Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 26, 2017)
4 A ❘ WEDNESDAY EDITION ❘ AUGUST 26, 2017 Siuslaw News P.O. Box 10 Florence, OR 97439 NED HICKSON , EDITOR Opinion Keep focus on American values W ESLEY V OTH For the Siuslaw News containing “the most potent and consequential words in American histo- ry.” The passage came to represent a moral standard to which the United States should strive. This view was notably promoted by Abraham Lincoln, who considered the Declaration to be the foundation of his political philosophy and argued that it is a state- ment of principles through which the United States Constitution should be interpreted. Although the next (3rd) sentence in our Declaration may be less known, it is the main point I’m making: “That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” So from the beginning, we have insisted that the purpose of government is primarily to secure those rights, and our bitterest war was fought to make that Declaration enduring. Lest there be any doubt, as in current debate regard- ing the cause of the Civil War being the fight to pre- serve the Union, the Declarations of Independence by each of the seceding states makes it clear in their first few sentences that the issue of their leaving was slavery; there is nothing in them remotely echoing our origi- nal Declaration, or of mov- ing the cause of liberty or human dignity forward. Here are two examples that were typical for the group of seceding states. Texas: “She [Texas] was received as a common- wealth holding, maintain- ing and protecting the institution known as negro slavery — the servitude of the African to the white race within her limits — a relation that had existed from the first settlement of her wilderness by the white race, and which her people intended should exist in all future time...” And Georgia, the only one of the 13 original colonies to have an early law preventing slavery: “The people of Georgia having dissolved their political connection with the Government of the United States of America, and present to their Confederates and the world the causes which have led to the separation. For the last 10 years we have had numerous and serious caus- es of complaint against our non-slave-holding Confederate States with reference to the subject of African slavery. They have endeavored to weaken our security, to disturb our domestic peace and tran- quility, and persistently refused to comply with their express constitutional obligations to us in refer- ence to that property [slaves].” The truths we claimed as self evident have proved hard to live up to, although it has been the moral high ground justification for our greatest wars. We have to acknowledge our track record: we are a nation of immigrants whose title to this land came through war and the near genocide of its original inhabitants. Our fortunes came about in part through the enslave- ment of millions of Africans. That legacy is at the heart of our problems as a nation. The cause and long bloody road of civil rights is making the “all” actually include all. The rights claimed are human rights, belonging to humans regardless of any status subjugations, and it has been costly. So, let arguments over the environment and for- eign policy and the health and safety of our people stand aside for a moment, and let’s come together to declare that we will never back down on any progress made to date in the march toward freedom and digni- ty for all people. We are, and America is, great only to the extent we secure and ensure those rights, and make good on those words. LETTERS G ET OVER IT It was reported recently someone placed a hateful sign out on the highway. Someone (one). That means out of a population of 9,000, one person did something stupid — the rest of us took the kids to school, went to work and a bunch of us went fishing. I’ve observed that the Florence City Council is still being pestered to death with requests to make the city a “sanctuary city” and an “anti-hate city,” and to take other political positions. They really have more important things to do. Does anybody remember how many registered voters came out and voted last election? Twenty-five percent. Yep, the other 75 percent didn’t give a rip. And you know what? Other than out of morbid curiosity, 75 percent probably don’t give a rip about a mean little sign, made by a mean little person, using a cheap little magic marker. Or having Florence named a sanctu- ary city or anti-hate city. Why? They got over it. November came, 78 percent of us voted, Trump got elected and the vast majority of us went on with our lives. Maybe it’s time to get on with your own. —Jeff Ashmead Florence F LORENCE IS BETTER THAN THIS Today, I learned that one of my neigh- bors picked up a pizza yesterday and on her way to her car a man in a truck yelled at her that she might be glad he didn’t run her over like what happened in Charlottesville, Va. I can’t let this go without comment and I’m sure the man, and perhaps his son with him, likely won’t