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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 10, 2016)
4 A ❘ WEDNESDAY EDITION ❘ AUGUST 10, 2016 Siuslaw News P.O. Box 10 Florence, OR 97439 DISASTER PREP B Y D AVE R OBINSON Special to the Siuslaw News RYAN CRONK , EDITOR ❘ 541-902-3520 ❘ EDITOR @ THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM Opinion Jump start your food supply W henever a person thinks of prep- ping, the first topic that usually comes to mind is food. What to store, how much to store, how to store, and which store to go to? There are all kinds of food packages you can purchase. You can get a year’s supply of dehydrated or freeze-dried fare for $4,000 or a 72-hour kit for one person at WalMart for $64. I’m going to give you a list of items you can buy at your local grocery store, things that you would probably have on hand any- way. The dehydrated kits you buy generally tout a 25-year shelf life. So the normal things you purchase, should be rotated out every few months or so. One rule of thumb when it comes to storing up food is: buy food that your body is accustomed to eating! During a disaster, your system will be on overload any- way, and there is no benefit to introducing a whole new menu to your gastric system in a time of crisis. Some people lay in backpacking freeze- dried food to be eaten when the time comes. That is all well and good, unless you have never tried those entrees and you experience a revolt of sorts when you’re already stressed out anyway. Store food to which your body is already accustomed! Here’s the beginning of a shopping list: 1. 20 lbs of rice. Rice seems pretty boring, but it is filling, nutritious and adaptable to a wide variety of entrees. 2. 20 lbs of pinto beans. Beans are also a valuable part of every storage plan. Combined with rice they fulfill a protein need in your menu. 3. 20 cans of vegetables. Green beans, peas, corn and canned tomatoes are a good start. Buy what you already eat and enjoy. 4. 20 cans of fruit. Peaches, pears, pineap- ple, fruit cocktail, all to your taste. 5. 20 cans of meat. Chicken, tuna, shrimp, salmon, vienna sausages, beef stew and don’t forget Spam. Those square cans fit really well on the shelf and if it’s fried, you can make the kids believe it is “camping bacon.” It worked for my kids anyway. I even recently found some canned roast beef. 6. 4 lbs of oats. A warm bowl of oatmeal can be a welcome meal any time of day. Topped with some canned fruit, it makes a refreshing treat. 7. 2 (or more) large jars of peanut butter. A good source of protein and surprisingly fill- ing. Tastes good too! 8. Pick up a supply of powdered drink mix. Tang, Crystal Light or similar product. Make sure it’s loaded with vitamin C. 9. 5 lbs of powdered milk. It’s great protein and is loaded with other nutrients. It’s filling and can be used on that oatmeal as well. 10. 5 lbs of salt. Salt is an essential for sur- vival as well as a food enhancer. Our bodies need salt to survive. 11. 10 lbs of pancake mix. Buy the “just add water” variety, such as Krusteaz. Simple to make, easy to fix and everybody’s familiar with hotcakes. Don’t forget a jug of syrup. 12. 2 lbs of honey and 2 jars of jam. Everybody needs a little sweetness. 13. 10 lbs of pasta. Again, easy to fix, familiar to everyone and a great comfort food. 14. 10 cans or jars of spaghetti sauce. Goes great with the pasta. Cheap and satisfying. It’s not homemade, but it does dress up the pasta. 15. 20 cans of soup or broth or soup mixes. The beauty of soup is that they are a budget friendly, all-in-one meal solution and most require only water for preparation. 16. 1 large jug of cooking oil. Olive oil, vegetable oil, coconut or some other cooking oil, but definitely get some. 17. Spices and condiments. “Spice” up your pasta and oatmeal with some of the spices you already have in your cupboard and are accustomed to using, but lay in some extra. Garlic, pepper, tabasco, all your favorites. 18. 5 lbs of coffee and 100 tea bags. For some of us life just isn’t life without our cof- fee. Tea can be therapeutic and soothing as well. 19. 2 large bags of hard candies. Peppermints, butterscotch and lemon drops can go a long way toward making a hard situ- ation bearable. 20. Flashlight and extra batteries. Lots of extra batteries. OK, I know, this isn’t edible. But you can never have enough flashlights and batteries. You don’t need to fill this shopping list all at once. Watch for sales. Pay attention to the “buy one, get one” promotions. Use coupons. One reader told me she saved several thou- sand dollars in just one year by using coupons. At the same time she built a sub- stantial pantry for use in a disaster. ______________________ Dave Robinson is the postmaster in Bandon, Ore., and author of “Disaster Prep for the Rest of Us.” He may be contacted at disasterprep.dave@gmail.com. Visit his web- site for more disaster preparedness tips, www.disasterprepdave.blogspot.com. LETTERS Helping Hands still providing service There have been several rumors going around town about Helping Hands Coalition. Let me set the record straight. As of Aug. 1, we are no longer at 1339 Rhododendron Drive. The owners want to sell the property, and so we were given eviction papers. At the time of this writing, we are in negotiation with a new location, but nothing more than that. For the month of August, we are handing out boxed lunches at the United Methodist Church on Kingwood Street, between noon and 1 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. People can also pick up their mail at the same time. All other services have been suspended until further notice. We will issue a further update when we have found a new place to continue to help the home- less and others in need. Thank you for all your support over the last few years. Debe Hamilton Co-Founder of Helping Hands Coalition, Florence Police protocols In Julie MacFarlane’s letter concerning “Take Action for Change” (July 23), I too