Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (July 17, 2019)
4A | WEDNESDAY EDITION | JULY 17, 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 LETTERS Don’t fly flags, symbols representing hate I was impressed with the opinion of Ted Coopman who wrote in the July 7 edition of the Register Guard concerning hate, because it also af- fects us here in Florence as well. Sitting in a local restaurant on Highway 101 watching the traffic, many were returning from the big dune buggy races in North Bend. I assume this because many of them were flying the Confederate flag and the “Don’t Tread On Me” flag side by side. On the front page of the next edition of The World newspaper from Coos Bay — big as life — was a photo of several dune buggies in the middle of a race, and all were flying the Confederate flag. In addition, some were flying the “Don’t Tread On Me” flag and one had an upside-down American Flag (normally signifying a need for help). This all reminded me of the Vet- erans Day Parade in Florence last year, when a Jeep went by flying the Confederate flag on the right side of the vehicle and three feet higher than the American flag, which was on the left side of the Jeep. This is the opposite of American and military flag etiquette, which state that the American flag should always be positioned on the right side and higher than other flags. Another Jeep was carrying the “Don’t Tread On Me” flag, which has unfortunately been adopted by some white supremacist groups since 2006. It became widespread after the Charlottesville incident in 2017 involving white supremacists and the death of an anti-racism protestor. It is my opinion that organizers of these public events should be careful to weed out the flags and symbols that have been adopted by hate groups, such as Nazi, Confed- erate and other extremist organiza- tion hate symbols. Only our communities, as a whole, can take steps to eliminate hate graffiti, flags and symbols from our buildings and from public events. Lest we forget that the Con- federate armies led to the deaths of 200,000 men and boys; and lest we forget that the WWII invasions by the Nazi armies led to the deaths of over 60 million people in 38 coun- tries including 405,399 Americans. Lost to America in that war were 318,274 U.S. Army and Air Force lives, 62,614 U.S. Navy lives, 24,511 U.S. Marines and 1,917 Coast Guard lives. Let’s not memorialize these for- mer enemies and their atrocities by flying their flags on dune bug- gies and pickup trucks through our communities. It hurts a lot of people. —Gene Olson Florence Honoring the past doesn’t lessen our future Kudos to Bruce Jarvis on his Letter to the Editor in the Siuslaw News (“Silent No More,” July 13). Thank you for saying what so many of us are feeling, and for your “reminder rocks” as a way of saying thanks and remembering our mili- tary/veterans. America is the greatest country on the planet, and certainly worth the struggles to preserve it. Most of us felt it was a privilege, honor and display of loyalty to re- cite the pledge of allegiance each morning before school. Acknowl- edging our flag was a reminder that we are all Americans. It was also a great way to begin our school day. Those who would change our traditions, destroy our history are so misguided. We should remember that hon- oring the past does not lessen our future. —Dusty and Trish Rhodes Florence Murals have no origins as ‘Ghetto Art’ In response to Robert Russell’s Letter to the Editor in the Siuslaw News calling murals “ghetto art” (“Mural Will Always Be ‘Ghetto Art,’” July 13), I feel compelled to disagree on multiple counts. First, a fact: murals did not orig- inate in the inner cities, as Mr. Russell contends. History shows us that painting on walls is an activity nearly as ancient as humanity itself, from indigenous petroglyphs, to the Lascaux caves and the sophis- ticated murals of ancient Pompeii, to massive public art works funded by the WPA during the Great De- pression. Even if they did, why should an art form be denigrated simply be- cause of its origins? Are we to value only traditional Western art creat- ed mostly by white males under the patronage of other white males? What about art from other re- gions and traditions? Wonderful and inspiring works come from many unexpected peo- ple and places, not just “the usual suspects.” People can certainly like the mu- ral or not based on their personal perceptions, and discussions will undoubtedly continue about how the design was selected and fund- ed. That’s fair. But to drag socio-economic top- ics into the discussion risks adding a very ugly element that may not be what Mr. Russell intended. —Laurie Green Florence Report concludes climate change not human-caused 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 Publishers 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 Publisher, ext. 318 Editor, ext. 313 Multimedia