4A |
SATURDAY EDITION
| NOVEMBER 30, 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
A whisper rooted in thankfulness
you came to being in a se-
rious accident. Or when
the gas attendant asks if
you want to use your .50-
cent gas reward when you
thought you only had 20.
Though it’s been some
35 years since I arrived in
Oregon as a high school
sophomore, when people
ask where I moved from,
I still whisper when I say,
“California.”
I do so in jest (most-
ly), secure in the knowl-
edge that revealing my
California roots — how-
ever withered — won’t
suddenly bring nearby
conversations to an em-
barrassing halt, leaving
cricket chirps in its place.
Part of the reason is
because, more often than
not, those around me are
also originally from Cal-
ifornia.
Seriously, folks. I’ve
heard you whispering.
But recently, I’ve come
to realize there’s a dif-
ferent reason I whisper
when it comes to explain-
ing where I was in rela-
tion to where I am now.
It’s a whisper rooted in
thankfulness.
It’s the whisper that
escapes you the moment
after realizing how close
It wasn’t until returning
that summer to visit my
father in L.A. that I re-
alized something that
changed my life: Every-
thing I thought I knew
From the Editor’s Desk
Ned Hickson
“What? Yesss.”
Oregon changed my
life for the better.
Twice, actually.
First as a 15-year-old
with my family, then
again when I moved back
as a 37-year-old with my
own family.
In the first instance,
it was culture shock just
short of defibrillation as
I went from the concrete
jungle of Los Angeles to
the blackberry hillsides
of the North Fork.
Instead of riding my
Schwinn to school and
spending afternoons run-
ning around the streets in
my Nikes, I was canoeing
over a flooded dike to
meet my school bus and
returning home to stack
wood or dig post holes.
Usually in mud boots.
I hated Oregon be-
cause it was the opposite
of everything I’d known.
wasn’t nearly as import-
ant as how I’d come to
know myself thanks to
the life I was experienc-
ing in Oregon.
Returning home at the
end of that summer, I still
remember stepping out
of the car and onto our
dirt driveway in a new
pair of Nikes, realizing
how those shoes — and
that life — just didn’t fit
anymore.
This is home, I whis-
pered.
Mostly because I didn’t
want my parents to hear
and know they had been
right. I was still a teenag-
er, after all.
The lessons learned
and perspectives gained
from life as an Oregonian
were things I carried with
me after graduating from
Siuslaw High School and
becoming a regional chef
in Atlanta for the next 10
years.
But during all of that
time, the thought of re-
turning to Oregon stayed
with me, particularly as
the gains in my career
began costing something
far more important:
Time with my family.
So when, in 1998, the
opportunity was pre-
sented to begin a new
career as a journalist, my
beloved Oregon — and
Florence in particular —
changed my life for the
second time.
Thanksgiving
day,
those were the things I
was thinking about and
quietly giving thanks for
as my family gathered
around the dinner table
which, if not for Oregon’s
surreptitious interven-
tion in my life, I may not
have been blessed to be
sitting at.
As we continue through
the Thanksgiving week-
end and official start of
the holiday season — and
the busy weeks ahead —
I plan to make time for
the many reasons to be
thankful.
Not the least of which
is being editor of the
newspaper covering this
amazing community.
LETTERS
Climate change is about
what to do, not if it is
happening
I haven’t lived in Florence for
several years now but had the joy of
celebrating Thanksgiving with my
father-in-law this past weekend.
While in town, I read the Guest
Viewpoint “Climate Has Always
Changed And Will Always Change”
(Nov. 27) in the Siuslaw News.
Let’s be clear about the simplicity
of basic climate science. We know
average global temperatures are
increasing and the rate is acceler-
ating. NOAA reports, “...The com-
bined land and ocean temperature
has increased at an average rate of
0.13°F per decade since 1880; how-
ever, the average rate of increase
since 1981 (0.31°F) is more than
twice as great.” (www.climate.gov/
news-features/understanding-cli-
mate/climate-change-global-tem-
perature).
This is simply data; the in-
creasing levels of CO2 in our at-
mosphere and our experience of
increasing global temperatures
match. IPCC mathematical models
over the past several decades have
accurately predicted the warming
we’re experiencing.
I don’t like it, but it is simply true.
What about Oregon? The most
recent (4th) Oregon Climate As-
sessment Report (www.occri.
net/publications-and-reports/
fourth-oregon-climate-assess-
ment-report-2019) points out that
“The entire Pacific Northwest has
warmed about 2°F since 1900...”
It reports that, “Nearly every lo-
cation in Oregon has seen a decline
in spring snowpack, and it will con-
tinue...”
Is this important? Well, wildfires
in Oregon and Washington to date
for 2019 are ocurring at twice the
average rate of the prior decade.
Oregon agriculture is affected by
earlier and warmer springs paired
with later cooling in the fall. Mean
temperatures and changes in the
state’s hydrology are playing havoc
with our ability to make a living.
I care about that. And the trends
are getting worse.
And we know why.
The question is not whether we
“believe” in climate change. The
question is what are we going to do
about the changes happening right
before our eyes.
—Rev. Dave Brauer-Rieke
Portland (formerly of Florence)
The Siuslaw News welcomes letters to the edi-
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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