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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 24, 2018)
4 A ❘ WEDNESDAY EDITION ❘ FEBRUARY 24, 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. 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 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 Is it time for a new voting system? Democracy has always been a work in progress, and Oregon has long been a pio- neer in that progress, from the initiative and referendum a century ago to the mail-in ballots and “motor voter” registration of today. Lane County voters now have a chance to pioneer a new phase of democratic reform by bringing the STAR (Score Then Automatic Runoff) system of voting to Lane County. With STAR voting, a voter can score any of the candi- dates for an office on a scale from zero to five, with zero meaning “no support” and five meaning “full support.” This gives voters the chance to express their views more clearly and eliminates the need to make a choice between candidates a voter likes equally, or between a candidate a voter prefers and a candidate that simply has a better chance of winning because of party affiliation or support. The ballots are then count- ed in a unique, two-step process. The first count determines which two candidates received the highest overall scores from voters; the sec- ond count is the “Automatic Runoff” between these two finalists, with each candidate receiving a vote from each voter who scored them high- er. election get no other choice. This comes despite the fact that the voters who partici- pate in the general election vastly outnumber those who participate in the primary. If no candidate gets a majority in the primary, the “top two” candidates with the most votes go on to the GUEST VIEWPOINT B Y A LAN Z UNDEL AND M ARK F ROHNMAYER STAR V OTING I NITIATIVE The candidate who gets the most votes in the runoff wins. So why replace our current election method? Lane County elections currently use the “top two” system of a primary election in the spring that narrows the field to two candidates — or many times only a single candidate — for the general election in the fall. If one of the candidates gets a majority in the pri- mary, that candidate wins and the voters in the general general election, even though each received only a minori- ty of voter support. This two-election process (primary and then general) makes for a long campaign season, which wearies both voters and candidates. It also gives the advantage to the best-funded candidates because long campaigns cost more money. STAR Voting would replace the two-election process with one election in November. It eliminates the problems and extra costs associated with holding a pri- mary for these nonpartisan offices, reducing the amount of fundraising necessary. It also gives every voter a say in both steps of the process and produces win- ners with broad overall sup- port from voters rather than just financial resources. It is fair to all candidates and gives voters the ability to have their say on any candi- date they have an opinion on. For those frustrated by today’s politics, this is a chance to change the process. A petition has already been filed to bring STAR Voting to elections for Lane County offices. To learn more, visit www. starlane.us. Alan Zundel and Mark Frohnmayer are the chief peti- tioners for the STAR Voting initi- tative for Lane County. Zundel is a former political scientist and Frohnmayer is a local entrepre- neur. Both have been active in election reform efforts for sever- al years. LETTERS ‘F ORTRESS ’ COULD BECOME SHOOTING GALLERY In response to Becky Goehring’s Letter to the Editor “Safety is Important Part of Education” (Feb. 17), any shoot- ing is tragic. But I feel the letter writer is using them to gin up support to build what amounts to a prison. The defensive measures suggested all have serious liabilities that may mani- fest themselves in unintended conse- quences. A lockout system is not foolproof. A shooter, knowing that such a system exists, could make the control his first target. Once engaged, the shooter could roam at-will with little to fear. By the time responders get the doors open, I shudder to think what mayhem will have occurred. When seconds count, the police are only minutes away. In the recent shooting, the FBI was notified a year prior but chose not to investigate. Social media did nothing about the shooter’s disturbing posts. Police had visited the Cruz home more than 30 times, but nothing was done. The supreme court has ruled the police have no obligation to protect us. Sun Tzu wrote in “The Art of War” that “... attack is the secret of defense; defense is the planning of an attack.” It is as true today as when written 2,500 years ago. In the recent shooting, the shooter was not a martyr. He escaped with the students. Instead of attempting to make our schools fortresses in “gun free zones” wherein a security system failure could turn that “fortress” into a shooting gallery, it makes sense to have trained and capable armed staff to deter these lunatics inside. —Ian Eales Florence T HANKS FOR THE SUPPORT The Friends of Florence Van Fans wants to thank everyone that con- tributed to the success of its Feb. 21 game day and luncheon fundraising event. The Elks Club of Florence was very generous in allowing us to hold this event there this year. Many people donated gifts for our raffle table. The food was delicious and a good time was had by all. As most of the community knows, the Van Fans is a support group of the Friends of Florence which operates the bus that takes cancer patients to the Willamette Valley five days a week, 52 weeks per year. The community of Florence is always very generous in its support, and we want to thank everyone involved. —Sharon Grove Events Coordinator Friends of Florence Van Fans O UT OF THE MOUTHS OF BABES Kudos to Becky Goehring for her Letter to the Editor published Feb. 17 (“Safety Is Important Part of Education”). I heard a politician on television say we need guns in the classrooms. Most people couldn’t shoot a person. Most of the gun accidents in the home are caused by a gun that someone bought to protect their home. To kill something, even an animal, you have to be rasied in an environment such as a farm, where chickens or other farm animals are killed for food. I was raised on a farm and learned to shoot a gun at a young age. I have hunt- ed game most of my life. I taught my children gun safety. Even when kids take a gun safety class, it doesn’t mean they are safe hunters. One day, I was hunting with a friend and his son, who had passed his Hunter Safety Class. I asked the son what cal- iber his gun was and he said it was a 30- 30, then jacked a shell out and handed it to me. I told him he just put a shell in the barrel, and he insisted he didn’t and had only closed the lever. I took the gun from him, aimed it at a stump and pulled the trigger, firing the gun. Taking a class doesn’t make a person savvy enough to handle a gun safely. There are other ways to protect class- rooms. Three Siuslaw High School stu- dents suggested fire extinguishers, stronger classroom doors and automatic lockdown systems for exterior doors. Also, mace and tasers could be help- ful. —Virgile Bechtold Florence 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@ oregonlegislature.gov 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
