4 A
❘
WEDNESDAY EDITION
❘ NOVEMBER 2, 2016
Siuslaw News
B Y D AVE R OBINSON
Special to the Siuslaw News
T
EDITOR @ THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM
Dave’s top 10 preparedness tips
DISASTER PREP
his week’s column begins a series of
my Ten Foundational Principles of
Disaster Preparedness. Call them
core values, immutable truths or life rules,
I feel one must develop their own personal
“prepper philosophy” so there will be some
direction and structure in your planning.
Although mine are a work in progress,
here they are and you are welcome to copy
them as your own:
1. Prepare BEFORE the disaster hap-
pens. I am always mildly amused and
somewhat bewildered by the ones who run
to the store either at the last minute or after
the fact. That’s a bit like having a fender
bender then calling your insurance man to
buy some coverage.
In my observations of situations like
❘ 541-902-3520 ❘
Opinion
P.O. Box 10
Florence, OR 97439
(Editor’s Note: This Saturday, Siuslaw
News is sponsoring the Be Ready Disaster
Preparedness Expo at the FEC from 10
a.m. to 3 p.m. )
NED HICKSON , EDITOR
Katrina and Sandy, I see people who had
plenty of advance warning still getting
caught empty-handed. The chaos, frustra-
tion and desperation that characterizes the
unprepared can all be avoided by simply
planning ahead. Your family is worth it. A
biblical proverb says, “A prudent person
foresees danger and takes precautions.
The simpleton goes on blindly and suf-
fers the consequences.” (Proverbs 22:3,
New Living Translation)
Plan ahead.
2. Avoid ready-made kits. There are lit-
erally thousands of ready-made kits avail-
able for purchase. Almost every disaster
preparedness blog (except mine) has a kit
for sale. I think some of them are pretty
well thought out and actually very cool.
However, there is a certain satisfaction in
building your own, choosing quality com-
ponents and actually designing the kit for
your specific needs in your specific neigh-
borhood. The person that lives miles out in
the hills will have different needs than the
person who lives in the city.
Some families have babies and their kit
will require diapers and anti-rash ointment.
Others will have “seasoned citizens” in the
household and their needs are unique to
their circumstance.
Check out the ready-mades to get ideas
on what you might need, but make your
own list, then fill it to your satisfaction.
3. Have a plan “B” and a plan “C.”
Every experienced battle commander
knows his plan is perfect until the shooting
starts. Most plans begin to unravel as
they’re put to the test. This is a huge flaw I
see in the National Geographic Channel’s
“Doomsday Preppers.”
Every featured group I have seen pre-
pares for a specific disaster scenario. Just
imagine how disappointed they’d be if they
prepared for a nuclear attack and got hit
with a coronal mass ejection (solar storm)
instead.
Now I am convinced if you live in hurri-
cane country, then plan for a hurricane, but
have two or more different evacuation
routes. Prepare two or more retreat loca-
tions, just in case. If you live along the
Oregon Coast, plan for an earthquake-
tsunami episode, but always have a plan B.
Your first escape route may be blocked
with debris or a bridge may be impassable.
Make alternate plans.
Next week we’ll continue with my Ten
Basic Principles.
______________________
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
Get involved
It must have been 1979 or 1980 when
activists from Nuclear Free Missoula chained
themselves to the railroad tracks in that Western
Montana town in an attempt to stop the travel of
nuclear waste through Missoula County.
Not wanting to get arrested or run over by a
train, I ran sandwiches by bicycle from my
apartment a mile away to the protesters and
other interested parties.
Still, I felt a part of something very important
and much bigger than myself.
Now that I am calling Florence my home, I
felt a sharp pang of recognition when I visited
an exhibit at Silver Lining’s celebrating local
activism over many years. Annexations, control
of the water district, attempts to eliminate
racism and build inclusive community, provid-
ing books and reading programs to all kids —
there have been people here in Florence fighting
for those things that are the core of our demo-
cratic republic — and they still try to raise our
awareness and stir us to action with peaceful
presence at major intersections.
Featured in the exhibit are obituaries of sev-
eral of those who dedicated their time, energy
and experience to that “something bigger” than
themselves that I recognized from my own past.
I wondered aloud, “Where are the young peo-
ple? Who is carrying this important work for-
ward?” and realized: I need to look in the mir-
ror to find the answer.
I hope others will consider doing the same.
We have a huge opportunity available to us in
this community, which is poised at the brink of
change.
What will the change be like, and how do we
make sure it’s what we want?
We need to get involved.
P.S. The organizers of the event plan to cap-
ture it and compile it to an internet locale, for
posterity, and for easy access to interested par-
ties.
Ivy Medow
Florence
Leaving the ballot blank
I’ve been following presidential politics
since I sat with my grandfather as he explained
what was going on while we watched on televi-
sion the 1956 re-nomination of Dwight
Eisenhower.
From my perspective, this choice we are now
facing is the worst I’ve ever seen.
I understand the ethic expressed in Mr.
Hickson’s editorial on Oct. 26, and I agree the
obligation to cast an informed vote is critical to
the preservation of a free society. However,
when all my reading, listening and considering
is done and, thus informed, it becomes clear
USPS# 497-660
both choices stink, I think I am perfectly correct
in leaving that line on the ballot blank.
The least objectionable choice is still objec-
tionable and supporting someone I believe to
offer less than the job requires is, for me, not
acceptable.
Fortunately I live in Oregon where my lack
of a vote for president will have no impact, so I
won’t lose any sleep over my decision.
