4A |
WEDNESDAY EDITION
| NOVEMBER 21, 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
Thanks to the community
for tribute to Leah
Many, many thanks to all of the parti c-
ipants of the tributes to the memory of
our beloved daughter, Leah Goodwin.
There were so many organizations
and individuals involved. It is hard
to find a place to start. We will try to
thank everyone personally and in this
letter. If we miss anyone, we know
Leah is thanking them from heaven.
We would start by thanking Kevin,
Matt and Kim at the FEC for donating
time, labor and equipment.
Several people gave testimonials
about their relationship with Leah, the
Florence Methodist Church and oth-
ers where Leah was a member or vol-
unteered provided cookies, and more
than 400 people attended the celebra-
tion of her life. Two plaques, a large
stone and a brick were given in tribute
to Leah at the FEC, where she was in-
volved in numerous plays and produc-
tions as an active member of the Last
Resort Players and other local theater
groups in what she called her “home
town” of Florence.
We would be hard pressed to name
all of the many good friends who were
instrumental in the celebration, but
they know who they are — and so does
Leah.
At a seperate meeting, she was
awarded the Paul Haris Fellow Award
sponsored by Chrystal Farnsworth
and Dana Rodet at the November Ro-
tary Club meeting.
Our heartfelt thanks and appreciate
to the community for celebrating Le-
ah’s life.
— Butch, Roise and Machelle Goodwin
Florence
Democracy in action
In the Nov. 17 edition of the Siuslaw
N ews, in a Letter to the Editor (“Call
to Action”), Michael Allen “condemns”
Mayor Henry’s partisanship position
on such issues as sanctuary city sta-
tus, gun violence prevention, climate
change and support for educational
upgrades.
One can only conclude that Mayor
Henry’s position is contrary to Mr. Al-
len’s clearly partisan position on these
issues.
In addition, he makes an “ardent
Call to Action” on this matter.
It seems to me that the results of that
“ardent Call to Action” were received
when none of the partisan candidates
ran against Mayor Henry in the re-
cent election. Furthermore, it is over-
whelmingly conclusive that Mayor
Henry’s position on these issues and
his overall job performance is laudable
and highly supported by the residents
of Florence when one sees that Mayor
Henry garnered 94.09 percent of the
votes cast for mayor.
This looks like the “democracy in
action" that Mr. Allen identified.
—Ron Duzy
Florence
(Note: Mayor Joe Henry ran unapposed
in the Nov. 6 midterm election.)
When will local gas
prices drop?
Is anybody else curious as to why gas
prices in Florence have not fallen?
For many years, the price of regular
gas was always 10 cents a gallon cheap-
er in Florence than Eugene and was al-
ways cheaper than Medford.
At the time of writing (Nov. 16),
Florence has seen the price drop just
3 cents a gallon in the past week while
the price has dropped 10 cents in Eu-
gene during the past couple of days —
and is now 25 cents a gallon cheaper
than Florence at some stations.
Even in Medford, the price dropped
9 cents in the past two days and is cur-
rently as much as 15 cents cheaper
than Florence.
It would seem that here in Florence,
if no gas station drops its price, the
other stations are more than happy to
maintain their prices.
—Frank Keavy
Florence
Where was the
president?
Our Commander and Chief, Donald
Trump, has humiliated our military
and country. As a political stunt prior
to the midterm elections, he sent 5,200
Army troops to the Mexican board-
er to help ward off the “invasion” of
about 4,000 migrants from Central
America who he warned will “invade”
our country.
Now these troops have laid barbed
wire on top of “the wall” at the tune of
$200 million and the troops are biv-
ouacked miles from the border.
In the meantime, Secretary of De-
fense James Mattis stated that, other
than laying the barbed wire, he did not
know what their other functions were.
Next we had the observance of
both WWl and Veterans Day, when
it seemed a bit of rain hindered the
president from flying in a helicopter to
the Asine-Marne American Cemetery,
where 2,289 American service men are
interned — only an hour’s drive by car
from Paris.
Then we have Veterans Day and —
once again — he was a no-show, this
time at the Arlington National Ceme-
tery observance because a bit of rain.
Neither did he attend any other func-
tion honoring our service men and
women that day.
I served my country in the U.S. Army
for three years. I was both humiliated
and embarrassed by his actions.
—Win Jolley
Florence
An undiscovered
Christmas treasure
I have a magnet on the side of my car
that says, “Florence Nativity Festival,”
and I am always quite surprised at how
many people stop and ask me, “What
is that?”
For a small town, it is amazing how
many fun, giving or spiritual things go
on in Florence — especially during the
holidays. But, instead of a large ser-
vice club or nonprofi t project, this one
started with just a few women sharing
their prized Nativity collections over a
weekend.
Now there are over 400 that can be
seen for free by the public.
If you haven't discovered it yet, it is
a good thing to share with your family
and friends and maybe start a yearly
tradition. Th e festival is always the fi rst
weekend of December from 1 to 5 p.m.
at the church on the corner of Munsel
Lake and North Fork roads.
Th is year, the Friday showing falls
on Nov. 30.
—Sherry Harvey
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