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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 30, 2017)
4 A ❘ WEDNESDAY EDITION ❘ AUGUST 30, 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. 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 LETTERS OCHS NEEDS OBJECTIVE EVALUATION “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.” —Stephen Covey I have been following the kerfuffle over the management and operation of the Oregon Coast Humane Society (OCHS) with interest and growing dismay. While it is not possible for an outsider and relative newcomer to Florence to evaluate the charges and counter-charges involved, it is nonetheless clear that, in the interest of the animals, they need to be resolved forthwith. If there are problems, they need to be fixed; if there are not, that needs to be affirmed and made known. Failure to do so in a timely manner risks allowing ani- mals to suffer and will adversely affect recruitment and retention of volunteers, fundraising, the organization’s ability to provide care for its innocent charges, and even its continued existence. To a naive observer, the whole thing smacks of petty politics, power plays and personalities. Surely those who care enough about animals to have become involved with OCHS can find a way to rise above these extraneous quibbles and focus on the main thing: The well-being of creatures in need of food, adequate shelter, security and a chance for a loving, life-long home. It appears, however, that there must first be a credible, objective, independent evaluation of OCHS’s organization and operation to end the current school-yard arguments that generate heat but not light — and frustrate a solution. A comprehensive, outside audit to pro- vide a common understanding of the defi- ciencies and needs to be addressed, if any, could serve that end. There are a number of large, experi- enced animal welfare organizations such as the Best Friends Animal Society that might provide an audit of the OCHS to end the bickering that now obviously thwarts its ability to concentrate on its only reason for being — the animals in its care. For their sake, I sincerely hope that OCHS is not already too broken to con- sider that option. —Dennis W. Dickinson Florence S TANDING FIRMLY WITH humane society on a weekly basis last October. I usually work with the kittens and the cats in cat adoption, but some- times I take dogs for walks as well. I’m curious as to which volunteers were inter- viewed for this article. I certainly was not interviewed even though I happened to be in Cat Adoption the day your reporter showed up to “investigate.” Not only did he not interview me, he did not even speak to me. He spent approximately 5 minutes wandering through cat adoption and then left the area. News is supposed to be fac- tual; that means you interview all volun- teers, not a select few. Bias, as displayed by your article, should be reserved for editorials. Thanks to Lisa Pappas’ remarks, people who might be motivated to donate to the shelter may choose not to do so after pub- lication of this article. I can state through personal experience that I have never seen any staff member mistreat an animal. Not even close. I see a group of dedicated staff, mostly women, who truly care for — and have compassion for — the animals they look after. I have also not met any other vol- unteers who have mentioned any con- cerns for how the animals are treated. Staff members scrupulously clean each animals’ kennel (or cubby in the case of the cats); launder bedding; sweep and mop floors; wash dishes; feed, water and medicate those animals who require med- ication; soak, scrub and dry each litter box every day. I assist with these duties when I volun- teer. The shelter staff and volunteers give the animals the love, care, medical treat- ment and attention that they desperately need. As far as the size of the dog kennels, as a former volunteer at the Humane Society of Portland, I can personally attest to the fact that those animals at a much larger facility with much more funding have no more individual space than the dogs at the Florence shelter. The floors there are also concrete because they are easier to clean and, as most people know, dogs are not litter-box trained. In Portland, they only have a concrete run for exercise, not a grassy, fenced-in area to play in as the animals in Florence have. And no animals are locked up all day. I stand firmly with the staff at the shel- ter. ANIMAL SHELTER I had the extreme displeasure of read- ing the Siuslaw News’ “investigative” report on the Florence Humane Society today when it was brought to my attention by a friend who knows I volunteer there. I don’t subscribe to this newspaper, and after reading this article I have a really good reason to never buy it. At least you had the decency to label what you printed about the Florence Humane Society and its staff as “rumors” because in my opin- ion that is all they are. I moved to Florence last September and started volunteering at the Florence — Diane Raven Florence H ISTORICAL CONTEXT In regard to Ms. Kinsman’s letter “Claim to Fame Lacks Historical Context,” (Aug. 23) one must view the actions of men in history in the context of their time and not via the prism of ours. Florida’s “Ordinance of Secession,” the shortest (All states available at www.civil- war.net/pages/ordinance s_secession.asp), reads: “We, the people of the State of Florida, in convention assembled, do solemnly ordain, publish and declare, that the State of Florida hereby withdraws herself from the confederacy of States existing under the name of the United States of America and from the existing Government of the said States; And that all political connection between her and the Government of said States ought to be, and the same is hereby, totally annulled, and said Union of States dissolved; And the State of Florida is hereby declared a sovereign and independent nation; And that all ordinances heretofore adopted, in so far as they create or recog- nize said Union, are rescinded; And all laws or parts of laws in force in this State, in so far as they recognize or assent to said Union, be, and they are hereby, repealed.” The issue of whether a State had a Right to Secede was just one issue over which the War of Northern Aggression, aka War Between the States, aka American Civil War, was fought. Scholars still argue the topic today. Note that there is no mention of slavery in Florida’s Ordinance of Secession. Only 4 of the 13 Confederate States of America [CSA] member states’ Ordinance of Secession mention slavery. From the CSA perspective, the United States of America invaded Virginia, a member State of the CSA, on July 21, 1861. To be historically accurate, the soldiers of the Confederacy were Americans defending their State, families and lastly the new Federal union, The CSA, against foreign invaders. The invasion was Lincoln’s response to South Carolina expelling Union forces from Fort Sumter in April 1861 by force of arms; Lincoln’s desire to preserve the Union at all costs may be argued to be the proximate cause of today’s troubles. Had the war not been fought, slavery, in all likelihood, would have died an eco- nomic death and the bitterness and rancor induced by Sherman and Grant’s ruthless tactics and the later Reconstruction would have never existed. One can only specu- late as to how that may have played out. Jim Downs provides persuasive evi- dence in “Sick from Freedom: African- American Illness and Suffering during the Civil War and Reconstruction” that per- haps one quarter of Americans freed by the war died during and the years follow- ing from disease and starvation. Others have reached similar estimates. It is a classic example of the Law of Unintended Consequences. “Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for pos- sible improvement ... Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” — George Santayana, The Life of Reason. — Ian Eales 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 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
