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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (May 9, 2018)
4 A ❘ WEDNESDAY EDITION ❘ MAY 9, 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. “I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend.” —Thomas Jefferson (1800) Four reasons I and others will vote for Jay Bozievich (Editor's Note: Viewpoint submissions on this and other topics are always welcome as part of our goal to encourage community dis- cussion and exchange of perspectives.) T his week I asked a handful of folks as to why they would vote for Jay Bozievich for County Commissioner. Th e fi rst was Joe R., a long- time resident of Florence. He quickly responded, saying “Th e man has integrity to a fault. My God, the man sacrifi ces his time and is absolutely absorbed by the job.” Joe had more to say, but I felt those words captured his feelings best. Joel, a retired history professor, gave me a carefully reasoned answer. “Jay’s dedicated to limited govern- ment. Th at means he is dedicated to balancing the budget — which for us means we pay less tax.” Th e next person I spoke with, a big man dressed mostly in camo, described him as a friend of loggers. “And loggers need a friend. Aft er all, it’s a renewable Guest Viewpoint By Jeff Ashmead resource and, if managed properly, it’s a jewel for the schools and county.” I didn’t disagree. And even if I did, this wasn’t a man I wanted to disagree with. Lastly, a lady who lives out on Siltco- os Lake gave me a personal story: “We were having some runoff issues a few years back and Jay came all the way out here to see it for himself. He got in my car and I drove him to where we were extremely concerned about a hazard. "He’s an engineer you know — soils, erosion — he used to be a project manager. He told us exactly what was going on and said that the thing we had planned to do would best not be done, and he was right. "Th e guy really cares.” So between Joe, Joel, the man in camo and the woman on Siltcoos, I found four reasons to vote for Jay Bozievich: Integrity, fi scally conservative, properly managed logging and a guy who really cares. My wife and I went to the Event Center Open House regarding the Streetscape Project construction to begin August 3, 2018. This is a wonder- ful project and it sounds like they want to make safety as important as scenic views. Our understanding is they plan to put a pedestrian crossing at Hwy. 126 and Spruce Street. It is very difficult to make a left turn going east onto Hwy. 126 to the casino or Eugene. It would make more sense to put a traffic light for pedestrians and cars at that intersection, due to the speed of oncoming logging trucks and the many cars coming into Florence. There have been noted accidents at that intersection due to the speed of cars and trucks and the fact there is no light to alert vehicles to slow down. We will gladly chip in $500 to pay for this needed traffic light. —Sam and Carolyn Saiia Florence Shout out for clean up I wanted to give a big shout out and thank you to the Mapleton Community, Mapleton schools, Mapleton and Siuslaw fire departments, Mapleton Food Share, U of O students, the Nora Kent Team, Siuslaw News, Rosa’s Mexican Restaurant, Mapleton Gas Station, City of Florence, Florence Chamber of Commerce, KCST Radio and whoever else may have helped in Saturday’s Mapleton Clean-Up project. — Karen Harden Mapleton No evidence of wrongdoing to conservatives I’m glad the conservatives of Florence have a meeting place. As long as they understand they aren’t the only patriots in town. I’m a proud liberal (which means open-minded, like the Founding Fathers) from a military family. In the Siuslaw News article (Patriot Place Opens With Candidate Forum,” May 2), it mentioned how the organization’s website stated that the need for the Patriot Place arose from perceived “rid- icule and intimidation.” I would like to have seen the Siuslaw News ask about the when and where of this inflammatory assertion. I don’t see intimidation or ridicule towards the group. What specifically is the website talking about? In my opinion, ridicule has been the president’s forte, insulting everyone from a Gold Star family, to a POW sen- ator and a disabled person. It seems to me it falls a little flat when there is no ownership or specific evi- dence of wrongdoing to the group. — Stephanie Spradling Florence Get ready for the rumble Soon, noise pollution from motorcy- cles will make our little town a noisy place again this summer. The noise must be music to the motorcyclist men- tality. But to the rest of us it’s like a gar- bage truck at 5 a.m. The police, both state and local, choose not to enforce the noise pollu- tion laws. —Glenn Doffee Florence West Lane County needs Nora Kent as commissioner I met Nora Kent less than a year ago. We were both on the Human Rights Committee for FOR (Florence Organizes), a local non- profi t organization that identifi es a need in the community and works to fi ll that need. In a meeting in late fall of 2017, Nora suggested that we could raise funds for DACA applicants. She is an instructor at LCC in the ESL de- partment, (English as a Second Lan- guage.) She explained the DACA program to the committee as she had several students either going through the process or intending to. Th e committee agreed to take on this fund raising eff ort by showing the movie “Delores.” Th e problem was this meeting was just prior to the holidays and many members of the committee would be busy. Th at didn’t stop Nora. During the holidays, she procured the 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. P u bl i s h e r, ex t . 3 1 8 E d i t o r, ex t . 3 1 3 Consulting Editor 831-761-7353 E m a i l : e c h a l h o u b @r e g i s t e r - p a j a r o n i a n . c o m M a r ke t i n g D i r e c t o r, ex t . 3 2 6 O f f i c e S u p e r v i s o r, ex t . 3 1 2 Production Supervisor Press Manager Jenna Bartlett N e d H i ck s o n Erik Chalhoub Susan Gutierrez C a t hy D i e t z Ron Annis J e r e my G e n t r y 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,sT- hursday 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. LETTERS Need a light USPS# 497-660 movie and set up the date. When the FOR Human Right committee met again in Jan- uary, Nora announced that the date of the movie had been set for Feb.10. Th e committee members were shocked and more than a little worried; it was less Guest Viewpoint By Eric D. Hauptman Dunes City Mayor 2007-2011 than a month away. Nora calmed said not to worry and that everything had been tak- en care of. Nora had not only arranged for the movie’s showing at Cty Lights Cinemas but had contacted three restaurants to do- nate food. She had written press releases, se- cured the template for printing posters and had contacted merchants to place posters in their stores. In essence, Nora had pretty much made everything happen to insure the success of this fundraising project. Initially, the com- mittee was hoping to raise $400-$500. Th e end result was fi ve times that amount — and it was all due to Nora. I share this because I’ve read some Letters to the Editor in our newspaper saying Nora is “only a teacher” with no experience in government or adminis- tration. Nonsense. I saw her in action and she gets things done. She is well known and respected in West Lane County among residents and both the busi- nesses and education community. It’s true that Nora has not held prior pub- lic offi ce and is not a politician. But she is a long-time West Lane County resident and now a citizen stepping up as our forefathers intended. We don’t need more politicians. We need citizens like Nora who are willing to step up. Mail subscription includes E-Edition. Website and E-Edition: TheSiuslawNews.com L ETTERS TO THE POLICY 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, argumentative, 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 published at the discre- tion of the editor. Political/Election Letters: 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 cam- paigns on behalf of (or by) candidates; 2) Ensure any information about a candidate is accurate, fair and not from second-hand knowledge or hearsay; and 3) explain the reasons to support candidates based on personal experience and perspective rather than partisanship and campaign-style rhetoric. Candidates themselves may not use the letters to the editor column to outline their views and platforms or to ask for votes; this constitutes paid political advertising. As with all letters and advertising content, the newspa- per, at the sole discretion of the publisher, general man- ager and editor, reserves the right to reject any letter that doesn’t follow the above criteria. Emal 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
