Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (April 4, 2020)
4A | SATURDAY EDITION | APRIL 4, 2020 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 An Open Letter To Lane County To Lane County Government and Lane County Public Health: I’m writing to you and the public because of a lack of transparency in identifying communi- ties in our county where COVID-19 cases have been confirmed The current protocol set by Lane County and followed by Lane County Public Health is that, un- less the virus is confirmed in the Eugene/Springfield area, the location is only identified as “Outside of Eugene/Springfield or “in rural Lane County.” This protocol puts communities at risk and needs to change. Siuslaw News became aware of a potential case of COVID-19 in Flor- ence this past Wednesday (April 1) through a reli- able source in the health- care industry who asked to remain anonymous. The individual told us of a local woman in her 50s who had been confirmed to have COVID-19 fol- lowing testing at River- Bend; that would the first confirmed case of the vi- rus in the Florence area. As we have been en- couraging everyone in our community to do in order to avoid spreading rumor and speculation, we waited for official confirmation from LCPH of what we already had been told. On April 2, LCPH an- nounced that a woman in her 50s had been of- ficially diagnosed with COVID-19. She had been hospi- talized but was now re- covering at home. Her symptoms first began on Feb. 23. The woman went untested for 25 days, un- til the symptoms came to a point that testing was deemed necessary on March 18. It is unknown if or when she went into iso- lation during that period. All of this information was made available and confirmed by LCPH Pub- lic Information Officer Jason Davis. The one thing LCPH was unable to confirm? The community in which the woman resides, refer- ring instead to a location “in rural Lane County.” There are approximate- ly 4,200 miles that consti- tute “rural Lane County.” Included within it are hundreds of communi- ties, many of which have sizable populations. This includes the Siuslaw re- gion of Florence, Dunes City, Mapleton, Swiss- home, Tide and unincor- porated areas that make up an estimated 16,000 residents in total. If LCPH statements only identify confirmed cases as being in “rural Lane County,” then every community not within the Eugene/Springfield region could potentially assume they are the latest location with the virus. And if every community outside of the Eugene/ Springfield area thinks it has the latest COVID-19 case, it could create on- going county-wide con- fusion, with communities — and local news out- lets — unable to confirm facts and dispel rumor. In addition, Lane County’s refusal to share information could also make the spread of the disease worse while weakening community efforts to effectively com- bat the disease. Ultimately, we realize that the protocols cur- rently in place will not change without public engagement and a de- mand for transparency. As a community news source, we are constant- ly reminding our readers that we only report on information that we can verify through official and legitimate sources. Yet in the case of con- firming or denying cas- es of COVID-19 in our communities, there is no verification process avail- able to us. I have reached out to other news outlets in Lane County, including The Register-Guard and KLCC — in the hopes that they will share this information with their communities in order to affect change in the coun- ty’s protocols — either by running this open letter, writing their own or by reporting on this effort. We have been relying on — and would like to continue to rely on — of- ficial information from Lane County in order to limit the amount of rumor, assumption and misinformation that can occur without official sources. I feel it is imperative that people in the com- munity have a full un- derstanding of the situa- tion at hand, and if/when COVID-19 is officially confirmed in our com- munities so that they can respond accordingly. By not being able to officially verify specific information for commu- nities outside of Eugene/ Springfield, the current LCPH protocol is poten- tially fostering a danger- ous situation that could in fact make the spread of COVID-19 worse in iso- lated areas. ployees. We look forward to the day that you can all hopefully re- open your doors and greet us once again. To everyone, stay healthy and have faith not fear. —Carol Salisbury Florence Thanks for keeping us informed Thank you Siuslaw News team and all its staff for keeping the community informed in the midst of this crisis. All the information we need to know about the pandemic, plus other pertinent information: What is cancelled, where to get help, weather data, global carbon report, the vegetarian article — the Siuslaw News is the “go-to” for everything Florence. Kudos to you and your staff. —Madelyne Barnett Florence Electoral win not same as majority vote A letter on March 25 stated that a majority of Americans elected the current occupant of the White House and he should be respected. In fact, a majority of Ameri- cans did not vote for Trump. Our elections are corrupted by too much media coverage, too much money spent, and by the Electoral College. It was put in the Constitution by the founding fathers who did not trust ordi- nary men to vote — men who owned property were the only 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 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: Ned Hickson Editor Siuslaw News Managing Editor Cottage Grove Sentinel 541-902-3520 LETTERS Tremendous community Who ever would have thought we would be in a situation in this world and our country staying at home, self-isolating with no on- going/outside activities to help keep us entertained. First, a sincere thank you to the Siuslaw School District for thinking ahead and developing a plan to keep our children up to age 18 fed. Not only are they preparing two meals per child but running the bus routes so that these meals can be delivered to the children who ride the bus. The other families may pick them up at various locations throughout town. Schools, whether elementary, middle, high school or college, provide so much in the way of not just ac- ademics but social enrichment/ entertainment and everyone is feeling the void that the loss of these activities has created. Obviously we all want to thank the numerous health care pro- viders and first responders for working diligently to keep us healthy here in Florence, not only during this pandemic but all year long. There is also a tremendous void with no Florence Events Center, CROW kids, and the other local theater and music groups providing us with won- derful entertainment all year long. I miss our awesome restau- rants, their chefs and wait staff, and our really beautiful gift shops and their owners and em- Copyright 2020 © Siuslaw News ones who could vote. They invented a system of “electors.” The people cast- ing votes were really choosing electors, not candidates. When the election was over, the elec- tors counted the votes and an- nounced the President and Vice President. The system was designed to help smaller states, especially southern states with slaves and slave-owners; It’s a system that has been changed several times. Each state has the number of electoral votes which is the sum of its Congressional representa- tives. Each state has two Senators and a number of Representatives based on population. “One per- son, one vote” is the standard which is not always realized. The number of electoral votes ranges from 3 per state to 55 in California. The total of electoral votes is 538, but it takes only 270 (just over half) to “win” the pres- idency. That leaves a “minority” of people in any state whose votes don’t count. When you put all those minorities together, it can actually be a majority of votes. That has happened in several U.S. elections, most recently in 2016. Hillary Clinton received about 3 million more votes that Don- ald Trump. One more thing: a person gets respect through responsible ac- tions and fair treatment of other people — not because of a title. —Shirley Nelson Florence 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
