4 A
❘
SATURDAY EDITION
❘ APRIL 14, 2018
Siuslaw News
P.O. Box 10
Florence, OR 97439
NED HICKSON , EDITOR
Opinion
Your feedback makes us better
A year ago this month, we
launched the updated version
of our news website (www.
thesiuslawnews.com), which
has been a key component in
our pursuit as a twice-weekly
newspaper to increase the
timeliness of our reporting, as
well as be more relevant on a
daily basis in our coverage of
the community.
April also happens to be a
year and a half since I became
editor in 2017. Without ques-
tion, the Siuslaw News has
changed over the last 18
months, some due in part to
the goals I had as editor, and
others as a result of the shift-
ing landscape we have experi-
enced socially and politically
during that time.
Through letters, emails,
phone calls, community
forums and conversations that
have taken place over coffee
(and other types of beverages),
I’ve had the opportunity to
hear what many of our readers
like and dislike about the
changes.
Some appreciate our longer,
more in-depth pieces examin-
ing the impacts of state or
mation and coverage that
offers something for each of
you in every edition, whether
it be local politics, business,
the arts or special events and
people in our community.
At the beginning of April,
we launched a month-long
survey for readers to provide
feedback to help us see where
we are hitting the mark on
From the Editor’s Desk
N ED H ICKSON
national issues on the local
level; others feel our scope has
broadened too much.
Some readers think we lean
too far left, others right — and
some feel we try too hard to
straddle the middle without
taking a stance.
Ultimately, our objective is
to serve you in the best way
we can by attempting to pro-
vide the kind of news, infor-
your expectations, and where
we might be missing it.
Because of your feedback,
we’ll soon be including an “In
Brief” round-up of top nation-
al and state headlines for those
who want a brief re-cap of the
week’s top stories.
The survey includes a total
of 12 questions, asking every-
thing from why you read the
Siuslaw News, to your
thoughts on changing publica-
tion days to Tuesdays and
Fridays.
I also learned from one
commentor that I’m too skin-
ny and need to eat more — a
change I plan to make imme-
diately.
Over the next two weeks, I
hope you’ll consider providing
your feedback by participating
in our survey at www.survey
monkey.com/r/977FTXV.
If you’re already a sub-
scriber who frequents our
website, you can also find the
survey on the dropdown menu
under “Reader Survey.”
And for those who do their
best to avoid websites, social
media and the Internet in gen-
eral, I’m always available to
lend an ear over that cup of
coffee.
Write Siuslaw News editor Ned
Hickson at nhickson@thesiuslaw
news.com or c/o Siuslaw News, 148
Maple St., Florence, Ore. 97439.
LETTERS
S CHOOL SHOOTINGS
NOTHING NEW
Sorry, I don’t believe there is an
effective solution to school shootings.
They have been going on for more than
200 years, starting with the first record-
ed school shooting in Greencastle.
Penn., at Enoch Brown School in 1764,
when schoolmaster Enoch Brown was
shot and killed.
How can we predict when or which
teenager is going to kill or maim others
at school with any means available in
order to be famous or emulate someone
else?
Maryland proved that an armed staff
can have a positive result — but is still
only a reaction to an attack, not a solu-
tion.
The recent reaction we are seeing is
the Left using their kids to make
President Trump look bad for supporting
the Second Amendment.
Sexual activity kills more people each
year in the U.S. than guns and knives.
Maybe the Left should attempt to ban
that?
—Martin Cable
Dunes City
U NINTENDED
CONSEQUENCES
In response to Bill Durst’s “Apples
and Oranges” Letter to the Editor (April
11), the point of the knife statistic was
not to compare to firearm but to illustrate
that banning does not work.
Regarding the 21 percent increase in
knife homicides in the U.K. after a ban,
there were over 37,000 U.K. knife
offenses up to September 2017 — so 21
percent is a sizeable number.
There were 80 knife murders in
London alone in 2017, and 30 so far in
2018 as of March 31. The London mayor
recently ordered a £15 million police
crackdown, including profile stop and
searches to combat the epidemic.
Banning does not work.
Firearm deaths in the U.K., Australia
and the U.S. peaked in the 1990s and
declined thereafter. Both the UK and
Australia implemented stricter firearms
regulations and yet violent crime has
increased far more in the U.K. and
Australia than the U.S.
In contrast, millions more firearms
were sold in the U.S., yet the U.S. mur-
der rate actually declined at about the
same rate as in the U.K. and Australia.
According to Australian government sta-
tistics, a number of serious crimes
peaked in the years after the ban.
Manslaughter, sexual assault, kidnap-
ping, armed robbery and unarmed rob-
bery all saw peaks in the years following
the ban, and most remain near or above
pre-ban rates. The effects of the firearm
bans on violent crime are unimpressive
at best.
Banning does not work.
For every action, there is an equal an
opposite reaction.
Banning firearms will only have unin-
tended consequences.
—Ian Eales
Florence
Q UESTIONS FOR
C OMMISSIONER CANDIDATES
At the recent County Commissioners
candidate forum (April 6) hosted by the
Florence City Club, I presented one of
more than 100 questions that did not get
asked of candidates Nora Kent and Jay
Bozievich.
Because my question is timely and
important, I am posing the question here:
Will either candidate, once elected,
commit to rescinding a resolution passed
by the Commissioners in 2015 that stat-
ed “Lane County is unable to expend
resources for the implementation and
enforcement of Senate Bill (SB) 941?”
SB 941 requires background checks
on sales and transfers among private par-
ties for both hand guns and long guns. It
was an expansion of an existing law that
only required background checks for
gun sales with licensed gun dealers and
gun shows.
Commissioner Bozievich, as chair,
voted for and signed the resolution,
euphemistically titled “In the Matter of a
Resolution
Supporting
Second
Amendment Rights.”
This action effectively prevented
enforcement of the new law. The argu-
ment used as justification was that SB
941 was an “unfunded mandate,” despite
the fact its cost to implement was not
prohibitive.
The newly appointed Lane County
Sheriff Byron Trapp agreed that SB 941
put an extra burden on the Sheriff’s
office and supported the resolution.
As current chair of the board,
Commissioner Bozievich had the oppor-
tunity to rescind the resolution in
response to the #Never Again movement
started by our young people.
This he did not do.
Even though my question was not
asked by the moderator, we did hear
from one of the candidates on this sub-
ject.
Kent, in her opening remarks,
declared that as county commissioner
she would enforce all background check
laws mandated by the state.
Recognizing the importance of
enforcing all laws designed to prevent
gun violence, I feel she adds another
good reason to vote for her to represent
West Lane County.
—Michael Allen
Florence
G UNS ONLY HAVE
ONE PURPOSE
Automobiles, drugs and matches all
have specific purposes: they are
designed and created to be helpful to
people.
If there are deaths related to them, it is
due to the misuse of those things.
Guns have one purpose: to kill (or
seriously wound) people and animals.
Period.
—Shirley Nelson
Florence
( More
Letters page A5 )
❘ 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.
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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