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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 13, 2018)
4 A ❘ SATURDAY EDITION ❘ JANUARY 10, 2018 Siuslaw News P.O. Box 10 Florence, OR 97439 NED HICKSON , EDITOR Opinion Walking the fine line of ‘The Post’ W hen journalists watch films such as “The Post” or “Spotlight,” they see how ded- icated reporters, editors, copy- editors and an entire newspa- per staff can take a kernel of truth and transform it into a paradigm-shifting story. In 2015's “Spotlight,” a team of four investigative journalists learns to work with a new edi- tor in the light of scandal with- in the religious community. In “The Post,” opening this week- end, an entire newspaper hangs in the balance as an editor and publisher seek to invoke free- dom of the press. Both films are about the search for truth, the verification of sources and the inevitable pushback from people, often in places of authority, who do not wish to fully inform the public. For me, “The Post” was about much more than that. Alongside the story about jour- nalistic heroes fighting for the freedom of the press is the story of Katherine Graham (played by Meryl Streep), pub- lisher of The Washington Post. “The Post” draws attention to the presence of women in the newsroom, the streets and the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. If they are there, they are few and far between. Except for Graham, who commands a room in her social life, but struggles with nerves and pressure in the boardroom. Taking on the controversial story of the Pentagon Papers is her debut, her coming out, her grand entrance into what is clearly a man's world. By the end of the film, she has taken her rightful place at the head of The Post, not as the legacy of her father's daughter or her husband's wife, but as Kay Graham, herself. This could not be done with- out a stellar supporting cast of journalists and her executive editor, Ben Bradlee, played by Tom Hanks. While Bradlee and his reporters work to gather infor- mation, Graham must prepare herself to be the only woman in the boardroom. She rehears- es key points, she takes notes, she takes a deep breath — but she rarely gets the chance to speak. In short, she struggles with what pop culture describes as “imposter syndrome,” a term used to describe someone who feels insufficient in their knowledge, even if they have prepared for the test, earned their degree or qualified for that position. It is something many women experience. But Graham keeps going, often with a smile, even in the face of verbal opposition. She thanks her naysayers “for their frankness” as they tell her time and again that she is destroying the legacy of The Post. For most of the film, Graham walks a fine line between hostess and publisher. As long as she doesn’t involve herself too much in the running of her newspaper, she can be both. But she must choose between her longtime friend- ship with the Washington elite's Robert McNamara, who created the Vietnam Study Task Force in 1967 — which ultimately created the Pentagon Papers — and her role as a representative of the free press. When Bradlee gets hold of the classified study, Graham ultimately must choose who she wants to be. “If we live in a world where the government can tell us what we can and cannot print, then The Washington Post as we know it has already ceased to exist,” Bradlee says. It may sound melodramatic, like a line from “Star Wars” about the empire already win- ning. And maybe, in the Nixon era, it seemed that way. But thanks to the efforts of The New York Times, The Washington Post and journal- ists like Bradlee and Graham, the media reaffirmed its right to freedom of the press. In the end, Graham affirms both the role of the newspaper — for “outstanding news col- lection and reporting” and “dedication to the welfare of the nation and to the principles of the free press” — and her- self. As she says, “We will carry on in the tradition that has been so well set.” As a journalist and a woman, it is a legacy I can look up to. On Sunday, Jan. 14, Siuslaw News Editor Ned Hickson and Features Editor Chantelle Meyer will participate in a Q&A at City Lights Cinemas at the end of the 3 p.m. show- ing of “The Post.” Joining them will be Mel Gurtov, one of the authors of the historic Pentagon Papers, who will introduce the film and take part in the discussion. Write Siuslaw News Features Editor Chantelle Meyer at cmeyer@thesiuslawnews.com or c/o Siuslaw News, 148 maple St., Florence, Ore. 97439. LETTERS L UCKY TO HAVE DEDICATED FIREFIGHTERS My wife and I have four hardwire smoke detectors with battery backups in our house. Over the past 17 years, we have had to have the batteries replaced numerous times — and when one device goes off at 2 a.m. in the morning, it caus- es stress. I could once do the replacement myself. But I no longer climb ladders, so have always resorted to calling an electri- cian whose home-call charge is at least $75, plus then the cost of the battery. A few days ago, my wife contacted the Sisulaw Fire Department asking if they had someone that could replace a battery because it was going off and beeping loudly. That same day, Tony Miller, the Interim Fire Protection Officer, came over. The first thing he did when he walked into our house was to use a device to check for carbon monoxide. He then changed the battery in the detector that continued to beep. He then mentioned that the detectors had a