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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 16, 2019)
4A | WEDNESDAY EDITION | OCTOBER 16, 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. LETTERS Art should be private, not public A culture without the arts — whether in sculpture, on canvas, in the theatre or symphonic pro- ductions in the academy — is welcomed; a well-rounded, whole- some civilization needs the calm- ing affectation of beauty where ‘ere it transcends. For centuries, the world has produced Da Vincis, Michelange- los, Pavarottis and even the Isaac Sterns of the ages. America has imported and even encouraged the arts at home and abroad, funded with donations, purchases and gate receipts all of a private nature until President Lyndon Johnson’s philos- ophy of “government knows best.” Even the arts, represented by the new (1965) National Endowment of the Arts agency, was created based on LBJ’s ideas. The thought of government-sponsored art gained momentum over the decades and now we have frankenstein-like modern versions of destructive art in America’s cities and hamlets — which do not enervate society but, rather, aggravate its origins of com- mon sense and (at times) decency. One of those hamlets in the latter times is lovely Florence, a town of retirement and ease. To interrupt those wonderful senior citizens, who have worked tirelessly for ‘lo so many years, with local govern- ment snooping in their wallets to support art that has been decided by a small oligarchy seems strange and wrong-headed. All the meetings with PAC and our City Council deciding on how to spend the citizens’ scarce funds on controversial 21st-century so- called art is none of our municipal- ity’s business. The arts are a private matter with private decisions based on private tastes. I do not trust a public pack of individuals to make personal de- cisions on my preferences as they, with many smiles, use my mone- tary gains instead of their own. Florence should eliminate the philosophy that “art is public.” It is not — and never was — until the “war on poverty.” And poverty won —Joel Marks Florence Who decides what ‘art’ is? I am still confused about the Public Arts Committe and the City Council’s involvement in our arts (murals). It is called the “Public” and not “City” Arts Commission. I assume this has all to do with murals and not things like sculp- ture. Now, if our city government wants to have a mural painted on one of its buildings, does it have go through a review by PAC and — if approved — does it go to the city council (which seems to be a con- flict) for final approval? Now, if I am an owner of a pri- vate establishment and want a mu- ral painted on it, I assume I would have to have the approval of the PAC and not the city. The PAC, like many cities, should not have a requirement from the city because guidelines have been established on “content” and not on “expression.” Our city council needs to get out of deciding what “is or isn’t art” and start dealing with more important matters that confront us. —Win Jolley Florence Living in a democracy? Think again In 2017, the people of Lincoln County voted to ban the timber industry practice of spraying tox- ic chemicals from helicopters to kill plants that compete with the growth of newly-planted fir trees. The day after passing this protec- tive law, Lincoln County was sued by timber interests. But for two Mail subscription includes E-Edition. Website and E-Edition: TheSiuslawNews.com years, the spray ban had remained in effect until, on Sept. 26, a circuit court judge ruled for big timber and against the people. The initiative system exists to provide citizens a way to partici- pate in a “would-be” democracy. When our elected officials fail to represent us and act in the com- munity’s interests, we engage in the time consuming, hard work of writing initiatives, gathering sig- natures and getting these potential laws to the ballot box for the citi- zenry to vote on. Clearly, those democratic prin- ciples — upon which the initiative system rests — are under attack by those who would prefer that the people remain silent. Not so fast, corporate interests (and the judges who do their bid- ding). There are consequences when the will of the people is disre- spected. We should all be inspired that the good people of Lincoln County have no intention of back- ing down from protecting their col- lective home from corporate harm and greed. They will appeal the ruling. Stay tuned; the struggle for jus- tice is far from over. —Michelle Holman Deadwood Transparency or hypocracy? Does anyone else find it hypo- critical that, this week, the Trump Administration announced a new regulation for transparency in gov- ernment? The Random House Webster’s College Dictionary describes hy- pocrisy as: “The false profession of desirable or publicly approved qualities, beliefs or feelings, esp. a pretense of having virtues, moral principles or religious beliefs that one does not really possess.” —Marilyn M. Adkins Florence Largest health insurance carrier going ‘Trump’ in Texas (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.) America’s largest health insurance carrier, United- Healthcare, is going “Trump” in Texas. Future Medicare enrollees, and current policy holders in traditional Medicare Supple- ment or “Medi-gap” plans, may wish to consider the implications — and the future risks — for traditional Medicare. UnitedHealthcare is slashing net- works of approved physicians and hospitals that its “Medicare Advan- tage” policy holders may routinely access. The estimated impact will ap- proach or exceed 100,000 plan mem- bers, including employment-based plans. Such “Advantage” policies al- low for significant policy revisions, unlike “traditional” Medicare Sup- plement or “Medi-gap” policies — which have uniform provisions and protections across the nation. UH is able to do this since its “Medicare Advantage” policies are Guest Viewpoint By Rand Dawson Siltcoos Lake a “privatized” alternative form of Medicare-type coverage. Every “Advantage” policy is subsi- dized, county by county, across the U.S. with funds drawn from the tra- ditional Medicare Trust Fund. The higher agent “commissions” have an effect, drawing enrollees away from traditional Medicare. Thus, these “cheaper” policies in fact are shortening the life of Medicare. At the same time, Trump appoin- tees to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid are expanding efforts to entice Medicare-age enrollees out of “traditional” Medicare and into the market-based Medicare Advantage private system. They do this by offering new “pol- icy benefits” unavailable to tradi- tional Medicare supplemental policy holders. Meanwhile, health insurance lobbying efforts maintain a firm grasp on Trump’s bifur- cated attention span and GOP Congressional sympathies. Privatization of Medicare is ex- panding. This on-going Texas de- bacle should give pause to anyone hoping that uniform national Medi- care Traditional Supplement policy provisions — and protections — re- main. Every new “Advantage” policy, fi- nanced on subsidies, disproportion- ately shrinks the “trust fund” form- ing the core basis of Medicare. And your “networks” appear to be at risk. 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
