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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 13, 2019)
4A | WEDNESDAY EDITION | FEBRUARY 13, 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 Middle to high school love can be a risky maneuver Guest Viewpoint By Ramiro Ramirez Siuslaw High School student (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.) H opefully by now you’ve all thought of a certain someone special and found the perfect gift for Valentine’s Day. However, I want to talk to you about young love. Ah… young love. Whether it’s some- one new or the one you’ve known for a while, you begin to feel something. But don’t be fooled by love, as it can cause trouble for both the child and the par- ent. People outside of school, you might remember someone from your class who was cute. You might’ve started to do spe- cial things for that certain someone. But your parents might have disapproved of the love — maybe even given you talks that you will eventually give to your own children some day. Here are some things that can make young love a concern for a family. Family time may be difficult Remember the days when it was you and your family at the table playing a board game or having a great meal to- gether. Now, with the certain special someone in the mix, family time could be hindered or altered all together. You may rather spend time with your special friend instead of family, which can grow into concerns from parents. This is espe- cially understandable if they haven’t met the other person’s family or friends. With more time spent with a new sig- nificant other, the times of an entire fam- ily at the table may be over. Concern for your safety If you are going to spend time at your new love’s house, your parents may want to get more information on the oth- er family. Sure, it may seem intrusive, but nothing is more important to them than your safety. If you’re going out with someone already familiar to your fami- ly, then it will likely relieve some of the stress for your parents (assuming they approve of him/her). If not, your parents will be more cautious. Remember: They are there to guide you, not allow you to fall face-first into a pothole. Possibility of more The biggest worry of every parent with a student in love is that their child will go too far with their significant other. While there have been class lessons about the dangers of intimacy or even having a baby while in school, they realize their student may not care about those lessons because — let’s be honest — they’re often boring and dull like a lot of other school lessons. Sure, when you were first given “The Talk,” it may have been uncomfortable. But it also gave you some important precautions about love and getting too serious. This is vital information to talk about with your family. Now, for you young ones that have found your “sweet babboo,” whether it was just a few days or a couple of years ago, love isn’t bad. But it can cause prob- lems in your current life if you don’t han- dle it well. I’m not saying avoid romance; it’s just a matter of accepting how much responsibility you have in a relationship. Here are some things that could hap- pen if you focus on love too much. Your grades While this may seem to be a boring statement, it can have unintended con- sequences. Spend too much time day- dreaming about your Sweet Babboo, and while your love dreams go up, your grades go down. This is pretty important because you need to have good grades in order to go onto the next grade. Sometimes the amount of school work will not give you time for relationships. And it may be easier to put love on hold until after high school rather than hav- ing to juggle a relationship as well. It may seem like disappointing advice, but over time you will continue to grow and mature to gain a better understanding of how to manage love and your time. Loss of connection between friends Being with your friends can be fun. Whether it’s bowling, attempting to make the next internet trend or binge-watch- ing a popular show on Netflix. However, if you spend too much time with your sweet one (or binge-watching, for that matter), you may start to lose touch with your friends. They may start to think that your significant other is your top priority and may start leaving you out. The dreaded break-up We’re still young and learning, which is why love can be a bit of a risk to take in your pre-adulthood years. Your cur- rent relationship may be perfect for the moment. But as time goes on, changes are in the air. Your likes and interests may change, or may even feel trapped trying too hard to keep them impressed. As the lyric goes in Smash Mouth’s song, I’m A Believer, “But the more I gave the less I got, oh yeah.” This can lead to changes in what you want from your relationship — and the dreaded middle or high-school breakup. While it is possible that a high school couple can last into the late years, those chances are pretty low, and that doesn’t automatically make an excuse for having a significant other. And besides, once you’ve matured, you’ll have a better approach to relation- ships. T his article isn’t meant to put down anyone that may have a special some- one at a young age. Love and attraction are inevitable, and love can take on many shapes and forms that can help you grow. It’s OK to feel affection towards someone. It’s just a matter of maturity you have in order to handle it. Don’t worry though. For many of us, we eventually find the certain someone that we truly love. With that, I would