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