life of about 10 years and ours were 17 years old. He then asked if we wanted to find a replacement or have him replace the old with new. Today, he showed up with four new detectors with a lifespan of 10 years with an internal battery that cannot be replaced — so no more changing batter- ies. This is a program that the State Fire Marshal has in place and it is no charge to a family. Tony was professional, very courteous and gave us some insight into firefighter’s training and his duties as the Interim Fire Protection Officer. Florence is fortunate to have such a dedicated individual working for us. —Win Jolley Florence M ORE STUDY NEEDED ON WATER ISSUES Two great lakes, one in good health and one that has chronic symptoms. With that said, the Dunes City Council, in my opin- ion, took action to draw water from the healthy lake without doing due diligence. As a good neighbor, I’m not against Siltcoos Lake for obtaining good drinking water by using Woahink Lake as a source. But what is disturbing to me is that I feel the Dunes City Council should have ordered a new environmental impact report before dropping the gavel. But they chose not to, which may come back as a problem in the future. Again, I am not against good clean drinking water for Siltcoos Lake resi- dents. But I believe Dunes City Council rushed into a large impacting decision by not doing a study on healthy Woahink Lake. —John Colwell Dunes City F OCUSING ON LOCAL ISSUES HAS BROADER IMPACT Regarding Michael Allen’s Letter to the Editor (“Climate Change Underreported by Local Media,” Jan. 10): I declined to participate in the nation- wide EMAC effort because the “other cli- mate mayors across our state” were ini- tially folks like the Mayor of San Francisco and Portland, and was as much a reaction to the actions taken by President Trump in relation to the Paris conference as it was out of concern for the environment. I have struggled hard since becoming mayor to keep anyone from using our city government to further any political agen- da (and that includes mine). Another aspect of my decsison was that neither the Mayor of San Francisco nor I can have much impact on Global Warming, and I have worked hard to see that our staff and committees focus on things that will support the work plan of the our city. I was happy to support the efforts of our local EMAC to regulate Styrofoam in our community because that has a direct impact on the City of Florence. I believe I was elected to serve the Citizens of Florence and to guide the efforts of the City Council and staff in the responsibilities set forth in our City Charter and Code. Those responsibilities focus primarily on providing essential services to the City and making it a better place to live. Nowhere do I see a mandate to support any regional or global effort that is parti- san in nature or one that furthers anyone’s political agenda. —Joe Henry Mayor of Florence P ASSAGE OF M101 ASSURES AGAINST COST SHIFTING Katie Prosser’s Letter to the Editer (“War on the Working Class,” Jan. 10) unfortunately confuses or conflates many issues and her efforts to place stigma on Measure 101 aren’t founded in fact. A couple of examples: 1) The bicycle or vehicle taxes, have nothing to do with M101. 2) Health insurance providers of the Legislature are not exempted from M101. The exemption for Medicare resulted from federal law, not state choice. Every worker insured through an employer would expect to benefit from M101 passage through lower overall healthcare premium prices. Every person buying “individual market” coverage will see lower premiums (and by “lower” I mean reduced from what the price increase trend would otherwise be.) Why? By keeping the health care costs of 400,000 new (as of 2014) Medicaid enrollees from being shifted over to Oregon “group” and “individual” market policies should they become uninsured by repealing M101. Passage of M101 accomplishes this: Using 95 percent of federal — rather than state — funding. If the 400,000 have no such coverage, their ER charges and other provider costs will be shifted over to all other carriers using those same providers. In turn, the carriers would seek higher approved rates from the state. These lower premiums are confirmed by a major 2016 study looking at national impacts of the recent Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act. Oregon and many states adopted such expansion while many GOP-controlled states rejected it. The study compared 91 pairs of counties, each pair having similar health demographics. The only difference for each pair was respective location for one county in a state that expanded Medicaid versus rejecting such expansion. The study result: “Marketplace premi- ums in states that have expanded Medicaid are, on average, substantially lower than in states that have not ... We estimate that Marketplace premiums are about 7 percent lower in expansion states...” (Underlined in original text.) The study, conducted by the Department of Health and Human Services, and titled “The Effect of Medicaid Expansion on Marketplace Premiums” is at https://aspe.hhs .gov/pdf- report/effectmedicaid-expansion-market- place-premiums. Granted, healthcare finance is not a simple issue. But a “no” vote only pro- motes immediate insurance price instabil- ity — and risks increasing premiums. —Rand Dawson Siltcoos Lake ❘ 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 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
