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)
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Copyright 2019 © Siuslaw News
Siuslaw News
Published every Wednesday and Saturday at 148 Maple St. in Florence, Lane County,
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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.
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As with all letters and advertising content, the
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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