4A |
SATURDAY EDITION
| OCTOBER 20, 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)
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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
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Letters to the Editor policy
LETTERS
Unbiased exchange can
inform, change minds
First, I want to agree 100 percent with
Keith R. Kraft on his most pointed opin-
ion piece on Measure 105. (“Arguments
Against Measure 105 Don't Hold Water,”
Oct. 17). I would also add that “illegal”
is not a race.
Please think of all the ramifications of
unfiltered immigration, both illegal and
legal. As I was once told, buy land, they
don’t make it anymore. What that means
as it pertains to this issue is we have a
finite supply, and do you really want to
live like they do in China?
I do not.
To Mr. Bob Horney and his Commu-
nity Voices piece “Behind the Headlines”
(Oct. 17) regarding prostate cancer:
Thank you. I will be getting the test.
Now to my main point. There was a
writer on the opinion page recently that
complained, I thought, about those who
get published and insinuated that the
Siuslaw News editor was biased. I for one
will testify this is not so.
The letter writer also proposed that
you could look at the title of a letter and
then who it came from, and assume the
contents. I find this thinking to be very
shallow.
First off, Ned Hickson and I could not
be more different if we tried. So, if he’s
biased, it sure wouldn’t be towards me.
Yes, quite a few of my letters — and
the letters of other regular contribu-
tors — get published, and I would like
to think that’s because the opinions are
stated succinctly and are thought pro-
ducing.
You can disagree, but you will have to
think, not feel.
To throw a monkey wrench into those
who would like to pigeonhole me, I pres-
ent my case for Measure 20-291. My first
instinct was to vote “no.” Usually, these
bond measures are just used to pad the
general fund for pet projects, no matter
what they say.
But then I read a very good piece in
the Siuslaw News outlining the fiscal
benefits to our community for doing it
now instead of in the future.
I was left thinking how these improve-
ments would have to be done sooner or
later, and that doing so sooner would be
more fiscally sound.
Then today, I see that the middle and
high schools are upgrading their con-
struction classes. This is so important,
not only here but all over. There is a great
void of classes in the trades.
When I was in high school there was
automotive, wood and metal shops. I
took all three and not only used them
in my life but enjoyed doing so. Nothing
but good can come from having a focus
on these occupations.
Everyone will need these services in
their life, and it is getting harder to find
competent folks in these occupations.
So, don’t just feel for the kids but think
of how you will be improving their life’s.
I will be voting “yes” on 20-291.
—Dave Eckhardt
Florence
Property increase too
much for school bond
Please protect our schools by voting
“no” on the new school bond. Last year,
the owner of a modest home with an as-
sessed value of $200,000 paid $1,323 in
taxes to support education at all levels.
— with $150 of those dollars for the lo-
cal operating levy, which must be peri-
odically renewed with voter approval in
order for our schools to function.
If the new construction bond is ap-
proved, the owner of that home would
have to pay an additional $400, assum-
ing that the existing bond in fact will
have been paid off .
I don’t know how many property own-
ers, faced with a 30 percent increase in
their property taxes for education, will
continue to vote for future operating
levies. Th ose who rent will also pay the
additional cost, as property owners pass
on all their additional costs in the form
of increased rent.
Th e school district may feel that it
needs to replace existing buildings, but
to attempt to do this at a cost so high that
it jeopardizes approval of future operat-
ing levies is extremely short sighted.
—Paul Floto
Florence
Slow down and follow
speed limits
I wrote you a letter a few months ago
regarding the speed limits on Munsel
Lake Road.
Speed limit is 35 mph from Highway
101 and is 25 mph starting at Ocean
Dunes Drive (golf course ) and Munsel
Lake Road, and continues through res-
idential area all the way to North Fork
Road.
We have had numerous people mov-
ing into our area from out of state who
do not abide by our speed limit and oft en
laugh at us for trying to help slow them
down. We get drivers fl ipping us off and
who are down right disrespectful.
Th e police have made some what of an
eff ort to police the area, but they are too
busy. Th ere are several neighbors who
have put many hours into this fi ght for
keeping our neighborhood safe, con-
tinuing to send letters to city and county
works trying to get solutions.
We had a battery-operated digital
speed sign for about three weeks, we just
started seeing a diff erence when it was
taken down and placed somewhere else
in Lane County. Th ere has been support
from ODOT, Florence City Works and
ODOT from Eugene, but nothing per-
manent yet.
Please use common sense and drive
safely in our community. We just want
awareness of the speed limit and respect
of our neighborhood to be recognized as
a safe keeping community.
—Pamela Fox
Florence
‘City in Motion’ should
include schools
I strongly support the new school
bonds. Specifi cally, our Florence stu-
dents defi nitely need the vastly im-
proved technology facilities that will be
available to them in these new buildings.
I am a retired professor from the
University of Oregon. My professional
expertise centers on the eff ective appli-
cation of computer technologies at all
grade levels, K-12, and in all curriculum
areas.
Nowadays, adults routinely use
computers (including smartphones)
throughout their daily lives, at work, at
play and so on. Our children need an ed-
ucation that thoroughly integrates such
routine use of computer technology in
the learning of each subject area they
study, and in using this learning to solve
problems and accomplish tasks.
Th at is, they need an education that is
appropriate to today’s world and the fu-
ture life they will face as adults.
If Florence is to indeed be a “City in
Motion,” then it requires a school sys-
tem with facilities that support our stu-
dents in their own forward motion into
a world that is increasingly digital in all
aspects.
Th e bond funds to build these new fa-
cilities will make this possible. For our
children’s future, I urge support these
new technologies in our school by vot-
ing “yes.”
—David G. Moursund, Ph.D.
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
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teed and depends on space available and the volume of
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Letters that are anonymous, libelous, argumentative,
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documented will not be published.
Letters containing poetry or from outside the Siuslaw
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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
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plain the reasons to support candidates based on per-
sonal experience and perspective rather than partisan-
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Candidates themselves may not use the letters to the
editor column to outline their views and platforms or to
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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