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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 31, 2019)
4A | SATURDAY EDITION | AUGUST 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 An intern’s thoughts on community journalism ion are blurring. There is no place for a journalist’s opinion in a news article; this is why we have the “opinion” section. News answers what happened, to who and when, where it happened and why. The why is ex- plored more in feature stories, but even features hold the same standards of news. names get misspelled, dates get mixed up and, ultimately, we get things wrong sometimes. Journalists are, after all, human. Over the past few months at the Siuslaw News, I’ve listened to multiple conversations about how to approach a topic, how difficult re- porting situations should (Editor’s Note: Victo- ria Sanchez has been part of an internship through the University of Oregon’s Snowden Grant program since mid June and com- pleted her 10-week in- ternship this week. In that time, Victoria has written By Siuslaw News intern 17 stories, ranging from the Siuslaw Watershed Victoria Sanchez to local housing, business women in Florence and House Bill 2020. It has Through my time at be approached and have been a true pleasure hav- ing her as part of our news the Siuslaw News, my been approached in the hope for the world of past, and why it’s import- team.) journalism was renewed ant to cover as many pub- ocal journalism is and strengthened as I was lic meetings and events as what sets the expecta- surrounded by talented possible. The theme in all of tion for major news out- journalists who uphold lets, or at least it should. the principles of journal- these conversations was Community newspapers ism: telling the truth and always the same: How best to inform and edu- like the Siuslaw News and telling it well. It’s better to take the cate the public in a way other locally based media outlets are the most im- time necessary to tell the that is balanced and un- portant sources of infor- whole story with the most biased. On a basic level, jour- acc urate infor mation mation in Florence. nalists spend their lives available rather than rush Nowhere else can res- idents consistently read to print with something informing the public on about what happened incomplete or inaccurate. what’s happening. This As I discovered in my drives what we write at the school board, city council, planning com- 10 weeks as a Universi- about; it propels our eth- mission meeting or any ty of Oregon Snowden ical integrity and should. of the other dozens of Grant journalism intern The public is our audi- monthly meetings and here, this is the ideology ence; it’s who we essen- events that take place in of the newsroom at Siu- tially serve. This is why local jour- and around the commu- slaw News. nalism is so important The fact is, there’s nity. But it’s not just the fact that area residents never enough time with and what makes commu- have the option of read- news. Journalists face nity journalism different ing so many localy fo- the challenge of telling than large media report- cused stories — it’s that readers the what, who, ers. Being part of a small the news team at the where, when and why town means everybody Siuslaw News holds it- of what happened to the knows just about every- self to higher journalistic best of their abilities in a body. And while that standards which I would relatively short period of can be welcoming for a argue some major news time, with facts checked community journalist, it outlets tend to stray from. and double-checked in also puts an extra sense of In the rapidly evolving order to tell each story in obligation on reporters to do things well — which world of social media a cohesive manner. At the same time, as in turn drives good jour- and the 24 hour tele- vised news cycle, the lines much as the goal of accu- nalism. At the local level, re- between what is actual racy is the aim, errors oc- news and what is opin- cur in small newsrooms; porters take the time to L discuss how stories will affect the communi- ty, when to hold a story from publication because it doesn’t have all the facts yet. National news publications can certainly replicate this ideal, but it starts at the ground level and works its way up. Yet we must take into account how national publications have a very different focus than local newspapers. The Siuslaw News fills in the news gaps for west- ern Lane County while the news sources such as the Register-Guard covers central Lane County. The Eugene Weekly, mean- while, focuses on more hyperlocal stories while the R-G incorporates more national news. They all tend to work together but separately for the people of Oregon. But the model of com- munity journalism can — and should — be rep- licated at the larger out- lets in terms of attention to details in the story, the ethical conversations that need to take place in newsrooms, and the strict adherence to giving the public the most accurate and well-researched in- formation available. There are, of course, many national news pub- lications that are already doing this, just as there are local newspapers that fall short. But during my time at the Siuslaw News, I was given the opportu- nity to see how large an impact great communi- ty journalism can have on a community — and throughout my future ca- reer as a journalist, that notion will continue driv- ing the standards I hold for myself and at other news publications where I may work. Once again, I want to give a huge thank you to the Florence Community for its overwhelm- ing support of the Florence Po- lice Department in hosting our second annual National Night Out on Aug. 6 at Miller Park. We partnered with our local public safety agencies to make this happen and I want to thank the Oregon State Police, Siuslaw Valley Fire and Rescue, Western Lane Ambulance, Lane County Emergency Management and U.S. Coast Guard Station Siu- slaw River. The event was such a won- derful success thanks to the numerous monetary donations and many volunteers. A spe- cial thanks to Charles Korando and Korando Family Dentistry, Best For Hearing, Florence Ki- wanis, Hine Investments, An- derson & Forrester, Northfork Roofing, Stitch & Sole, Bill and Katie Prosser, Guy Veach, Bill Meyer, Wells Plastic, Heceta Self Storage, Ray Wells, WG Peter- son Woodworking, Bob Steele, Hoberg’s Auto Repair, Streets Insurance, Joe and Pam Henry, Banner Bank, Project Gradua- tion, Al Pearn, the Tavish Sextet, the City of Florence and Three Rivers Hotel and Casino. The evening went off without a hitch, everyone seemed to en- joy themselves and overall the event was a success! National Night Out is a large- scale event and it wouldn’t be possible without the assistance of countless people who help prepare ahead of time, work during the event itself, and clean up afterwards. It truly is a community event. Again, our thanks to the do- nors, volunteers, our wonderful City employees and all who at- tended for making it possible. —Tom Turner Florence Chief of Police Ban single-use plastics One day aft er unpacking some farm supplies, I found my two favorite chickens, Tofu and Lic- orice, eating the small, round pieces of the polystyrene pack- aging. It’s easy to understand how they mistook the bite-sized plastic foam for food, especially 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 LETTERS Thanks for support of local first responders Copyright 2019 © Siuslaw News when they can’t recognize it as a harmful chemical. But nothing we use for fi ve minutes should be harming our wildlife for thousands of years. Th at’s not only true in our back- yard farms, but in our oceans as well. Oft en, we don’t think twice about getting our coff ee to-go in a foam cup, or food in a foam takeout container. Currently, 70 million plastic foam cups are estimated to be disposed by Americans every day. Of these, about one-third end up in water- ways: rivers, lakes and especially oceans. To protect our wildlife and our waterways, we need to dramat- ically reduce our plastic waste and we can start by banning foam cups and takeout contain- ers here in Oregon. Senator Arnie Roblan has the chance to be an environmental champion and vote to ban sin- gle-use polystyrene to protect our ocean wildlife as well as our backyard chickens. —Marcella Buser Eugene/Florence 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
