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SATURDAY EDITION
❘ JANUARY 30, 2016
Siuslaw News
P.O. Box 10
Florence, OR 97439
RYAN CRONK , EDITOR
❘ 541-902-3520 ❘
EDITOR @ THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM
Opinion
YESTERDAY’S NEWS
MOMENTS IN TIME
The History Channel
On Feb. 7, 1881, plea bargaining gains favor
in American courts when Albert McKenzie pleads
guilty to a misdemeanor count of embezzlement
instead of a felony. Today, over 90 percent of crim-
inal cases are resolved through plea bargain in
many jurisdictions.
On Feb. 5, 1917, Congress overrides
President Woodrow Wilson’s veto and passes
the Immigration Act, requiring a literacy test
for immigrants.
On Feb. 6, 1928, a woman calling herself
Anastasia Tschaikovsky and claiming to be the
daughter of the murdered czar of Russia arrives
in New York City hoping to claim the Romanov
fortune. In 1994, DNA analysis finally showed
that Anastasia was not a Romanov, but was in
fact a Polish-German factory worker.
On Feb. 1, 1951, the United Nations
General Assembly condemns the communist
government of the People’s Republic of China
for acts of aggression in Korea. It was the first
time the United Nations condemned a nation.
LETTERS
On Feb. 4, 1976, a 7.5-magnitude earth-
quake levels one-third of Guatemala City,
killing 23,000 people and leaving 1 million oth-
ers homeless. Roads and bridges leading to the
area sustained extensive damage, making it dif-
ficult for help to arrive.
Open lands
When I drove up the North Fork Road, I see
roads that I worked on in the 1960s that are
either gated or barred. I do not see why the gov-
ernment has the right to bar public access to land
that is public domain.
I have to agree with the protest at the wildlife
area near Burns, Ore. I agree with the letter
Richard Beers wrote (“Indian Creek Land
Scoping,” Jan. 16).
When I was a logging superintendent for
Bohemia Inc., I stopped at a gravel pile where
there was a group of men standing around. There
were four vehicles parked nearby. I asked why it
took four rigs to do the job at hand. One fellow
said, “If we don’t put the miles on the rigs, the
government will downsize us.”
The only place that you can still go that there
aren’t a lot of the roads gated or blocked is the
Elliott State Forest.
The land that has been taken out of the timber
industry, because of a bird, is taking jobs out of
the state.
Virgle Bechtold
Florence
More about the
walk-in clinic
Regarding my Letter to the Editor in the Jan.
16 Siuslaw News about the local Walk-In Clinic:
Two important features of our Primary Care
Walk-In Clinic were cut due to length and I
would like to resurrect them now.
First, I have seen both PA Emily Pfaff and Dr.
Clare Brien in Walk-In for issues that I wanted to
follow-up on with each one, respectively, and
have done so simply by requesting to be seen by
them at the time of check-in with the Flow
Specialist.
This option to request the walk-in provider of
your choice is always available — if the provider
is in the clinic that day. That being said, the
Walk-In works best when each patient sees the
next available provider and that’s how I usually
use it. However, it is nice to have the direct con-
tinuity of care available when needed.
Second, when I checked in with a severe
shoulder problem, the Flow Specialist checked
her computer, said Dr. Weinstein in Orthopedics
had an opening and sent me directly there.
Another time she said Dr. Howison had a cance-
lation and I could see him instead of waiting for
a walk-in provider.
Being able to monitor all the other physicians’
On Feb. 2, 1980, details of ABSCAM, an FBI
sting operation to uncover political corruption in
government, are released. Thirty-one public offi-
cials were targeted. FBI agents had posed as rep-
resentatives of Abdul Enterprises, Ltd., a fictional
business owned by an Arab sheik.
schedules allows the Flow Specialist to note
those cancelations and fill them with walk-in
patients. That provides efficiency in the Walk-In
Clinic and throughout the PCP Clinics.
These two features are critical to patients
receiving optimum primary healthcare on a
same-day walk-in basis. I will say once again, it
is only because of the determination and total
commitment of Nena Harvey and her staff that
we have this first-class, same-day medical care
right here in Florence.
Bob Horney
Florence
Asking for a
healthy climate
Many people, including scientists, agree that
our climate is being disrupted by human-caused
pollution. Certainly everyone agrees that pollut-
ed air is not healthy. That is the bad news.
The good news is that Oregon legislators
established a policy in 2007 to reduce green-
house gas pollution in the state to 75 percent
below 1990 levels by 2050.
The best action going forward to help Oregon
achieve this goal is to encourage legislators to
pass the Healthy Climate Bill during the upcom-
ing 2016 legislative session. This bill discour-
ages pollution from utilities and large industrial
facilities, and would create investment and jobs
in renewable energy and transportation.
This Healthy Climate Bill would enable
Oregon to join the other western coastal states
and British Columbia in powerful action to
reduce the amount of carbon in our atmosphere.
Please contact your state legislators and
encourage them to support this bill, and join the
Rally for a Healthy Climate on Feb. 3 at noon on
the Capitol steps in Salem.
Karin Radtke
Yachats
Work on Rhody Drive
We recently had portions of Rhododendron
Drive resurfaced between 35th Street and Heceta
Beach Road and from Ninth Street to Sea Watch.
Now, we have construction near the corner of
35th Street and Rhody, which I am told is a city-
wide storm water drain system that goes across
Rhody. Why was this not addressed before the
resurfacing?
I know the bump in the road where the pipe
was laid will create a problem in the future, as
will little potholes and fissures already forming
on the areas that were resurfaced on Rhody that
will soon become larger in the near future.
What I thought was interesting is that the
worse section of Rhody from Sea Watch to 35th
Street was not addressed. Why are we getting
inferior work on our city roads?
Win Jolley
Florence
On Feb. 3, 1998, a U.S. Marine jet flying
low over the town of Cavalese in the Italian
Alps severs a ski-lift cable, sending a tram
crashing 250 feet to the ground and killing 20
people. The pilot and navigator destroyed a
videotape that had recorded their flight. They
were court-martialed for obstruction of justice
and dismissed from the Marines.
(c) 2016 King Features Synd., Inc.
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E DITOR P OLICY
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Siuslaw News and will not be returned.
Write to:
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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