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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (June 27, 2020)
4A | SATURDAY EDITION | JUNE 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) 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 Siuslaw News LETTERS Avoid fear-mongering and learn the facts In response to Darryl Parson’s letter in last week’s Siuslaw News (“What About Gang Wars and Shootings?” June 17), I would ask him exactly how much he really does know about “all theses shoot- ings in Chicago every day,” consid- ering he could not even correctly identify any of the Midwest major gangs. Being born, raised and having worked on the southside of Chica- go for over 60 years, I think that I have more information beyond the sound bites, fear-mongering and racial stereotypes churned up from the media or a political party. Certainly Chicago, like every large and diverse American city, has violence issues and a myriad of police enforcement problems on top of societal problems in general. If you are thinking Al Capone here, that is definitely an anachronism. The Windy City, though, also has a deep multicultural strength, leadership and a purposeful drive that keeps it struggling to honor the American dream amongst its citizens. It is consistently ranked among the nation’s top cities for restau- rants, attractions, parks, museums and its unique neighborhoods. I look forward to visiting Leon’s Barbecue, walking the Lakefront, Buckingham Fountain and riding “the L” on my visits back. So, before anyone race-baits and trashes a community 2,200 miles away, remember that Americans are not having that any longer. When black lives matter and na- tive lives matter and brown lives matter then all lives will matter. —Mary DeCeault Dunes City Jefferson, Washington, Lee were not the same In his recent letter (“They Are Coming For Jefferson, Washing- ton,” June 24), Mr. Marks appears to make a false equivalence be- tween these three Americans. There is a very key difference. One of them led a rebellion to vi- olently overthrow the United States Government (i.e., the Civil War). This created a horrendous death toll. His participation helped to ex- tend the war, leading to additional deaths of countless thousands of Americans. The other two were instrumental in the founding of our country. Yes, all of our Founding Fathers were human. They had personal failings and sins, as do we all. What I find quite amazing is how they came together to create our wonderful system of government. God bless everyone. —Rob Welles Florence Clean water is life; poisoned water is death Directly above the pristine Siu- slaw River, 1,200 acres were re- cently logged by a company from Atlanta Georgia called Forrest In- vestment Association. They have raped and pillaged this enormous amount of land with no regard to the effects to a mul- titude of private home’s springs, water sources to private and public lands, streams and creeks. Soon, those acres are going to be ‘treated’ and sprayed with poison- ous herbicides, pesticides and in- secticides such as glysophates (i.e., Round-Up), 24D, Dicnba, Atrazine and other chemicals that cause a variety of illnesses in humans. All of the private springs, pub- lic streams and creeks eventually work their way to the Siuslaw Riv- er which, when infused with these chemicals, threaten all humans us- ing the water, including Mapleton, Duncan Island and some Florence residents. Last week, this land was con- firmed by the Confederated Tribes to be an ancient Indian burial ground. Senator Jeff Merkley’s of- fice will visit for a consultation this week. An environmental law firm has been hired to investigate, con- firm and stop any notion of spray- ing these life threatening chemicals on any of these torn up acres. I urge anyone who values clean water in Mapleton and the Siuslaw region to get involved by becoming informed. Clean water is life; poisoned wa- ter is death. —Kimberly Ann Fleenor Mapleton An American only, belonging to no political party (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.) There are only two hyphenated Americans: Anti- and Un-. Pro-American is redundant be- cause Americans love their country — warts and all — never ceasing in the quest for “... a more perfect Union.” Tensions between the North and South began in the 1830s. America, when secession first was considered, was the United States, emphasis on states. Publisher Wm. Lloyd Garri- son of Boston, Mass., called for se- cession in 1844. The Republican Party was found- ed March 20, 1854, to oppose slav- ery’s expansion advocated by Dem- ocrats. Robt. E. Lee, in an 1856 letter to his wife, stated slavery is “a mor- al and political evil,” continuing, “Their emancipation will sooner result from the mild and melting influences of Christianity than from the storm and tempest of fiery con- troversy. This influence, though slow, is sure.” For 100 years after the end of the Civil War, Democrats opposed inte- gration. Johnson ended that perfi- dy when he browbeat the Southern Democrats into submission with his disgusting promise of 200 years of gratitude for Democrats. As a result, the subsequent 55 Guest Viewpoint By Ian Eales Florence years has seen a leftist social pro- gram expansion ushering the de- struction of the family, 75 percent illegitimacy, over 60,000 abortions each year, sky-rocketing illiteracy — all examples of Patronization at its worst. Progressive administrations have run some of the most violent cities in America for decades. Their oath abrogation and allowing protesters to run riot will have a bad end, as it has countless times in history: the French Revolution, Russian Revo- lution, Nazi Germany all succeeded because of a perception in the mass- es of a lack of will and a loss of faith in the government. Radicals may envisage similar success. They discount at their peril that at some point the good people may have had enough and will re- spond in kind. Viral social media, coupled with opportunistic progres- sives, are playing with matches in a powder keg. As an American, I feel truly ill at the resent desecration of the 54th Massachusetts Memorial. After the 1st Kansas Colored, the 54th was the 2nd all Black regiment in Amer- ica. The film “Glory” memorialized their experience. The mob’s ignorance is both trag- ic and a ringing indictment of the progressive agenda. Historical facts: • Slavery was outlawed in En- gland, on June 22, 1772. Slavery re- mains a global scourge and did not originate in America. • The vast majority of American whites owned no slaves. • Freeing the slaves with no plan or infrastructure killed about 40 percent from disease and starvation. • Millions of Americans can proudly trace their history back to enslaved ancestors. Slaves in many parts of the world leave no progeny. Rules to live by: • Your rights end at the tip of my nose. • Don’t trust anyone who wants you to be just like them. • All lives matter. To say otherwise is racist; we all bleed red. • Anyone desiring to be a politi- cian exhibits the reason why they should not. Office: 148 Maple St./PO Box 10 Florence, OR 87439 Office Hours: Monday to Thursday: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday: 8 a.m. to noon Letters to the Editor policy The Siuslaw News welcomes letters to the editor 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 in- clude full name, address and phone number; only name and city will be printed. Letters should be limited to about 300 words. Letters are subject to editing for length, grammar and clarity. Publica- tion of any letter is not guaranteed and depends on space available and the volume of letters received. Letters that are anonymous, libelous, argumen- tative, sarcastic or contain accusations that are un- sourced or documented will not be published. Letters containing poetry or from outside the Siu- slaw News readership area will only be published 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 accurate, fair and not from second-hand knowledge or hear- say; and 3) Explain the reasons to support candi- dates based on personal experience and perspective rather than partisanship and campaign-style rhet- oric. Candidates themselves may not use the letters to the editor column to outline their views and plat- forms or to ask for votes; this constitutes paid politi- cal advertising. As with all letters and advertising content, the newspaper, at the sole discretion of the publisher, general manager and editor, reserves the right to re- ject 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
