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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (May 27, 2020)
4A | WEDNESDAY EDITION | MAY 27, 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) As a city, we must face a harsh economic reality (Editor’s Note: Viewpoint sub- missions on this and other topics are always welcome as part of our goal to encourage community discussion and exchange of perspectives.) I have been working with our city staff for almost six years now and find them to be very knowledgeable, pro- fessional and dedicated to our city. If they don’t have an answer to your questions, they will find one if there is one to be found. I interact on a coun- cil level, as a homeowner, HOA board member and member of our volunteer community. Uniformly the responses from our city staff has been great. As with the rest of our country, Florence is going to have to learn to live with a new normal. Hopefully, we are listening to our public health care experts and heeding their advice about the safest ways to resume busi- ness activity, socialization and school attendance. Guest Viewpoint By Ron Preisler Florence We know that we are heading to- ward a deep recession in addition to dealing with COVID-19. What we don’t know is how long and how deep it may be. The revenue from the gas tax and room tax that Florence will lose will hurt us financially. It is heartbreaking to think of the number of small- and medium-sized businesses that may be lost. While it is a harsh reality, we must face the prospect of a lengthy reces- sion, to say nothing of the possibility of a true depression. Here in Florence, the city is at full staff at this time — the first time in my service. I have written to Governor Brown asking for a freeze on hiring and a freeze on salaries and wages (with a few exceptions) for our state, county and municipalities. The city is looking at very signifi- cant increases in its healthcare costs and across the board increases in wag- es, utilities and services. I believe Florence needs to look at the idea of a wage freeze and hiring freeze for municipal employees. Isn’t that the best way to try to protect our valued employees when we read and hear about the staggering number of layoffs in today’s economic world? I am speaking for myself, as a citi- zen, and not for the city council. USPS# 497-660 Copyright 2020 © 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. 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Website and E-Edition: TheSiuslawNews.com Letters to the Editor policy In defense of the Florence City Council members (Editor’s Note: Viewpoint sub- missions on this and other topics are always welcome as part of our goal to encourage community discussion and exchange of perspectives.) I couldn’t help but be amused, dis- turbed and baffled by Sally Wantz’s recent Guest Viewpoint (“Council Should Make Public Meetings Public Inclusive,” 5-23-20.) Do we have nothing better to do during the current crisis than sit on the sideline and send Letters To The Editor of the local newspaper criticiz- ing our city council’s approach to con- ducting business? Do we not all realize that we are in very uncharted waters — and the City Council is doing it’s very best to con- duct business under unprecedented restrictions levied by Salem? In her letter, Ms. Wantz stated that she was “horrified” at what she heard and saw during the May 18 city coun- cil meeting. Maybe “horrified” means some- thing very different to many of us. She was horrified because the slides shown were fuzzy and because she could not see the expression on the faces of the mayor and council mem- bers. She was also “horrified” that the mayor declined to ask everyone to say the Pledge of Allegiance on a phone call. Let me address all of these “horrify- ing” events. First, it was explained to me that in order to conduct business during these trying times, the city council has adopted updated public meeting poli- cies which can be found on the city’s website. Guest Viewpoint By Terry E. Tomeny Florence One of those policies was to not hold public comment on items that are not on the agenda. And both the agenda and clear copies of the staff presentations were made available to the public before the meeting on the city’s website. This was apparently explained to Ms. Wantz within hours of her com- plaints to the city, but not acceptable to prevent what I feel is a critical and deceptive letter in the paper. Regarding the Pledge of Allegiance, it was explained that since this was a telephone meeting with no visuals, that the Pledge would not be done as usual. This makes sense as normally the Pledge is done when facing the flag — exactly like in Rotary meetings. It is ironic that, in recent years, a sit- ting city councilwoman — and friend of Ms. Wantz — would routinely not say the Pledge of Allegiance at council meetings. Yet this