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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (May 26, 2018)
4A | SATURDAY EDITION | MAY 19, 2018 NED HICKSON , EDITOR Siuslaw News P.O. Box 10 Florence, OR 97439 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 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) 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. Jenna Bar tlett Ned H ickson Erik Chalhoub Publisher, ex t. 318 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 echalhoub@register-pajaronian.com M ar k e t i n g Di re c to r, e x t . 3 2 6 O ffice Super visor, ex t. 312 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 Cathy Dietz 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 A nation is forever grateful to its fallen soldiers O ne hundred and fif- cially in Oregon. Every year, hun- ment remains the same. It is that of a grateful nation to its ty years ago, no family dreds of thousands of Oregonians or community was un- attend ceremonies, town parades and fallen soldiers: “Thank you. We will touched by the bloodiest other solemn events to pause and re- never forget you.” This Memorial Day, as we kick off conflict in American history — the member those who have given the ul- Civil War. The four-year-long strug- timate sacrifice — from the Civil War the start of summer and turn to en- joy Oregon’s incredible parks, gle claimed the lives of more beaches, rivers and mountains, than 620,000 soldiers, which is we invite all citizens to pause more Americans than died in By Mitch Sparks both World Wars, Korea and Acting Director of Oregon Department of Veterans' Aff airs and truly honor our fallen and our Gold Star families. We Vietnam. stand on the shoulders of all Combined. It was on May 5, 1868, that the to the most current conflicts in the those who came before us and will never forget the service and sacrifice Grand Army of the Republic, an early Middle East. It is estimated that nearly 6,000 of all those who gave all. veterans advocacy group comprised Thank you all for your support of of Civil War veterans, first urged Oregon service members’ lives have Americans to observe a “National been lost in the line of duty since our Oregon veterans, and bless all those still serving, at home and overseas. Memorial Day” to honor the dead of state’s inception. However Memorial Day is cele- the Civil War. The tradition has grown in the 150 brated in your community, and how- Mitch Sparks is a retired Navy veteran and ever different it may appear from years that have followed. Today, acting director of the Oregon Department of Veterans’ Affairs. Memorial Day is a cherished and the simple ceremonies of a grieving, protected national holiday — espe- post-Civil War America, the senti- Guest Viewpoint LETTERS Home schooled kids don’t become gunslingers From the front page article in Sat- urday’s paper on School Shootings (“‘Operation Emerald Shield’ Tests Respondres, Hospitals," May 19) — “... everyone agrees that communities and first responders everywhere should be prepared to confront and defeat an ac- tive shooter.” I wonder how much better it would be if communities and parents every- where were working to prevent an active shooter. Society has come to accept it is a “given” that there are go- ing to be more shootings. There are several “band aid” ideas out there that will only come to nothing because the root problem is not even addressed any more. Am I dreaming, has no one a work- able protocol? There is one in place and working for those with courage and fortitude to employ it; it is called “home school- ing,” the largely persecuted movement that survives in spite of much govern- ment and public opposition. It is not just the protection from get- ting shot at school that they provide, but much more. The moral caliber of home-schooled students prevents them from becoming gunslingers. I do observe that their “classrooms” don’t include “boob tubes” and war- games trinkets. Instead, they have real educational books and hold field trips — and not a little Bible ethics. I also observe that these determined people are not compensated for the fi- nancial burden they relieve the state of because they are forced to support the public schools system’s tremendous costs through large portions of their property taxes. This is really not a new kind of movement; it was instituted more than 200 years ago in this country, when all kids were home schooled. Apparently we resort to personal smears, vehement denunciation, out- right distortion and blatant fear mon- gering in order to make clear the evil that permeates the opposition. Sure seems to be working. Yeah, right. Could there be a better way? Wasn’t there, not all that long ago, a better way? —Allen J. Bartlett Florence —Jimmie Zinn Florence Reality totally bites Now listen up all you left-wing, so- cialist, Bernie-supporting, corpora- tion-hating, tax-loving fools. Pay at- tention all you right-wing, gun-toting, flag-waving, line-toeing, media-bash- ing whackos: Let’s talk reality. For those on the left, do you really believe all your progressive rhetoric is really likely to significantly lure people from the other side to your enlight- ened views? And for you all on the right, do you seriously think there is any real possi- bility of convincing those on the left of the clear sense obviously inherent in your stance? The reality is that within a few points one way or the other, the coun- try is split down this divide some- where around 50-50, varying some- what more on specific issues — but still a division with no clear nation- wide mandate for either side. So what do we do about this? Thanks to angels during Rhody Days I want to thank the half-dozen an- gels who appeared out of nowhere to help my sister when she tripped on the curb on Maple Street this past Satur- day during Rhody Days. It was a painful and very embarrass- ing situation for her, and you all made it easier to deal with — from check- ing her for cuts and bringing her wet cloths, to bringing a chair for her to sit in and making sure her jar of olives wasn’t broken. Thank you. Your kindness and her sense of hu- mor made a bad fall bearable. You have all reinforced my belief that more people are good than the few who aren’t. Thank you again, from the bottom of my heart. —Karen Prentice Florence 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