4 A
❘
WEDNESDAY EDITION
❘ JANUARY 4, 2017
Siuslaw News
P.O. Box 10
Florence, OR 97439
NED HICKSON , EDITOR
❘ 541-902-3520 ❘
EDITOR @ THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM
Opinion
Trust, partnership with you are worth striving for
I spent part of my New
Year’s weekend here in the
newsroom, tackling a re-
organization project of files
and materials that have been
staring at me for nearly a
decade — the gaze of which
grew stronger after becoming
editor in September.
The project entailed sifting
through boxes of old newspa-
per issues, special publica-
tions, documents, journalistic
guidelines and historic refer-
ence materials that had been
collecting along a wall of
shelves in our newsroom since
the late 1990s.
With 2017 looming, it
seemed like the perfect time to
sort through the past in order
to benefit our newsroom’s
future.
Coincidentally, it also got
me out of washing the dog, but
you didn’t read that here.
Over the course of a few
hours, I time-traveled through
about 50 years of local history
captured in aged clippings,
folded newspaper pages, pam-
phlets and long-defunct small-
er community publications
like “The Fog Dog” and
“Beachcomber,” all of which
played a role in chronicling
our area’s colorful past.
They are also things you’ll
never find with a Google
search. They exist now only in
the memories of those who
wrote the stories, lived the
experience or, in this case,
remain preserved in the
However, my trip through
the past served to reinforce the
unique responsibility and priv-
ilege we have, as a newspaper,
to be the keepers of the past,
chroniclers of the present and
conversation for the future —
From the Editor’s Desk
N ED H ICKSON
archives of a small newsroom.
I have to admit, I came into
the New Year without any
concrete resolutions aside
from the usual — and ongoing
— intentions of eating health-
ier, exercising more and pro-
crastinating less (something I
keep putting off).
all while serving as a reflec-
tion of our community’s
hopes, challenges and particu-
lar moment in time.
That being said, I’m not
making a resolution as much
as offering you my resolve, as
editor, to continue striving for
your trust and partnership on
these pages each week.
“Integrity” is a term that has
come into question within the
realm of journalism far too
often in recent years, particu-
larly at the national level
where the need to be first is
sometimes more important
than the responsibility of
being factual. And while we
aren’t perfect, we certainly try
— even if it means holding a
breaking news story to make
sure the information is com-
plete and not open to specula-
tion or assumption.
As we head into 2017, I
look forward to the conversa-
tions we’ll have together on
the phone, through emails,
visits here in my office or
while waiting in the grocery
line.
It’s these conversations that
build the trust and partnership
I spoke about earlier, and the
integrity I hope you will feel is
reflected on these pages with
each issue.
My hope is that some day,
when another Siuslaw News
editor is reading and organiz-
ing the archives of our history,
like me they will be moved by
the same sense of responsibil-
ity and privilege that now rests
easily in that series of boxes
along the shelves in our news-
room.
Write Siuslaw News editor Ned
Hickson at nhickson@thesiuslaw
news.com or P.O. Box 10,
Florence, Ore. 97439.
LETTERS
Checks and balances
The Dec. 24, 2016, article concerning the
Port’s audit, I believe, needs some clarification.
The article reports a decrease in net position of
$189,420. It’s accurate to say there is a change
in the value of the Port’s assets, but this is not a
loss.
“Net position” includes all of a business’
cash, property, expenses and liabilities. It meas-
ures everything.
The Net Position Statement on the audit
includes both cash and the value of our proper-
ties.
As the article reported, Port revenue was up
by $65,868. Port expenses were down $19,378.
Our revenues (from the marina, campground,
leases and property taxes) are about $1.4 mil-
lion. Our expenses are about $951,000 (exclud-
ing depreciation).
The Port owns seven buildings, a marina and
a wharf. The value of our assets exceeds $12
million. Every year, these assets depreciate in
value. Depreciation is treated as an expense on
the Statement of Revenues.
This year, our depreciation expense was cal-
culated as $378,876. When the depreciation is
included, it appears as if we are operating at a
loss because there is a decrease in net position.
Depreciation does not appear on a balance
sheet or Statement of Cash Flows.
