4A |
WEDNESDAY EDITION
| JULY 22, 2020
Siuslaw News
P.O. Box 10
Florence, OR 97439
NED HICKSON , EDITOR
| 541-902-3520 | NHICKSON @ THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM
Opinion
The First Amendment
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ongress shall make no law respect-
ing an establishment of religion or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or
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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)
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Let’s really be honest with ourselves and each other
On July 15, Siuslaw News ran a
Guest Viewpoint by Joshua Greene
involving the recent Fourth of July
celebrations and the encroachment of
politics into our local government.
First of all, let me say that this was
the 15th Independence Day that I’ve
celebrated here in Florence, and I
could not wish to be in a better place.
I would agree that the July Fourth is
to celebrate the USA and all it stands
for, and that local political decisions
should take everybody in the com-
munity into account.
From here on, though, my opinions
begin to diverge from Mr. Greene’s.
Things started to change in Flor-
ence and, indeed, nationally — not
after the 2018 elections but after the
those in 2016. When Donald Trump
was legally elected President of the
United States, the so-called progres-
sives in this country went ballistic.
Even though conservatives en-
dured the Obama administration in
a mostly subdued manner, the “Left”
decided they were going to form the
“Resistance” to President Trump. This
very quickly worked its way down the
political food chain.
It was anti-Trump on everything.
The left-leaning bias began to man-
ifest itself in the discussions and de-
cisions of the local City Council and
just as importantly within council-ap-
pointed committees.
Taking positions on political issues
like climate change, immigration en-
forcement, sanctuary cities, gender
equity, straw and plastic bans, etc.,
may be great for virtue-signaling but
are beyond the scope of the council
and did not necessarily represent a
majority of community opinion.
The political demographics of this
community are fairly evenly bal-
anced. In the three voting precincts
representing the Florence area during
the 2016 elections, President Trump
received more votes than Clinton;
the two people representing the area
in the Oregon Senate and House are
both in the Democrat Party and, like
the President, won their seats by fairly
narrow margins.
Guest Viewpoint
By Ralph Nichols
Florence
Mr. Greene must be aware of these
voting patterns, yet he seems to ignore
them completely. In my judgement,
our current mayor and other council
members ran and were elected as a
reaction to what was a definitive left-
ward shift of the city government.
Mr. Greene is very condescending
and seems to imply that council ma-
jority is controlled by a small group of
the “far-right community.” The reality
is that the three council members Mr.
Greene mentions in his viewpoint are
thoughtful, successful citizens who
just disagree with him.
I am not certain what Mr. Greene’s
point is in mentioning Sherry Harvey
several times in this “viewpoint.” Per-
haps he believes he is “outing” her as
some kind “right-winger?” In fairness
and balance, it should be pointed out
thar Mr. Greene has been legally en-
joined from making derogatory refer-
ences to other Florence citizens.
Mr. Greene makes a major point
of the fact that Ms. Harvey reserved
the Old Town Park location for the
Fourth of July celebration. He gave
a very detailed accounting of all the
supposedly nefarious conservative
political activities which transpired
and presumably cast a negative view
of our city on all those visiting Bay
Street.
He failed to point out, and critical-
ly so, that in the two preceding years
of 2018 and 2019, the same park was
reserved by the Florence Democrat
club with the same type of activity
occurring except — it was from the
opposite point of view. In my under-
standing in 2018, Ms. Harvey and
some associates actually delivered hot
dogs and burgers to the democrats at
the park.
I am definitely an “old school” kind
of person. I believe in cordial dis-
course and equal sharing of ideas and
philosophies. These should be rea-
soned and fact-based. What I am see-
ing and sensing now from the Left’s
proponents is that you either agree
with them or you are a bigot, facist,
racist, homophobe, etc.
Mr. Greene concludes his piece by
saying that he wants everyone to “be
honest with ourselves and each other.”
I have tried my best to follow that
advice in these comments.
LETTERS
What ‘far right’
means to me
A recent Guest Viewpoint on the
Opinion page complained that the
“far right” influence in Florence poli-
tics doesn’t represent everyone.
I believe that Democracy allows
for expression of different opinions.
However, since I am apparently “far
right,” may I state what that means to
me:
I believe in the Constitution as
written; I believe that a Nation can-
not exist without borders; I believe
that not standing for the National
Anthem dishonors those who served
and died for that right; I believe that
movements led by avowed Marx-
ists are acts of treason; I believe that
peaceful demonstrations for any
cause does not include looting, burn-
ing and violent behavior; I believe
that “privilege” is earned by educa-
tion and hard work; I believe that the
vast majority of police are dedicated
to protect and serve; I believe that
abortion is sometimes a necessary
medical procedure, and its use for
birth control is barbaric; and I judge
people by their character, not the col-
or of their skin.
I am a law abiding white male, a
fact that does not require an apology.
I owe homage to no one except God.
—Keith Kraft
Florence
Time to assert your
human rights
The government is talking
about taking away Medicare and
Obamacare. A lot of people will be
losing their insurance due to not be-
ing employed. This should not be and
will cause many families to suffer.
The time is now to join Healthcare
for all Oregon. An all volunteer or-
ganization working hard to legislate
healthcare for every Oregonian.
What about the many disabled and
terminally ill people that are suffer-
ing a terrible quality of life? What
about you or your loved ones should
they suffer next?
At this very moment all across
United States and the rest of the
world, doctors are making the deci-
sions of who gets the ventilators —
and possibly keep on living — and
those that don’t. Either way you’re
going to suffer.
In other words, the weak and el-
derly will be sacrificed. Not quickly
but very slowly and painfully. This
doesn’t do anybody any good, in-
cluding the doctors.
Shouldn’t the decision to live un-
der those be ours alone? Make sure
your advance directive is current
with your end-of-life decisions. Treat
this as the most important contract
of your life — because it may be
someday.
Oregon has a very restrictive
death-with-dignity law. You have to
possibly suffer for years until two
doctors tell you that you only have
six months to live. Then you have to
have a sound mind and physically be
able to write and verbally request ac-
cess to the law. Then, if you still qual-
ify, you have to physically be able to
put the medicine in your own mouth
and swallow.
Quite a few people in Oregon are
living under unbearable conditions
because of these restrictive laws.
Now is the time to speak up and
support more compassionate end-of-
life laws in Oregon and to give us all
Healthcare.
It’s all a human right.
—Bruce Yelle
Florence
Masks are the
right answer
There are a few things that need to
be addressed in Mr. Straley’s recent
Letter to the Editor (“Masks Are Not
The Answer,” July 15).
Given his science background,
he should be aware that the com-
mon cold is not caused by bacteria;
it is caused by one of several viruses
(https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseas-
es-conditions/common-cold/symp-
toms-causes/syc-20351605).
The cold is in the same virus fami-
ly as COVID-19 (coronavirus).
Yes, some studies have shown
masks have 50 percent (or great-
er) chance of keeping the wearer
from getting sick. In other words,
you can cut your chances of getting
COVID-19 in half for about a dollar.
That’s a deal.
However, the real benefit of wear-
ing a mask is that they are extreme-
ly efficient in keeping other people
from getting infected.
Remember, surgeons don’t wear
masks to keep from getting infec-
tions; they wear masks to keep their
patients from getting infections.
This is backed by over a century of
experience.
If you care about your friends and
neighbors here in Florence, please
wear a mask.
—Rob Welles
Florence
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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