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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 26, 2019)
4A | SATURDAY EDITION | JANUARY 26, 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 Susan Gutierrez Cathy Dietz Ron Annis Jeremy Gentry Publisher, ext. 318 Editor, ext. 313 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 Thanks to our community for a job well done I would like to thank our District Commander for the suggestion to or- ganize a fundraiser to benefit our local Coast Guard Station, and for the guid- ance he provided our VFW Post 3232 Post Commander. The VFW 3232, Florence Disabled American Veterance (DAV), American Legion and the VFW Auxilliary team came together to accomplish one goal: To raise funds for Coast Guard Sta- tion-Siuslaw. As stated in recent Siuslaw News ar- ticles, the community of Florence has come together and rasied more than $10,000 for our “Coasties” thanks to our volunteerism. Thank you to all in our community for a job well done. —Harold Morgan Buddy Poppy Chairman VFW Post 3232 Supporting walls is not American It amazes me that no matter what President Trump does to hurt this na- tion, some people think he is the great- est. Amazingly, some 37 percent of peo- ple still support him, and I know that some of that percentage live right here in Florence. Two people in particular whose letters appear quite often in this newspaper are loyal Trump supporters. They support his notion that the “southern border” is the entry for the crime, rapists and drugs entering this country. At least two national news net- works this past week have stated that most drugs enter this country through ports of entry, in particular, by water and air — not from the southern bor- der. How many of the many mass shoot- ings we experienced in the past year were caused by illegals? None. How many members of the Presi- dent’s cabinet have been indicted and/ or sent to prison? As of today, 11 and counting. How many times has Trump been accused of either assaulting or sexually degrading women? Who is the one who caused the government shutdown that one letter writer said he fully supports, stating that the workers would eventu- ally get their money? Supporting a shutdown and support- ing walls is not American. Walls are a medieval approach that is obsolete. It seems apparent to me that the President is not in favor of non-whites. Remem- ber the Muslim ban? Remember how he forgot about Puerto Rico? Now he makes up a crisis at the southern border to support his wall when the real crisis is in the White House. Should the Mueller investiga- tion lead to a prison sentence for the President, I hope the bail, if any, will be too much for Putin to pay. —Marty Perseo Florence Roots in Collard Road crisis span 11 years I would like to give a historical per- spective on Collard Lake Road to an- swer Mr. Alex Orebey’s letter (“Need Help Before Collard Road Collapses,” Jan. 12). Eleven years ago I was appointed to the County Roads Committee. One of the first things I was assigned to do by the County Commissioner was to as- certain the condition of Collard Lake Road. What I found was that the road had numerous dangerous problems and may have not met standards of con- struction. I verified this with a person who has professional engineers licens- es in three states and works for a state roads agency. The situation got worse, with me hitting a stone wall no matter what I tried. I attempted to get documentation for who approved the construction but ended up being led in a circle with no end. This was my welcome to the won- derful world of Lane County. This was at a time when federal funds were ending. It was also when millions of dollars were about to be spent on two highly questionable and contemptuous road projects in West Lane. In addition, I was informed by the county that ju- risdiction for the road was partially the county’s with no clear objective of what they would do which was basically nothing. I would like to remind you that this took place over 11 years ago. Unfortunately for the residences, they were told at the time that they would have to finance the road repairs themselves. The least that the Coun- ty could have done is see to it that the road met state and federal construction standards. —George Goldstein 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 Proposed bill is Portland-area-politics gun grab (Editor’s Note: Viewpoint submis- sions on this and other topics are always welcome as part of our goal to encourage community discussion and exchange of perspectives.) SB 501, sponsored by Senator Rob Wagner of Tualatin and Representa- tive Andrea Salinas of Lake Oswego, is a bill that all supporters of the Second Amendment should oppose. This bill is clearly an attempt to ram big-city, Portland-area ideas on gun control down the throats of rural Or- egonians. This bill would, among oth- er things, require law-abiding Orego- nians to petition a politician (such as the county sheriff ) for a permit before being allowed to exercise their Consti- tutional right to purchase a firearm un- der the Second Amendment. Should the sheriff decide to grant the request, he or she could then charge a “reasonable fee” for this permit. One can only imagine what will inev- itably become the ever-increasing cost of these “reasonable fees.” Law-abiding Oregon residents who are of sound mind and otherwise legally permitted to own a firearm should not have to pe- tition elected officials to purchase one. I can see no rational nexus between this foolish and ill-advised bill and any measurable reduction in gun violence. It appears to me to simply be another power grab by Portland-area politi- Guest Viewpoint By Stan Easter Florence cians. Keep in mind that in most cases background checks are already manda- tory for gun purchases. So under this new proposal, even if you can pass a background check, you would still have to petition an elected official to do what you have a legal right to do. In short, this bill does not target criminals, only the law abiding. Additionally, the bill prohibits law-abiding Oregonians from purchas- ing more than 20 rounds of ammuni- tion per month. When my stepson, my wife and I go to the range to practice shooting, we typically fire a few hun- dred rounds minimum. This law would render an enjoyable, family based activity nearly impossible. The bill also mandates a background check to purchase ammunition. Can you imagine how impossible it will be to have background checks done through an already overburdened system if this law goes into effect? Not to mention how the costs of these background checks will certainly over burden many low- and middle-income families. SB 501 also bans “high capacity mag- azines,” which the bill defines as “any magazine holding more than 5 rounds.” This is sheer nonsense. Talk to any group of experienced, trained, law-abiding shooters and they will tell you that a "high capacity" magazine is one that holds more than 30 rounds. In fact, 20- or 30-round magazines are considered by most to be “standard capacity” magazines. I will be contacting State Senator Arnie Roblan and State Representative Caddy McKeown to express my oppo- sition to this bill, and I hope others will too. I’m sure that gun grabbers are flood- ing state representatives’ offices with letters in favor of this power grab. 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
