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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (March 28, 2018)
4 A ❘ WEDNESDAY EDITION ❘ MARCH 28, 2018 Siuslaw News P.O. Box 10 Florence, OR 97439 NED HICKSON , EDITOR Opinion LETTERS G IFT OF LOCAL STUDENT MUSIC PROGRAM I had the pleasure of attending the Willamette Valley Concert Band Festival to hear our Siuslaw High School Symphonic Band play. It was obvious these students and direc- tor had worked extremely hard to prepare for this event. We can be proud of their performance and how they represented our community. We can be proud of our music program and it is such a pleasure to hear our music students play. For those interested and able, our symphonic band will play again in Corvallis on April 5, and Coos Bay on April 11. Thank you musicians and music direc- tor for your gift of music. —Bobbie Spencer Florence S TUDENTS DESERVE A VOICE I’m not sure where Ian Eales got the statistics he listed in his letter (“Sad That Children Being Used as Pawns,” March 24) regarding school shooting deaths of children versus other causes. I was unable to find any statistics for the scenarios he set forth. At the behest of the NRA, Congress passed a piece of legislation many years ago (The Dickey Amendment, 1996) that precludes the CDC from research or keep- ing any kind of statistics of any death as the result of the use of a gun. Therefore, there are no reliable statis- tics available. Mr. Eales also bemoaned the manipula- tion of students by adults. Clearly, this grass roots movement was started by the survivors of the Parkland, Fla., shooting — high school kids, not politicians. It was born from the horror, pain, grief and fear of these young people after being sprayed by bullets — an experience that most adults have not had. Gun control is not about taking away anyone’s rights or taking away guns used for hunting or for personal protection; it’s about universal background checks and keeping guns out of the hands of those who should not have them for specific reasons. It’s about keeping weapons of war in the hands of the military and not in the hands of civilians. And it’s about the lives of children. When I look at the photo on the front page of the Siuslaw News of the student walkout (March 17), I do not see Nazi indoctrination. I see our local students democratically protesting, as is their right. They are the ones “in the line of fire,” and they deserve a voice. They want, and deserve, safe schools. They want and deserve to live without fear of being shot to death or receiving physical and emo- tional scars that last a lifetime. —Marybeth Marenco Florence A DDRESS REAL FAILURES IN PREVENTING SCHOOL SHOOTINGS As I watched the marchers last Saturday, it was unclear to me whether the purpose of this demonstration was for school safety or for gun control. If the march was to encourage more feel-good gun laws that evil and mentally deranged people ignore, then it was just a nice walk in the rain. If the purpose was to protect our chil- dren with well-trained, armed resource officers, then I applaud your efforts. With rare exceptions, teachers are not qualified in that capacity. If you truly believe that gun-free zones are effective, then let’s start by removing armed officers that protect politicians in Washington D.C. and Salem. Do politicians deserve better protection than school children? There is an obvious media bias against the use of force to stop shootings as it doesn’t fit its narrative. The “other paper” had an article a few days ago that head- lined, “School Shooter Wounds 2.” A more accurate headline would be: “Officer Stops Armed Student.” The brave actions of (armed) resource officer Blaine Gaskell stopped further carnage when he stopped the shooter by force. The Florida shooting resulted from the failure of the FBI, the school system and local law enforcement. Although no NRA members have been involved in any school shootings, they make convenient scapegoats. I have read that school officials believe that armed resource officers are too expensive. If you do not believe that the safety of school children is priority num- ber one, then you are in the wrong job. —Keith R. Kraft Florence G UN SAFETY BEGINS WITH AWARENESS Spring Break is here. Grandchildren, nephews and nieces and their friends are coming to visit. To those who have guns in their homes, this is a reminder that the safest thing we can do to assure against tragedy is to keep firearms locked in a safe, keep the ammu- nition locked separately, and put the key or code in a place that is not easily acces- sible to others. —Karin Radtke Yachats B RAINWASHING PEOPLE TO FEAR GUN REGULATION I take exception to the questionable sta- tistics Ian Eales listed in his recent Letter to the Editor (“Sad That Children Being Used As Pawns,” March 24). Anyone with internet access can, with- in a couple of minutes, easily discover that school shootings have not remained fairly constant for more than 150 years, as his letter claimed. Just visit wikipedia.org — which has a good reputation of providing factual data — and you will see that school shootings in the U.S. have become much more fre- quent in recent decades. (Reference: Wikipedia article “List of school shoot- ings in the United States.”) I did not even bother to waste my time checking Mr. Eales’ other claims about the likelihood of children being killed on school buses or in a traffic accident involving texting. In response to the Parkland, Fla., high school massacre, student organizers planned the nationwide March for Our Lives in collaboration with the nonprofit organization Every Town for Gun Safety. This hardly compares with the Hitler Youth of Nazi Germany; nor does it exemplify “brainwashed young adults” mentioned in Mr. Eales’ letter. Any change to the Second Amendment to the Constitution would require ratifica- tion by three fourths of the states. Does anyone really believe that such a Constitutional change will actually be made in the foreseeable future? With our divisive politics, I doubt it would even happen in this century. I am a conservative with respect to most socio-political issues, but I have come to regard the NRA as a corrupt lob- bying organization — one