4 A
❘
SATURDAY EDITION
❘ FEBRUARY 3, 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
LETTERS
L OVE THE PEOPLE
IN OUR TOWN
Florence is the best place on Earth to
live and is the 11th city that I’ve lived
in.
Last Monday, I had loaded brush and
trash weeds with heavy dirt in my long-
bed truck from a big pile at the
Methodist Church. I was at the county
landfill unloading with still 2/3 of the
load left when two men came out of
nowhere and said they were there to
help me.
They then took out the rest of the
heavy material.
One man, Don, told me his name. He
and his friend are affiliated with the
Christian Church and I feel blessed to
have been rescued by them.
They had been working on a roof and
still had time and energy to help me.
Thank you, thank you.
I love this town and the people who
live here!
—Nancy Rickard
Florence
E DITOR ’ S MESSAGE AT ODDS
WITH POLITICAL CARTOONS
In his Jan. 31 editorial “Finding com-
mon ground...,” Siuslaw News editor
Ned Hickson bemoans the ascendance
of political affiliation over national.
On the same page there was a most
distasteful political cartoon which only
advances the trend bemoaned in his edi-
torial.
A responsible media would be dig-
ging into the “secret society” rather than
a ludicrous “dossier” funded by the
DNC.
The FBI has always been a political
organization ready to advance its agen-
da. Hoover kept files on everyone and
planted salacious rumors to advance
personal, FBI or party agendas.
Thankfully, a somewhat more
responsible media with longer lead
times more often than not gave them the
exposure they deserved: The spike!
—Ian Eales
Florence
Y OUR INPUT IS NEEDED
As an elected representative and
advocate for West Lane County, it is
important to me that coastal residents’
priorities for the future of our commu-
nity are included in Lane County’s
effort to update its three-year strategic
plan.
A strategic plan will set the priorities
for Lane County’s work during the next
three years. The previous plan set out a
Safe and Healthy County, Vibrant
Communities and Infrastructure as the
most critical areas on which to focus.
That focus led to improved financial
stability, economic development efforts
focused on rural communities, expan-
sion of our Community Health Centers
and so much more.
I urge all Lane County residents to
make their voices heard by participating
in an online survey at bit.ly/Lane
CoSurvey before Feb. 9.
The results from the survey, along
with those from a survey of employees
— and feedback gained during focus
groups — will inform a draft
2018–2021 strategic plan that will be
presented during the Feb. 27 Board of
Commissioners meeting and refined for
eventual adoption this spring.
Our vision is that Lane County is the
best county to live, work and play.
Achieving that vision requires all of us,
from the coast to the Cascades, to help
set the priorities for our future and work
together to make it a reality.
—Jay Bozievich, Chair
Lane County Board of
Commissioners
Y ES , OF COURSE
IT ’ S POLITICAL
County residents showed up at the
Jan. 30 County Commissioner’s meet-
ing to express their outrage at the
lengthy wait for a work session they had
requested, at the Jan. 9 meeting.
The work session to discuss the com-
missioners’ referral of the Freedom
from Aerial Herbicide Spray Ban to the
November ballot had been scheduled
for May 23, after the May primary elec-
tion — a four-month wait.
Chairman Bozievich lost his compo-
sure, saying he was likely to pull the
work session altogether because, to
him, the spray ban proponents were
using the primary election as a political
ploy.
Of course it’s political.
Don’t 15,000 citizens who signed the
petition demonstrating that aerial spray-
ing of toxic chemicals is an important
issue to them have the right to know
where the commissioners stand on this
matter — before we vote in May?
Commissioner Williams also stated
that spray ban proponents were making
the spray ban political. The spray ban is
a health issue, but of course it’s politi-
cal!
Corporate timber interests have
invaded our government structures and
have legalized protections to the harm-
ful practice of herbicide spraying in our
forests, impacting the health, safety and
welfare of area residents and the envi-
ronment.
Yes, of course it’s political.
—Michelle Holman
Deadwood
C REATURE OF THE B ELTWAY
Fact-checking Trump confirms, at the
very least, that core entertainment val-
ues are more important than reality for
many of his supporters.
For example, why was there no clap-
ping when Trump failed to mention a
word about his gutting of the two, key
new Dodd-Frank post-crisis agencies
charged with developing standards to
reduce national financial risk and pro-
viding more useful information, among
existing entities, such as the the Federal
Reserve system?
Those agencies are the Financial
Stability Oversight Council (FSOC)
and the Office of Financial Research
(OFR).
Their staff budgets are not financed
through taxes. Only major “too-big-to-
fail” banks, with budgets in the billions,
pay a levy toward financing these post-
2008 financial crisis agencies.
The FSOC brings together heads of
eight distinct federal financial regulato-
ry agencies, the U.S. Treasury secretary
and an independent member with insur-
ance expertise, to analyze or reduce
potential threats to financial stability.
They are joined by various nonvoting
members — including three represent-
ing state financial regulators.
The OFR, also created by the Dodd-
Frank Act, was to serve as the FSOC’s
data-driven research arm. It has author-
ity to collect data from financial sector
institutions.
It was designed to perform long-term
applied research on financial stability
risks. It coordinates the distribution of
this remarkable data to all involved.
Major parts of the OFR and FSOC
staffs were literally packing up as
Trump applauded himself ... which, in a
family setting and with national cover-
age in an age of nondisclosure agree-
ments, is all that we should expect.
—Rand Dawson
Siltcoos lake
T RANSPORTATION ISSUES
OVERLOOKED
There was a great series of articles
written by the Siuslaw News about the
problems that we face on the Oregon
Coast.
But what I did not see in the nine-
week series was anything about trans-
portation.
Florence is a prime example why we
are unable to bring new business enter-
prises or keep those young workers who
have moved into our town; we do not
have any transportation.
There are no bus, train or airline serv-
ices that provide any real transportation
in and out of Florence. North Bend air-
port will have some convoluted service
to SFO and Denver in October. The
Eugene Airport is about an hour-and-a-
half drive from Florence, and most of
the flights leave at 6 a.m.
Once you have a flight, if you want to
go anywhere, you must fly to Portland,
Seattle or San Francisco to make con-
nections to your destination. At times, I
have even had to fly to Salt Lake or
Denver.
This past September I flew to
Bozeman, Mont. I got a flight from
Eugene to Portland, then Salt Lake City,
and then Bozeman, which was fine.
However, coming back I flew from
Bozeman to Salt Lake to Seattle to
Portland and then to Eugene. With the
time I spent in the air and on the ground,
I could have flown to Paris and would
have had a few hours to spend on the
ground.
Transportation is a problem.
—Win Jolley
Florence
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