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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 14, 2016)
4 A ❘ WEDNESDAY EDITION ❘ SEPTEMBER 14, 2016 Siuslaw News NED HICKSON , EDITOR ❘ 541-902-3520 ❘ EDITOR @ THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM Opinion P.O. Box 10 Florence, OR 97439 New desk, same love for this paper and its community Seventeen years ago next month, I sat across from the very desk I’m now writing at, trying to explain to editor Bob Serra why he should hire me. I was up against a couple of journalism graduates from the University of Oregon. Though I had been a writer for many years, I had no experience as a journalist. No degree of any kind. In fact, I had spent the last 10 years as a corporate chef and restaurant consultant. Maybe he’ll hire me if I promised to make him lunch every day? I thought. When he called back to hire me, it changed my life in ways I hadn’t imagined, as well as ways I had always hoped for. Florence has a way of doing that because of the kinds of people who make up its character as a community. When I first moved here as a sophomore in high school in 1981, it was culture shock for a 15-year-old who was used to life in suburban Los Angeles. Life on the North Fork didn’t include malls and movie theaters. one place that would always be home. Living in places like Dallas, Texas, and Atlanta, Ga., and traveling the country from Alaska to From the Editor’s Desk N ED H ICKSON Or wearing mud boots. I couldn’t wait to leave. But by the time I graduated from Siuslaw High School in 1984, I knew wherever my travels took me, I would eventually come back to the Tennessee as a corporate chef, I still always thought of Florence as my home. After nearly two decades as a sports editor and colum- nist for Siuslaw News, I’ve had the privilege of engaging with the Florence and Mapleton community on many levels, whether it be a laugh, a shout of excitement during a game, or quiet tears after tragedy. On the surface, the news- paper is a time capsule chron- icling life in our community — informing those of today and offering its history for tomorrow. But it’s more than that. It’s also a member of the community, contributing what it can to its neighbors in the same way we do as individu- als. That’s been my philosophy from the beginning and one that will continue as editor. Truth be told, it was serendipity that brought me back in 1998 through a chance meeting and my friendship with previous sports editor Jason Jensen. However, it was my love for this community that led to this desk; sitting in front of it at first, and now sitting behind it as your editor. My door is always open. Although, from time to time, you might still find me back in the kitchen. Contact him at nhickson@the siuslawnews.com or P.O. Box 10, Florence, Ore., 97439. LETTERS 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. 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 vol- ume of letters received. Libelous and anonymous letters or poetry will not be published. All submissions become the property of Siuslaw News and will not be returned. Write to: Editor@TheSiuslawNews.com The perfect solution Trumpism toxin Apparently, sanctions against North Korea aren’t effective to slow down its nuclear program because China financially supports them. At the same time, China is against any missile defense system in South Korea. So the perfect solution is for the USA to develop and launch a satellite that’s capa- ble of changing any missile’s targeting software to RTS — “Return To Sender.” Bill Craig Florence The Trump hustle, a toxic brew of big- otry, paranoia and parochialism, has incited the darker angels of the millions of Americans whose faith in our economic, governmental and political institutions has collapsed. Mr. Trump tells them the reason is the rapists, murderers, Muslim terrorists and other foreigners who themselves or whose parents have crossed our borders to take advantage of American largess and a “rigged” system paralyzed by corrupt offi- cials and political correctness. This coarsened political message repris- es the rant of Peter Finch’s character in the movie “Network:” “I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!” Trump’s unbuildable border wall and impossible deportation of 11 million peo- ple, allowing in only “severely vetted” immigrants who pass religious and ideo- logical tests, may sound good to nativists and alt-right-wingers. So did the exhorta- tions of the anti-Catholic immigrant Know- Nothing Party in the 1850s. But, 175 years later, it remains the same flimflam, only now done in reality TV skin tones. But, Trump’s careless, irresponsible pur- suit of voters “who are not going to take The Clinton defense Hillary Clinton told the FBI dozens of times that she couldn’t remember all the stuff they wanted to know. She said she had some brain damage due to a concussion. How would she be able to find the nuclear football, let alone the code to use it? Martha Stewart’s stockholder called her one day, said he had a heck of a deal. Martha told the truth and went to jail. I guess she didn’t know about the Clinton defense. Martin Cable Dunes City USPS# 497-660 Copyright 2016 © Siuslaw News 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. John Bartlett Jenna Bartlett Ned Hickson Susan Gutierrez Cathy Dietz Ron Annis Jeremy Gentry this anymore” is poisoning the well beyond the Hispanics, Muslims and others he explicitly targets. This was brought home to me when my 10-year-old eurasian granddaughter came home to ask her ethnic-Chinese father, who became a citizen after he was brought to America when he was 9 to escape the Khmer Rouge, “Daddy, if Mr. Trump is president will you have to go back to Cambodia?” A Trump loss in November might damp- en these fears. But, will the Trumpism toxin remain in the system to poison my granddaughter’s generation? Mr. Trump, enabled by the endorsement of too many party leaders like Ryan, Christie and Giuliani, has implicitly prom- ised his supporters a gated nation within which everyone will have a job, speak only English and lead middle-class lives where law and order will prevail. What happens when it turns out this Mayberry RFD disappears when you turn off the TV? We can only hope for responsi- ble leadership that can put Trump’s xeno- phobic genie back in the bottle. Arnold Buchman Florence 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