if I had young kids along and wasn’t
close to a corral. I try to park near one so there’s
no excuse not to safely park a cart.
Please remember to at least park your cart
across the slope or hooked on a cement parking
barrier, especially on windy days, if the corral is
too far away.
As we were working on freeing my car, a gal
pulled out of a handicapped space, and as she
left, her large cart rolled north and smacked into
a parked car down the row from mine. It was
too far away to catch in time.
Button Watkins
Cushman
L ETTERS P OLICY
Just the facts
In recent issues of Siuslaw News, two letters
have been published in regards to the issue of
Syrian/Muslim immigration.
The first, as I recall, stated that Syrian
Muslim refugees had thrown Christian refugees
overboard (“Just Remember,” Dec. 5). The fact
is that there were no Syrians involved in this
incident. According to CNN and several other
news agencies, the protagonists were actually
from the Ivory Coast, Mali and Senegal. They
have all been arrested by the Italian Palermo
police. So are all possible immigrants to be
banned from entry?
The writer of the first letter also mentioned
that America was based on Christian values.
Although there has been a debate about that
“fact,” some of the pillars of Christianity are
forgiveness, compassion and charity. Are these
Siuslaw News welcomes letters to the editor concern-
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Pres. Barack Obama
The White House
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Comments: 202-456-1111
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FAX: 202-456-2461
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Gov. Kate Brown
160 State Capitol
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Salem, OR 97301-4047
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Message Line 503-378-4582
www.oregon.gov/gov
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden
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FAX: 503-986-1080
Email:
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U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley
313 Hart Senate Office Bldg
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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