4 A
❘
FRIDAY EDITION
❘ NOVEMBER 10, 2017
Siuslaw News
P.O. Box 10
Florence, OR 97439
NED HICKSON , EDITOR
Opinion
❘ 541-902-3520 ❘
NHICKSON @ THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM
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Published every Wednesday and Saturday at 148 Maple St. in Florence, Lane County, Oregon. A member of the
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L ETTERS
Forever indebted to those who serve
grow up in an era that was
essentially between wars,
leaving a generation of kids
whose only knowledge of bat-
tle came from history books,
Shield” and “SCUD missiles”
entered our vernacular — and
we witnessed live coverage of
war on our television sets for
the first time in our lives.
From the Editor’s Desk
In the corner of a room in
my mother’s home is a dusty
pair of cavalry boots that
belonged to my great-grandfa-
ther. He wore them as he rode
in defense of our nation
against the threat of tyranny.
I’ve often stared at those boots
and wondered how many
times he slid them on not
knowing if it would be for the
last time.
I was fortunate enough to
N ED H ICKSON
classic films and the occasion-
al tale momentarily pried from
tight-lipped fathers and grand-
parents.
It wasn’t until my late 30s,
when our nation’s focus shift-
ed from places like Vietnam
and Korea to the shifting sands
of the Middle East, that terms
like
“Operation:
Desert
And we have essentially
been at war ever since.
Though as Americans we
have the right to disagree on
what justifies going to war,
who may benefit from it or
what the moral consequences
may be, we cannot ever over-
look the sacrifice made by
those who answer the call
regardless of how we may feel
about war itself.
We are indebted to everyone
who has been, who is now and
whoever will be, willing to
sacrifice themselves in service
to our nation.
Our debt to their duty exists
well beyond the realm of poli-
tics, partisanship, personal
agendas or approval numbers.
It’s about the fact that,
thanks to our veterans, we
occasionally provide a genera-
tion with the chance to grow
up without knowing war.
Write Siuslaw News editor
Ned Hickson at nhickson@the-
siuslaw news.com or P.O. Box
10, Florence, Ore. 97439.
LETTERS
D ON ’ T WANT TO SAY
GOODBYE TO F LORENCE
I love the Florence area but will be
spending my money elsewhere unless
the rampant thefts at local campgrounds
are stopped.
I have been coming to the area from
Langley, B.C., with my family for eight
years now to enjoy the ORV opportuni-
ties that the city has on its doorstep.
We average six weeks in Florence
each year and, by my conservative esti-
mate, spend anywhere between $1,000-
$2,000 per week at local businesses. My
hard-earned money is not only spent at
Florence Yamaha and Sportsman
Honda, but also at the many local
restaurants, grocery stores, gas stations
and in antique shops and movie theater
on rainy days.
Looking at the number of ORV
enthusiasts there are at Jessie
Honeyman and Driftwood II camp-
grounds, my math tells me that this adds
up to a significant part of Florence’s
economy.
Until recently, the only thefts that we
would hear about would be the occa-
sional unlocked jerrycan or cooler.
Although unpleasant, not enough to
ruin a holiday.
This past October, however, my fam-
ily, along with three other families,
were staying at Honeyman State Park
for seven days. During our stay, there
were lock cables cut and items stolen
every single night.
This includes the theft of an ATV.
One of the families in our party had a
heavy-duty cable lock cut only 3 feet
from where his head was while he was
sleeping. They only lost a couple of full
jerrycans but the frustration and feel-
ings of violation still exist.
I highly recommend that the City of
Florence make it a high priority to
address the issue with state and county
police, as well as the state parks to end
this crime wave. Myself and a number
of the families that we regularly travel
with to Florence with have agreed that
we will give it one last shot as we
already have a trip booked in
December.
But if anything is stolen while we are
there, we sadly feel the need to say
goodbye to the Florence area and estab-
lish a different riding location down the
coast as our destination of choice.
I travel 600 miles to Florence’s out-
door mecca, as do many others who
travel similar distances. Please don’t let
a few criminals drive this significant
contribution to the local economy away
— leaving local business owners and
their employees to suffer the most.
—Kelly Dayman
Langley, Brittish Columbia
E NOUGH
The NRA and the gun lobby are not
organizations that are protecting 2nd
Amendment rights; they are protecting
the profits of gun manufacturers.
Enough.
In Texas last Sunday, 26 innocent
souls were lost due to violence with the
use of a gun and a dozen people were
injured. Every day in this country, 90
human beings are lost due to an individ-
ual with a gun. A gun has no other pur-
pose but to kill — someone or some-
thing. A semi-automatic or automatic
gun is a weapon of war, with the sole
purpose of killing as many people as
possible in the shortest amount of time.
Assault weapons should be banned
from being owned by anyone outside of
the military. All high capacity maga-
zines of ammunition should be banned
as well.
All weapons should be registered.
Anyone attempting to buy ammuni-
tion should be required to show the reg-
istration for the gun for which they are
buying that ammunition.
No registration, no ammo.
The 2nd Amendment gives you the
right to own a gun, but says nothing
about laws or restrictions on types of
guns or ammo.
It’s time.
—Marybeth Marenco
Florence
TO THE
P OLICY
E DITOR
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Libelous, argumentative and anonymous letters
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editor.
P OLITICAL /E LECTION L ETTERS :
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As with all letters and advertising content, the
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ria.
Send letters to:
nhickson@thesiuslawnews.com
WHERE TO WRITE
T AKE PRIDE IN OUR
COUNTY AND CITY
Do you see trash, bottles and cans lit-
tering the roadside in front of your
house?
Why not take a few minutes and walk
your property where it abuts the road-
side? Or walk another 10 yards beyond
your property line in each direction and
pick up the garbage?
Those of us who live next to county
roads certainly cannot count on Lane
County to do it.
I questioned our Lane County
Commissioner Jay Bozevich some time
ago about getting the jail inmates to do
it. After all, it doesn’t seem they are
doing much anyway.
His reply was something along the
lines of not being allowed by the unions
to have staff out there watching the
inmates.
And
the
blackberries
and
Scotchbroom growing by the road-
sides? The county barely mows that
anymore, apparently due to budget con-
straints again.
I guess I’ll have to take on that
myself, too.
So, don’t wait for someone else to do
it.
Take pride in our county and city.
—Dana Rodet
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