4 A
❘
SATURDAY EDITION
❘ JUNE 17, 2017
Siuslaw News
P.O. Box 10
Florence, OR 97439
NED HICKSON , EDITOR
❘ 541-902-3520 ❘
NHICKSON @ THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM
The First Amendment
Opinion
C
ongress shall make no law respecting an
establishment of religion or prohibiting
the free exercise thereof; or abridging the free-
dom of speech, or of the press, or the right of
the people peaceably to assemble, and to peti-
tion the Government for a redress of griev-
ances.
LETTERS
B ILL 494 IS WRONG
The Oregon Senate voted this past
week to approve Bill 494, which
would allow health care representa-
tives to withhold feeding and hydra-
tion to those who are mentally ill or
suffer from dementia or Alzheimer’s
— without their prior written con-
sent.
This is not for citizens who are
terminally ill.
This bill empowers surrogates
(i.e. guardian, spouse, a friend or, if
none is available, an attending
physician) to make life-ending deci-
sions for some of our most vulnera-
ble citizens.
The provisions in this bill would
apply even if a patient’s advance
directive did not give explicit per-
mission or if the patient had no
advance directive at all.
Analysts of the bill say the word-
ing was made purposefully ambigu-
ous to allow these life and death
decisions to be subject to whatever
the people surrounding the patient
want to do.
Currently, the bill is headed to the
Oregon House of Representatives. I
will be calling my state representa-
tive and urging her to vote no on
SB494.
— Susie Dewberry
Florence
B ALANCE THE COIN
Ponder this quote from our 34th
president, Dwight D. Eisenhower,
who for those too young to remember was a
five-star general in World War II:
“Only Americans can hurt America.”
I don’t care about political party affilia-
tions, what church people attend or which
war an individual served in.
I care about how we talk to and about each
other.
If what divides us could be compared to the
two sides of a quarter, I say we should bal-
ance the coin on its edge.
We need to not “boo” each other or call
each other idiots. Both of these behaviors
happened at Ron Wyden’s town hall within
L ETTERS TO THE
E DITOR P OLICY
The Siuslaw News welcomes letters to
the editor as part of a community discus-
sion of issues on the local, state and
national level.
Emailed
letters
are
preferred.
Handwritten or typed letters must be
signed. All letters need to include full
name, address and phone number; only
name and city will be printed. Letters
should be limited to about 300 words.
Letters are subject to editing for length,
grammar and clarity. Publication of any
letter is not guaranteed and depends on
space available and the volume of letters
received.
Libelous, argumentative and anony-
mous letters or poetry, or letters from out-
side our readership area will not be pub-
lished.
Send letters to:
nhickson@thesiuslawnews.com
my view and earshot — and both “sides” had
a voice in it.
Let’s seek what’s good in each other and
build on that.
Let’s listen and pass the olive branch
around to give each speaker a chance.
— Ivy Medow
Florence
S POTLIGHT ON VALUABLE RESOURCE
Many thanks to Mark Brennan and the
Siuslaw News for the story about the
Memory Loss Respite Center (May 3). The
Memory Loss Respite Center provides care
for members of our community who have
memory loss as well as support for their care-
givers.
As a volunteer at the center, I appreciate
the spotlight on this very valuable communi-
ty resource. The results of the article have
included generous donations, a significant
increase in the number of families receiving
services, and a much appreciated increase in
new and enthusiastic volunteers.
However, while the community support
has been heartening, the center is still short of
meeting the goal of returning to services three
days a week.
Presently the center is open only Mondays
and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. With
just a few more volunteers, the center could
return to being available on Wednesdays.
I encourage anyone with a caring and giv-
ing heart who is interested in helping others
to stop by (Florence Senior Center at 1570
Kingwood St.) any Monday or Thursday to
see what the program is about.
I am very grateful to live in such a gener-
ous and caring community as Florence.
— Pat Duncan
USPS# 497-660
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WHERE TO WRITE
Susan Gutierrez
Cathy Dietz
Ron Annis
Jeremy Gentry
At the recent Flag Retirement Ceremony,
children were conspicuously absent.
As Wally Shoults read “The Talking Flag,”
a complete history lesson was given as to why
America is good and great.
America may not be perfect, but perfection
is not a requirement of goodness. Throughout
history, writers of all cultures — e.g. Voltaire,
Shakespeare, Aristotle, Confucius, etc. —
have opined that “better is the enemy of
good.”
If we are to again come together as a peo-
ple, knowledge of why America is good and
great is essential.
To me, Flag Day is as important as July 4
because, on June 14, 1777, the Continental
Congress adopted the Stars and Stripes, for-
ever associating “Old Glory” with the desire
of man to be free of oppression.
No other symbol in the world so defines
freedom.
Next year, let’s endeavor to get as many
children as possible to attend the Flag
Retirement Ceremony so that they can fully
appreciate the gift with which they have been
blessed.
— Ian Eales
Florence
T RUMP IS NOT A ‘ GENIUS ’
In a Letter to the Editor (June 14) by
Guthrie Wilson titled “Let the President do
his job,” I first thought it was written in jest.
But as I was reading it, I realized it was writ-
ten by someone with a perspective I know lit-
tle about.
The letter stated things like “The current
political establishment is clearly against the
President because of fear...” “He is being
lashed out at by Congress and the political
regime...” and “In our Constitution, the feder-
al government has no rights over our money,
our alcohol, marijuana laws, education or
health insurance...”
I am a bit confused with this because,
according to the letter, our government con-
trols everything.
“...[Thanks to President Trump] gas and
oil, big pharmaceuticals and industrial farm-
ing no longer run our country...”
I don’t know where this idea came from
since President Trump is the one who wants
to start up the polluting coal industry once
again.
What bothered me most is that Wilson
called Trump a “genius.” A genius is a person
who displays exceptional intellectual ability,
creative productivity… typically to a degree
that is associated with the achievements of
new advances in the domain of knowledge.
We have had a number of geniuses visit our
world. People like Leonardo Da Vinci, Albert
Einstein, Stephen Hawking, etc.
To consider Trump a genius is beyond my
understanding.
On the June 13 edition of “The Morning
Show on CBS,” Newt Gingrich suggested
that Trump is still learning how to be the pres-
ident because he was a businessman and did
not realize the workings of Washington.
I think many can agree that Trump does not
know much about the political workings of
Washington. But if he wanted to learn, why
didn’t he surround himself with teachers
rather than cronies?
That would seem to me to be the smart
thing to do.
— Win Jolley
Florence
Copyright 2017 © Siuslaw News
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.
James Rand
Jenna Bartlett
Ned Hickson
Erik Chalhoub
Florence
W HERE ARE THE
CHILDREN ?
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
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
www.merkley.senate.gov
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 ( 4 th Dist.)
2134 Rayburn HOB
Washington, DC 20515
202-225-6416
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