4 A
❘
SATURDAY EDITION
❘ FEBRUARY 11, 2017
Siuslaw News
P.O. Box 10
Florence, OR 97439
NED HICKSON , EDITOR
Opinion
❘ 541-902-3520 ❘
EDITOR @ THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM
The First Amendment
C
ongress shall make no law respecting an estab-
lishment of religion or prohibiting the free exer-
cise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of
the press, or the right of the people peaceably to
assemble, and to petition the Government for a
redress of grievances.
VIEW FROM UPRIVER
More to democracy than elections
W ESLEY V OTH
For the Siuslaw News
T
he darkest two months of this season’s
cycle are past, and leaves of spring-
blooming non-native daffodils, crocus-
es, snowdrops and hyacinth are emerging.
Varied thrushes are vocalizing more, and the
elk herd here in Brickerville is back to trim-
ming ivy — maybe an indication there is a
lack of native forage.
Now that I’m clued in to what this looks like
— the leaves missing from ivy encased tree
trunks up to about eight feet — I’ve noticed it
in other places up and down the coast. Skunk
cabbage is poking up leaf spikes, and it won’t
be long before the bright golden marsh candles
or bog lanterns begin to grace even some fairly
disturbed ditches and swampy areas throughout
this region.
Just like there’s more to life than survival,
there’s more to democracy than elections. Most
of the efforts to change policies or laws that
I’ve made over the course of my life have been
trying to get someone I voted for to do so, but
I’m not going to stop now just because I voted
for someone else or think it will fall on deaf
ears. I am heartened by the numbers of women
and supporters of women’s rights marching,
including those from this area, and want to
hold Donald Trump to his promises to serve
the people.
All of the people.
Including that record number of people
EVER to march. All of the people including
Muslims.
Draining the swamp is a bad political
metaphor; it shows a poor understanding of,
and contempt for, the natural world. But I get
the point. Donald Trump looks at Washington,
D.C. and sees politicians who have gotten
power and altered things in ways that are not
to his, and he believes the American people in
general, benefit.
I listened to his inauguration speech on the
radio while at work, all 1,454 words, and then
I have read them again and again, the text
available on the internet. Some of those words
I think were supposed to be reassuring; to
unite. But taken as a whole, I found them chill-
ing. Early in the speech he mentioned “The
People” five times, but his most repeated term
was “America” or “American;” at 33 times,
this was an amazing 1-word-in-44.
I was equally puzzled by other things: “An
education system “flush with cash?” Really?
Any mention of programs that actually pro-
vide security or care, and into which working
class people like me have paid all our lives,
was entirely missing. And his specific wording
excluded me, and people I care about, at point
after point.
I look at the people leaving D.C., and
whether I have agreed with them or not, as a
group they have been public servants who
were knowledgeable about the arenas in which
they served. And I look at who Donald Trump
is bringing in as fill, and I see the wealthiest of
the wealthy — those who have benefitted most
from the system the way it has been — and
I’m supposed to trust them?
By and large they are not people who have
been anyone’s servant, let alone that of the
public. Why shouldn’t I fear that they will con-
tinue a system that shifts wealth to them, and
the burdens of paying for anything further onto
all those who work and actually pay taxes?
Since Donald Trump spoke about it, the reli-
gion in which I was raised read the whole
Bible, which has a lot to say about wealth and
the distribution of resources. Farmers during
harvest were to leave some behind for those
without to glean. And Jesus drovs the money
lenders out of the temple with a whip.
Jesus said it is harder for a rich person to
enter the kingdom of heaven than for a camel
to go through the eye of a needle; he also said
a person cannot serve both God and money.
I believe it is similarly difficult to serve both
wealth and The People. That is the true conflict
of interest at stake here.
LETTERS
T HE EFFECTS OF OIL
It’s disheartening that the Army Corps of
Engineers has now halted the government’s
directive of an Environmental Impact Statement
and is poised to allow an easment for the
Dakota Access Pipeline to drill beneath the
Missouri River.
In my opinion, the Standing Rock Sioux have
a right to know the effects of an oil spill on their
land and water source and defend sacred sites
guaranteed by treaty.
