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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (July 12, 2017)
4 A ❘ WEDNESDAY EDITION ❘ JULY 12, 2017 Siuslaw News P.O. Box 10 Florence, OR 97439 NED HICKSON , EDITOR Opinion Owning up to my mistakes Within 15 minutes of post- ing “Details Revealed in Shooting Death” online last Friday (July 7), we were rightly taken to task by some folks on Facebook regarding several typos in the story. While I was quickly able to correct the online version, the print edition had already gone to press, along with those typos. I immediately responded to the Facebook posts, apolo- gizing for the misspellings and thanking those individu- als for holding us to a high standard. I also clarified that assuring against those kinds of mistakes are ultimately my responsibility rather than our reporters. I also felt it was important to address you, our print edi- tion readers, and offer the same apology by owning up to my mistakes. Since becoming editor in September, one of my goals has been to not only make the stories we cover more relevent on a local and national level, but also more timely. Sending a member of our three-reporter staff to Eugene to cover a story in the middle of a deadline day isn’t something we’ve done in the past. Since September, we’ve done it three times. However, in our efforts to achieve the goals we’ve set for ourselves as a news team, it’s clear we are still working to find our equalibrium bal- ancing those goals with our commitment to accuracy. Today, we met as a team and created new proofread- ing rules to prevent those kinds of typos in the future. Will it guarantee we will always be error free? Probably not, which is why every newspaper posts corrections. But I can guar- antee you of our commit- ment to doing our very best. Your faith in our reporting and its accuracy is para- mount to us; it is the corner- stone of our relationship. So is your willingness to let us know when we make mistakes. Thank you for holding me accountable and making that cornerstone even stronger. — N ED H ICKSON . EDITOR ❘ 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. USPS# 497-660 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. Oregon Group Publisher 541-265 8571 Publisher, ext. 318 Editor, ext. 313 Consulting Editor 831-761-7353 Email: echalhoub@register-pajaronian.com Marketing Director, ext. 326 Office Supervisor, ext. 312 Production Supervisor Press Manager James Rand Jenna Bartlett Ned Hickson Erik Chalhoub Susan Gutierrez Cathy Dietz Ron Annis Jeremy Gentry DEADLINES: Wednesday Issue—General news, Monday noon; Budgets, four days prior to publication; Regular classified ads, Monday 1 p.m.; Display ads, Monday noon; Boxed and display classified ads, Friday 5 p.m. Saturday Issue—General news, Thursday noon; Budgets, two days prior to publication; Regular classifiedad,sThursday 1 p.m.; Display ads, Thursday noon; Boxed and display classified ads, Wednesday 5 p.m. Soundings, Tuesday 5 p.m. NEWSPAPER SUBSCRIPTION RATES: In Lane County — 1-year subscription, $71; 10-weeks subscription, $18; Out of Lane County — 1-year subscrip- tion,$94; 10-weeks subscription, $24; Out of State — 1-year subscription, $120; Out of United States — 1-year subscription, $200; E-Edition Online Only (Anywhere) — 1-year subscription, $65. Mail subscription includes E-Edition. Website and E-Edition: www.TheSiuslawNews.com L ETTERS TO THE P OLICY E DITOR The Siuslaw News welcomes letters to the editor as part of a community discussion 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 anonymous letters or poetry, or letters from outside our readership area will not be published. LETTERS W E ARE ALL ENTITLED TO RESPECT My wife and I have been residents of Florence for almost 25 years. We have found Florence to provide almost all the things we considered important when we made our decision to move 3,000 miles and live here for the rest of our lives. In the past, I wrote letters to this newspaper and got involved in various community issues. I was critical of waste and inefficiency in the school system, management issues by park officials at various levels, and the fail- ure of past editors to use this newspaper more forcefully for the public good. I did so trying to help bring changes which would improve the Florence area for all citizens. We gladly support Food Share, Siuslaw Outreach Services, Helping Hands Coalition and the Siuslaw Public Library. Today, my wife and I were incensed by the letter from Jessica Rojas (“Leaving Florence,” July 8) who said she is leaving Florence. I can only say to her: Goodbye. Three times she mentioned the lack of “amenities and resources” without bothering to give one example of what she feels is missing. If she is disap- pointed in what is here, it is her own fault for not checking out the communi- ty before moving here. Florence has more amenities and resources than most small towns. And it is located in one of the most beautiful and progressive areas in the United States. The attitude of