4A |
WEDNESDAY EDITION
| AUGUST 14, 2019
Siuslaw News
P.O. Box 10
Florence, OR 97439
NED HICKSON , EDITOR
| 541-902-3520 | NHICKSON @ THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM
Opinion
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Letters to the Editor policy
LETTERS
Support, celebrate our
local movie theater
I wanted to give Michael and
Susan, the owners of our wonder-
ful local movie theatre City Lights
Cinemas, a very big Thank-You
for throwing such a fun fifth-year
anniversary party for all of their
members.
It was such a thoughtful thing to
do and a great time was had by all.
Friends and I were at the 3:30
p.m. showing of the great movie
classic, “Some Like it Hot” on Aug
8.
The theatre was packed and
what a huge difference to see this
gem of a movie on the big screen.
The theatre was full of laughter
during the whole movie.
It was so fun to be treated to
the movie and also popcorn and
a beverage. How lucky we are to
have such a wonderful movie the-
atre here in Florence.
I can’t imagine our nice town
not having this amazing movie
theatre, as I know this was the case
just over five years ago.
So, thank you Susan and Mi-
chael for moving to Florence and
saving the day by opening City
Lights.
I encourage everyone to become
a member and support our lovely
movie theatre and art house. There
are great benefits to becoming a
member as well.
May we always have the City
Lights movie theater.
—Karen Orobey
Florence
Extraordinary musical
adventure abroad
I would like to say thank you to
all of the Florence community and
everyone who donated and sup-
ported my travel and participation
with the Oregon Ambassadors of
Music (OAM). It was an extraor-
dinary experience — an amazing
adventure.
The reality moment started in
June, when about 300 kids (band
and choir) had to meet up at Or-
egon State University to audition,
then practice all of the music that
was given to us in May. The goal at
pre-camp later in June was to play
the music altogether — at our best
— in just three days. Our band
worked from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. at
pre-camp. We were excited, tired,
but ready for departure from Port-
land on our flight to Europe.
During my two-and-a-half
weeks in Europe, I had the priv-
ilege to perform with the OAM
in seven different countries. We
spent about 2 to 3 days in each
country, where the sightseeing was
amazing and we received a great
history lesson. We visited England,
France, Switzerland, Liechten-
stein, Austria, Italy and Germany.
Each country was beautiful in its
own way, but my overall favorite
was Crans Montana, Switzerland,
because of its very welcoming peo-
ple and breathtaking sunsets.
My second-favorite would be
the rail climb to visit Zermatt and
see the Matterhorn.
The hardest part of the trip was
the time change; at least for me it
was. When we were in London, the
change was 8 hours ahead. That
changed again when we crossed
the English Channel from London
to France on a very big ferry. That
added one hour to our 8 hour time
difference!
Overall, what I got out of this
trip was the determination to wake
up super early, practice patience
and work hard together. The result
was coming back with bunches of
new friends.
After two weeks of crazy bus
rides, successful performances
and unforgettable memories, we
all finally began the return home.
I am very grateful to Mr. Chris
Rowbotham, Siuslaw High School,
for being my teacher and band
director since the 6th grade. He
gave me confidence, helped me
focus and supported me for many
months while I practiced for
OAM.
My trip was amazing and I
learned a lot. It was a dream come
true!
Thank you, Florence!
—Lizbeth Garcia Galvan
Florence
Stop destroying each
other and our country
Let’s all stop trying to destroy
this country. The mass shootings
are not due to lack of gun laws;
rather, we have gun laws that are
not being enforced.
If we wanted laws to get the guns
off the streets, that would have to
have been done many years ago.
We have people being killed due to
the color of their skin or religious
beliefs, but we also have people of
color killing other people of color
because of the colors they wear.
We spend more time trying to
determine if the killing is a “hate
crime.” I think any killing is a hate
crime. We should be trying to de-
termine what can be done to pre-
vent more killing.
The rhetoric from our elect-
ed representatives and the media
do nothing but create more hate.
This includes the president, “The
Squad” of four and other officials
on both sides of the aisle. These
people use crime to blame the oth-
er side, not to work together to im-
prove things.
No one is willing to work with
the other party because it may
boost that party’s favorability.
Meanwhile, the media keeps the
pot boiling, just as they did during
the “Zoot Suit Riots” of the 1940s
— just to get headlines.
Eliminating bias and hate on
social media would be much hard-
er than doing away with assault
weapons. Taking down statues of
Southern generals which no one
paid attention to prior to them be-
ing taken down does nothing but
stir up people who consider this an
insult to their heritage.
If we don’t stop all this hate,
we can get ballcaps made with
“M.A.D.” on them: “Make Ameri-
ca Destroyed.”
—Robert Smith
Florence
Appreciate the effort of
art and architecture
In 1992, I and others built the
ICM Restaurant. I was respon-
sible for finding an artist (Mark
Storaasli) to paint a mural on the
front of the restaurant, as well as
several sides. It was also my input
as to what went into the murals.
I wanted all the local catch from
all of our local fishermen dis-
played. Tourists used to line the
docks to watch the boats unload
all the fish depicted in that mural.
I missed my opportunity to have
input on the Quince Street mural
by not getting involved. I would
have said it should represent Flor-
ence with images of commercial
fishing boats, loggers in the woods
and crab being cooked on the
docks.
I am sorry to say this vision is
gone and times are changing.
At first, I hated what had been
decided for the Quince Street mu-
ral, thinking it had nothing to do
with the vision of Florence... until
I recently looked at it.
Now, when I go by, I enjoy the
brilliance of the colors and I keep
finding more things representing
Florence and its future.
I truly appreciate the people
making the effort to bring art and
architecture to our town. It has
been an uphill battle for them —
and they could use some more
support.
—Thomas Benson
Florence
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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