didn’t seem to “horrify” anybody or appear in the newspa- per. And in my opinion, anyone who knows Mayor Henry realizes there is no one in town more patriotic — or with more respect for our flag — than him. Ms. Wantz may want to disagree with the interim policies adopted by the city council or want to see a dif- ferent technology format for virtu- al meetings, but the city was able to quickly pivot to a virtual format for meetings using the technology avail- able, including researching the use of Zoom; and they are doing the best that they can do until new and expensive software and hardware are purchased. It’s very easy to sit on the sideline and snipe at a talented and dedicated group of people trying to make the best of an unprecedented and chal- lenging situation. Are whatever comments that peo- ple want to make so critical that they can’t wait a few weeks until they can be accommodated? Can we please take a moment to thank and support the members of our city council rather than rake them through the coals for “horrifying” you? LETTERS Should we rely on proven science or scapegoats? As we work our way through what is proving to be one of the most severe public crises in the past century (excluding wars), there is certain to be great controversy. In that regard, consider these points. Much has been made of the inac- curacy in projections promulgated through numerical modeling. No surprise there. Of course the models, having little real data to work with, are all based on assumptions — and thus results will differ, sometimes wide- ly, based on variations in those as- sumptions. That is not the point. The truth is that serious people were throwing up warnings and were ignored. The reality is that between 100,000 and 200,000 Americans are going to die. The point is, every element of our great government denied and diddled for too long, playing pol- itics, back when we might have been able to take reasonable ac- tions to greatly reduce this number. All right, maybe not. Or maybe yes. The key word is “maybe.” There are two things about all this that really scare me. First is that rampant ignorance is tolerating the denigration of se- rious science and the people who practice it. How many of the people tweeting outrageous attacks on Dr. Fauci and his ilk can, if asked, de- scribe how science actually works? From hypothesis, to experimen- tation, through peer review, to res- olution of theory; that is the pro- gression of science fact. I want to punch the wall every time I hear somebody say, “Oh, that’s just a theory.” Again, profound ignorance of even the most basic principles abound. In less than 170 years, we have gone — quite literally — from a world lit only by fire to one where mi- crowaves cook our food using power obtained by harnessing the atom. It was the scientific method — hypothesis through theory — that achieved this. Along the way, sci- ence made many wrong turns and some serious errors. But that is an integral part of the process. Over the long haul, sci- ence has delivered the goods. The second worry is what will happen next time. And there will be a next time; it is only a question of when. What will happen when the transmission rate of some new pathogen is perhaps only 50 per- cent greater than COVID-19, and the fatality rate is maybe five times greater? Do we accept that mistakes were made here — some, quite foolish — and try as best we can to develop in advance the systems and proce- dures needed to deal with it? Or do we stick to the current method of keeping our heads where the moon don’t shine, wait until it’s over and start looking for a scapegoat? Knowing, of course, that the scapegoat will always be someone of the opposing political party. —Jimmie Zinn Florence Don’t be confused by ‘herd immunity’ crowd Local businesses and the public would benefi t from knowing that Center for Disease Control (CDC) standards on virus risk from “sur- faces” have not lessened. Th ere is no actual CDC “update” stating that COVID-19 “does not spread easily” from surfaces. Th is last 10 days, signifi cant U.S. media has quoted a minor format- ting change within the CDC web- site as representing a CDC guid- ance “update” that “Th e virus does not spread easily” from surfaces. On May 11, a minor subtitle us- ing that language was added to the CDC website details to preface how the virus is transferred. Th e media, in an absence of dili- gence, then erroneously touted this as an “update” on CDC risk guid- ance. Now, within two weeks, the CDC website has eliminated that added subtitle language, realizing the po- tential confusion. So don’t let the “herd immuni- ty” crowd confuse you: No origi- nal CDC content existed intending to advise the public of an “update” on risk standards showing that the virus “does not spread easily” from surfaces. —Rand Dawson Siltcoos Lake 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