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)
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Copyright 2019 © Siuslaw News
Siuslaw News
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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;
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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
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lished at the discretion of the editor.
Political/Election Letters:
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As with all letters and advertising content, the
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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