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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 16, 2019)
4A | WEDNESDAY EDITION | JANUARY 16, 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 Collard Road solution is County Board action Regarding the Letter to the Ed- itor “Need Help Before Collard Road Collapses” (Jan. 12), before writing letters to the editor please check your facts and also avoid criticizing unfairly the person who is already trying to help you. First, I made no decisions to stop maintenance of local access roads (LAR’s), it was done well be- fore I was even elected. Second, because the decision to end maintenance of LAR’s was a Board action then it will take Board action to reverse. I asked for an emergency item to be placed on our agenda concern- ing Collard Lake Road last Tues- day (Jan. 8) in our Board meeting and to have a regular agenda item to talk about LAR’s in general. You can watch the video of the Board meeting (https://lan- ecounty.org/cms/One.aspx?por- talId=3585881&pageId=7842434) It is agenda item 9.B - Agen- da Team Requests at time stamp 3:25:00 (3 hours and 25 minutes into the afternoon session) I am hoping the Chair can make this happen under emergency business on Jan. 15. I do have photos of the “col- lapse” and it is not currently threatening eminent closure of the roadway and our public works crew placed barriers to protect the traveling public. Sincerely, —Jay Bozievich Lane County Commisioner Better vetting of letters Th e recent opinion “Free Off er and an Idea to End Government Shutdown” (Jan. 9) was another fi ne example of hatred disguised as “opinion.” Th at Sheldon Meyer attempts to validate the piece by puffi ng up as an educated person, stuff s it with insult, and ends it with a death wish, has become all too common in these pages. We have truly be- come a divided society cemented by such malicious partisan rants. It’s a shame this piece took up room that could have been used for intelligent insights. Disappointed. —Robert Shepard Mapleton Need help on Collard Road Our home is just past a new and serious failure of Collard Lake Road. A week ago, we noticed that a huge tree at the edge of the pave- ment was leaning way out over a steep ravine and the pavement inboard of the tree had some big cracks that were growing bigger every day. A few days ago the tree fell down into the ravine, taking a large por- tion of the pavement with it. The remaining pavement had the fill pulled out from under it, leaving about two feet of asphalt there with no support under it at all. There are about 25 homes on the far side of this spot on our dead-end road, and if (when) the road continues to break away into the ravine, we will have no way of getting in or out of our homes. A neighbor was told that the road would not be repaired as long as there was enough of it left for access by an emergency vehicle. Right now, an ambulance could make it through, but passage by a large fire truck would be dicey. We’re stuck here; Collard Lake Road is our only way in and out. The County tells us that this is not a County road, even though they have been repairing it and mowing the edges on an irregular basis it up until about two years ago. Is there anyone with some pos- sible solutions? We’re listening! —Skip & Camille Thomsen Florence No problem with government shutdown Welcome to 2019 and it al- ready looks to be a banner year for Democrats to spread socialist programs. It looks like a few local let- ter-writing stalwarts such as Win Jolley and Donna Mlinek are at- tempting to raise the bar on the craziness. Mr. Jolley’s “Wal-mart and Walgreens” letter (“Lots of Diff erent Walls,” Jan. 12) shows he doesn’t want to be taken serious- ly. And Ms. Mlinek’s verbal calis- thenics (“Never Called for Open Borders,” Jan. 12), while Golden Globe quality, were not realistic. As for President Trump, he does seem to turn a phrase upside and sideways on the way to getting to the point. Nevertheless, he is on the right track. So let’s be clear: a wall, fence or whatever you want to call it is certainly a good starting point — and no, no one is saying build a wall on the whole length of the border. Personally, I would do much more to start with. But the whole country would go crazy. Do I have a problem with the Government shut down? Not in the least. To the letter writer who's son is in the foreign service (Gail Katz Hanson, “With All Due Respect,” Jan. 12), I would remind her that he will get paid in the long run. However, the offi cer who was killed in Newman will not come back to life. And neither will all the others who have been killed by illegals. And I don’t believe the BS that citizens commit more crimes than illegals because the fact is this: If they weren't here, those people would still be alive. My idea of a solution would in- clude: 0 illegals coming over the border and 0 overstaying their visas. So whatever it takes to get there is fi ne with me. Th ank You, President Trump, for having the internal fortitude to stand against the haters. —David Eckhardt Florence What about protecting our coastal borders? If we had a president who was actually concerned about border security, there would be no more important federally funded group than the United States Coast Guard. Th ey protect all of us day to day along three much longer boarders than the one between us and Mexico. I am specifi cally referencing the west coast, the east coast and the gulf coasts. —Sheldon L. Meyer, PhD 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