agree that there is far too much violence in society, but I found her comments to be little more than assumptions based on urban myth. Clearly, I don’t believe she has actual experience with law enforcement and their rules of engagement. Having worked for many years as a law enforcement trainer (ASLET) in the defensive use of firearms, and having many friends who have served and are serving, I have first-hand experience with agency training and SOPs, none of which, to my knowledge, ever espoused a “Shoot to Kill” culture or protocols. Any time someone dies, as a result of a law enforcement engagement, it is a terrible thing. But, far too often it is the police officers who take the first hits and injuries, generally perpe- trated by people who have little regard for law- ful orders and fail to follow those orders from the police. As was reported, Antonio Montez was throw- ing rocks at police. From my experience, rocks have been known to kill. Check out the FBI Uniform Crime Report to see the numbers of people killed by rocks. Does David and Goliath ring any bells? Since Montez was running away from officers, he was evading lawful orders to cease and desist, hence their pursuit. Should lethal force have been utilized? They first tried to stop him with tazers without effect. The video at the time is incomplete and very sketchy at best, and does not reveal the full extent of the encounter. Montez appeared to have his hands extended toward the officers. Under the stress of a violent encounter, it is pos- sible that the officers could have perceived that the assailant might be extending his hands with a deadly weapon. Too many armchair experts seem to jump to conclusions with half the information of the encounter, and no real experience in life and death circumstance, and without knowledge of any past history of Montez’s interactions with police. As far as the round count is concerned, clear- ly the vast majority of civilians are clueless as to what it takes to stop a violent encounter. Shoot to wound is the mantra of ignorant people with no real world experience of hitting a target on the move. I dare any reader of this letter to meet me at the range and demonstrate to me how that is done. From my extensive experience in the mil- itary in combat, hitting a target with both parties on the run is extremely difficult, much less only shooting to wound. Do the police need more training? Yes, but finding the money for these agencies to train is the rub. Demonizing those charged with pro- tecting our property and lives is not the answer. Wally Shoults, CPSA Nationally Certified Multi-Discipline Firearms Training Counselor, Florence Deadly statistics In response to the letter from Tony Cavarno (“The Real Culprit,” Aug. 6) regarding the sale of weapons by True Value Hardware here in Florence, I think Mr. Cavarno missed the point of the original letter by Lisa Readel, not to men- tion he jumped to several conclusions. I took Ms. Readel’s point to be that the local hardware store isn’t the place to sell Glock hand- guns, AK-47 rifles and short-barreled shotguns, such as those that were stolen from the store on June 29 (we’re not talking about guns used for hunting here; these were weapons designed for killing people). She said nothing about gun control or stripping anyone of their Second Amendment rights (that is another discussion entirely). There’s a gun store in town with bars on the windows — something that might have deterred the thief, but a not-so-attractive architectural feature that I’m sure True Value would rather not consider. If we cannot agree on the need to sell such guns in the first place, surely we can agree that they should be sold by sellers that are capable of storing them safely and securely. Beyond that, if more gun owners were less paranoid about losing their so-called rights and more interested in stronger, sensible gun laws, we might stand a chance of changing gun vio- lence statistics. According to the 2016 Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence: Every day, on average, 306 people in America (48 of them children and teens) are shot in murders, assaults, suicides and suicide attempts, unintentional shootings and police intervention. Every day, on average, 90 people (seven of them children and teens) die from gun violence. The risk of homicide is three times higher in homes with firearms and the risk of suicide is increased by a factor of three to five. And on, and on, and on (feel free to check the website www.bradycampaign.org for plenty of other startling data). These deadly statistics will only worsen unless and until gun owners own up to their responsibilities instead of screaming about their rights. Dolly Brock Florence L ETTERS P OLICY Siuslaw News welcomes letters to the editor con- cerning 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, grammar and clarity. Publication of any letter is not guaranteed and depends on space available and the volume of let- ters 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 2016 © 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 DEADLINES: Wednesday Issue—General news, Monday noon; Budgets, four days prior to publication; Regular classified ads, Monday 1 p.m.; Display ads, Monday noon; Boxed and display classified ads, Friday 5 p.m. Saturday Issue—General news, Thursday noon; Budgets, two days prior to publication; Regular classified ads, Thursday 1 p.m.; Display ads, Thursday noon; Boxed and display classified ads, Wednesday 5 p.m. Soundings, Tuesday 5 p.m. NEWSPAPER SUBSCRIPTION RATES: In Lane County — 1-year subscription, $71; 10-weeks subscription, $18; Out of Lane County — 1-year subscription, $94; 10-weeks subscription, $24; Out of State — 1-year subscription, $120; Out of United States — 1-year subscription, $200; E-Edition Online Only (Anywhere) — 1-year subscription, $65. Mail subscription includes E-Edition. Website and E-Edition: www.TheSiuslawNews.com 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