4A |
SATURDAY EDITION
| APRIL 6, 2019
Siuslaw News
P.O. Box 10
Florence, OR 97439
NED HICKSON , EDITOR
| 541-902-3520 | NHICKSON @ THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM
Opinion
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ment for a redress of grievances.
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Letters to the Editor policy
LETTERS
New thought on mural
Now that the Florence City Coun-
cil has determined that the proposed
mural passes Land Use Criteria, isn’t
it time to ask the citizens of Florence
and the surrounding area to vote to
determine if they want the mural?
I suggest that one of the next proj-
ects proposed is an indescribable
painting project on the steps leading
from the northeast side of the Siuslaw
bridge to Bay Street — that project
might be fun for when the carnival is
in town but not day to day, every day.
Again shouldn’t the people who
choose to live here have a say in what
their surroundings look like?
—Sheldon Meyer
Dunes City
Art is a private matter,
not a public obligation
On April fool’s night, the Florence
City Council met to mainly discuss
the efficacy of a mural located at
Quince and Highway 126. The room
was packed with citizens pro and con
regarding whether the particular art
was appropriate for Florence.
The artwork itself is certainly mod-
ern, with a sheen similar to a ‘coat of
many colors’. There were 25 citizens
who took time to sign up and speak
(I counted 13 for 12 against.) The
meeting started at 5:30 p.m., howev-
er those speaking opposed waited for
more than two hours, with members
of that crowd eventually dissipating
due to suffocation by what I felt was
the outrageous promotion of the “pro”
position.
The city staff made a grave, yet I
believe purposeful mistake, in push-
ing for a pro agenda and not being a
neutral arbitrator. One member of the
city council even unthinkingly stated
that they were “not going to consider
in their deliberation what citizens said
in their testimony.”
Just who is paying the freight for
this folly? In the history of the Unit-
ed States, art has always been a private
matter until 1965 and the great soci-
ety/war on poverty. Poverty won that
war and the Great Society gave us the
embryo of our modern trillion-dollar
debt. Not only was federal sponsor-
ship of art unconstitutional but never
recognized as a public responsibility
until President Johnson deemed it so.
Since that fateful period, it seems state
and local governments spawned simi-
lar ideas and Shizam...art is a right!
Not only is the proposed mural not
indicative of Florence but the process
by which the Florence City Council
delegated its power to an appointed
unelected group spending scarce tax
dollars boggles the mind.
Just whose art are we funding? Art is
too subjective to leave to a committee.
The solution is to allow the free
market to determine what art is suc-
cessful — not government by com-
mittee. No matter whether you like or
dislike the design of the mural is your
business; please dont ask others who
disagree with your taste to pay for it.
May the God of Heaven bless Flor-
ence.
—Joel Marks
Florence
Norman Rockwell and Thomas Kin-
cade. I am sending in my ideas in
time for the next PAC meeting and I
encourage other area residents to do
the same.
The next PAC public meeting is
Monday, April 22, at 3:30 p.m., at Flor-
ence City Hall.
—Don Drozdenko
Florence
Dark times, bright art
Dolly Brock was right; pay
attention and get involved
The CLPUD mural is still graffi-
ti-like, not only to me but to my circle
of friends and others who wrote to the
Siuslaw News to complain and testify
in opposition at the last Florence City
Council meeting.
However, Dolly Brock is absolutely
correct (“Pay Attention, Be Involved
Before Complaining,” April 3).
All of the information about the
PAC is posted on the City website. All
of the meetings are public, schedules
posted and the agendas are available
online.
The PAC membership is full —
there are no more openings unless
the City Council votes to add more
openings (my assumption) to provide
more of a balanced set of viewpoints.
From the few members I talked to, as
well as Harlen Springer himself, the
PAC wants input from the citizens of
Florence. They are open to other ideas
of art for Florence. It doesn’t have to
be the graffiti-abstract style that fer-
mented over the last few months and
will end up on the CLPUD building.
There are other mural locations in
the queue which don’t have designs
chosen yet. Now is the time to let the
PAC members know what you would
like to see.
I am looking forward to the op-
portunity to voice my preference for
non-abstract scenes that emphasize
our sand dunes, dune riders, sand
boarding, lakes, forests, our bridge,
Coast Guard and even a tribute to
Frank Herbert, author of the science
fiction book “Dune,” which was in-
spired by our sand dunes.
To give your input and ideas to the
PAC, you can:
• Send an email to Community &
Economic Development Assistant
Sara Moehrke via email at Sarah.
Moehrke@ci.florence.or.us. She will
pass on your ideas to the PAC mem-
bers
• Attend the meetings and give your
ideas for art.
• Make friends with the PAC mem-
bers, if you’re not already. Let them
know so they can incorporate your
ideas that are different from theirs.
Florence needs a balanced approach
to “art.” Art to me are paintings by
The darkest times bring the bright-
est art.
—Edward Gunderson
Local artist and art instructor
Oh, the incongruity
of it all
Let’s see now, we have folks who
want a voting age of 16; apparently,
teenagers are mature enough to know
what’s good for them.
Then we have those who want to
raise the smoking age to 21; apparent-
ly, the teenagers and post teens are not
mature enough to decide not to harm
themselves by smoking.
And we allow 18 year olds to join
the military; apparently, the teens are
mature enough to decide they can de-
fend our country and learn how to use
weapons.
And somewhere in there is the low-
est legal age of marriage, somewhere
around 14.
Oh, the incongruity of it all.
—Dana Rodet
Westlake
Thrilled Leonora Kent is
running for Lane ESD
We have another election pending
and I’m thrilled that Leonora Kent is
running for Lane Education Service
District 4 (that’s us, folks).
Leonora is an untiring advocate for
the students she represents and has
spent her working life in service of ed-
ucation.
If you’re not familiar with Lane Ed-
ucation Service District, please take a
moment to visit www.lesd.k12.or.us/
to see why having the best represen-
tation for our students is served by
having educators like Leonora Kent
on the board.
I’ll be voting Leonora.
—Patricia Burke
Westlake
Correction
In the April 3 edition of the Siuslaw
News Opinion page, the Letter to the
Editor “Stream Team Program Teach-
es Important Lessons” was attributed
to “Jim and Jane Pittenger of Coos Bay,
formerly of Florence.”
The Pittengers currently reside in
Florence, not Coos Bay.
Siuslaw News regrets the error.
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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