Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 7, 2019)
4A | WEDNESDAY EDITION | AUGUST 7, 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) Just another day of fl ags at half mast shootings has already outpaced that with 255 incidents since Jan. 1, averaging more than one mass shooting a day. This is according to the Gun Violence Archive should count. If you are a gun owner, you probably assume I say all of this as an argument against gun ownership. However, that would be hypocritical since I, too, yell “Fire!” in the middle of a crowded theater. There are common sense rules that come with all freedoms in order to assure that those freedoms are not misused or manip- ulated to the detriment of The flags were once others. again at half mast as I The current number of drove to work Tuesday mass shootings in Amer- Ned Hickson morning, continuing a ica — and acts of gun solemn and what has violence in general — has become an all-too-often (GVA), a non-partisain, am a gun owner. us on a trajectory for the acknowledgement of those not-for-profit organization I’m also a motorcycle deadliest year since ... whose lives have been tak- that defines mass shoot- owner and realize that ... 2016, which was the en during mass shootings ings as “an incident in the days of riding helmet- first time the number of in America. which at least four people less without any formal mass shootings in a single In the past nine days, are shot, excluding the training or certification year (382) topped the 37 people have been killed shooter.” are long gone. That’s number of days in that and 79 wounded, ranging I realize there is some because laws and rules same year. in age from 3 to 90 years controversy over this were changed and adopted It’s time we stop old. number, which some in order to decrease the focusing on the division The attacks have oc- gun proponents argue is number of senseless between who does and cured from Ohio to Texas, inflated by including those deaths that occured each doesn’t — or who should California to Mississippi wounded and not killed, year as a result of not hav- and shouldn’t — own and New York. as well as shootings that ing any real oversight or guns, and instead rec- And they have taken occur in relation to gang personal accountability. ognize that the current place at shopping centers, and domestic violence. While I fully support laws and rules regarding during festivals and at I would argue that any- the Second Amendment, our Second Amendment community block parties. one who has been a victim I also support the First right are being misused As of Monday, we were of gun violence — wound- Amendment — but un- and manipulated — to the 217 days into the year ed or killed, gang member derstand that free speech deteriment of us all. and the number of mass or family member — still doesn’t allow me to From the Editor’s Desk LETTERS Keep up contributions to the community The feature, “Dangers, rewards of crabbing,” (Aug. 3) by Siuslaw News intern Victoria Sanchez was local, educational and composed nicely. Effective use of photos, inter- views and quotations made good reading for both longtime residents and newer folks alike. My wife and Enid and I have enjoyed Novelli’s award-winning [clam chowder] entries in the annual Florence Area Chamber of Commerce chowder contest in recent years. We encourage the Novelli fami- ly and Victoria Sanchez to keep up their valuable contributions to the community. —Ken Deibert Florence Cause of our own demise While one might agree generally with Mr. Eales’ view (“We Are The Architects Of Our Own Demise,” July 24) that U.S. energy policy needs revision (though certain- ly not in the ways he implies), his comments on climate change are filled with errors of fact and inter- pretation. In my view, the most serious problem in his statement relates to the role of greenhouse gases (GHGs) as casual agents in global warming. Mr. Eales cites research done in the 1950s at Harvard and in Brit- ain concluding that “…CO2 has very little greenhouse effect as it is swamped by water vapor.” More recent research agrees with these nearly 70-year-old findings that water vapor accounts for the largest share of warming. Based on a 2010 study by NASA scientists and the Fifth U.N. Global Climate Change (IPCC) Report, water va- por accounts for some 50 percent of recent warming — but persists in the atmosphere for only about eight days. CO2 accounts for 20 percent of warming and persists for 30-95 years. Methane and other GHGs ac- count for about five percent of warming and persist for 12 years. By these more recent results, wa- ter vapor is 2.5 times more import- ant in warming than CO2. But the key item being overlooked is the persistence of the various GHGs in the atmosphere. Water vapor lasts only about eight days. CO2 and other GHGs continue to augment warming for decades. Water vapor doesn’t accu- mulate in the atmosphere but the other GHGs do. And that is exactly the point. Human actions generate new GHG emissions faster that they dissipate from the air. So atmospheric CO2 has reached 415 parts per million this year, the highest level estimated in more than 800,000 years with a contin- ued rise in average global land-sea temperatures. Worse, atmospheric water vapor and the GHGs are positively related (per NASA research). Higher levels of GHGs are associated with higher water vapor levels. We may well be the cause of our own demise, as Mr. Eales suggests, but certainly not for the reasons he proposes. —Darius Adams Florence Term limits is best way to ‘drain the swamp’ For the “swamp” to be cleaned we first need to get rid of the old critters that have swum around in Congress and the Senate for years. We need to implement term limits for those in both houses. Our Pres- ident is elected to a four-year term, which gives him/her time to learn how to be a president. If all goes well, and if re-elected, the president can serve one more term and try to put his/her policies in place. By comparison, Senate members are elected for six years without any term limits; those in Congress are elected for two years without any term limits. That is why, over the years, we have had the following members serve and thrive for de- cades in the same silty swamp: • Daniel Inouye: 53 years • Storm Thurmond: 47 years • Robert Bird: 51 years • Ted Kennedy: 47 years Currently, we have some serving in Congress who are I think are out of touch with our present reality: • Richard Shelby: 85 years old • Dianne Feinstein: 86 years old • Mitch McConnell: 77 years old • Nancy Pelosi: 77 years old • Richard Shelby: 85 years old • Chuck Grassley: 85 years old This is where term limits need to come into to play. I do not think anyone in the Senate or Congress should be able to serve more than 24 years — or even 18 years. That would give them time to learn the workings of Washington and how to communicate with those from the right and left. Then, we would have a better chance of getting rid of special interest groups and lobbyist who have so much influence imbedded into the our government swamp because of decades-long relation- ships. We need young voices and new ideas infused into our government on a regular basis. —Win Jolley Florence 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 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
