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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 27, 2017)
4 A ❘ WEDNESDAY EDITION ❘ DECEMBER 27, 2017 Siuslaw News P.O. Box 10 Florence, OR 97439 NED HICKSON , EDITOR ❘ 541-902-3520 ❘ NHICKSON @ THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM Opinion 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, $76; 6-month in-county, $52; 10-weeks subscription, $23; Out of Lane County — 1-year subscription,$99; 6-month out-of-county, $65; 10-weeks subscription, $29; Out of State — 1- year subscription, $125; E-Edition Online Only (Anywhere) — 1-year subscription, $71. Mail subscription includes E-Edition. Website and E-Edition: TheSiuslawNews.com L ETTERS Thomas fire tragedy strikes home by news outlets from around the world. As a firefighter, Cory Iverson was a member of a family made up of firefight- er’s everywhere. But he Even as seven of our local firefighters were returning home safely from what has become the fourth-largest wildfire in California history, word of the tragic death of CalFire firefighter/engineer Cory Iverson on Dec. 14 was making its way into the national news. This past Saturday, near- ly 2,000 firefighters attend- ed the memorial service, which was live-streamed from The Rock Church at Liberty Station and covered her family’s frequent visits to Florence. The community informa- tion sign illuminated out- side of SVFR’s main sta- tion is a reminder of the ties From the Editor’s Desk N ED H ICKSON also tragically leaves behind a family with ties to our local community. His wife, Ashley, spent countless days peddling her bike around the neighbor- hood of Upas and 13th streets with her cousins Hallie and Seabre while growing up, often visiting her grandma Marge during that bind, not only within the firefighting family, but also to those family mem- bers within our Florence community sharing the pain of Ashley’s loss. In his tribute to Cory dur- ing Saturday’s service, CalFire-San Diego Chief Tony Mecham said, “Let there be no doubt Cory died a hero. He lost his life for one very simple reason: He put others first.” As you head into the New Year, please take a moment or two during the coming days to put his fam- ily first in your thoughts, prayers and, if you can, with a donation to the “Help Ashley Iverson” gofundme account set up on his family’s behalf. Our hearts go out to Ashley, her 2-year-old daughter Evie, and a daugh- ter on the way who will never have the chance to meet her extraordinary father. Write Siuslaw News editor Ned Hickson at nhickson@the siuslaw news.com or P.O. Box 10, Florence, Ore. 97439. LETTERS GOP TAX PLAN HURTS A MERICA ’ S POOR The response to the odious Republican tax bill that rewards America’s top 1 percent and hurts the poor is outrageous, say many who I know in Florence. To help remedy the situation, here’s some passionate words from Mario Savio that evoke this same outrage in the hearts and minds of good Americans who want to help the 60 million citizens living rough, super poor and homeless across this land this holiday season: “There’s a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can’t take part. You can’t even pas- sively take part. “And you’ve got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels… upon the levers, upon the apparatus, and you’ve got to make it stop. “And you’ve got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you’re free, the machine will be prevented from working at all.” —Dave Masko Florence F EELING BLESSED TO BE IN F LORENCE My husband and I would like to express our sincere gratitude to the Florence community while I received a stem cell transplant at OHSU and remained in the Portland area as required for the first 100 days after transplant. The wonderful people of Florence provided prayer, hope and support to both of us during this four-month journey. I am pleased to be back at home in Florence and am doing well with the recovery. The people here are the ones who made us fall in love with Florence and make it our home, and we are confi- dent we made the right decision. We feel so blessed. —Nancy and Pat Hopkins Florence R ESPECT RIGHTS UNDER THE C ONSTITUTION In regard to Candace Thompson’s rebuttal to my Letter to the Editor (“Sexual harassment accusations need proof,” Dec. 16). You obviously mistake me for someone else. I have not been dis- mayed at all. I find it refreshing that the men have been let go due to sexu- al harassment claims. None of them had very many redeeming values, as you seem to think. The concern I have is the ques- tion of whether we are following the rule of law or our emotions? As I see it, the #MeToo movement is a way for over emotional persons to vent with the consequences being borne solely by their accused. Let’s keep in mind that some of these accu- sations are many decades old. And even though it puts a smile on my face to see these sexual deviants get their come-up-ance, it is not right if they are not given the chance for their day in court before their lives are ruined — even though it pleases me to no end. And as Travis Smiley will tell you, no, he has not been informed who his accuser is or what he is being accused of. I, too, dislike him almost as much as Al Franken, who I thought would’ve been better at catching dogs than in the Senate. You see, even though I despise these men, I respect their rights under our Constitution. And lastly, yes, there are many women who have been and will con- tinue to be abused by boorish men of all stripes; it is the women’s obliga- tion to bring charges in a timely man- ner and put these scumbags in their place. In this way all will have a just out- come. —David T. Eckhardt Florence The First Amendment C ongress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peace- ably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. 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 discretion 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
