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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 2, 2017)
4 A ❘ WEDNESDAY EDITION ❘ AUGUST 2, 2017 Siuslaw News NED HICKSON , EDITOR Opinion P.O. Box 10 Florence, OR 97439 ❘ 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 Opiate potency increasing — so are deaths D rug overdose is now the leading cause of accidental death in the United States. In 2014, it surpassed both car accidents and gun violence in number of deaths. Those with loved ones who are using opiates or heroin need to be aware that opiates are the main contrib- utors to this problem. With drug dealers across the United States mixing new and powerful synthetic drugs into street opiates such as heroin, the chance of acciden- tal overdose has exponentially increased. The drugs fentanyl, U- 47700 and furanyl can be 50 to 100 times more powerful than heroin, making the risk of a fatal overdose much higher. Drug dealers have been using these drugs to increase the potency of their heroin at a lower cost. B Y R AY C LAUSON C OMMUNITY I NFORMATION , N ARCONON These new drugs are increasing the risk to any who abuse drugs as drug dealers press drugs into pills and sell- ing them under the guise of being something else. Today, those who abuse drugs truly are at risk as there is no telling what drugs they are taking. Now, more than ever, it is essential to help those you know who are addicted to alcohol or drugs. Trying to help someone with an addic- tion can be more than frustrat- ing. And although you just want to help, many times they fight against you as if you were the enemy. Don’t be surprised if your loved even accuses you of contributing to their addiction. Hear them out and take their words into consideration, but at the end of the day realize getting them sober and con- tinuing to live is the most important thing. These drugs have made it potentially life threatening to be an abuser of any type of drugs. Get yourself educated. If one of your loved ones is struggling with addiction, get them into treatment. Don’t wait until it is too late. There are many different approaches to the challenge of how to help a substance abuser. For free information or to learn the steps of how to get someone into treatment for heroin addiction, you can visit www.narcononnewliferetreat. org/blog/are-you-an-addict. html or call 1-800-431-1754 to get help for your loved ones. LETTERS F ALSE FACTS Our childish president loves to tweet. He continues his ongoing tweet battle with CNN about “false news.” It seems that CNN has published — or had reporters question — all of his tweets which cite false facts. Now, the President is unable to handle the press and its questioning his “facts.” How would he be able to cope if some- thing really happened? What if someone asked him about CNBW? Without any knowledge, would he attack the CNBW as a liberal news organization not knowing it means Chemical Nuclear Biological Warfare? He Scares me. — Win Jolley Florence H OPING FOR A HATE - FREE CITY I believe that every Florence resident should be treated with compassion and respect regardless of national origin or citi- zenship status. President Trump advocated violent treat- ment of people picked up by police and called for funding of another 10,000 ICE agents in a recent speech in Ronkonkoma, N.Y. Rose Riley, ICE spokeswoman in Seattle, noted that the vetting process in seeking out unauthorized immigrants is now less selec- tive than in previous years, back when the focus was on serious criminals. But now, Riley said, “There is no catego- ry of an individual who is exempt from ICE enforcement. Under the executive orders given by President Trump, ICE officers do not hesitate to ask anyone associated with someone who they arrest about their status. It’s not dependent on their criminality.” (Oregonians for Immigration Reform) The Lane County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved new Lane County Manual language regarding immigration. It states that it is the expecta- tion that all Lane County employees (not just law enforcement) adhere to ORS l81A.820, which prohibits local entities from using “agency money, equipment or personnel for the purpose of detecting or apprehending persons whose only violation of law is that they are persons of foreign cit- izenship present in the United States in vio- lation of federal immigration laws.” It was noted by the commissioners that they believed that the limited resources of Lane County are better spent providing direct services to the community rather than acting as immigration enforcement officers, which is the responsibility of federal law enforcement. (Lane County Key Communicator Network) Lane County Commissioner Jay Bozievich commented before the unani- mous vote that, “We are a local government providing local services. If a citizen is afraid to come to us, that really affects our ability to protect people.” (Oregonians for Immigration Reform) Three Republican state legislators are leading an initiative petition to repeal ORS l81. But research shows that immigrants who fear deportation avoid public places and interaction with police officers. This erosion of trust makes the entire community vulnerable because people are fearful of reporting crimes, coming out as witnesses, or reporting domestic violence abuses. (Center for American Progress). A Center for American Progress report in 2016 found that removing 7 million unau- thorized immigrants will result in a loss of $900 billion federal government revenue over a decade and individual states will forgo $11.74 billion each year in state and local taxes that unauthorized immigrants already pay into the system through taxes. I feel it is imperative both morally and ethically that we in Florence stand with our immigrant brothers and sisters and call for a hate-free community. — Judy Preisler Florence B ADLY NEEDED DIALOGUE In regard to Dave Peck’s letter to the edi- tor “County Employees Can’t Report Federal Crimes?” (July 12) — Yes, they can, and the statement that off-duty county employees could be terminated for reporting immigration law violations is not correct, according to Lane County Public Information Officer Devon Ashbridge. She says the order adopted by Lane County Commissioners on July 11 reaffirms continued compliance with a 30-year-old state policy that prohibits local law enforce- ment from locating or arresting people whose only legal violation is being in the U.S. without immigration papers. The order also expands the policy to include all Lane County services and depart- ments. The order was adopted unanimously with the cooperation and support of the District Attorney, Sheriffs’ Department and other county agencies and does not violate current state or federal law. The immigration controversy has incited emotionally-charged, opposing points of view. Speculation that stokes anger and resentment unnecessarily takes us further away from badly-needed dialog that might lead to a resolution. How can the two sides have a conversa- tion about this? — Rollin Olson Florence D ON ’ T PUT STUDENT ATH - LETES AT RISK In responding to the viewpoint expressed in sports page columnist Lloyd Little’s “Time Out” in the July 29 issue of Siuslaw News, I wish to state a different opinion. Students participating in athletic contests are far too young to be able to assess the potential after effects of an injury incurred during play. Rather than allowing them to make an uninformed “personal choice” that might have very serious physical and mental con- sequences in later life, I propose that their educational mentors (the school system) enforce rules prohibiting vanity driven re- engagement. — Bill Durst Florence 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. 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