Love her or despise her, Hillary Clinton will
receive Oregon’s seven electoral votes.
Her polling in the state has her up between 10
and 12 points, about the margin President
Obama had over Mr. Romney in 2012.
Assuming the turnout is similar, that means
nearly a quarter of a million people would have
to leave the line blank in order for Mr. Trump to
have a chance.
Jimmie Zinn
Florence
Tumult and
disorder
Tony Cavarno applauds the Founding
Fathers’ wisdom in designing the Electoral
College to protect against having a president
chosen by popular vote.
We might not remember that, being fearful of
dictators, demagogues and direct democracy,
the Founders gave us a representative democra-
cy. The only officials elected by direct vote of
the people are members of the House of
Representatives.
Senators were to be chosen by state legisla-
tors and, in the election of president, each state
would “appoint, in such manner as the
Legislature thereof may direct, a number of
Electors, equal to the whole number of [its] sen-
ators and representatives.”
These Electors could not be federal office
holders or appointees but only, as Alexander
Hamilton put it in the Federalist Papers, No. 68,
“men most capable of analyzing the qualities
adapted to the station, and acting under circum-
stances favorable to deliberation … to afford as
little opportunity as possible to tumult and dis-
order.”
The Founders envisioned presidential elec-
tions as non-partisan.
Things change.
So, when Hamilton stated that the Electoral
College, if “not perfect, it is at least excellent,”
he did not foresee the emergence of political
parties, presidential primaries or pledged
Electors. These developments obviated the
foundational idea of a representative-democra-
cy mechanism in electing a president.
The Electoral College, Hamilton might
lament, has morphed into a direct-democracy
Never got back to me
I received my umpteenth disingenuous and
leading call from Arnie Roblin’s campaign. The
last one really riled me. The person wanted to
know what issues were important to me.
Over the years I have contacted Arnie about
issues personally and as a member of numerous
county commissions. These were all dealing
with items affecting us all, especially financial-
ly. He has never got back to me. I had to go to
the head of the Senate to make him respond.
That’s a lawyers trick; don’t get back to a per-
son and it gives you plausible deniability.
As a matter of fact, I brought up an item on
fees at one of his town hall meetings and he
hadn’t a clue as to what I was talking about.
Arnie’s a nice guy but totally ineffectual as a
Senator.
It’s time for a change.
We now have a credible candidate for
Senator in Dick Anderson.
George Goldstein
Florence
Committed
public servant
Effective representation in Salem is good for
all of us on the coast. That’s why I’m writing to
support Arnie Roblan in his re-election cam-
paign for Senate District 5. Having known him
for many years, and having sent my children to
Marshfield High School during Arnie’s time
there, I have witnessed first-hand his commit-
ment to education.
He is a committed public servant. When he
retired from his career as an educator, he went
on to help pass the largest education funding
budget our state has ever seen. Arnie truly cares
about all of the people he represents, of all ages,
and he understands our challenges. As a former
Co-Speaker of the House, he has the chops to
maneuver the system, working with Democrats
and Republicans to deliver results. He is only
interested in what is in the best interest of his
district and the state of Oregon.
It is reassuring to know we have someone
like Arnie representing us. As a city councilor
and former mayor, I can say that he is the right
person for this job.
Sheldon Meyer
Dunes City
Can’t afford a close election
Currently, Trump appears to be losing the
election. If he loses, my concern is that he will
claim he lost the election because it was rigged
— especially if it is close — when the truth will
be he lost because a majority of American vot-
ers found him to be unfit or undesireable to be
President of the United States.
Trump’s suggestion of a rigged U.S. national
election insults our intelligence, and personally
insults thousands of elected officials and volun-
teers from all political parties who, together,
oversee the American election process — with
all its many checks and balances — to ensure
fair and honest elections.
Trump’s American “rigged election” conspir-
acy theory; his unwillingness to condemn Putin
and Russia for trying to interfere in an
American election despite evidence to the con-
trary from American intelligence agencies; his
willingness to undermine decades of American
treaties and commitments to our allies and other
countries around the world that were made in
good faith by the United States government;
and his attacks against the American media
(there’s a reason the founding fathers put “free-
dom of the press” in the First Amendment of the
Constitution) makes Trump not only dangerous
to the future of this country, but in my opinion
the most un-American presidential candidate in
the history of the United States.
This is not the election to stay home or not
vote.
The American people cannot afford to have a
close election this year. Despite the absurdity of
claiming a rigged election, close or not, Trump
will make this claim, and many of his most fer-
vent followers will believe him. Regardless of
political affiliation, age, race, sex or education,
whether you reside in a red, blue or purple state,
you need to vote — because every vote against
Trump helps eliminate his excuse for losing
should he come up short on votes.
This election needs to be a landslide victory,
both in the electoral college and popular vote,
so a clear message is sent to Trump and the
world that Democracy is alive and well in
America.
Frank Spencer
Florence
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John Bartlett
Jenna Bartlett
Ned Hickson
Susan Gutierrez
Cathy Dietz
Ron Annis
Jeremy Gentry
process the Founders, in their wisdom, sought
to avoid. The Electoral College will, on occa-
sion, “protect” against having a president cho-
sen by direct popular vote. (Gore vs. Bush).
But, it has not avoided “tumult and disorder”
(Trump vs. Clinton).
Will it protect against what Hamilton called
“talents for low intrigue, and the little arts of
popularity, alone sufficing to elevate a … can-
didate for the distinguished office of
President?”
We’ll know on Nov. 9.
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