It’s apparent that the new administration is
determined to represent the greed of the fossil
fuel industry with complete disregard for
human, sovereign indigenous and environmen-
tal rights.
I know many Americans view these pipelines
as employment, although temporary.
However, it is time to divest from the fossil
fuel industry and invest in clean energy jobs to
protect the basic needs of humanity’s clean
water, air and land.
It’s time to Stand up for the Standing Rock
Sioux.
By Julie MacFarlane
Florence
D IVIDED HEARTS
In Ned Hickson’s editorial, “Opposition for
Opposition’s Sake is a Big Mistake,” he writes:
“Americans are divided because their represen-
tatives in Congress have allowed themselves to
become divided simply on the merits of which
side of the aisle they happen to sit on.”
While I agree with his assessment, I believe
it to be only part of the story. Division in
Washington begins between individuals, who
then elect politicians who reflect and reinforce
those divisions.
As Americans, we are at risk of losing touch
with our common humanity. There is still far
more that unites us than divides us: “For, in the
final analysis, our most basic common link is
that we all inhabit this small planet. We all
breathe the same air. We all cherish our chil-
dren’s future. And we are all mortal (JFK).”
Divisiveness in Washington begins in our
hearts. And if we so choose, it can begin to end
there.
Rosalie Wells
Florence
B EACH EROSION
I became concerned last summer noticing
erosion of the public beach somewhat north of
Driftwood Shores Motel. Last week I was total-
ly appalled at the condition of the beach and
“foredune” area here due to severe beach star-
vation.
Beach starvation occurs when it no longer
receives adequate sand to replace that lost off
shore to storm erosion. The beach is no longer
in equilibrium. Along our coast, headlands stop
the movement of sand between beaches, which
therefore draw from backshore dunes or cliffs to
replace sand lost off-shore to erosion.
Erosion in this case was originally set in
motion and accelerated by later expansion of
the Siuslaw jetties. In Oregon, jetties impact the
shore by creating erosion at a distance (here
mostly north of the motel) and deposition adja-
cent to the jetty.
It is easy to see the deposition of sand and
growth of multiple dunes in front of the large
majority of homes closer to the North jetty.
This sand was eroded from the beach and for-
mer foredune in front of the Klahani subdivi-
sion. This erosion would not have had such dra-
matic, unfortunate consequences without the
more recent development of shorefront homes
along the eroding beach. The beach erosion has
been severely exasperated by rip rap boulders
placed to ostensibly protect these dwellings
from storm erosion.
But beach starvation has already greatly
reduced the width of the beach so that storm
waves and even high tide are “trying” to access
the area where homes have been built for
replacement sand to bring the beach back into
equilibrium.
In years past, sand from the beach was occa-
sionally scooped up to replace the lost foredune.
This was a poorly informed mistake at the time
and would be a disaster now. Similar crude
interventions would both further diminish the
beach width and amplify storm impacts.
While there may be effective solutions to this
problem, such as adding dredge sand off-shore
and allowing summer waves to distribute it to
the damaged beaches. Whatever mitigations are
chosen, we must oppose similar development in
other areas of high risk.
We can and should take a more reasonable
informed approach in future decision making.
Leo Ellingson
Florence
Retired geologist
O BAMA ’ S REAL LEGACY
I have written to the editor several times over
the political season. Nothing that I send is pub-
lished. Yet I see, over and over again, “Letters
to the Editor” demeaning our current President
Donald Trump, calling him Orwellian or com-
paring him to Hitler simply because he loves
America and wants to make it great again.
I want jobs to come back to our shores, and
my kids to be able to support their families and
to live in safety without fear of terrorism. In his
eight years as president, what is President
Obama’s legacy?
In my opinion, he milked us dry with irre-
sponsible spending on things like Air Force
One, Air Force Two and Air Force Three (for
Michelle and the family dog). Obama created
the second-highest debt ($5.9 trillion) in U.S.
history, greatly weakened our military, and lost
more then 1,000 seats in the federal and state
government to the conservative party.
Trump is not a fluke. The overwhelming
number of working Americans voted for him
and the more than 1,000 other conservatives
now in public office.