Ms. Rojas seems most clearly revealed by her disparaging the “entitlement population” and “do-good- ers” here. I must assume she means sen- ior citizens on limited incomes, immi- grant families, transients and others in our community who either need help or are willing to help others because it’s the right thing to do. We all contribute to the diversity and character of Florence and are each enti- tled to respect. I feel Ms. Rojas should leave Florence just as those who have done so in the past once they realize that it rains a lot in winter, is dry and windy during the summer months and has slugs which eat plants. These things are easy to learn about before moving here. I say good luck to her in finding the amenities and resources she needs to be satisfied, although I doubt she will ever be happy. —Joe Decker Florence D ON ’ T TRASH MY TOWN Reading Saturday’s wisdom in the Letters to the Editor (July 8) was enlightening. Imagine my dismay that we are not one letter writer’s ideal small town because we don’t have enough amenities or resources. By golly, what more do we need that we don’t already have? If she means that our retired women have more needs than retired men, I guess she might have a point. After all, we could use a few more beauty shops; Lord knows we have enough barbers for the men. I don’t know about the rest of you all, but I moved here to get away from all the “amenities and resources.” We have all we need, with a few exceptions — which is ok in my book. I don’t want sidewalks and street lights and the need for a cop on every corner. I find the citizens here to be to my likening just fine. I spend time in Old Town and see no “lack of pride in ownership.” I can get great food at any number of places, parts for my vehicles and for home proj- ects, too. My insurance and registration fees are about half compared to were I came from. As for the beggars... is she saying there is a town that doesn’t have them? Look, I’m just an old retired trucker. I spent the better part of the last 40 years and 4-plus million miles making a living. I love this town and I’m not going anywhere. If it doesn’t suit you, well go ahead and leave. Just don’t trash my town by compar- ing it to big-city wants. Some of us like it just fine the way it is. — David T. Eckhardt Florence C OUNTY EMPLOYEES CAN ’ T REPORT FEDERAL CRIMES ? I just discovered the Lane County Commissioners were planning to take up an ordinance Tuesday (July 11) ban- ning Lane County employees from “detecting or apprehending persons whose only violation of law is that they are persons of foreign citizenship pres- ent in the United States in violation of Federal Immigration laws” (proposed wording for new provision in the Lane County Manual under “foreign citizen- ship”). I realize the proposed provision reflects Oregon state laws recently passed, and this one focuses on not using county funds to enforce immigra- tion law. But I feel the headline in Sunday’s edition of the Register Guard (“County to Take Up Immigrant Protections” July 9) reflects the real truth. Its not about money and wise use of taxpayer funds. This ordinance is a political state- ment relating to our federal immigration law. As I thought about the proposed ordi- nance, I can only assume it would pro- hibit a county employee — who for whatever reason discovered or suspect- ed a person was in the United States illegally — from simply calling INS to report that violation. In fact, even if that employee waited until they were off duty to make the call, it could result in their termination or worse. So, to sum up, Lane County and the State of Oregon are essentially making it illegal for a county employee to report a federal crime to federal law enforce- ment — and our property taxes are being used to support that. Just think about that. — Dave Peck Florence P OLITICAL /E LECTION L ETTERS : Election-related letters must address pertinent or timely issues of interest to our readers at-large. Letters must 1) Not be a part of letter-writing campaigns on behalf of (or by) candidates; 2) Ensure any information about a candidate is accu- rate, fair and not from second-hand knowledge or hearsay; and 3) explain the reasons to support candidates based on personal experience and per- spective rather than partisanship and campaign- style rhetoric. Candidates themselves may not use the letters to the editor column to outline their views and plat- forms or to ask for votes; this constitutes paid polit- ical advertising. As with all letters and advertising content, the newspaper, at the sole discretion of the publisher, general manager and editor, reserves the right to reject any letter that doesn’t follow the above crite- ria. Send letters to: nhickson@thesiuslawnews.com WHERE TO WRITE 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, Ore. 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 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 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 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
