4A |
SATURDAY EDITION
| JUNE 30, 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 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:
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Letters to the Editor policy
A moment of pause, but only a pause
ists do.
She’s right. And without
Even at our small paper question, Thursday’s tragic
with a news staff of four shootings have had a ripple
and within a community as effect through newsrooms
tightly knitt as ours, near- everywhere that has cul-
ly each of us has received minated in a collectve mo-
threats — veiled and not-so ment of pause.
One of our reporters here vield, anonymous and di-
But only a pause.
at Siuslaw News, wanting
to offer condolences and
support, made a late-night
From the Editor’s Desk
phone call Thursday to the
Ned Hickson
Capital Gazette, which du-
tifully answered its phone
at 2:30 a.m. Maryland time, rect, physical and financial,
Because, as I told her, the
“Newsroom.”
through messages left on work of dedicated jour-
While shattered glass and voicemails at work and at nalists in newsrooms large
the blood of fellow journal- home — that came as a re- and small, in communi-
ists was being cleaned up, sult of reporting we’ve done ties around our country,
members of the editorial on controversial subjects or will continue — and must
staff at the Gazette were community forums we’ve continue — despite what
working dilligently to re- held.
has evolved into a discern-
port the news and uphold
In a Facebook message able tone of mistrust and,
their commitment to read- this morning from a friend in some cases, outright
ers who depend on them and past editor here at the hatred for journalists that
for information about their Siuslaw News, she wrote, has trickled down to even
community.
“I couldn’t sleep last night the smallest of community
So, early this morning, thinking about every news- newspapers.
less than 24 hours after a room and editorial office
That being said, I still of-
gunman killed four jour- I’ve ever been in and what ten work into the evening
nalists and a sales assistant it means to be in that line with my back to a large
in its newsroom, today’s of work. The good and the window facing the street,
edition of the Gazette land- bad. Because of the shoot- and I do so with little con-
ed on people’s front porches ings in Maryland yesterday, cern — because regardless
and in newspaper stands I know this will be a hard of the occasional threat, I
around Annapolis.
day for you and the folks at trust that the community
Because it’s what journal- the Snews...”
we serve has our back.
Ultimately, the relation-
ship between every news-
paper and its readers —
much like journalists and
those who agree to speak
with them off the record —
is one built on trust.
Trusting to be fair.
Trusting to to get it right.
Trusting to own up if it
isn’t.
And trusting to pro-
tect one another through
shared knowledge and be-
ing an informed commu-
nity.
As I write this, I can hear
each of our reporters typing
away, preparing stories for
this edition. At the same
time, I know that each of
them is thinking of the Ga-
zette staff members who
were lost — Rob Hiaasen,
Wendi Winters, Gerald Fis-
chman, John McNamara
and Rebecca Smith — and
dealing with that notion of
loss in their own way.
This editorial is mine.
However, serving our
community each day, and
with each edition of this
newspaper, is our way of
dealing with the loss to-
gether.
Because it’s what we do.
LETTERS
What is happenning
to my America?
I am 75 years old. I have seen pres-
idents come and go — some good,
some not so good.
This mob mentality is not the
American way. We are a democracy.
We have the right to disagree, but we
do not have the right to impose our
will on others. We are the greatest
country on Earth and this mob men-
tality is going to lead to violence.
It will get someone hurt or killed.
The issue is not who you voted for,
whether you agree with the policies
or whether you personally like or
dislike someone.
The reality is this: Donald Trump
is the President of the United States
of America. He was democratically
elected and the office of the presi-
dency must be respected.
If not, we are endangering our own
democracy.
Let’s tone it down a bit and let de-
mocracy work the way it was intend-
ed
It is time for the adults in each po-
litical party to step up, take control
and talk respectfully to each other.
—Vickie Hymer
Florence
No end in sight to hypocracy
Th e June 27 edition of the Siuslaw
News published a letter from Ian
Eales (“No Limit It Seems To Liberal
Hypocracy”).
I fi rst thought it was written in jest
but then realized it was no joke.
“Many of the recent images of ille-
gal immigrant children in cages were
taken during the Obama administra-
tion,” he wrote.
How about the many real-time
images taken within the past few
months?
Eales went on to say that the Dem-
ocrats (by name) “... are on record ...
stating ‘Illegal immigration must be
controlled.’”
Th at has been known and attempt-
ed by administrations for many
years.
He went on to say “Now that
[Democrats] are out of power, no
level seems too low to stoop in order
to dupe an ignorant populace.”
Well, his letter seems to me to be
a refl ection of that populace. No
doubt that populace receives its false
information from the likes of Glen
Beck and Rush Limbaugh.
“It seems liberal hypocrisy has no
limit,” he fi nished in his letter.
Well, Th e Donald has taken hy-
pocrisy well over that limit — with
no end in sight.
—Win Jolley
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