However, there are those that feel they should
rise up against Trump and the federal govern-
ment, treating him like a bully.
Trump was elected fair and square by citizens
of the United States. Insurrection will be dealt
with because the will of the people through the
ballot box will stand.
Ralph Ray
Florence
B UM RAP
Regarding
Ned
Hickson’s
ediorial
“Opposition for Opposition’s Sake is a Big
Mistake” (Feb. 8), some congressional
Democrats may talk of “opposing everything”
Trump, but they have not.
No Senate Democrat has voted against every
Trump cabinet nominee (NBC News). And Jeff
Merkley, who got a bum rap in the editorial,
voted for Mattis and Haley.
Further, the quoted statement in Politico that
Merkley would filibuster “any and all Supreme
Court Justice nominees Trump puts forward”
omitted Merkley’s primary position — oppos-
ing “any pick that is not Merrick Garland.”
Merkley’s promise to filibuster was not simi-
lar to Senate Republicans’ outright refusal to
consider Garland last year. Republicans defied
their constitutional obligation to advise and
consent on Obama’s nominee.
“This is a stolen seat, ” Merkley told Politico
(Jan. 30). “We will use every lever in our power
to stop this.”
That’s not opposition for opposition’s sake
but a warranted check on Republican obstruc-
tion.
As the editorial advocates, Democrats have
been scrutinizing cabinet nominees for their
qualifications but also challenging those com-
promised by conflicts of interest.
Few of Trump’s nominees have passed that
test.
I don’t see Democrats going into hearings
with preconceived conclusions but with knowl-
edge — like the rest of us have from press cov-
erage — of the baggage most of Trump’s nom-
inees bring with them.
If Democrats persist in talking about oppos-
ing everything Trump, it’s because he’s handing
them plenty of justification for it. Trump’s bait-
and-switch is evident. An anti-worker, anti-con-
sumer, anti-average Joe and Jane administration
controlled by a corporate/financial elite is tak-
ing shape.
Conflicts of interest are so many and admin-
istration actions and language so reckless that
challenges are necessary, whether in Congress,
the courts or in the press.
Rollin Olson
Florence
R ESISTANCE IS BASED
ON PRINCIPLE
Regarding Ned Hickson’s editorial (Feb. 8), I
agree, that being oppositional for the sake of
being oppositional is counter-productive. This
was accomplished by the Republicans while
Barack Obama was president when, on day one
and out of spite, Mitch McConnell made it clear
that his goal was to make Obama a one-term
president (he failed).
The next eight years were the least produc-
tive for Congress in decades. They got next to
nothing done, and Republicans essentially stole
the appointment of Supreme Court Justice
Merrick Garland from Obama by refusing to
even give the nominee a hearing.
That said, the current resistance by
Democrats to appointees of Donald Trump is
based on principles, not spite. Their resistance
is a response to an authoritarian-style president
who seems intent on destroying the U.S.
Constitution and our democratic system of
checks and balances.
It appears he has little, if any, understanding
of either.
The Democrats are doing their job. They are
representing the will of their constituents.
Democrats are refusing to deal in alternative
facts and the parallel universe of the current
administration.
Democrats are not trying to delegitimize the
current President. He does that nearly every day
with his Tweet nonsense and his attempts to
“gaslight” the American people.
He will take on American judges and the
press, but he refuses to say a bad word about the
barbarous and vicious dictator of Russia.
The vast majority of Trump’s nominees are
unqualified and/or inexperienced. In fact, sever-
al nominees have a goal that is in direct conflict
with that of the agency they are seeking confir-
mation to lead.
Many Republicans are too afraid to stand up
to Trump, even when they know he is wrong;
the Democrats in Congress and all citizens who
believe in freedom and democracy must resist.
Marybeth Marenco
Florence
G RATEFUL FOR
ANONYMOUS ACTION
Recently, a check we had written to an indi-
vidual for services rendered was lost.
We wanted to extend our thanks to the person
who found the check in the Taco Bell parking
lot and subsequently returned it to our bank.
We are grateful for the actions of this anony-
mous individual and will be sure to “pay it for-
ward.”
Judy and Tom Harrison
Florence
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