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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 6, 2018)
4 A ❘ SATURDAY EDITION ❘ JANUARY 6, 2018 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, $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 Huckabee’s comparison of Trump with Churchill is its own ‘Darkest Hour’ (Editor’s Note: Viewpoint submissions on this and other topics are always welcome as part of our goal to encourage community discussion and exchange of perspectives.) “The Darkest Hour” is as powerful as Gary Oldman’s portrayal of Winston Churchill’s response to Nazi Germany’s seemingly immi- nent defeat of England. Knowing anything about Churchill, his history and those times makes preposter- ous the favorable similarities Mike Huckabee saw to Trump in the movie, tweeting “... see The Darkest Hour about Churchill. A reminder as to what real leadership looks like.” He then elaborated in additonal tweets, “Churchill was hated by his own party, opposition party, and press,” “Feared by King as reckless, and despised for his blunt- ness,” and “But unlike Neville Chamberlain, he didn't retreat. We had a Chamberlain for 8 yrs; in @realDonaldTrump we have a Churchill.” I assume the derogatory comparison of Obama to Chamberlain is to be expected of Huckabee. But in favorably comparing Trump to Churchill, Huckabee neglects to recall that much owed by so many to so few.” In making his apples-to- oranges comparison, Huckabee might have remem- bered Trump received five deferments from the Vietnam draft, never occupied a public GUEST VIEWPOINT B Y A RNOLD B UCHMAN F LORENCE /S COTTSDALE Churchill was an officer in the British Army during the first World War; received numer- ous medals for valor; served in public posts for over five decades, twice as prime min- ister and once leading Britain as prime minister during World War II; brought coun- tries together to defeat the Nazi tyranny; won the 1953 Nobel Prize in Literature and gained a lasting place in the annals of oratory with phrases like “blood, toil, tears and sweat” and “never was so service post prior to the presi- dency, has befriended auto- crats, turned America inward from traditional alliances and revived the “America First” attitudes that surfaced as Churchill was standing up to German aggression. Before proclaiming that “with Trump we have another Churchill,” Huckabee would do well, in passing, to note that the coiner of “covfefe” is unlikely to gain literary immortality with his tweets or oratorical stature with verbal tics like “believe me,” “beau- tiful” and using “the blacks,” “the Muslims” or “the gays” as a way of dog whistling a group’s otherness. Huckabee’s comparison is factually incomplete and intel- lectually odious. But to the predisposed mind it is affirming. Proclamations like “Hated by his own party, opposition party, and press,” “Feared by King [the Establishment] as reckless,” “...despised for his bluntness,” and “...unlike Neville Chamberlain, he did- n’t retreat,” bolster Trump’s own media canpaign and prime surrogates for his litany in an effort to recast his char- acter weaknesses, moral defi- ciencies and knowledge gaps in a positive light. This vulgar perversion of Churchill’s strengths is the ironic downside to a power- ful movie as America faces what politically may rival Watergate as its darkest hour. IN V ENEZUELA In response to James Sherwood’s Letter to the Editor (“Real Cause for Venezuela’s Suffering,” Jan 3), Venezuela was a basket case long before the Trump administra- tion. By 2011, there was a shortage of two million homes. Housing shortages were further exacerbated when private con- struction halted due to the fear of proper- ty expropriations by its socialist govern- ment. Inflation in 2014 reached 69 percent, and was the highest in the world. By 2015, inflation was 181 percent and 800 percent in 2016. The cause of the Venezuelan crisis is control of the economy by its own gov- ernment. — Ian Eales Florence K EEP HEALTHCARE FOR O REGON CHILDREN The ballot is most likely in your hands, and if you read the voters pamphlet you could be confused because some seeming to support measure 101 are trying to trick voters into voting “no.” It’s sad that they would resort to this kind of subterfuge, legal or not. The Oregon legislators worked togeth- er to pass this legislation. Now, we need to reaffirm it. I will vote “yes” so Oregon children can have healthcare. —Nancy Rickard Florence L OWER COSTS OR MORE CHAOS ? Mr. Peck, in his recent Guest Viewpoint (“Be Informed When Placing Your Vote on Measure 101,” Jan. 3) sup- porting a “no” vote on Measure 101, men- tions the previous Guest Viewpoint by Dr. John Egar and myself (“No On Measure 101 will Raise Healthcare Costs,” Dec. 30), in which we researched and listed various reasons, and facts, to support a “yes” vote. Mr. Peck references those facts as merely “statistics” but didn’t address them in any way. If M101 fails, every Oregon healthcare premium could rise significantly. Medical providers, hospitals and clin- ics will shift their new unreimbursed treatment costs — for potentially 400,000 “former” Medicaid-Oregon Health Plan enrollees no longer receiving coverage — to other insurance carriers. Almost every professional healthcare, physician and hospital organization in the state supports M101. Approximately 70 percent of the state revenue raised by the underlying House bill will come from those various provider organizations — yet they support M101. If M101 fails, Oregonians turn their back on billions of dollars in federal 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 LETTERS GOVERNMENT IS TO BLAME TO THE P OLICY matching funding. The match rate is usu- ally at least three times any state Medicaid funding. For the 400,000 Oregonians added to the OHP since 2012, the Feds will pay about 95 percent of the Medicaid-OHP costs at this stage. Only about 30 percent, or less, of the new state revenue comes from the assess- ment — or premium tax — on various carriers issuing healthcare policies. Ignored is the fact that premiums in the “individual market” are expected to see a 6 percent net reduction due to the new “insurance stabilization” efforts built into the bill. This decreases premium prices more — 6 percent more — than the 1.5 percent tax may raise them. Why ignore this? The underlying bill affirmed by M101 has already been through a complex Legislative process. It created an insur- ance stabilization process when it was apparent the GOP-dominated Congress’s would fail to refund any federal process, and was actually encouraging risk-pool fragmentation. M101 represents and affirms a state legislative bi-partisan 3/5th majority vote that provides needed and critical certainty of funding for the near-term. Improvements, without the chaos of cutting benefits or coverage for up to 1 million Oregonians, will come in future Legislative sessions. —Rand Dawson Siltcoos Lake 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