like to say: Happy Valentine’s Day. LETTERS Essential souls for radio I write regarding the recent article on our local noncommercial radio station KXCR (90.7 FM) (“Voice of Freedom,” Jan. 30) and the Feb. 2 Let- ter to the Editor wherein Mr. Pip Cole charitably names certain individuals, including myself, as “pioneers” re- garding station efforts. Beyond those named, our initial 2006 community effort originated and benefited at every step from the intel- ligence, insight and efforts of scores of “essential souls” here in the local area, some of whom have regretfully passed on. These “souls” include current and past board and committee members of FCC station licensee West Lane Trans- lator, which also brings the signals of more than 10 other radio or television stations, including OPB — at no audi- ence cost or fees — to our area. It also includes board and committee mem- bers and volunteers, for the 501(c) (3) nonprofit station manager, KXCR Community Radio Partners. Other scores of “essential souls” provided crucial and essential fund- ing that ultimately allowed the FCC selection process to chose KXCR from several other nonresident, competing applications which sought only to use the station and audience to suck fund- ing from the local audience. Not one of those other applications demonstrated any concern for local control, participation, needs or pro- gramming. These many “essential souls” — from Day 1 — marshaled public awareness of the diverse potential benefits of a locally-controlled non- commercial station. They dug pits for emergency generator pads at the tow- er site and literally helped screw the antenna together before it was pulled onto the tower. In a gesture that makes KXCR (90.7 FM) the envy of other such efforts, these “souls” financed and rebuilt the station facility across Ninth Street from the library, in order to defer the original urgent and immediate prob- lem of affording a prominent produc- tion location accessible to the public. These “souls” plastered station walls and put up sound-board. I hesitate to continue because the tasks yet unexplained — but accom- plished — are legion. This station is remarkable for and because of its ef- forts. Every task, and every “soul,” was “essential” then — and remains more- so to this day. Which helps explain why KXCR has a growing audience. And why its audi- ence is also “essential.” —Rand Dawson, Siltcoos Lake All the fuss about nothing I have a background in design/ar- chictural design and a few years ago it was announced that a new “Visitors Center” was to be built at the Southern Gateway to Florence. At the time, I thought “What a great idea to have a small beacon of design that welcomed visitors to our city.” What we got was a little nondescript wooden shingle building that says nothing. Maybe something Kitch like the Brown Derby in Hollywood or the Oscar Myers Hotdog wagon would have been more appropriate, but we would have had a large seal or salmon to house the center. Now we come to the present day and the concern of some citizens that we have spent too much money re- designing our City Hall and building a new Pubic Works building. Let us assume that the interior of the new City Hall required many updates and expansions and that Public Works was in need of consolidating its facilities. As for City Hall, once again we had the opportunity to make a statement. On three sides there are the basic ex- terior materials but with a curving entrance which could have been nice. What we have is a hodgepodge of con- fl icting materials and another failure to make a statement. Th e Public Works building, by com- parison, is an understatement of good design. Using the same building exte- rior materials, whoever designed the building achieved a unique design with the use and placement of the so- lar panels and windows with the paint color and the fantastic orange trim on the windows. —Win Jolley Florence Some common sense Common sense isn’t so common it seems. My recent Letter to the Editor (“New Year, Same Old Same O”) was in support of protecting our country, our president and his actions. So it is no surprise that I ruffl ed the feathers of some haters in our beautiful town. Th ere is nothing ungodly about wanting to protect our country from illegal immigration. Th e argument that a wall is “outdated” is a deception used by the left to justify its pander- ing to a group of people in the hope of recruiting them to their side of the political divide. Surely, no one is so ignorant that they don’t see the usefulness of a wall, barrier, fence — whatever you want to call it — to stop or divert unwanted individuals or groups to an area where they can be stopped. Once again, I will state that this is not the whole answer. Th ere are many other things we can, and also do, in support of our borders. Th e fact that there are other means of illegal entry does not mean that we ignore one over another. Citizenship in our great country is diminished if it is not coveted by its citizens. It is not something to be given to people who use deception to gain illegal entry to our country. To those who share my opinion, take heed: we are many. God Bless the USA. —David Eckhardt Florence 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. 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Website and E-Edition: TheSiuslawNews.com Letters to the Editor policy 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. 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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
