4A |
WEDNESDAY EDITION
| JULY 31, 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 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
Letters to the Editor policy
LETTERS
Easier to breath
Like Michael Allen, I would like
to see the City get serious about
the facts related to our changing
climate.
Here, it matters for two reasons
unrelated to the Paris Accords or
any other political agenda; here, it
can be seen as a sound business
decision and a matter of public
health.
Tourism is the lifeblood of this
town, and if we don’t get serious
about stewarding our natural re-
sources, they will not be available
for recreation and commerce.
Although I do not have any
great original ideas about how
to save our coastline, our fish or
even the people injured in ac-
cidents at the dunes, I do have
some suggestions for making it a
little easier to breathe here:
1) Can people turn off their
engines when they are not driv-
ing? I have seen lots of folks just
leave the engine running, partic-
ularly with diesel engines, which
send the most insidious particu-
lates into the air — all while car-
rying on lengthy conversations,
running in to pick stuff up from
restaurants and stores, etc.
2) Can we designate some
non-motorized, traffic-free ar-
eas? Can businesses offer scoot-
ers and battery chargers to people
who are differently mobile? Can
we install some rent-a-bike racks?
These can generate revenue
for the city and get people out of
their cars.
I know it’s complicated.
But so is doing nothing.
—Ivy Medow
Florence
Simple answer to
voting concerns
Turn on the radio, turn on the
TV, pick up a newspaper... what
do you hear, see or read?
The Russians influenced our
2016 national election and will do
like wise in the upcoming 2020
election is what you hear, see or
read about.
Everyone wants to know how
we are to stop this and I haven’t
been informed by anyone on how
we do this. I hereby offer a sug-
gestion. It is very simple really:
Go back to the paper ballot.
This would foil the Russians
attempt and as an added benefit
it would greatly cut down on the
number of illegal aliens and dead
people from voting which seems
to be increasing. Simple huh?
—Tony Cavarno
Florence
Stitching Time, Weaving Cultures — a mural
(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.)
For Angie, Joel and the city of
Florence...
What would you do with a wall
in the living room of a town,
where your people pass
through the cross roads of the
community?
Paint it with public art, perhaps,
a mural, which is another name
for a wall when it becomes
a window, a frame to see
life through, a view of who
you are. A gift. A way to say ‘we.’
Though winds swept along
the walls and tried to throw
the paints in other directions
and then gave into the colors,
the natural fabric of flowers
these walls welcome you into
reweaving season and shore,
stitching a quilt of days with
bridges.
This mural is a bridge into history
as it happened and happens:
Guest Viewpoint
By Tim Barns
Editor of “Friends of William
Staff ord: A Journal and Newsletter”
An elk and a bicyclist
on a bridge who might meet
in the bear grass weave
of flowers the Siuslaw
women have woven
from the hems of the marshlands.
and that bicyclist’s twin on the
south wall
tilted into the west where the sun
set hangs
its moons and the wind spills
across the chevron shape
of valleys and divides
watersheds and waves,
the lowland lakes breathing the
sea, he’s happy.
“Life,” he thinks, “It’s a gift.”
This a wall to see with, to drive
by and grasp. A gift
from the people
of Florence to the people
of Florence
and to drivers, bikers, walkers,
gulls, whoeverpasses by
may see a patterned web
of place, its embodiments—
history and imagination fused,
an earthy commonwealth...
Tim Barnes taught in the English
Department at PCC Sylvania for 25
years, where he was the chair of the
creative writing department and ad-
visor on Alchemy, the campus liter-
ary magazine.
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