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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 7, 2019)
4A | SATURDAY EDITION | DECEMBER 7, 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 Remembering our ‘Day of Infamy’ is becoming more important than ever I also came to know how the morning was filled with as many acts of heroism and sacrifice as moments of unimag- with gaming systems that center around violent acts of war, the lessons learned from the sacrifices of the past are in danger of becoming Today, Americans are diluted by pre-packaged remembering the sacri- and rewards-driven From the Editor’s Desk fice made by the 2,403 “acts of valor.” Ned Hickson servicemen killed in the Underscoring this attack on Pearl Har- is the gradual and bor some 78 years ago, inevitable silencing of along with the 1,178 those voices who lived from the 337 men who inable horror. who were wounded Over the years, imag- through that infamous survived the attack on Last year’s remem- day in our history. es in textbooks, com- the battleship brance marked another As a result, the les- As a child, I was only memorative issues from somber occasion: It sons learned from those publications like Time peripherally aware of was the first time a sacrifices in our past magazine and stories the Vietnam War and USS Arizona survivor aren’t digging nearly captured in movies even less so of the Ko- wasn’t present for the rean War, which ended impressed upon me the as deep a groove in the 7:50 a.m. commemora- before I was born. Yet, virtues of valor. minds of our children tion of the more than At the same time, and and our culture as they as the last shot was be- 900 servicemen who once did. perhaps more impor- ing fired in Vietnam, I remain entombed in the already knew what Pearl tantly, those images and And history forgot- battleship. stories that surface each ten is history bound to Harbor was. All told, only three repeat itself. year — much like the I knew how a quiet crew members from As the voices of Pearl slowly recurring “black Sunday morning was that morning attack re- transformed into a fiery tears” of oil that still Harbor grow silent, it main alive today as the nightmare by Japanese bubble to the surface is more important than few remaining voices ever that we ensure from the USS Arizona planes — and how, in from that horrific “Day less than nine minutes, — serve as a reminder the black tears slowly of infamy” grow quiet. surfacing from the USS more than 900 men be- of the ultimate price Lauren Bruner, the demanded by a world came entombed in the Arizona are never for- second-to-last sailor to wreckage that now rests at war. gotten — nor the reason escape the sinking USS like a shadow below the In an age when many for which they continue Arizona, died this past to be shed. harbor’s surface. entertain themselves September at age 98, leaving Don Stratton, Lou Conter and Ken Potts as the only former crewmen remaining 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 Reach out, take care of each other This time of year is when you will undoubtedly receive many requests from nonprofit orga- nizations. The ways our com- munity steps up to help others consistently reminds me of why we live here: we reach out and take care of each other. Many of you have followed First Step since we began our housing program in 2018 and we are grateful for your support and generosity. We have more good news: one of our families has graduated into a home. They are very hap- py as they were our first family who moved out of a tent, into a trailer, took care of their debts and are now moving on with their lives. We could not have done it without our community’s sup- port, the hard work of the fami- ly and our volunteers. A helping hand is sometimes all that is necessary to make a difference in the life of anoth- er. It is the heart-felt outreach to members of our community that makes a huge impact. May you enjoy a wonderful holiday season. Sincerely, Kathryn Lenox Board Member, First Step. —Kathryn Lenox Florence First Step Board member (Editor’s note: For more in- formation about the nonprofi t First Step program, visit www. firststep community.com.) Try controlling global population, not temperature Enough with the politicaliza- tion of “global warming.” It is a naturally occuring event we can’t control. However, having my 10-year-old granddaughter being told that the world will end when she is 22 years old can be controlled. Enough with the plastic straws and bags. Before you get rid of them, get rid of dispos- able diapers for kids and adults, along with tampons and femi- nine pads that will never break down in a landfill. Get rid of all the sanitary plastic wraps and containers and go back to brown paper and cardboard — but don’t dare cut down a tree. The real gorilla in the closet is 7.7 billion carbon dioxide and methane-spewing humans and their meat supply. In 1950, there were 2 billion; today, we are heading toward 10 billion. A lack of resources combined with overpopulation has already terminated many civilizations around the world. This was the underlying cause spreading the Black death that killed 70 percent of Europe. We have a far better chance of controlling global population than we do global temperature. —Martin Cable Florence (Editor’s note: According to the World Health Organiza- tion, the Black Death (i.e., Great Plague or Black Plague) of the 14th century is estimated to have killed between 30 and 60 percent of Europe’s population.) 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