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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 12, 2019)
4A | SATURDAY EDITION | JANUARY 12, 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 Need help before Collard Road collapses My wife and I own a home that the recent wash out on Collard Lake Road affects. Once these washouts start they just don’t stop — they get worse, especially with the rainy sea- son upon us. This crisis will only get worse. It is not just an inconvenience but could result in loss of life. Can you imagine a car going over the side of the ravine with children in it? Lane County Commissioner Jay Bozievich, through his office, has de- cided the road does not need repair and is not the county's responsibility as long as an emergency vehicle can navigate past the danger. How out of touch with the situation that is; not every driver has the train- ing our first responders have. I would go visit him in person. However, I am working in Kuwait supporting our military and our al- lies. I have your back and I need Com- missioner Bozieich to have my wife’s and all the residents of the Collard Lake community. Please call the commissioner or write. We need the community’s help. —Alex Orobey Florence Not singling out Trump In response to Mr. Tony Cavarno’s letter of Jan. 9 (“Sour Grapes, Plain and Simple”) regarding my letter of Jan. 5 (“We Are Becoming Danger- ously Malleable”), I would point out that I did not single out Mr. Trump, but also indicated that the fervent supporters of his predecessor were just as adamant about his qualities. Nor did I mean to suggest that everyone who is politically active is blind to criticism, but the reality is that true believers do abound in large numbers on both sides of the isle. —Jimmie Zinn Florence Lots of different walls Seems like Trump’s Wall has been back on the burner once again as he tries to convince us of the need for one. Th ere have been all kinds of walls in history. Th ere is the Great Wall of China which is 13,171 miles long and which did not deter invaders coming from another direction. Th en we have Walmart and Wal- greens, which are not really walls. Th ere is the West Bank Barrier (Wall) which is much like a volleyball court with the Palestinians on one side and the Israelis on the other side — and the wall being the net. Instead of lobbing a ball over the net they lob rockets which brings us to the 91-mile Berlin Wall, which was a separation of states; good versus evil; until it came tumbling down. Now we come to Trump’s Wall. Th e border between Mexico and USA is 1,954 miles long. Presently there are 700 miles of a hodgepodge of fencing consisting of wire mesh, chain link, post and rail with some to keep vehicles out and some to keep livestock from crossing. Now if you do not include the 700 miles of fence, which is not really a wall, there only a few hundred miles of actual steel/concrete wall current- ly in place. Trump’s request for $5.7 billion to build an unneeded con- crete fence is a small portion of what a complete wall would cost, which would be more like $80 billion (which would possibly double due to govern- ment overrides.) I forgot the Jerusalem Wailing Wall. Because the Wall will not be built, one portion of Trump’s wall could be designated as his own wailing wall. —Win Jolley Florence With all due respect I promised myself I would try and stay away from voicing my political opinions in 2019. Well, that didn’t last long. With all due respect to Mr. Cavar- no, I don’t think it matters how many presidents one has lived through to see the writing on Th e Wall (No pun intended). I’m 68, I’ll let you fi gure out how many presidents I’ve lived through, but I didn’t pay attention to any pres- ident until I was old enough to vote — except of course, the assassination of JFK. All presidents, by the very fact that they are supposed to be representing all Americans, are open to criticism. Seems to me that Mr. Trump is seen and heard on video in his meeting with “Nancy” and “Chuck” that he “would be proud to shut down the government” if he didn’t get his wall. He would not blame the Demo- crats; he would own it. Well, it’s just another one of Mr. Trump’s many, many, many lies. Quite frankly, I don’t understand how any Trump supporter — ardent or not — can believe or trust any- thing he says. Google-Fact Checking Trump’s speech on Jan. 8, his so called “facts” are as misleading as the day is long. Th ere are far better ways to spend $5.7 billion to keep our country safe from drugs, human traffi ckers, etc. We do need comprehensive immi- gration reform and at the same time we can put the government back to work. Trump says this is a crisis of both heart and spirit. If he really cared, he would put the hundreds of thousands of people back to work im- mediately. But I believe his pride is much larg- er than his heart and truly has no ca- pacity to relate to the problems and misery he is causing the furloughed government workers. My son works for the State De- partment’s Foreign Service and he and his family currently live in Pre- toria, South Africa. He is considered Essential Personnel and has to work without pay. How does Mr. Trump’s holding federal employees hostage help anyone? Sour grapes? I think not. —Gail Katz Hanson Florence Never called for open boarders Regarding Tony Cavarno's letter ("Sour Grapes, Plain and Simple," Jan. 9), I have frequently heard Re- publicans claim that Clinton, Obama, Schumer and Pelosi approved a wall in the past and now oppose it simply because the current administration wants it. Th e facts, which do not support that claim, are as follows: In 2006, the Secure Fence Act authorized building a fence (not a wall) along 700 miles of border. Clinton, Obama (then a sena- tor), Schumer and Pelosi all voted for that bill. By 2015, 654 miles of that fence were completed. Th e appropriations bill passed at the end of last year and rejected by the president provided $1.3 billion for fencing and other types of bor- der security and stipulated that funds could be used to repair and improve the existing fencing built under the 2006 act. Th erefore, Schumer and Pelosi's 2018 proposal for funding is com- pletely consistent with their vote for border fencing in 2006. What they oppose is wasting billions of taxpayer dollars on a wall that will not improve border security. Contrary to the pres- ident's claims, most drugs enter the U.S. through legal ports of entry; the majority of suspected terrorists that have been apprehended have been caught at airports. I am also tired of hearing that "Democrats want open borders." I'm a Democrat and I don't want open borders. I challenge anyone to cite a Democrat who has called for open borders. Schumer and Pelosi have never called for open borders, and have repeatedly said they want strong border security — but they want it to be eff ective and humane. If there is any inconsistency, it is on the part of the president, who said Mexico would pay for the wall. Now he wants to pay for his ineff ective wall with our tax dollars. Why aren’t his supporters calling him on that? —Donna Mlinek 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 McK- eown (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
