4 A
❘
SATURDAY EDITION
❘ SEPTEMBER 9, 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
VIEW FROM UPRIVER
Celebrate and give, regardless
W ESLEY V OTH
For the Siuslaw News
S
ome of the best advice
I’ve ever been given is
this: To love whether I feel
like it or not; To give whether I
have anything or not; To treat
people kindly regardless of how
they are behaving; And to work
for causes I believe in whether it
seems to be making a difference
or not.
Trying to follow this advice, I
have also learned to work with
whomever is in charge, and to
take seriously the arguments of
those with whom I disagree.
Sometimes I also have to
write, and do so whether I think
anyone who reads my words
will do anything differently
because of them.
My purpose with today’s col-
umn is to get people from this
region — the Siuslaw and
Coastal Lakes Watershed — to
support the Siuslaw Watershed
Council fundraiser in some way,
either by donating items, their
services to sell at the silent auc-
tion, or by buyiung tickets to the
Celebrate Siuslaw Salmon
fundraiser dinner.
This is no small thing.
In full disclosure, I have been
a member of the Siuslaw
Watershed Council for the near-
ly 15 years I have lived here. I
have worked for them as a con-
tractor and served on the board
of directors from 2009 to Jan. 31
of this year, when I retired.
I want to explain the organi-
zation and the purpose of its
annual fundraiser for a region
we have a stake in being suc-
cessful.
A small amount of money or
in-kind generosity increases
more than a hundred fold for this
area; proceeds from this
fundraiser will become the seed
money that funds the grant writ-
ing and efforts that brings $1
million a year to this area which
would otherwise go elsewhere.
This not only employs a num-
ber of local people or contracts
with their businesses, but gets
the cooperation and partnerships
of a wide variety of local
landowners and agencies to do
the kind of restoration work that
improves the water quality of
our streams and lakes.
It also helps ensure that there
will be salmon in this place for
our grandchildren’s grandchil-
dren — and that those children
will know about stream health,
water quality and the life cycles
not only of salmon, but other
creatures and trees, as well as
gain a familiarity with the geog-
raphy of this incredible place.
I have heard our watershed
council described as a bunch of
“leftist environmentalists”
wreaking local havoc, but not by
anyone actually familiar with its
people or work. The council is
formed from some 35 stakehold-
er groups, including federal land
managers, the Confederated
Tribes, industrial timber, small
woodlot owners, appointees
from the City of Florence, Port
of Siuslaw, Soil and Water
Conservation District, local
landowners representing the dif-
ferent regions of the watershed
and commercial and recreational
fishing, to name just a few.
One of 35 represents the envi-
ronmental “cause.”
These 35 decide on what the
priorities are, what projects get
the go ahead and how the proj-
ects will proceed. Projects only
involve cooperating landowners
or managers. From the 35 stake-
holder representatives, a board
of 9 is elected, with all decisions
made by consensus; even one
dissenting voice can stop a deci-
sion.
On the current board there is
an appointee from the City of
Florence, one from the
Confederated Tribes, a person
representing Roseburg Lumber
LLC, a small woodlot owner,
one representing the environ-
ment; and most of the rest are
local landowners.
The current executive direc-
tor is a hydrologist who spent his
career with the Bureau of Land
Management.
Much of the grant money
comes from salmon license plate
sales and the Oregon Lottery,
and some from federal agencies,
sometimes as matching money.
Projects are distributed through-
out the watershed; one large and
current one is on Fivemile and
Bell Creeks, tributaries of
Tahkenitch Lake, where some of
the best wild coho habitat and
potential remains.
The mission statement of
Siuslaw Watershed Council,
which it takes to heart, reads:
“The Siuslaw Watershed
Council supports sound eco-
nomic, social and environmental
uses of human and natural
resources in the Siuslaw River
Basin.
“The Council encourages
cooperation among public and
private watershed entities to pro-
mote awareness and understand-
ing of watershed functions by
adapting and implementing a
total watershed approach to nat-
ural resource management and
production.”
More information can be
found at www.siuslaw.org.
The
Celebrate
Siuslaw
Salmon Fundraiser will be held
Sunday, Sept. 17, from 5:30 to 9
p.m. at the Florence Events
Center.
Tickets for the fundraiser will
be $30 at the door, or $25 in
advance online at www .brown
papertickets.com/event/304649.
Partnerships, cooperation and
building trust between parties
has been a slow and growing
process, but a good one span-
ning 20 years.
I hope you’ll support the con-
tinued cooperation that benefits
our local watershed.
LETTERS
O UR YOUNG PEOPLE ARE
OUR BEST ASSET
This is in reply to one part of a letter in
the Siuslaw News (Sept. 2) by Stephen
Johnson, in which he wrote:
“Another blatantly socialist position
has been promoted by Bernie Sanders,
Jerry Brown and Andrew Cuomo, which
is that post-secondary education should
be free for all young people who graduate
from high school.”
When I graduated from high school
and started in at UCLA, I did not realize
that I was participating in a “blatantly
socialist” enterprise. It was 1946, the war
was over, for which we were most thank-
ful.
