4 A
❘
WEDNESDAY EDITION
❘ MAY 17, 2017
Siuslaw News
P.O. Box 10
Florence, OR 97439
NED HICKSON , EDITOR
Opinion
❘ 541-902-3520 ❘
NHICKSON @ 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.
LETTERS
Q UITE AN ARTICLE
In the Wednesday, May 10, edition of
Siuslaw News, I came across in Section 3B an
article headlined, “Healthcare could soon be on
endangered list,” complete with logo.
It was quite an article.
It mentioned a local Florence woman, only as
“P.W.” stating how she doesn’t know how she
would have done without the ACA (also known
as Obama Care) as it reduced her monthly pay-
ments to $100 a month the first year and $200
the second year.
L ETTERS TO THE
E DITOR P OLICY
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sion of issues on the local, state and
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I am very glad she is so happy with that. But
hers is only one voice as compared to the many
others I hear and read about that complain very
forcibly how their costs went sky-high after the
first year.
Even Maxine Waters, (Democrat, Calif.) who
voted for Obama Care, was on TV complaining
how much her rate increased. With Obama Care
seemingly imploding as time goes on, we’ll all
be looking for a better system.
And maybe this time members of the U.S.
Congress will include themselves as they
excluded themselves from Obama Care.
Out of curiosity I looked up the website list-
ed in the article. It was, as I suspected, nothing
more than a liberal Democrat organization
attempting to slam the Republican Party again.
In
my
opinion,
“Paid
Political
Advertisement” should have been at the top of
the article.
Is that why no name credit was given at the
bottom of the article other than “Submitted by
FOR, Florence ORganizes?”
When I submit my letters to Siuslaw News I
am proud to put my name at the bottom as a for-
mer Democrat now turned staunch Republican
who is very happy Donald J. Trump is now our
President.
— Tony Cavarno
Florence
W HERE HAVE ALL
THE EDITORS GONE ?
I have lived in Florence since June of 2014. I
used to enjoy reading stories and events in the
local paper about this amazing community.
However, since the “Election of 2016,” I feel
there has been a rapid decline in the content of
the paper and an outright bias in the reporting of
our paper, especially pertaining to politically
charged issues and events.
How does the person who wrote this article
have access to a bill that is not yet public
record?
They don’t.
The content of this bill hasn’t even been
finalized yet. And at the end of the “article” they
want readers to contact Healthcare For All,
another political organization.
So my question for the Siuslaw News is:
Where have all the editors gone?
Allowing political organizations to publish
articles that give the appearance of an objective
report, as well as allowing reporters to interject
their own political bias in an article, is unethi-
cal, inappropriate and discredits the newspaper.
In conclusion, I hope this letter will result in
the editors of our paper taking a step back and
objectively looking at the content of what they
are publishing.
I do not want to cancel my subscription but I
also don’t want to start purchasing my newspa-
per next to the National Enquirer at the check
out stand in Freddy’s.
— Katie Prosser
Florence
N O PETS AT
M ILLER P ARK
I read Barbara Holler’s Letter to the Editor
(April 29) and felt deep revulsion. How could
anyone ask the City to spoil the only place in
Florence that is free from pet waste? We need at
least one place that our children can play with-
out the 3Ps. Many of our streets and yards are
being turned into environmental wastelands
from inconsiderate pet owners.
Florence needs one place where residents do
not need to worry about landmines of the pet
variety.
— Robert Miller
Florence
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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
For example, regarding the issue of bias
reporting. The arrest story of illegal aliens by
Jack Davis on May 10, said “60 had criminal
records, but 24, almost one third arrested,
including one Florence resident, apparently did
not.”
So the majority of people arrested had crimi-
nal records.
Actually, double criminal records being here
illegally and committing an additional crime.
But Mr. Davis chose to emphasize and focus on
the “almost one third.”
He goes on to quote the park manager, who
referred to them as “...Wonderful tenants
who’ve never been a problem.”
Are these details pertinent to the story? The
story also noted that “Mr. Rendon works in the
timber industry and was fully employed at the
time of his arrest.”
How is an illegal alien fully employed legal-
ly?
Next, the story describes how the ICE agents
“...patted the man down, handcuffed him and
then placed all three individuals back in the
white van.”
Everyone arrested is “patted down” and
handcuffed. It’s SOP — standard operating pro-
cedure.
There is also an issue of inappropriate con-
tent in the May 10 edition, in the article
“Healthcare could soon be on endangered list”
by the Florence ORganizes group.
Unfortunately, editor Ned Hickson’s advice
that “fake news” will usually have all capital
letters isn’t applicable in this case. This group
claims that it is a “non-partisan, non political”
organization yet organized a protest march
demanding President Trump release his tax
returns.
The article criticizes the “Republicans’ latest
version” and states that “those with chronic
health issues would bear unaffordable costs.”
Pres. Donald Trump
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
202-224-5244
541-431-0229
www.wyden.senate.gov
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley
313 Hart Senate Office Bldg
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-3753/FAX: 202-228-3997
541-465-6750
www.merkley.senate.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. Rep. Peter DeFazio (4th Dist.)
2134 Rayburn HOB
Washington, DC 20515
202-225-6416
541-269-2609/ 541-465-6732
www.defazio.house.gov
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden
221 Dirksen Senate Office Bldg
Washington, DC 20510
State Sen. Arnie Roblan (Dist. 5)
900 Court St. NE - S-417
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1705
FAX: 503-986-1080
Email:
Sen.ArnieRoblan@state.or.us
State Rep. Caddy McKeown
(Dist. 9)
900 Court St. NE
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1409
Email:
rep.caddymckeown@state.or.us
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