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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 9, 2019)
4A | WEDNESDAY EDITION | JANUARY 9, 2019 Siuslaw News P.O. Box 10 Florence, OR 97439 NED HICKSON , EDITOR | 541-902-3520 | NHICKSON @ THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM Opinion The First Amendment C ongress shall make no law respect- ing an establishment 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 Govern- ment 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 2019 © Siuslaw News 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 Pub- lishers 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 Bartlet Ned Hickson Erik Chalhoub Susan Gutierrez Cathy Dietz Ron Annis Jeremy Gentry Publisher, ext. 318 Editor, ext. 313 Consulting Editor 831-761-7353 echalhoub@register-pajaronian.com Marketing Director, ext. 326 Office Supervisor, ext. 312 Production Supervisor Press Manager DEADLINES: Wednesday Issue—General news, Monday noon; Budgets, four days prior to publica- tion; 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 subscrip- tion, $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 subscription, $65. Mail subscription includes E-Edition. Website and E-Edition: TheSiuslawNews.com Letters to the Editor policy LETTERS Free offer and an idea to end government shutdown I have a Ph. D. and I have been trained to give individualized I.Q. Tests. I would, for no cost to the pub- lic, be willing to test Donald Trump to see if he has a measurable I.Q. And regarding the government shutdown, maybe a better way to deal with it would be to furlough the se- cret service and let the president and members of congress protect them- selves. —Sheldon l. Meyer Dunes City Great support for community event Elderberry Square had its first an- nual Gingerbread Workshop on Dec. 29 — and the event turned out great! We had a blast making gingerbread houses and people. Many wonderful local businesses donated delicious food. Among the businesses were Big Dog Donuts and Deli, Hukilou, BJ’s, The Oddfellows, Better Living Center and the Seventh Day Adventists. We were also able to make a winter wonderland from the trees donated by BJ’s Ice Cream. For anyone that was unable to come to this event, we will be having a high tea in March. Our thanks to everyone who helped make this event happen! — Barbara Stacey Elderberry Square Put the planet above corporate profits Community Rights Lane County (CRLC) continues to work toward real democracy, where we the peo- ple make decisions that protect our health, safety and welfare. Sister organizations Freedom from Aerial Herbicide Alliance (FAHA) and Our Community Our Rights (OCOR) are continuing to challenge the county’s action to block their ini- tiatives from the ballot. The decision affecting FAHA’s ae- rial spray ban initiative has already been challenged in the Lane County Circuit Court, and is now on appeal to the Oregon Court of Appeals. That challenge is ongoing and will take many months to reach a conclusion. The decision affecting OCOR’s Right to Local Community Self-Gov- ernment initiative, which gives com- munities the right to write and pass laws to protect themselves from harmful corporate activity such as aerial spraying, was brought before the Lane County Circuit Court in a hearing Nov. 5, and we are awaiting a decision in that case. Until laws that favor the planet are elevated above corporate profits, CRLC will continue to persevere and expect to be increasingly active in 2019. We hope others will join in that important work. —Michelle Holman Deadwood CommunityRightsLaneCounty.org Sour grapes, plain and simple In regard to Jimmie Zinn’s letter (“We Are Becoming Dangerously Malleable,” Jan. 5), I have to agree with him on some points and dis- agree on others. I’m slightly ahead of his perspective of seeing 12 presi- dents come and go, as I have seen 14 of them come and 13 go — all the way back to Franklin Roosevelt, who real- ly pulled us through WWII but hurt us by helping create a welfare state. He started the Social Security pro- gram, saying the tax would be 1 per- cent and our Social Security number would never be used for identifica- tion. So how is that working out ? I agree with Mr. Zinn in that I, too, have have seen screw ups in every one of those presidents. There's only one fellow that I have ever heard of that made no mistakes and walked on water, and our presidents have missed that mark. However, I disagree with Mr. Zinn when he says that none of President Trump’s ardent supporters — myself included — can accept that he is fal- lible. Sure he is. Unfortunately on more than one point. I’m sorry Mr. Zinn feels that we feel no criticism of our president is valid. Without question, some criticism is due, but by far the majority of crit- icism is not valid; most is only sour grapes because he is president — and their gal is on the sidelines. Plain and simple. In regard to being malleable and changeable, how about Clinton, Obama, Schumer and Pelosi oppos- ing spending money for a border wall (now that we need it) when all of them were on TV newscasts years ago saying the opposite when Democrats were in office ? It isn’t about the $5 billion at all. It is because Trump is in office. Again, plain and simple. —Tony Cavarno Florence The Siuslaw News welcomes letters to the edi- tor 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 sub- ject to editing for length, grammar and clarity. Publication of any letter is not guaranteed and depends on space available and the volume of let- ters received. Letters that are anonymous, libelous, argumen- tative, 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 pub- lished at the discretion 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 campaigns on behalf of (or by) candidates; 2) En- sure any information about a candidate is accu- rate, fair and not from second-hand knowledge or hearsay; and 3) Explain the reasons to support candidates based on personal experience and perspective rather than partisanship and cam- paign-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 newspaper, at the sole discretion of the publish- er, general manager and editor, reserves the right to reject any letter 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 @oregonlegislature.gov 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