My father’s position was chief engi-
neer in a company which built landing
gear for P-47s. The demand for them
ended and so did my father’s job. Despite
the loss of family income, I could begin
my education — which took seven years
in preparation to be a Presbyterian minis-
ter.
My brother followed two years later
and studied engineering. With his educa-
tion, he got a job with Aerojet and worked
on America’s growing space capabilities.
He rose to the position of chief engineer
on the rocket that lifted the first men on
the moon off the moon.
For both of us, the free education was
of benefit to ourselves, of course. But the
free education also prepared us in differ-
ent ways to be of service in our chosen
fields. It is for the benefit of others that
post-high school education should be
free.
The best example of this is our need
for teachers in our public schools.
The kind of people we want for teach-
ers are smart enough to look at the size
that their college debt will be, and know
that teachers’ pay is only moderate, mak-
ing the choice most difficult.
Look at it this way: If the brain power
of the young people of this nation is a
national asset, is it not wise to cultivate
that national asset?
—Wilbur Wood
Vancouver, Wash./relocating to
Florence
W HERE WAS A NTIFA
DURING H ARVEY ?
First, let me say I am neither a
Republican nor a Democrat. I did not
vote for Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton
in the 2016 election.
Like many across the country, I have
viewed the news of Hurricane Harvey
and the resulting and ongoing rescues
with great interest.
It is no surprise to most of us that first
respondors such as police, fire and med-
ical personnel were on the scene immedi-
ately. It is also no surprise that our mili-
tary men and women of the Army, Air
Force, Marines, Navy and Coast Guard
were there saving lives.
What I noticed was the huge amount of
civilians, “just plain folks,” launching
their own boats and rescuing flood vic-
tims. Many of these people appeared, to
me, to be hunters, fishermen and outdoor
sportsmen (and women) from all walks of
life. They were rescuing people of all dif-
ferent races, nationalities and genders.
Many, if not most, of these heroes
would possibly be the type of people that
Hillary Clinton once referred to as
“deplorables.” Yet, they were out helping
people and saving lives.
Where were the great heroes of the
left? The “social justice warriors” and the
Antifa crowd? Probably home some-
where warm and dry, perched over their
keyboards thinking of new ways to mock,
insult and demean the very people who
are risking their lives and their property
to save lives.
The social justice warriors and Antifa
groups seem to have no trouble drawing a
crowd when it is time for riot and destruc-
tion. They have no problem getting peo-
ple together when they wish to deprive
those with whom they disagree on the
right to express first Amendment Rights
in political discourse.
They’re pretty good at beating people
up and destroying property. They don’t
seem to be terrribly interested in saving
people, though.
—Stan Easter
Florence
S CHOOL ISN ’ T FOR
CHILDCARE
Reading Gail Katz Hanson’s letter
(Sept. 6), I feel compelled to comment.
As a single working mother, I never
expected the school to furnish care for my
children other than while they were there
for classroom and recess time.
It was my job, as a parent, to insure
they were properly cared for before and
after school. I was blessed to have great
childcare that I paid for. The provider
earned a living by looking after my chil-
dren as well as their own.
Breakfast and dinner was either at
home, depending on my shift work, or
with the childcare provider. They took a
lunch from home or bought lunch at
school, for which I paid.
I don’t think taxpayers should be
expected to feed and care for children
whose parents can’t afford to do so them-
selves.
—Jacquie Beveridge
Florence
T OO MUCH SELECTIVE
OUTRAGE
There seems to be a great hypocrisy
afflicting our fellow citizens that should
disturb all of us.
The recent sign on Highway 101 with
all its insulting and demeaning words
brought out the cry of “no hate in my
town” and thus, hate evanesces.
Or so it seems to some.
Then, in the same breath, we have the
cries of “I hate Trump” because of what-
ever thorn is currently stuck in the collec-
tive craw. Is cognitive dissonance not
what it used to be?
There is selective outrage going on
here. The problem is that the sign is gone
and there is but the memory to deal with.
Trump is here for the next three years,
and despite the calls to demonize him, he
is with us — for better or worse.
Make no mistake, the man scares the
spit out of me, yet in three years we can
vote him out. To reduce him, by way of
some of the comments and vitriol here, to
something less than human only enables
others to decide that if it is evil — and
that it can be ... no, must be destroyed by
whatever means needed.
See Antifa and any anti-Trump protest
for validation of this.
A good number of recent letters have
attacked Trump and tried very hard to
dehumanize him. It is better to rise above
it all and try to make changes within the
established system, but I fear we have
devolved to the point where we choose
derision and demonization rather than an
understanding that sometimes we have
only ourselves to blame for what we per-
ceive is outside victimization.
I hate the sign because its words are
“hateful.” Trump is “hateful,” therefore I
can dehumanize him.
One is a rationality, the other is an
excuse.
To hold both simultaneously is intel-
lectual dishonesty.
Aren’t we better than that?
—Barry Sommer
Westlake
See
MORE LETTERS 5A
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
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