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
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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
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Send letters to:
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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