4 A
❘
WEDNESDAY EDITION
❘ MAY 10, 2017
Siuslaw News
P.O. Box 10
Florence, OR 97439
NED HICKSON , EDITOR
❘ 541-902-3520 ❘
NHICKSON @ THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM
Opinion
My favorite teacher? The one who flunked me
Admittedly, I had a bit of a
crush on my College Prep
English teacher, Mrs. Fillers,
who was young, inventive and
extremely encouraging to the
only freshman in her class of
25 juniors and seniors.
The first semester was a
breeze as she allowed us to
explore creative writing with
few boundaries. Each week,
along with our reading assign-
ments, we were given a new
list of 20 vocabulary words —
usually with a theme — that
we were required to use in a
story. Most of my classmates
crammed as many of those
words into a single sentence as
they could (The decrepit, can-
tankerous, ill-tempered man
raised his wrinkled, weath-
ered, sallow fist in a show of
furious and frustrated rage
over losing his car keys...”)
I, on the other hand, fleshed
out 15 to 20 pages of hand-
written storyline, usually with
the last five to six pages
devoid of vocabulary words.
I got good grades but, as
you can probably imagine,
was rarely asked to read my
stories in class due to the time
constraints of a 45-minute
period.
Throughout that semester, I
noticed strange red marks on
my pages with comments like
“incomplete
sentence,”
“check spelling,” “punctua-
tion needs work.”
As a result, I’d get “A+” for
content and creativity but “D”
for mechanics.
My thinking was, Who
cares about mechanics when
the story is so great?
Mrs. Fillers did.
As we headed into the sec-
ond semester, she took me
aside and told me that raw tal-
ent wasn’t enough, and that I
needed to learn the tools of
writing if I wanted to get seri-
ous. She described my writing
as something similar to chain-
saw sculpture: Creative and
interesting, but it would never
be Michaelengelo unless I
learned the tools needed to
smooth the edges into some-
thing seamless.
Emerson...
...Blah, blah, blah.
When the final grades were
given, I went from having a
crush on my teacher to being
crushed by her and the “F” on
my report card — something I
had never received before.
From the Editor’s Desk
N ED H ICKSON
I listened carefully to her
advice and then, like any
teenager, disregarded every-
thing except that part about
having “raw talent.”
Surely that was enough.
However, in the weeks
ahead I realized it wasn’t near-
ly enough in the eyes of Mrs.
Fillers. I began to fail miser-
ably on my assignments,
which had shifted from cre-
ativity to the analysis of writ-
ing pros and recognizing the
mechanics and devices used
by writers like Shakespeare,
Hawthorne,
Hemingway,
Well, not for English.
At that point, I had learned
our family was moving to
Florence and I’d be attending
a new school whose name I
couldn’t yet pronounce. With
that in mind, I went to Mrs.
Fillers and told her how unfair
I felt my grade was, and that
I’m sure my new school and
its teachers would be better.
To this day, I still get knots
in my stomach when I think
about what I said, and how
visibly upset she was by my
hurtful words.
My sophomore year at
Siuslaw, I was enrolled in
College Prep English once
again. For our first assign-
ment, Mr. Danielson asked us
to write an essay titled “At My
House.”
We were given no further
instruction other than it being
due the following day. When I
turned in my five-page essay, I
felt I was off to a good start
with a teacher who would
surely overlook the petty
details of mechanics and
grammar in favor of creativity.
When he handed back our
assignments, he had written
the following comment:
“A+ for enthusiasm/D+ for
mechanics. What are you try-
ing to say with your essay?”
It seemed there was no
escaping what I eventually
came to realize were the
demands of engaged teachers
unwilling to bend at the
expense of a student’s poten-
tial.
Mr. Danielson taught me
about essay format and the
need to have a logical begin-
ning, middle and end — and
that energy and enthusiasm are
wasted if they aren’t given a
direction that readers can fol-
low.
He remains one of my
favorite and most influential
teachers. But I also know, if
not for Mrs. Fillers’ willing-
ness to teach me an even more
important lesson about writ-
ing, I may not have recognized
what Mr. Danielson had to
offer me.
During National Teachers
Appreciation Week (April 8-
12), I hope you’ll join me in
recognizing the educators in
our community whose influ-
ence in our lives go well
beyond our time in the class-
room.
And Mrs. Fillers, if you
somehow ever read this...
Thank you for the “F” that
changed everything.
Write Siuslaw News editor Ned
Hickson at nhickson@thesiuslaw
news.com or P.O. Box 10,
Florence, Ore. 97439.
LETTERS
H ONORING
J OSE ’ S MEMORY
D ON ’ T OVERLOOK
F ACE OF F LORENCE
LOCAL ELECTIONS
Thank you to the Florence community for its
support at the Jose Dela Mora Memorial
Scholarship Taco Feed.
The event raised over $3,500 and will be
funding three scholarships for $1,000 each to
students who share the love of wrestling or art,
as our son did.
A special thank you to Cross Road Assembly
Church and Pastor Edwards, for their support of
this event, and also to Coach Neil Wartnik for
honoring Jose’s memory by administering this
scholarship.
What a wonderful community we live in.
Wow! What an incredible candidates forum
on May 3. Florence is fortunate that so many
thoughtful people have stepped forward to offer
their guidance towards a better future for
Florence.
It is necessary, too, because there appear to
be several issues that we’re facing.
What concerns me most is what seems to be
a reluctance among citizens to talk about the
direction we want our community to go. I still
haven’t decided on some of my votes, but it
makes it hard when folks clam up when you try
to dig into the meat of a problem.
