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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (July 18, 2020)
4A | SATURDAY EDITION | JULY 18, 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 LETTERS How does attacking people bring us together? How sad City Counselor Joshua Greene feels he must vent by taking inaccurate and cheap shots at the local grassroots’ Republican move- ment in our town. Mr. Greene seems unhappy with the outcome of the 2018 election and portrays this as a “colossal dis- ruption.” No, Mr. Greene, this was an ex- pression of the will of the voters. You go on to say, “We public figures have to look at what we say and do from all sides and choose what brings people together...” How does your attack on the Republican folks and the pro-life group bring people together? You go on to condemn Sherry Harvey for reserving Old Town Park and ask the question, “So why on Bay on July 4?” The answer to that is very sim- ple; for the same reason the Dem- ocrats have reserved the same space in years past for July 4. Mr. Greene said in his Guest Viewpoint “... we need to be honest with ourselves and each other...” How honest is it to write alluding to your position as a City Counselor and making judgment statements of lawful activities, then close your article with a disclaimer that all that was said is from a personal point of view when it clearly impacts other- wise. —Bruce Jarvis Florence Greene is spot on about council’s political divide In the July 15 Guest Viewpoint By Joshua Greene (“Politics Should Have No Place In Our Local Gov- ernment”), he was spot on when it comes to our city government’s po- litical divide and the small far-right faction in our city. I did not venture into Old Town on July 4 as to avoid the unprotect- ed crowds that I assumed would be there. I am fortunate that I did not because I would have been out- raged by the transparantly far-right display in our public spaces. If far-right members want to pro- tect or present their agenda, they should go stand on street corners with their signs like everyone else — unless they fear they may not receive thumbs up and horn honks from passersby. —Win Jolley Florence Thank you to our local fact checkers Thank you, Karen Mahoney, for your Guest Viewpoint (“What We Really Need To Remember Come November,” July 16). You took your time to fact check. You clarified Ian Eales’ loose-use of language and facts regarding U.S. and world history. Paragraphs 4–6 of your view- point regarding the founding of the Republican Party by northern Democrats, anti-slavery Whigs and anti-slavery Free Soilers, were re- vealing. My ancestral family was staunch Republican because they were re- pulsed by ownership of human be- ings. Two great-grandfathers fought for the Union. One died. They would be horrified by Con- federate monuments and Confeder- ate flags flying; they would be hor- rified that U.S. police forces have become militarized; they would be horrified that some police officers choose to behave as executioners. They would be horrified by a lot more. I was a registered Republican, fol- lowing my family’s path. I am a con- cerned patriot who loves my coun- try and know that I must speak up. Who are we? Americans mes- merized by the traumatized celebri- ty in the White House? We can do better. —Kathryn Damon-Dawson Westlake Well-meaning people are being ensnared by BLM I would like to challenge the common paradigm and question progressive organizations acquiesc- ing to the demands of Black Lives Matter. This corporation has nefar- ious funding from Open Society, the Ford Foundation, the Kellogg Foundation, JPMorgan Chase and many other foundations. Open Society has used his money to disrupt democratically elected governments with “Color Revolutions” for the last 40 years. The BLM protests are just another “Color Revolution” to affect regime change in the U.S. The movement for Black lives, which includes BLM, sends dona- tions to ActBlue, which has donated $120M to the “Biden for President” campaign. When the founders of this cor- poratized organization claim to be Marxist, it should be understood that they are referring to a distorted philosophy that substitutes the class struggle with the race struggle. This is not Marxism. BLM seems adored by the media and the Democratic Party and is not a threat to the 1 percent. Once again, well-meaning peo- ple are ensnared into supporting a dead-end agenda. —James Sherwood Florence You’ll hate needing a ventilator To those who believe mask man- dates infringe on their freedoms, you are really going to hate the ven- tilator. —Marybeth Marenco Florence What a diff erence a year can make (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.) This past Wednesday, July 15, marked the one-year anniversary of when I made a request to the Florence City Council to recognize the existential threat posed by rap- id and escalating climate change. During public comment one year ago, I asked city councilors to adopt a resolution that pledges to join forces with community, state and federal entities to address our climate crisis and, more impor- tantly, create a commission that includes a wide range of interested parties in order to develop a com- prehensive Climate Action Plan for the City of Florence. Unfortunately, I received no for- mal response from anyone in city government. Then in September, Greta Thunberg, the young climate ac- tivist from Sweden arrived on the scene calling for rallies and repeat- ed Friday Climate Strikes. She was an inspiration to many across the country and in Florence, including me. Florence Organizes’ (FOR) Environmental Group organized a big climate rally to educate and excite our citizens and I started weekly Climate Strikes at City Hall to garner action. Later in the year because little was happening, I created the Flor- ence Climate Emergency Cam- paign and started collecting signa- tures on a petition with the same request made previously to our city government. Later we joined with the nation- al group Elders Climate Action to share and learn from other climate activists across the country. More recently, I discovered the 350 Or- egon Central Coast and am look- ing forward to collaborating with them and other coastal communi- ties. Guest Viewpoint By Michael Allen Florence Because climate education is so important for the youth in our town who will become our future leaders, we added a second goal to our efforts, advocating for the Siu- slaw School District to add climate to its curriculum in all subjects grades K-12, along with training opportunities for green occupa- tions similar to what the state of New Jersey has done. Friday, July 10, was our 43rd Climate Strike with still no formal response from the Florence City Council. In the realm of climate education there are many to take into account. Members of the Campaign are researching what other local gov- ernments are doing to declare a climate emergency. They discov- ered 96 cities and counties across the United States that have made that step and are obtaining their resolutions. Others are gathering signatures for our climate petition bring- ing our total to 270 signatories. The signatories include a diverse group that includes city council- ors, school board members, teach- ers, students, candidates for city and state offices, ministers, library patrons, business owners, environ- mental activists and a myriad of town residents. Many have participated in Fri- day Climate Strikes at City Hall since the first one in September 2019. Many sent comments to city councilors and Letters to-the-Ed- itor at the Siuslaw News. Our local community radio sta- tion KXCR responded with PSA’s for our Friday Climate Strikes and an interview on Community Con- versations about the Florence Cli- mate Emergency Campaign. There is still hope for the Flor- ence City Council to act since, at an earlier work session, it was agreed they would make an en- vironmental proclamation which may happen at the upcoming vir- tual City Council meeting on July 20. This would be a good first step towards the resolution we are call- ing for in our petition. The lesson learned here is that persistence and serendipity can pay off with big dividends. Our struggles with COVID-19 should not be a hindrance but a lesson on how to react to a crisis. Let’s not make us wait another year. 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. 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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 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. 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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