Sales Director, ext. 326 Office Supervisor, ext. 312 Production Supervisor DEADLINES: Wednesday Issue—General news, Monday noon; Budgets, four days prior to publication; Regular classified ads, Monday 1 p.m.; Display ads, Monday noon; Dis- play classified ads, Friday 5 p.m. Saturday Issue—General news, Thursday noon; Budgets, two days prior to pub- lication; 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 subscription, $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 Jyrki Kauppinen and Pekka Mal- mi just published a paper titled “No Experimental Evidence for the Significant Anthropogenic Climate Change.” The authors concluded that global temperatures are controlled primarily by cloud cover and that only a small part of the increased carbon dioxide is anthropogenic (controlled by man). The study by researchers at Turku University in Finland found that the human contribution of a rise of 0.1 degree C in global tem- peratures over the last century is just 0.01 degree C. Now, maybe we stop wasting money on global warming and start supporting solutions to more important problems. —Frank Williams 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. (Editor’s Note: In the interest of fairness, while it has its supporters, the paper “A New Finnish Study Finds No Evidence Of Man-Made Climate Change,” has been criti- cized for not being peer reviewed and other climate scientists have refuted the conclusions reached by Jyrki Kauppinen and Pekka Malmi. They argue that, in addition to not being reviewed by peers, the re- port fails to provide correct physical explanation, has not linked to — or cited — enough sources to support their claims and, although they de- nounce climate models, Kauppin- en and Malmi use one themselves to prove their own points. To read the report, visit www.arxiv.org/ pdf/1907.00165.pdf) 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. Letters to the Editor policy Political/Election Letters: Email letters to: nhickson@thesiuslawnews.com The caging of human rights (Editor’s Note: Viewpoint sub- missions on this and other topics are always welcome as part of our goal to encourage community discussion and exchange of perspectives.) children in filth — conditions that none of us would ever counte- nance with our own children. “The equivocation, the en- abling, the rationalization, is inex- cusable. Is there no limit to what you will justify in this adminis- that the ICE raids on U.S. cities over the weekend focused on peo- ple who have “committed crimes in this country and represent a threat to our communities.” Meanwhile, Mike Pompeo has At a hearing July 12 on the appointed a special panel on hu- Trump administration’s man rights to examine what immigration policies, Rep. it means “to say or claim Gerry Connolly, Democrat that something is, in fact, By Mel Gurtov of Virginia, was appropri- a human right. How do we Prof. Emeritus of Political Science, PSU ately livid: know or how do we deter- Deadwood “I never thought as a mine whether that claim member of Congress — as that this or that is a human an American — I would right, is it true, and there- hear the testimony I heard today... tration when it comes to the mis- fore, ought it to be honored?” as to the simple inhumanity that treatment of our fellow human be- As if the answers hadn’t been faces these children and families ings? And do you have no shame provided by the United Nations, at the border. I don’t really care about the fact ... it’s all done in the international legal scholars and what their motivation was — shadow of the American flag?” the U.S. government itself over 70 whether it was asylum or econom- In answer to which, Donald years ago. ic betterment — they’re not to be Trump has said conditions in So long as Trump, Pence and treated as subhumans. the detention facilities are “bet- the rest of this inhumane, tone- “You can talk all you want about ter than those faced by migrants deaf administration are in office, whether the poor border control is in their home villages,” and Mike U.S. officials will have no right to overwhelmed. That makes no ex- Pence, after visiting a detention lecture any other government on cuse for how we are treating chil- cage housing 400 men last week, how it treats people within its bor- dren! If there’s one basic value that praised the “compassion and care” ders. ought to unite us as Democrats migrants are receiving. It would be more appropriate and Republicans — as Americans Pence agreed that in some cases to put a shroud over the Statue of — it’s how we treat children. Their conditions are unacceptable, but Liberty until such time as Ameri- children, our children — it doesn’t blamed the migrant population ca’s leaders recover their compas- matter. ... Children without soap, and Democrats. He reassured us sion and respect for immigrants. Guest Viewpoint 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
