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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (May 16, 2018)
4A | WEDNESDAY EDITION | MAY 16, 2018 Siuslaw News P.O. Box 10 Florence, OR 97439 NED HICKSON , EDITOR Opinion | 541-902-3520 | NHICKSON @ THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM C The First Amendment ongress shall make no law respecting an es- tablishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Gov- ernment 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) Building inspections need to remain in local hands (Editor’s Note: Viewpoint submis- sions on this and other topics are always welcome as part of our goal to encourage community discussion and exchange of perspectives.) I may not have all the facts, but from what I see, I think the Oregon Building Codes Division may be run- ning amuck. I recently moved to Dunes City and have volunteered to serve on the Budget Commit- tee. A recent ruling by the Codes Division is likely going to increase our City budget by about at least $135,000 a year — and likely much more. If Dunes City does not comply, residents will have to turn over the building Codes process to the county, state, or set up part- nerships with other small cities. These new requirements were drafted without public input by Mark Long of the Oregon Building Codes Division. Mark Long is the current administrator for the Oregon Building Codes Division. The same person who sued the state for $1 million — and won — several years back, when he was interim director for the Ore- gon Department of Energy. Long is an empire builder who is driv- ing up costs for small city building depart- ments. It is my understanding that since he became administrator for the Oregon Building Codes Division, it has grown from about 20 people to more than 200. A recent opinion requested by his depart- ment from the Department of Justice (DOJ) has essentially outlawed small cities from outsourcing building inspections from pri- vate companies (a practice that has existed Guest Viewpoint By Rory Hammond Dunes City resident for decades). Oregon BCD is requiring city inspectors to be government employees. Some suggest this is to help fund the PERS shortfall. Oth- ers suggest this is a union issue. Among the concerns over this decision are loss of local control and extending the time to build, thus increasing costs and de- creasing affordability. Building code enforcement is to be paid by user fees that do not exceed the cost of the process. This sounds like a very good rule ... except the Building Codes Division sets the rates. So small cities will not be able to raise enforcement fees to pay for the in- creased cost of PERs-funded employees. The last legislative session was supposed to address this issue, but nothing hap- pened. After the legislative session ended, the BCD issued new rules that I believe are over-reaching and Draconian. Our governor could step in and stop the implementation of the rules until the legis- lature can fix the problem, but apparently she won’t. Meanwhile, Dunes City has been give until July 1 to comply. As I mentioned, I do not speak from authority. My background is in IT Operations. I have been involved in many projects that built ware- houses for logistic companies and with the installation of automated comput- er inventory management systems. As a private citizen, I have been involved with the permiting process for building. When I was young, I pre-wired homes, apartments and offices for the phone com- pany. Over the years I have seen fist hand many building inspectors and even had to go through the process of appealing deci- sions. In my experience, local-level control is the easiest way to deal with issues. Some processes are enhanced and streamlined with Centralized Control. But local building issues are best dealt with by a decentralized process. This move really sounds like bureaucrat- ic bullying by the Oregon Building Codes Division. LETTERS Ignorance isn’t patriotism As a liberal, I look with dismay at the kind of appeal the self-proclaimed “Patriot Place” is making to the Florence commu- nity. I have no problem with the far right hav- ing a place of its own, though it is a pre- tense to say its views — represented by the president of the U.S. in his dozens of angry tweets every day — are somehow being diminished by liberals. My concern is that Patriot Place seeks to appropriate patrio- tism on the wholly un-American notion that only those on the far right are “true” patriots. A group that supposedly welcomes “all things American” evidently does not. Let’s be clear: We’re all Americans, we all love our country and we’re all patriots. Please consider this: When a group in society insists that its political view is the only acceptable one, and that all others are evil, false or even treasonous, that society is on its way to self-destruction. It appears some people at Patriot Place are drawn to absurd conspiracy theo- ries — baseless nonsense presented as unchallengeable fact. Recently, one of its volunteers told a friend who visited that Congressman DeFazio “belongs to the Illuminati,” that Jews as a group “either follow Christ or Satan” and that “Zionists control the banks.” Ignorant stuff to be sure, but also hate speech — which should have no place in Florence or anywhere else. Siuslaw News editor Ned Hickson re- plied in a comment on Facebook that the lengthy article “Patriot Place Opens with Candidate Forum” (May 2) on Patriot Place merely intended to inform readers of what it is “about.” Well, it doesn't appear to be about patri- otism at all. In fact, what that place really seems to be about is how to undermine traditional American values of tolerance, community and goodwill. —Dr. Mel Gurtov Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Portland State University Deadwood Far Left is debasing good Americans It never ceases to amaze me how we always need “one more thing” to achieve nirvana. Previously we’ve banned school prayer, any display of Christian symbols on public buildings, permitted disrespecting and burning the flag, and all but banned school discipline. We’ve encouraged entitlement, uncon- trolled immigration, masculine toxifica- tion, family destruction through divorce, out-of-wedlock births, abortion on de- mand, ever-decreasing morality and ever increasing violence in entertainment — none of which leftists seem to maintain have any effect. According to statistics I've seen, shoot- ers are over represented by fatherless boys. First- and second-generation immigrants have committed more than 40 percent of all mass [4+ victims] shootings since 2000, far above their percentage of the popula- tion. Solving those two problems would do far more than banning the AR-15. More people were beaten to death with no weap- on than were killed with a rifle in 2017, yet marchers would be happy banning “just” the AR-15. From a fatality perspective, it makes al- most no sense. In Canada, which has some of the strictest firearm regulations, some cities are seeing triple digit percentage in- creases in firearm violence. Banning does not work. People are losing their perspective. The hatred toward and vilification of the NRA has an unsettling parallel to Jews in 1930s Germany. If one visits German Great War cemeteries, Jews are well represented. There was no evidence that Jews were anything but loyal German citizens. The corrupt media parroted a madman’s rav- ings, even though they knew better. The same is happening in America to- day. NRA members are among the most loyal, law abiding citizens in America. We love this country and its history in spite of its flaws. The left’s debasing of solid and good Americans, and great Americans who lived a quarter-millennia ago, all the while ignoring the very real corruptions of our revolving door political class borders on the pathological. — Ian Eales Florence USPS# 497-660 Copyright 2018 © 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. Je n n a B a r t l e t t Ned H ickson Erik Chalhoub Pu b l i s h e r, e x t . 3 1 8 Editor, ex t. 313 Co n s u l t i n g E d i to r 8 3 1 -7 6 1 -7 3 5 3 e c h a l h o u b @ re gi s te r -p a j a ro n i a n . co m M a r k e t i n g Di re c to r, e x t . 3 2 6 O f f i ce Su p e r v i s o r, e x t . 3 1 2 Pro d u c t i o n Su p e r v i s o r Pre s s M a n a ge r Su s a n G u t i e r re z Cat hy Di e t z Ron Annis Je re 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,sThursday 1 p.m.; Display ads, Thursday noon; Boxed and display classified ads, Wednes- day 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 subscrip- tion, $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 Letters to the Editor policy 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, gram- mar and clarity. Publication of any letter is not guaran- teed 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 dis- cretion 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) ex- plain the reasons to support candidates based on per- sonal experience and perspective rather than partisan- ship 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 news- paper, at the sole discretion of the publisher, general manager and editor, reserves the right to reject any let- ter 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 Oregon 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 (4th 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