that really rep- resents gun sellers and not the rights of individual Americans. From my perspective, Mr. Eales’ letter exemplifies the NRA’s goal of brainwash- ing people into fearing that “Big Brother” is someday going to raid your home and take your guns away. I can only wonder if Mr. Eales is as sad about the tragic loss of life from the now- routine gun violence in this country, as he is about the Siuslaw News’ front page photo of the school walkout kids. —Stephen Johnson Florence P ROTECTING OURSELVES IS A C ONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT Recently, Sherry Harvey wrote an extremely informative Letter to the Editor on guns and protecting children in all schools (“Conspiracy Theory or Truth?” March 21). Our greatest resource is our next gener- ation. Today our children are being mur- dered, in one case while unprotected by security officers whose job was to secure the school against any who would do harm to our most precious resource. R e m e m b e r Ti a n n a m e n S q u a r e ? Without the Chinese people possessing firearms, their oppressive government controlled the citizenry. They are living in a Communist/totalitarian state. When the British were marching to Lexington and Concord attempting to end the Revolutionary War before it started, they were headed to the repository of firearms to control the citizenry. The brutal Soviet Union regime start- ing in 1917 was determined to confiscate all firearms (which they eventually did) so that the government could control the cit- izenry. The history of nations is who has the power: government or the people? In America it’s the people, which his- torically is something different. We have a written Constitution to turn to and a Bill ❘ 541-902-3520 ❘ 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 of Rights to honor. In this day and age, we are discarding tradition in favor of lack of study and issues of popularity. Sherry Harvey is correct — we are killing our next generation for the sake of political correctness. If Hollywood elites can have security guards, then why would they deny that to school children? It’s not enough to blame the NRA, which is merely a lobbying group for the sacred Second Amendment. Why sacred? Because without the Second Amendment, how would we enforce the other nine? Yes, the Framers had muskets and we have AK-47s. But the principle remains the same: protection for the citizenry. It seems today’s populace either hasnt read Madison, Hamilton and Jay from the Federalist Paper, or think they are wiser than them. We have the rights of protection, safety and law in this country like no other in recorded history. Let’s not throw it away to those who either no longer revere those rights. Benjamin Franklin said it best at the 1787 Constitutional Convention: “God governs in the affairs of men.” It seems we are now in a time when men govern in the affairs of men. May God continue to bless America. — Joel Marks Florence F ACT - FREE ZONE MORE DAN - GEROUS THAN GUN - FREE ZONE Imagine if Ms. Sherry Harvey’s Letter to the Editor (“Conspiracy Theory or Truth?” March 21) was a movie pitch. The plot would be a conspiratorial effort to frighten the public into supporting anti- gun measures. Bad guys with AR-15s tar- get children in a school gun-free zone. We learn the bad guys are abetted by well-intentioned but misguided gun-con- trol advocates who see the tragedy as a way to pressure government into confis- cating firearms. At the same time, the lib- eral main stream media downplay mass killings when guns are not used and ignore gun violence in cities where guns are illegal. The conspirators organize school walk- outs and marches and threaten our favorite stores into curtailing the sale of guns. The plot twist? It is revealed the real conspirator is “another world power, dic- tator or ideology” looking to establish a country-wide, gun-free zone that will enable the take over of America. From gun-free zones of a movie plot to the fact-free zone of her letter, Ms. Harvey argues it really could happen. The deranged act of a disturbed school shoot- er being co-opted by an anonymous con- spiratorial cabal to help nullify the right to bear arms. At risk is the constitutional founding principle that enables citizens to protect themselves against an oppressive govern- ment. This constitutional contention promot- ed by the NRA disregards the place a well-regulated militia had in the thinking of the Founding Fathers who were fresh from fighting an autocrat’s standing army. The Declaration of Independence, the Federalist Papers, the Constitution and its Bill of Rights are better source documents than the Second Amendment interpreta- tions of Wayne LaPierre. Among the founding principles, free speech, a free press, religious freedom, right to due process, freedom from self- incrimination and freedom from double jeopardy are, at least, on a par with the right to bear arms. As Justice Scalia in Heller vs. D.C. pointed out, the right to bear arms is not absolute. “Getting rid of gun-free zones” argues Ms. Harvey, “would save more lives than banning guns.” In the real world, confiscation is not an imminent threat. But, in a fact-free zone, fatality statistics or the realities of Sandy Hook, Parkland and every other school shooting fail to persuade that reasonable gun controls are necessary and constitu- tional. Back to that movie plot. It would be Oscar worthy if by exercising that other founding principle, the peaceable assem- bly of the younger generation in Washington and around the country, per- suaded their government — our govern- ment — to address gun grievances beyond the usual, condolence thoughts and prayers from the usual political suspects. —Arnold Buchman Florence/Scottsdale, Ariz. NHICKSON @ THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM 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 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. Letters that are anonymous, libelous, argumen- tative, sarcastic or contain accusations that are unsourced or documented will not be published. Letters containing poetry or from outside the Siuslaw News readership area will only be pub- lished 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
