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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (March 6, 2019)
4A | WEDNESDAY EDITION | MARCH 6, 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, $79; 6-month in-county, $56; 10-week subscrip- tion, $25; Out of Lane County — 1-year subscription, $102; 6-month out-of-county, $69; 10-week subscription, $35; Out of State — 1-year subscription, $134; 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 Local emergency services moving forward as ‘One team’ (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.) Since December 2016, Western Lane Ambulance District (WLAD) and Siu- slaw Valley Fire & Rescue (SVFR) have been sharing management and admin- istrative services in a joint effort to in- crease efficiencies in service. At that time, we adopted the slogan “Working Together for Our Commu- nity.” We’ve surpassed that slogan… to that of “One Team” You’ll see WLAD paramedics on fire scenes providing firefighter support; you’ll see SVFR firefighters on medical emergencies providing support to our medics; on rescues and motor vehicle accidents, we work seamlessly as “One Team’.’ Bringing our agencies closer togeth- er is providing greater service to our communities, with WLAD providing initial and ongoing medical training Guest Viewpoint By Steve Abel Interim Chief Director SVFR/WLAD to our firefighters, both career and vol- unteer. In addition, WLAD Operations Chief Matt House is providing vehicle rescue and extrication training. At the same time, SVFR houses a back-up ambulance and places it in service when needed — you may find a firefighter driving an ambulance when two paramedics are needed to attend to a critical patient. It’s important for both SVFR and WLAD to provide the best possible services, as efficiently as possible. We are continuing to explore ways to max- imize the tax dollars residents have en- trusted to us. Continuing to grow as “One Team” is working. As a result, both elect- ed Boards of Directors for SVFR and WLAD will be considering a propos- al to create a joint entity to formalize a combined administrative team and serve as a foundation for future areas that could be shared. The elected boards are working co- operatively as are your firefighters and medics in order to provide the best ser- vices possible. And to do so as “One Team.” LETTERS Little humor in bad TV reporting on taxes I have seen misstatements on TV and political cartoons that only rein- force a common misunderstanding regarding payroll tax deductions and last year’s tax cuts. I considered the recent “editorial cartoon” on the edi- torial page (Feb. 27) as humorous, but after remembering recent “reporting” on the local TV stations, I find that the reported issues are very misleading and just bad reporting; good reporting would have explained the issue. The headlines tell us that people are complaining about having a smaller refund or having to write a check to pay taxes this year, suggesting that the public did not receive a tax cut. Last year, Congress did pass a “tax reform and tax cut package” and most every- one benefited. (Though, I do person- ally disagree with some of the new rules regarding deductions and wish Congress did a better job of slashing government spending.) In America, we pay taxes using an installment plan based on projected earnings. Getting a “large” refund only means that a taxpayer overpayed his taxes and allowed Uncle Sam to hold his over-payment until the taxpayer figured out that Uncle Sam needs to give back the taxpayer’s money. The average taxpayer determines his tax installment based on withholding tables provided by Uncle Sam. People in the “know” knew that the withhold- ing tables were too high, as evidenced by the “large refund industry.” Furthermore, people in the “know” adjust their withholding (tax install- ments) accordingly. Frankly, people receiving large annual refunds, are poor money managers and would seem “easy marks” for charlatans. A conspiracy theorist might suggest that high withholding tables is a meth- od by the Feds to help with short-term cash flow. Last year, Congress in its wisdom adjusted the withholding ta- bles to better reflect how much our tax installments should be. People in the “know” always try to make taxes a zero-sum game; winning the game means, at the end of the year, you neither have to pay or receive money to/from the Fed. Estimating taxes is hard because people’s incomes can be volatile and variable. Ultimate financial success requires you keep your head in the game. Last year, net monthly pay- checks was likely higher. The increase is due to a lower tax installment, based on a lower tax rate and a more accu- rate withholding tables. The only question that comes to my mind is: Why is the reporting so mis- leading? Likely answers to the question do not seem very humorous... —Rory Hammond Dunes City New mural proposal doesn’t represent Florence I want to express my displeasure at the proposed mural for the CLPUD building. In my opinion, it looks like inner city graffiti and does not rep- resent Florence at all. If a “tagger” or someone added actual graffiti to the mural, could anyone tell the differ- ence? I don’t think so. There are so many different beauti- ful options that could still be designed, i.e., whales passing by our coast, the dunes, a lighthouse, dune buggies, our state and national park forests, etc. We have scenery that is beckoning to many, but does this proposed design do that? We want business to come to Florence for economic growth — does this massive graffiti mural attract business or turn it away? I have urged the Florence City Council and our City Manager to vote against the implementation of the cur- rent mural design and reset the clock with a new effort (with some new vol- unteer members for the committee that chose this design). If anyone else agrees with me or has opinion either way, please let the Flor- ence City Council know. All Florence residents should be able to vote on a choice of murals and more appropri- ate designs on how they want our city to be represented and perceived. —Don Drozdenko Florence Practical application of costs of climate change Have you ever experienced a travel delay due to climate change, which President Trump says does not exist? Well, recently my wife and I spent a week in Cabo San Lucas and the weather was 72 in the day and 50 at night which is below expected temps. Coming back, we flew into San Fran- cisco for a direct one-hour flight to Eugene. Canceled. So, we booked a flight to Portland instead of Seattle — but again, the flights were canceled. We spent the night in Portland because all flights to Eugene were canceled due to the weather; same for Seattle. We rented a car and drove down I-5 to Eugene and discovered why there had been can- celations as we drove to the rental car drop off through a foot of snow. Ultimately, getting back from Cabo cost me about the same as it would have by staying three extra days there. Climate change is real. And it is only going to get more costly. —Win Jolley 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. Email 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
