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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (May 15, 2019)
4A | WEDNESDAY EDITION | MAY 15, 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 LETTERS Thank you to our fire department We live on Collard Lake Way, the little street on which there was a cat- astrophic late-night home fire on May 9. We want to thank our awe- some fire department and all of the many dedicated and well-trained firefighters who arrived quickly and had the blaze under control in re- cord time. These men and women worked the perimeter of the blaze to put out the trees that were catching on fire ever-closer to a neighbor’s home, and then in every other direction to keep the fire contained. At least one of them stayed the night to keep dousing the several spots where flames came up out of the smoldering ruins of the house. We saw the scene the next morn- ing and there were still small flames coming from the top of the remain- ing structure, plus more in the mid- dle of the fallen portion. Siuslaw Valley Fire & Rescue was still there and continued working it. Our heartfelt sympathy goes out to those who suffered loss in this event. — Camille and Skip Thomsen Florence ‘I can. And I will’ “November 11, 1956. In 6 days, I’d be five and a half. 11:00. Exactly 38 years previously, the Guns of August fell silent. It was a little uncomfortable standing in silence among the battle scarred one- legged-armed-eyed who’d come to honor their comrades. Korea. WWII. The Great War. “November 11, 1964. My Dad and I were building a rock wall at our new home. 11:00. He said we had to stop for two minutes. Tears ran down his cheeks. It was about then I realized I owe a debt I can never repay.” — Anonymous About 1-in-10 adult Americans is a veteran. In our fair town, the ratio is likely closer to 1-in-5. Decades ago, Al Stapleton start- ed driving veterans to Portland in his own vehicle, wearing out sev- eral along the way. Today, there are two vans taking veterans to Port- land, Roseburg or Eugene five days a week. Most drivers are themselves vet- erans. Some drive four or five times a month. Some drive twice a week. Most are in their eighth decade, some their ninth. Make no mistake; it’s a grind. If there were 20 drivers rather than eight or nine — appreciative souls that would drive once a month — the load would lighten immense- ly. So as we approach Memorial Day, pause for moment and consider if you “owe a debt you can never re- pay.” If there is, call local coordinator Jim Swant at 541-968-9512 and say “I can. And I will.” If you can’t, clip and post on every bulletin board in town. Kent uniquely qualified —Ian Eales Florence 11 states should never dictate national election In response to Win Jolley’s re- sponse to Keith Kraft’s letter in the May 8 edition of the Siuslaw News, when Mr. Jolley asks if Mr. Kraft wrote his piece in jest because the popular vote includes “everyone” who votes (whereas the Electoral College leaves the nation’s next pres- ident up to just 11 states), he cer- tainly was not writing in jest. Mr. Jolley did point out, correctly, that 11 of the most populated states could dictate the winner to the rest of the country — and that is not what our forefathers, whom cor- rectly saw this very thing possibly happening, wanted to prevent from happening. Thank God for the wisdom of the framers. Mr. Jolley neglected to mention, however, that the most heavily pop- ulated states with the most popular votes are Democraticaly controlled, which would thereby eliminate the votes of Independents, Republicans and other groups presenting presi- dential candidates. No state like California, with its 39,000,000 population, should ever be able to dictate to our state of some 3,000,000-plus. —Tony Cavarno Florence Drowning out Death With Dignity With the record amount of sui- cides making the news lately it makes me wonder how many peo- ple would have taken advantage of Medical Aid in dying if it were avail- able to them. That would mean no violent or failed attempts at suicide in a lot of cases, and a lot less grief for the families involved. As someone that deals with quite a few people that are ready for Med- ical Aid in Dying and families of suicide victims that could no longer handle their suffering, I have seen the trauma it causes — and it usually doesn’t end. Nobody wants to live while suffer- ing or with dementia. There were a couple bills in front of our legislature that would expand Oregon’s end-of-life choices to be much more compassionate and in- clude more people. But compared to the religious opposition and na- tional groups like Right to Life, we do not have the money to publicize these bills. Meanwhile, they send out massive emails and telephone cam- paigns opposing our bills in Oregon. At the hearings for these bills I am usually the only one testifying in favor of them and also the only dis- abled person testifying for bills that affect the disabled. The Oregon se- niors and disabled are being neglect- ed at these legislative hearings and therefore our voices are not heard. —Bruce Yelle Florence Services provided by Education- al Service Districts are particularly vital to more rural areas. As the de- mand for various services such as speech therapy, occupational ther- apy and physical therapy (among others) fluctuates each year, smaller school districts rely on the county ESD to provide services as needed without having to hire individual providers that may not be needed on a steady or long term basis. Nora Kent is uniquely qualified to serve on the Lane ESD Board be- cause of her life-long commitment to serving the community as an ed- ucator for early childhood/early in- tervention programs, homeschool- ers, ESL, teen parents, adjudicated youth and Family Literacy. As a previous employee of an ESD in eastern Oregon who has been following Kent’s community in- volvement and selfless dedication, I wholeheartedly endorse her for this position based on her experience, expertise, innovative spirit, and de- sire to help others. No other candidate can match what she has to offer our county. —Tina H. Haydel M.A.-SLP (retired) Florence ‘Everyone that votes’ is a troubling thought Let me assure Mr. Jolley that my comments about the Constitution and the 12th Amendment were not rendered in “jest.” I am a Constitutional Conserva- tive (Neither Republican nor Dem- ocrat) and it is my belief that the U.S. Constitution does not require “correction” by any political party or sect of the day. Sixty-six years ago, on my 20th birthday, I joined the U.S. Marine Corps. During induction, I raised my right hand and vowed “I do sol- emnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the Unit- ed States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same.” That pledge does not have an expi- ration date. Those 11 states you refer to come up a little short of a trip to the White House, i.e., 267 Electoral College votes. (Virginia Has 13, not 12). If those 12 states, which constitute 54.2 percent of our population, can garner 270 Electoral votes, then God bless them for following the 12th Amendment. I believe the last time those 12 states were won by one candidate was 1936, when Alf Landon won only Maine and Vermont. Your comment that the popular vote includes “everyone that votes” is rather troubling since it undoubt- edly includes some of the 12 million illegal aliens residing in the United States. —Keith Kraft 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