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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (June 24, 2020)
4A | WEDNESDAY EDITION | JUNE 24, 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 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. 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 I’ll gladly do ‘the least’ I can to protect you wife, children or friends that could make them ill or potentially kill them, would I wear a mask to eliminate that 1 percent? Of course. In a heartbeat. last couple of weeks since entering Phase Two Reopening can see how activity in Florence has tripled. Yesterday alone, I saw license plates from California, New Mexico, In fact, with so many new visitors coming to our area, I’d say it’s more important than ever to do “the least” we can do to protect each other. I’ll be the first to admit Somehow, the wearing that wearing a mask is a of masks has become pain. Glasses fog up, and interpreted by some as it shifts when I talk with a political statement as, From the Editor’s Desk folks. I even snapped once again, divisiveness Ned Hickson my own ear lobe with has hijacked what was the elastic once (I don’t once common sense and recommend it, especially common courtesy for one if you are within earshot I love this community, Washington and British another. of others). and if putting up with Columbia. If someone I cared However, a simple the inconvenience of While we are relaxing about contracted a virus thought always crosses wearing a mask means restrictions allowing from me because I wasn’t my mind reminding me that I could potentially community businesses willing to do “the least” that the inconvenience keep from unknowingly to resume some level of I could to protect them, of wearing a mask when spreading a virus to 1 their operations — and as it would be hard to live I go into a public space percent of you, I will put a result seeing a marked with — no matter who I is a small price to pay up with the foggy glasses increase in visitors from would or wouldn’t vote for protecting my fellow and even the risk of ear- well beyond a 50-mile ra- for. community members and lobe snaps. dius — it doesn’t mean it’s In the end, it’s up to visitors alike. It’s the least I can do for also time to relax simple each of us to protect what If someone told me my community, and I’m preventative measures to is a largely at-risk com- that there was a 1 percent glad to do it. slow a potential spread of munity. chance that I could Anyone who has been COVID-19 in our com- It’s “the least” we can spread something to my out and about over the munities. do for each other. LETTERS Some people are still spreading kindness I was at the corner of highways 101 and 126 last Saturday, partici- pating in the celebration for peace, equal justice and supporting Black lives. Once again, I was overwhelmed by the number of people from our small community who came to stand in support of their neigh- bors. I was also heartened by the enormous number of honks and waves that our group received. I was standing on the corner with my sign, which read: “Make America Kind Again.” A woman crossed the street, approached me, commented on my sign and put something in my hand. I looked and discovered a $100 bill. More than a little taken aback, I stuttered, “I don’t know what to do with this.” She replied, “Use it for kind- ness” and walked away. Th is is just another example of Florence demonstrating its beauti- ful heart. I hope the anonymous wom- an gets a chance to read this and know how moved I was by her kindness. I know Florence Food Share will put her donation to good use and help distribute kindness and meals to our neighbors in need. —Jim Wellington Florence They are coming for Jefferson, Washington Thanks to Mr. Welles for his out- standing letter on America’s monu- ment desecration (“Historical Con- text Key To Not Repeating Racist Past,” June 13). We are now in the “times that try men’s souls” of which Thomas Paine wrote. Will someone, any- one stand against the destruction of our sacred history by anarchists, radicals and the anti-government rabble mocking and abandon- ing American history by pillaging monuments of centuries of princi- pled individuals named Columbus, Lee and other Confederate generals in the name of misdeeds? Robert E. Lee fought for the cause of the Tenth Amendment over an all powerful federal government, which he detested. At Appomattox, the army of the Potomac veterans saluted Lee before his meeting with General Grant in total respect for his honorable leadership during immensely trying times. The defacement and decapita- tion of Columbus — that greatest of Italian explorers without whom we would be Europeans — is vile, childish and devoid of all perspec- tive. They are coming for Mr. Jeffer- son and the father of our country, which will completely debilitate western civilization — which seems to be the strategy. No more Amer- ica for these midnight marauders with no heart, sense, historical per- spective and certainly lacking doc- trinal decency. It is now or never; America or chaos. Who will stand? John Adams said in his mar- velous speech on Independence at Philadelphia, “Sir, we are in the midst of Revolution. There will be a great expense of blood gentleman. However I am not without appre- hensions, sir ... but if I am to live, give me a country and a republic governed by laws, a free country.” That Republic is in danger of ex- tinction unless good men with the voice of a John Adams appear. God bless America. —Joel Marks Florence Change is good until it goes overboard I applaud NASCAR for banning the Confederate fl ag from its races, which was a move that has been a long time coming. I can also understand why peo- ple in the South are removing Confederate statues, although I never gave any thought to a statute other than they are where pigeons poop. But in some areas we are present- ly going overboard with the names of places. U of O wants to change building names; some individuals want to change the names of mil- itary base names like Ft. Polk (my basic training), Bragg and Hood. We then have the renaming and logos on food products. I agree Aunt Jemima products and Uncle Ben’s Rice should have been re- named years ago. But it gets a bit out of hand with Land O’ Lakes removing the Indian Maiden from its logo. Who is next on this ludicrous list? Navajo Freight Lines, Quak- er Oats with a religious fi gure, black wild rice because it’s consid- ered derogatory, or our local high school’s sports mascot the Viking? Change is good until it goes overboard. —Win Jolley Florence 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: 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