even read this or know just how terrible his stupid remarks were. We cannot stay silent with this kind of hate. I put the blame for this blatant hate right at the feet of our President, who did not condemn the people who killed a woman in Virginia and injured many others. This President, who throughout his campaign urged supporters to kick protesters out and beat them up, now can’t control these monsters that have crawled out of the dark closets where they’ve hidden for years. Florence is better than this. —Nancy Rickard Florence S TIRRING THE POT Like others, I feel the need to com- ment on Ned Hickson’s editorial “Sign on Hwy 101...” (Aug. 19). Why would someone who sees a sign like that call the editor of a newspaper and not the police? Maybe they wanted to turn it into a political issue in an attempt to advance a specific agenda? And why would Mr. Hickson feel com- pelled to write about it? Did he notify the police? Has he ever written about the “hate” at our local town hall meetings when people are being shouted down and called liars, as well as profanity being screamed to the point where their voice can’t be heard? Where was his outrage then? I think that Mr. Hickson has higher moral obligations to the community as both an editor and an elected official than to simply publish an editorial. Mr. Hickson’s editorial starts out about “hate” and quickly becomes about his personal political views. I find his editorial disingenuous and asphyxiating. I can’t help question his ethics, morals and motivations for writing such a piece. But then, may I also remind the commu- nity that Mr. Hickson continues to hold political office despite it being against the Society of Professional Journalism’s ethics position — something that has been brought to his attention both publi- cally and privately numerous times. And what about the recent surge in letters to the editor complaining about the “biased reporting” and the increas- ing use of “anonymous” resources by the newspaper in its reports. I was in the audience during his “fake news” recognition event at City Lights Cinema and heard him expound on how to spot fake news. It is unfortunate that Mr. Hickson is engaged in many of the tactics he warned about. How conven- ient to be a journalist, write things that hurt people, stand behind confidentiali- ty, and deny the people you hurt their sixth amendment right of facing one’s accuser. In my opinion, the Siuslaw News has been looking like an episode of “Gossip Girls” lately. It’s a shame that the newspaper can’t seem to stop “stirring the pot” and be more objective and positive instead of adding fuel to the flames of hate — and pitting the citizens of Florence against each other. Mr. Hickson’s editorial policy seems intended to inflame and divide us rather than bring us together as a community. —Katie Prosser Florence 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 VIEW FROM UPRIVER In the midst of tumul- tuous events, vying person- alities and partisan poli- tics, it is a struggle to stay focused on what is impor- tant. Even to figure out what that actually is. This is not something we can afford to just leave to leaders in any branch of government, whether we voted for them, voted for someone else or, for some reason, didn’t or couldn’t vote at all. We either are who we say we are as a country, or it’s over, and we become something else. Our origi- nal Declaration of who we are, and our reasons for becoming independent of colonial power, were stated by a unanimous Congress of, for the first time, The United States of America: “…We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” A Wikipedia article on the Declaration refers to this statement as “One of the best-known sentences in the English language,” ❘ 541-902-3520 ❘ 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 only be published at the discression of the editor. 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 B UILDING LEADERS OF TOMORROW We would like to publicly recognize and thank the kids from the Boys and Girls Club of Western Lane County who participated during the past two weeks in the Florence Air Academy. Thirteen bright and engaging teens challenged us daily with their knowl- edge and interest in learning about avia- tion materials that included aeronautics, weather, map reading and many inter- views with professionals from different areas of aviation. During this two weeks they had the opportunity to fly radio controlled air- planes, drones and even got to take the controls of a real airplane as each of them flew on a cross country flight that we planned as a group. It gives us both a sense of satisfaction and pride that the leaders of tomorrow are right here amongst us and their value and worth is evident when they are given the opportunity to question the unknown and discover the new and exciting possibilities that are available to them. Yes, there is hope for the future. Thank you. — T.F. “Sam” Spayd and Terry Tomeny Florence 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