For instance, I am still baffled at what is
going on with the fire and ambulance districts.
Do most people even know there are conflicts
there? Are funds being allocated fairly? Are we
looking at a corporate model that cuts staff,
which is also people’s livelihoods in Florence?
Or do we really need to look forward and mod-
ernize the operations of our community’s safety
services as our town continues to grow?
These are big questions.
There is also the Port of Siuslaw. Is the Port
Manager really that difficult to work with? I’ve
never met him, so I don’t know.
Is there some problem with boardwalk main-
tenance? Is anyone really considering putting
condos along the boardwalk? Will we turn a
quiet port where we take our kids on walks
along the docks into a commercial fleet that will
be dangerous for kids and possibly pollute the
water?
Or do we just want a few more tuna, crab and
salmon fishers to sell from their boats and
attract more tourists?
I think some commissioners need to clarify
their plans and put some dollar figures to them.
Luckily, the other elections aren’t quite as
contentious. For Lane Community College, we
have a choice between a woman with a impec-
cable background and experience, and an
Oregon resident who has experienced our com-
munity college system firsthand.
On our local school board, the biggest differ-
ence seems to be between Jesse Chapman and
Suzanne Mann-Heintz. This seems one of ideol-
ogy, most specifically the possibility of a char-
ter school under Chapman and one of restoring
previous funding under Mann-Heintz.
Regardless of what one believes our future
should look like, the most important thing is
that we talk about it together.
Though I may disagree with Mr. Chapman, I
would never want his voice silenced in school
board meetings. His passion for our kids is
obvious. As we move towards the May 16 elec-
tion, let’s start talking — and listening. That
way, when the election is over, no matter the
outcome, we really will all win because we
know our voices will continue to matter.
I read the article in Siuslaw News (May 6)
announcing a seminar May 9 at LCC in
Florence, where the college was introducing
foreign and immigrant students to the commu-
nity along with highlighting their stories.
In the article, Dean Russ Pierson referenced
the recent ICE arrests as part of the reason for
the gathering.
Pierson indicated two of the people arrested
by ICE had been part of the LCC immigrant and
international community at the college.
I planned to attend because I’m sure there
would be some interesting stories the students
have to tell. I support immigrants and people
who legally come to this country to live, work
or attend school.
They are an immense benefit to the nation; no
argument there.
But I believe Dean Pierson misses a crucial
point. Florence is a welcoming town, as are its
people. But we also live in a nation where the
rule of law prevails. A person residing in the
U.S. illegally may be a wonderful, hardworking
resident. They may have even settled in and
have a family.
But we have federal immigration law that
determines who can be here, what steps must be
taken to visit or stay here and who will not be
allowed to remain.
Some people have worked long and hard to
live here legally.
Over the years we (voters) have allowed
administrations to neglect immigration and Visa
enforcement. People have taken advantage of
that situation and now the problem has come
home to roost and, I feel, snowballed into a
monster.
Despite Attorney General Jeff Sessions
essentially telling Congress “If you don’t like
the immigration laws, change them,” Congress
has not acted.
So we have the laws that are on the books.
Oregon and other jurisdictions have not helped
by making people think they are secure and can
stay despite federal law. That is actually a dis-
service to immigrants in general, and especially
those immigrants who have taken the steps to be
here legally.
So, I hope it will be a productive and infor-
mational meeting.
But it won’t keep ICE away and it won’t help
people here illegally.
Only Congress can do that, not Lane
Community College.
— Dave Peck
Florence
—Jose and Rosa Dela Mora
Florence
L ETTERS TO THE
E DITOR P OLICY
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Send letters to:
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— Sandy Todd
Florence
S UPPORT M ANN -H EINTZ
I am writing to share the many reasons I am
voting for Suzanne Mann-Heintz for position 6
of the Siuslaw School District Board of
Directors.
I have been privileged to know her for sever-
al years and have come to deeply respect her
dedication to education and her community.
She was a teacher for many years and even
now as a current school board member finds
time to volunteer to work hands-on with stu-
dents in the classroom.
I attended the recent candidates forum held at
the Florence Events Center. When asked her
feeling on what she felt our district’s policy
should be on students who may not have legal
citizen status, her reply was that the district only
looks at a child’s birth certificate to determine
the child’s exact age and what grade they should
be placed in.
To me, that is how it should always to be.
As a board member, I think she will continue
to strive to make sure that every student is treat-
ed with respect and given the best education
possible in a safe environment.
I will be voting for Suzanne Mann-Heintz.
— Maureen Miltenberger
Florence
F OR T IPLER , S TONELAKE
AND H ICKSON
On April 27, I attended the regular board
meeting of the Western Lane Ambulance
District with the intent of making a short state-
ment regarding the Intergovernmental
Agreement (IGA) during the public comment
portion of the agenda.
Part way into my statement, Chief Jim
Langborg started interrupting me.
Consequently, it took me twice as long as
necessary to finish reading my 3-minute state-
ment.
It seems to me that the WLAD members have
a decision to make. Will the board meetings be
conducted and lead by the board president, with
information about day-to-day operations pro-
vided by the chief?
Or will the chief be conducting the meetings
with the board president and other members
chiming in?
Continually interrupting and talking over
others is a tactic I’ve seen used by bullies.
I’ve had it with bullies.
Because of that, I will be casting my votes for
Marvin Tipler and Ned Hickson for the fire
board, and Anne Stonelake for the WLAD
board.
— Lea Patten
Florence
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peaceably to assemble, and to petition the
Government for a redress of grievances.
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