4A |
SATURDAY EDITION
| NOVEMBER 17, 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.
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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
Call to action
I strongly condemn Mayor Henry’s
partisanship and make an ardent call
to action.
In the past, progressive issues
brought to Mayor Henry for consid-
eration by the City Council, such as
sanctuary city status, gun violence
prevention, climate change and sup-
port for educational upgrades, were
sharply rebuffed and in some cases
demeaned by the mayor.
You can counter the mayor’s block-
age by going directly to the council
and presenting your issue during
public input period available at each
meeting.
Requests to address the City Coun-
cil can be made online or by down-
loading a speaker’s card that can be
presented at the meeting (preferred).
Speaker’s cards will also be available
at the meeting.
Check the City calendar for meet-
ing dates and times. Meetings are
generally every first and third Mon-
day of the month at 5:30 p.m.
It’s time to bring your issues direct-
ly to the council in a public forum.
That is democracy in action.
—Michael Allen
Florence
Clarifying the purpose of Florence Organizes (FOR)
(Editor’s Note: Viewpoint submis-
sions on this and other topics are always
welcome as part of our goal to encourage
community discussion and exchange of
perspectives.)
Florence Organizes grew out of the
Women’s March in 2017 to create a
positive movement of self-determi-
nation, dignity and respect. We have
grown into a group with four
central teams including En-
vironmental, Human Rights,
Health Care and Education.
These teams identify local
and national issues as well as
community needs and work to
address them through educa-
tion and direct action. For the most
part, we have not directly supported
candidates rather than being FOR
women in politics who share its val-
ues.
In our first year, the Environmen-
tal Team began its work with Oregon
Wild in presenting writing workshops
to teach effective means of communi-
cating with legislators and state offi-
cials for the protection of wolves, the
Elliot Forest, Jordan Cove and simi-
lar environmental issues. They also
implemented a program that works
alongside SOLVE and records plas-
tic garbage brands, sends that data to
corporations such as Coca Cola to en-
courage them to reduce plastic waste.
In addition, the team has joined
in sponsoring several functions such
as the Forests & Waters program in
Yachats and the Earth Day Celebra-
tion earlier this year.
The FOR Education Team’s first
project was with the PTA and Band
of Brothers to sponsor a drive for the
school’s emergency food and sup-
plies program at the 2017 Power of
Florence. They also worked with the
PTA and other community members
Guest Viewpoint
By FOR members:
Priscilla Washington, human rights
Leonora Kent, education
Judy Kinsman, environment
Patricia Burke, healthcare
to pass the recent option levy and
are currently working on the school
bond.
They joined with the Human Rights
Team to create a fundraiser for local
DACA kids to raise the required fil-
ing fee for the paperwork that allows
them to retain their legal status.
The Human Rights Team also
sponsored the “Gift of our Wounds”
program at the Presbyterian Church
this past August. Former Skinhead,
Arno Michaelis, and son of the Sikh
leader killed in the temple attack in
Wisconsin, Pardeep Kaleka, spent an
afternoon with over a hundred Flor-
encians sharing their story of healing
through love.
The Human Rights Team is cur-
rently connected to the Florence
Oregon Housing Coalition to find
creative solutions to build workforce
housing and encourage the develop-
ment of Accessory Dwelling Units.
Some members are also members of
the First Step Transitional program
and Florence Warming Center.
The Health Care Team joined the
effort to educate the community re-
garding Measure 101 in Janu-
ary of 2018, which resulted in
approximately 60 percent of
the community voting “yes.”
The Health Care Team has
also been instrumental in re-
vitalizing the Florence Chapter
of Health Care For All Oregon,
which promotes the creation
of a public plan for health coverage
for all Oregonians, as well as protect-
ing our existing health care services
when threatened through legislation
or ballot measures.
As other situations have arisen,
such as China’s rejection of most re-
cycled plastics, FOR members have
joined with other community mem-
bers to create new entities to address
needs. Precious Plastics, Master Recy-
clers, and FOR members have recent-
ly completed our first plastics round-
up with great success.
FOR members also collaborated in
the creation of the Siuslaw Climate
Alliance, which will soon embark on
a monthly forum to educate citizens
on the local impact of climate change.
The Siuslaw News welcomes letters to the editor as
part of a community discussion of issues on the local,
state and national level.
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cretion of the editor.
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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