4A |
SATURDAY EDITION
| AUGUST 11, 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)
Finding common ground in defying hate
Except for a relative hand-
ful of what I suspect were
trollers looking for a reac-
tion, members of our small
community made it loud and
clear that racially motivated
With seemingly so much
of our focus on the things
that divide us, it was inspir-
ing to receive phone calls,
emails and have community
members stop in to voice
their universal disgust
with the racial epithet
spray-painted on the aban-
doned vehicle north of town
(see page 3A).
The response wasn’t just
from the far right or far left,
Republicans or Democrats,
liberals or conservatives,
Chevy or Ford owners.
ing discovered by a passerby
heading to work, members
of the community mobilized,
contacting local media as
well as city and county offi-
cials to demand the vehice
from the city and county to
determine who had jurisdic-
tion to remove the vehicle
and tracking down the land
owner, there was a tangible
feeling of unification be-
tween the combined efforts
of citizens working together
to essentially say what the
From the Editor’s Desk
veteran from Band of Broth-
Ned Hickson
ers had said:
Not in our town.
I’ve have always been
hate speech had no place in
be removed.
proud to call Florence my
our community — or as one
Some offered to remove
home, but never more so
member of the local veterans the car themselves, for free,
than I was this past week.
group Band of Brothers put
although the current fire
It was a wonderful re-
it: “Not in my town. I fought restrictions would have elim- minder that, regardless of the
against that kind of bulls--t
inated that proposal.
political terrain we stand on,
abroad. I’m not putting up
As we worked here in
there are some places where
with it here.”
the newsroom, making
we can still find strong, com-
Within a few hours of be- phone calls and getting help mon ground.
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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day 5 p.m. Soundings, Tuesday 5 p.m.
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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-
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teed and depends on space available and the volume of
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Letters that are anonymous, libelous, argumentative,
sarcastic or contain accusations that are unsourced or
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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:
LETTERS
Blessed to live in
this community
What a wonderful National Night
Out we had in Florence. Free food,
free face painting, free rock painting
— free fun for all ages.
Good will was everywhere.
Thank you to our great Florence
Police Department, Florence Fire
Department, the Coast Guard and
the emergency workers. Also thanks
to Jamie Gorder, who was the coor-
dinator for this fine event, and to all
of the Florence city workers and cit-
izens who volunteered their time to
make sure that all went well.
Special thanks to Bill Prosser and
our terrific Mayor Joe Henry, both
of whom stood over hot barbecues
turning out hamburgers and hot
dogs for the duration.
What a community we are blessed
to live in. The smiles on the children’s
faces lit up the sky!
—Pamela Richardson
Florence
New country program
help smokers quit
Citizens of Lane County should
know about a wonderful program
to help people quit smoking called
“Freedom From Smoking.”
It is held at the PeaceHealth Hospi-
tal campus from one to three hours a
week for eight weeks.
The instructor is Karl Logan, a very
knowledgable, non-jundgemental
and patient presenter who helps each
participant customize their medical
aids, life changes and quit date.
Feel better, live longer and save lots
of money by quitting smoking.
— Brian Rutter
Florence
(For information, email klogan@
peacehealth.org)
Sand of time
will reveal truth
Until now, I’ve had no previous
desire to express myself in the pub-
lic broadsheet because I realize my
opine is merely a grain of sand on the
beach head.
Nevertheless, my innate compul-
sion remains undeniable, so there-
fore I feel I must speak my peace.
Humans may attempt — and have
temporarily succeeded in — decep-
tion, destruction, removal, re-writ-
ing and fl at-out in-your-face denial
of the reality of any universal truths.
Regardless, the sands of time
will just as undeniably reveal those
truths, even if the sand becomes a
sheet of glass.
Hope, faith in the truth, and love
to all in this lovingly and wonder-
fully growing community we all call
home.
—Sally Hubert
Florence
Use democracy or lose it
We are all multi-dimensional be-
ings. I think you will understand
when I say, “We live in at least two
worlds simultaneously, the material
one and the spiritual one.”
Th at is, a preponderance of scien-
tists agree that we have evolved our
bodies up through the animal king-
dom. And the majority of religions
all tell us we are “quickened” with an
eternal soul.
I always say, “If you really want to
know someone, fi gure out what their
animal is.” Because some people’s an-
imals are way more predatory than
others.
Civilization occurs when laws are
enforced to remind people to keep
their animal instincts under control.
It is my belief that most people
have lost consciousness of these two
inherent driving forces and, in so
doing, have abdicated their own free
will — thus control over their own
lives.
Th e solution: Wake up, take back
your power by exercising your right
to vote. If you vote, we can make this
country a democracy again.
If you don’t, we won’t.
It’s like my grandmother use to say,
“Use it, or lose it.”
—S. B. Starlight
Swisshome
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