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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 14, 2018)
4A | WEDNESDAY EDITION | NOVEMBER 14, 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: Wednesday Issue—General news, Monday noon; Budgets, four days prior to publication; Regular classified ads, Monday 1 p.m.; Display ads, Monday noon; Display classified ads, Friday 5 p.m. Saturday Issue—General news, Thursday noon; Budgets, two days prior to publication; Regular classified ads, Thursday 1 p.m.; Display ads, Thursday noon; Display classified ads, Wednesday 5 p.m. Soundings, Tuesday 5 p.m. NEWSPAPER SUBSCRIPTION RATES: In Lane County — 1-year subscription, $76; 6-month in-county, $52; 10-week subscription, $23; Out of Lane County — 1-year subscription, $99; 6-month out-of-county, $65; 10-week subscription, $29; Out of State — 1-year subscription, $125; E-Edition Online Only (Anywhere) — 1-year sub- scription, $65. Mail subscription includes E-Edition. Website and E-Edition: TheSiuslawNews.com Letters to the Editor policy LETTERS Unethical behavior I have waited until after the midterm voting has been completed so that I may express my view — a viewpoint that I believe is held by many others in this community. I am appalled and outraged by the behavior of two Florence City Council members prior to the distribution of bal- lots to voters. It is unconscionable and appalling to read of the bullying of a City Council candidate by two sitting City Council members. Their behaviors are so egre- gious that I can conclude I have never seen the likes of them before. Regardless of the political outcome this type of behavior is at best totally un- ethical. It is my opinion that the two City Council members should be removed from office and barred from holding public office forever. —David Lynch Florence Fires are due to poor USFS planning, environmentalists Claims that the devastating fires are caused by global warming is not entirely right. Global warming is only a small part of the problem. The main cause is the failure to maintain a healthy forest. For the past 70-plus years, all fires have been seen as "bad," and the forest service be- gan putting out all fires. The result was a build-up of debris on the forest floor. To further aggravate the problem, fa- natical environmentalists stopped major portions of logging activities. Look at the pictures of Yosemite in the 1940s and compare them to today, and it is easy to see the problem: Back then, there was enough room between trees to drive a car. Today, it is hard to ride a horse be- tween them. It is like pouring gas on the fire once it starts. With proper timber management, many of today's fires wouldn't have hap- pened. By the time USFS figured this out, it was too late to stop the inevitable. Any fires were going to be almost im- possible to control. They have started to try and clean up and thin out forests now, but it is expen- sive and will take time; after all, it took many years to get this way. Think what your place would be like if you let it go for years, let alone decades. —Dan McDivitt Florence No collusion or reason to demonstrate Recently, local political activist Nora Kent, while demonstrating on 101 against the termination of Attorney Gen- eral Jeff Sessions, was quoted (Siuslaw News story “March In Support of Special Counsel Robert Mueller," Nov. 10) “This is what Democracy looks like...” Really? Just where does a lawfully released cabinet member by a United States President look like democracy by demonstrating because mobocracy is concerned that a Special Counsel Muel- ler, appointed by the executive branch of government, may be terminated? Since when did Robert Mueller have more authority than the executive branch which hired him, even the Presi- dent, who is the chief officer of the exec- utive branch? It seems absurd to link this misguid- ed demonstration with democracy. Our democratic right is to vote; the Presi- dent’s right is to terminate those in the executive branch. Our rights under the Bill of Rights is to “peaceably assemble” with common sense. Bob Mueller should have been dis- missed long ago because the taxpayers of America have coughed up $20 million for what appears to be a no-proof hoax put in motion by Deputy Attorney Gen- eral Rod Rosenstein over the impotence of the recused Jeff Sessions. The only collusion with the Russians that I can see is Barack Obama at an open microphone pleading with Pres- ident Medvedev for time and compro- mise, and Hillary Clinton’s paid-for dossier using Russian influence with her campaign funds. Save the demonstrations for real issues, like eliminating the Second Amendment and destroying the lives of Supreme Court Justices who would send Roe vs Wade to the states. God bless America, our wonderful Republic. — Joel Marks Florence Need for understanding of school funding rules In response to the letter submitted by Cris Reep (“Tough Times Call For Tough Meaures,” Nov. 10) I wonder if many others in our community have a misunderstanding of how schools are funded in the state of Oregon. The funding received by public schools through normal taxes are very restricted. Under current Oregon law a school district may not use operating funds for certain capital improvement or construction. Those can only be ob- tained through bond measures. By law, a school district could have a huge budget surplus but is restricted from using those funds toward capital projects. Students pay out-of-pocket to play sports or other after-school extra- curricular activities. Eliminating football and any other extracurricular activity would not even begin to address issues outlined by the school district. —Bob Teter 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