The audit reports states, “The Port’s net posi-
tion at June 30, 2016 at $5,384,440 is a 189,420
decrease from $5,573,860 at June 30, 2015,
which represents a change of 3.4 percent. This
decrease mostly occurred because depreciation
expense was larger than capital expenditures.”
In terms of our budget, we generated more
money this year than last year, and spent less.
The Port’s financial picture is strong and
healthy. The Port can do better, for example, by
reducing its debt burden, and we are actively
working on this, but the amount of depreciation
expense we incur is a function of the amount of
property we own.
Our cash position is good.
All of the Port’s financial information is on
the website (www.portofisulsaw.com), includ-
ing the most recent audit. I invite readers to
review these documents for themselves, and to
attend a Port Commission meeting.
We are always happy to hear people’s con-
cerns.
Steven Leskin
Port of Siuslaw Manager
Russian ties
The President-elect’s failure to take seriously
the threat to American democracy by Vladimir
Putin is frightening to me. The CIA and other
American intelligence agencies have deter-
mined that Putin hacked the DNC and released
information in an attempt to meddle in our free
and fair election.
This is cyber warfare.
When the President-elect won the
Republican primary, one of the first things he
did was to change one of the planks in the
Republican platform language from providing
“lethal defensive weapons” to “appropriate
assistance” for Ukraine in their efforts to remain
a free country.
The President-elect also has stated his opin-
ion that NATO is obsolete. NATO has been a
thorn in Putin’s side in his quest to take Eastern
European free states by force to put them under
Russian rule.
There were rumors throughout the campaign
that the President-elect and/or some of his
staffers had connections to Putin. What hap-
pens if President-elect owes money to Russian
state controlled banks?
We wouldn’t know because he won’t release
his tax returns.
His nominee for Secretary of State, Rex
Tillerson (who is the CEO of ExxonMobil) is a
personal friend of Putin’s. Should he get the
2014 sanctions against Russia (for the takeover
of Crimea) lifted, ExxonMobil stands to make
billions of dollars from its partnership with
Russia and its Arctic oil field.
The President-elect has made no secret of his
admiration for Putin, a man known by many as
a brutal, vengeful dictator who would like noth-
ing more than to see American democracy fail.
Let us hope that the President-elect doesn’t
prove to be a Putin puppet.
Without a free press, we would know none of
this about the President-elect, who prefers to get
information to the public through Tweets that
are not fact-checked and often full of misinfor-
mation and confusion bordering on blatant
propaganda.
Marybeth Marenco
Florence
Playing into Putin’s hands
It would seem that, unwittingly or wittingly,
Donald Trump is playing into Putin’s hands
with his denial of Russian hacks, his refusal to
accept 15 U.S. intelligence agencies confirma-
tion of the Russian hacks and the statements he
has made to the effect that he knows more than
the generals of the U.S. military.
His complimentary remarks about Putin
being “very smart” are true; as the former head
of the Russian KGB, he is fully capable of
manipulating President-elect Trump and the
U.S. through cyber hacking.
One would hope that he accepts the informa-
tion from intelligence briefings and that he con-
tinues the tradition of daily briefings regardless
of how “boring” he has said they are.
Also of concern to me is how debts to
Russian and Chinese banks could influence
U.S. policies? I definitely don’t trust Putin and,
with Trump’s high regard for him, I’m uncertain
as to how much we can trust our President-elect
with the nation’s military and financial security.
Jon Tipple
Florence
Not grounded in reality
I am perplexed by the attitude of letter writ-
ers like Mr. Buttke (Dec. 28). The spike in hate
crimes, bigotry and intimidation I lay at
President Obama’s doorstep. Since he took
office eight years ago, the deaths of law
enforcement has risen dramatically, along with
rioting, destruction of property and the burning
of the American Flag.
I feel the reason the Democrat Party is in dis-
array is because it is not grounded in reality and,
instead, would rather blame Donald Trump for
everything before he has even taken office.
It is time for our leaders to start healing the
racial divide that has been encouraged by mem-
bers of the Obama administration.
Pamela Richardson
Florence
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.
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letters
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Letters are subject to editing for length,
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letter is not guaranteed and depends on
space available and the volume of letters
received.
Libelous and anonymous letters or poet-
ry will not be published.
All submissions become the property of
Siuslaw News and will not be returned.
Write to:
Editor@TheSiuslawNews.com
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