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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 30, 2019)
4A | WEDNESDAY EDITION | OCTOBER 30, 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 Bartlett 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 Vacant building not a ‘grand entrance’ to Old Town In response to the letter from Gerry Welch (“Yamaha At Gate- way Seems Like Bad Idea,” Oct. 26), I’d like to point out a couple of things. First of all, the owner of Flor- ence Yamaha also owns the piece of property mentioned at South Jetty and Highway 101. He is unable to locate his dealer- ship there because the property is zoned residential, not com- mercial. Second, while this proper- ty is “in walking distance to an area now used by ATV’s,” I don’t know of anyone who would want to push their ATV and all their equipment about a mile down the road to be able to ac- cess the dunes. Also, driving ATV’s on South Jetty or any other street is illegal, so the Old Town streets should not become testing grounds. Anyone who was not at the meetings discussing Florence Yamaha’s relocation to the Pro Lumber site, or who did not voice their opinion before the decision was made, has no right to complain. The decision to allow the re- location of Florence Yamaha has been made, so further dis- cussion is not necessary. Lastly, having the building oc- cupied by Florence Yamaha will be a far better sight than a huge vacant building at our “grand entrance” to downtown. —Cheryl Prchal Florence Visitor Center would be better fit than Yamaha I am really surprised that the Visitor’s Center/Chamber of Commerce is not going to take the space being vacated by Pro Lumber at Maple and the 101. Th ey could off er so much more information about the area in that space, and so many more services, including ex- panded exhibit space for a va- riety of promotional activities and/or vendors. Th e parking lot could have a rotation of food trucks, a coff ee cart, vendors of local and re- gional items, etc. It might lighten the Bay Street load in tourist season, and fa- cilitate that Bay Street parking solution I hear the Transporta- tion Advisory Committee has been charged with fi guring out. Maybe Bay Street can be- come more foot traffi c and bi- cycle traffi c friendly if there is a hub of commercial activity two blocks away. Just sayin’. —Ivy Medow Florence Do something rather than talking about it Th e Letter to the Editor from Matt Danielsson (“Focus on Deeds Rather Th an Words,” Oct. 26) was off ensive to me, and I’m sure to those folks who’re working to get the cli- mate catastrophe word into the public consciousness. Th ose people on the corners with their signs are also the folks who patrol 101 and 126 for debris, who are eradicating in- vasive species from our dunes, who are lobbying our federal, state and local governments to recognize the existential threat we are all facing. Yes, each of us should be do- ing our part, but to call out those who are actually doing something instead of joining in is not helpful. C’mon, Matt, step up. I’ll help and you’ll be so very welcome. —Patricia Burke Florence 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
