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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (July 11, 2020)
4A | SATURDAY EDITION | JULY 11, 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 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 What we really need to remember come November (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 an Eales’ June 27, Guest View- point (“An American Only, Be- longing To No Political Party”) should take his own advice and love his country, warts and all. He apparently used a viral social media post “Educating-A-Liber- al” to promote the view that the Republican Party was founded to counter the Democrats’ plans to expand slavery in America: “EV- ERY American should REMEM- BER this important bit of Amer- ican history on this election day” part of the post read. Fact checking begs to differ. The slavery issue was not a Re- publican vs. Democrat issue but a North vs. South issue that came to a head with the 1854 Kansas-Ne- braska Act, which repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820 — thereby giving the territories the decision to accept or reject slavery. The Republican party was founded in 1854 by anti-slavery northern Democrats, anti-slavery Whigs and anti-slavery Free Soil- ers. Sadly, the Republican Party has changed from grass roots, pro- gressive, trust-busting, union sup- porting, New Deal expansion of rights to today’s corporate control of government, tax-evading rich, election tampering and Jim Crow mass incarceration that keeps peo- ple of color off the streets and in for-profit prisons. Guest Viewpoint By Karen Mahoney Florence Mr. Eales states that progressive administrations come to a bad end and curiously equates that as similar to the French Revolution (which ended in democracy), the Russian Revolution (now a total- itarian country openly befriend- ed by Trump) and Nazi Germany (which was defeated by the Allies, and from whom Trump is now re- treating). He was right that revolutions are the result in a loss of faith in their government, just as the American Revolution was a loss of faith in King George. That happens when a government supports profit, control and expansion over the well-being of the population. The gist of Mr. Eales’ Guest Viewpoint is that Democrats are bad, progressives are bad and radicals are bad. Eales’ support of Black Lives Matter amounts to sadness for a defiled monument and recognizing that “... millions of Americans can proudly trace their history back to enslaved an- cestors.” These descendents are the pro- testors being vilified. They are the radicals trying to roll back genera- tions of discrimination and incar- ceration. They protest against racial re- tweets by the president, the po- lice that terrorize them and shoot them in the back, the white nation- alists, white-supremists and other alt-right groups that support and encourage hate and chaos while backing a president who rules with threats, childish name-call- ing and insults. And also a president who meets lawful protests with tear gas and violence and threatens unlawful use of the military — things every American should remember this November on Election Day. 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 United we stand, divided we fall (Editor’s Note: Viewpoint submis- sions on this and other topics are always welcome as part of our goal to encourage community discussion and exchange of perspectives.) A s I sat with friends and fami- ly watching our safe and sane fireworks and celebrating the birth of our nation, I couldn’t help but wonder if this would be the last time we would ever be able to cel- ebrate this holiday. We the people of the United States of America are living in a time of much civil unrest. Our nation is at a tipping point, being torn apart by those who hate our country and its history. There are people who want — in no uncertain terms — to tear it apart and divide us. It is no longer about what political party you be- long to; it is about what the future of our nation will be and its ulti- mate survival as a free county. Do you really want Marxist groups like BLM, terrorist groups like Antifa and far left Socialists in the government like Alexan- dria Ocasio-Cortez to completely defund and dismantle the police, leaving millions of vulnerable peo- ple unprotected? Do you really want our county to be a Socialist country? Socialism has already been tried and failed in 52 other coun- tries. What makes anyone think it would actually work here? Do we want them telling us what we should say, what we should be- lieve and what is right and wrong? Do we honestly believe that de- funding, demonizing and vilifying law enforcement is the answer? Guest Viewpoint By Lois Worley Dunes City Make no mistake about it, these groups are no longer asking; they are saying that, if we do not meet their demands and give them what they want, they will burn our country down. They do not believe in individ- ual sovereignty but, instead, want collective subjugation which, by definition is the action of bring- ing someone or something under domination or control. They have hijacked the peace- ful protesters and taken over with their own agenda. Those of us who love our coun- try didn’t ask for this. I do not be- lieve that this is what the majority of us want for our family’s future. It is time to open our eyes, draw a line in the sand and decide if we are going to stand with the Marxists, the mob, anarchy, polit- ical correctness, socialism, cancel culture, radicals and the “progres- sives” who hate America. We are the greatest nation ever created and a gift from God that gives us liberty, freedom and the pursuit of happiness for everyone. It comes down to what your principles and values are and what you believe in. Either you support liberty, all of the founding docu- ments and all that this country has been through for over 200 years, or you want to see our nation fall and be ruled by Socialism. It is up to each of us to make our own decision of how we want our future to look. I stand with Amer- ica as it stands, even with all of its faults. At least for now we will still have the right to work on making things better for everyone of every race, color and creed. 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