4A |
WEDNESDAY EDITION
| NOVEMBER 13, 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)
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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
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Postmaster, send address changes to: Siuslaw News, P.O. Box 10, Florence, OR
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Letters to the Editor policy
LETTERS
Thanks for continued
community support
Thanks to the generous citizens’
support in the Florence area during
the veterans fundraiser held at Fred
Meyer. Without the continued sup-
port from citizens and local busi-
nesses, our fundrasiers could not
continue.
Thanks from the VFW Auxiliary
Post 3232 and VFW Post 3232.
—Sue Miller, President
VFW Auxiliary
Fred Burns, Commander
VFW
Thanks for supporting
area veterans programs
The VFW Auxiliary would like
to thank all the residents of Flor-
ence and their families and friends
for the support given at our Poppy
drives.
We also wish to thank Fred Mey-
er for allowing us at their north and
south entrances to distribute pop-
pies.
We would also like to thank the
Siuslaw News for giving the people
of Florence information on all mil-
itary and veteran events.
With the help of businesses and
community members, we at the
Auxiliary VFW have been able to
give money to several organizations
like Food Baskets for Kids, White
City Veterans Home, Lebanon Vet-
erans Home, The Dalles V.A. Veter-
ans Home, Roseburg V.A. Hospital,
VFW Service Dog Program, Na-
tional Children’s Home and more.
—Joe Miller, Treasurer
VFW Auxiliary Post 3232
Good letters
I wish to commend both Ralph
Ray (“Issue Isn’t Climate Change
But Elitist Government,” Nov. 9)
and Matt Danielsson (“Avoid Hyp-
ocritical Approach To Govern-
ment,” Nov. 9) on their fine recent
Letters to the Edtor.
To add a bit of information to
Ralph’s concern (and mine) over
diapers, an estimated 20 billion
disposable diapers are added to
landfills throughout the country
each year, creating about 3.5 mil-
lion tons of waste.
According to a report from the
U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, disposable diapers intro-
duce pathogens into the environ-
ment from the solid waste they
contain (this was in 2016).
And I would be interested in
meeting with Matt, although we
may just sit around drinking coffee
and agreeing with each other.
—Peter Vance
Florence
A team to be proud of
As a community, we be can be
very proud of our Siuslaw football
team. These young men and coach-
es started practicing four days a
week last spring, practiced most of
the summer, and have worked very
hard to create the team we see now.
It is a team that made it to the
playoffs for the first time in four
years. To the young men and
coaches of the Siuslaw Vikings
football team, hold your head high.
Your community is proud of you!
—Bobbie Spencer
Florence
No coffee but agree to
respectfully disagree
I very much appreciate Matt
Danielsson’s clarification (“Avoid
Hypocritical Approach to Envi-
ronment,” Nov. 9) because it had
not been clear to me exactly who
he had been accusing of hypocri-
sy, and I was relieved to read that
he had not meant the folks holding
signs on the sides of the road here
in town.
So thank you, Mr. Danielsson,
for clearing up that confusion.
I still don’t understand, though,
where the shaming mentioned in
all three of his letters is coming
from. All the signs, articles, memes
— and yes — posts on social media
that I have seen have been informa-
tional rather than accusatory.
I think most of us, no matter
what our opinion of the current cli-
mate crisis, understand that folks
today have to use the technology
available today. As green options
become available and affordable, I
am sure more people will use them.
The point of the information I
have seen is to tell folks why they
ought to make greener choices
whenever they can.
Still, Mr. Danielsson is entitled to
his feelings. I am sorry he has ex-
perienced this shaming; not only is
it counterproductive, but it is very
wrong to blame someone for the
choices they make when their op-
tions are limited (or nonexistent).
As for Mr. Danielsson’s invitation
for a civil discussion over coffee, I
am afraid there isn’t enough coffee
in the world to convince me that an
individual cannot have a global im-
pact, and I suspect he is as strongly
attached to his view that the oppo-
site is true.
We will just have to agree to re-
spectfully disagree on that one
while we both continue to do what
we can locally.
—Debra Walker
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