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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (March 10, 2018)
4 A ❘ SATURDAY EDITION ❘ MARCH 10, 2018 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. 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 L ETTERS LETTERS D ISREGARD FOR LIFE IS TRUE PROBLEM , NOT GUNS I agree with Rev. Barrett in his recent Guest Viewpoint (“Worshiping Guns Contradicts Christian Ideals,” March 3) that there will most likely be more tragic incidents like the Parkland shootings. However, I have an issue with how Rev. Barrett claims that we as a nation are infatuated with gun culture and seem to “worship guns.” Worship means the feeling or expression of reverence and adoration for a deity. I do not sit around and kiss our gun, love it or hang it on the wall so I can gaze at it all day. I’ve shot guns a few times in my life just to be familiar with them and I’m married to a retired law enforcement officer; and yes, he’s in the NRA. Some people want guns accessible in their own homes in case of burgla- ry-type situations. Honestly, I feel like I would have more success fending off a burglar with a frying pan than using guns because of how inaccessible in some would have us keep them. My own personal stance on the Second Amendment is that not every- one should have a gun, but that in gen- eral people should be free to own one. To me, guns are kind of like cars: I want to be able to operate them safely but I don’t care to learn everything about them. I researched “sales of assault rifle soaring after Parkland shooting” and some states, gun stocks and gun sales did soar, but there were also compa- nies like Walmart and Dick’s Sporting Goods that banned gun sales in their stores to anyone under the age of 21. I also discovered that the sale of bulletproof doors and windows are booming. At the opposite end of the spectrum, Pennsylvania claimed to have a drop in gun sales after the Parkland shooting. Regarding Rev. Barrett’s statement “…school shootings have become an almost daily occurrence,” I researched this information and found verifying these statistics to be prob- lematic since some shootings included were near schools but not on the prop- erty. It’s clear that there are different standards depending on the agency or organization providing the informa- tion. As for the raffle at the Boys & Girls Club, so what? It was for a semi- automatic pistol, not an assault rifle. My take from that comment was the reverend would advocate all semi- automatic pistols be banned, or ban- ning guns from use by all minors. Near the end of his viewpoint, the reverend said, “… Moral outrage is necessary to enact sensible legislation once and for all.” But sensible to who? While guns may be the third-lead- ing cause of death among children under 19, motor-vehicle accidents is the leading cause of death among that age group. And, according to the National Safety Council in 2017, about a half million people were injured or killed in traffic accidents attributed to texting and driving, with 69 percent of teen drivers admit using their cell phones while driving. Should we raise the age require- ments for driving and cell phone usage? There are already numerous “sensible” cell phone laws in place and the problems persist. But no one is talking about taking cell phones away. Will enacting more gun control and background checks laws in the legis- lature solve anything? I don’t think so. Not until we get to the root of the problem, which is the disregard for the sanctity of life for some people in our country. In summary: the right to bear arms can be abused but that is not a reason to take away that Constitutional right. In order to prevent all crimes, people would have to live in cages. —Virginia Reynolds Florence when a red flag is raised and no one responds. In the past, school shootings have occurred in part with the confi- dentiality between patient and doc- tors/psychiatrists and school psycolo- gists as a safeguard. Reporting deviant behavior should be made a law. There is also a problem in that students using social media do not report things they see online and should be educated to do so. Protecting our students should be on the forefront of our daily agenda. As for guns, the old adage of the NRA is “that guns do not kill people, people kill people.” When was the last time you heard of a fist fight in a school killing anyone, or of a drive-by stabbing? Semi-automatic weapons like the AR-15 and AK-47 can fire rounds as fast as a person can pull the trigger, which is about 600 rounds per minute; for a fully automatic weapon with a bump stock, it would be closer to 1,200 rounds per minute. I have a 9-mm pistol that has a clip of nine rounds. I can fire the nine rounds in about 4 1⁄2 seconds, pulling the trigger twice in one second. Do the math and you’ll agree we need to get rid of all assault weapons. One last comment: Having teach- ers carrying concealed weapons is ludicrous. They would not be trained on how to react to a crisis. In addition, if a first responder going into an active shooting situation saw an individual with a gun — even a teacher — his or her first reaction would be to shoot and answer ques- tions later. —Win Jolley Florence D O THE MATH ON The First GUN CONTROL Regarding the Guest Viewpoint “NRA Is Part of Solution, Not Problem” by David Eckhardt (March 3), I just want to make a few com- ments. I do think there was a major failure by the FBI and local law enforcement agencies in the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting that could have prevented the death and injury of chil- dren and teachers. This has been an ongoing problem 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@ 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
