4A |
SATURDAY EDITION
| AUGUST 1, 2020
Siuslaw News
P.O. Box 10
Florence, OR 97439
NED HICKSON , EDITOR
| 541-902-3520 | NHICKSON @ THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM
Opinion
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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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Copyright 2020 © Siuslaw News
Siuslaw News
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Office:
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87439
LETTERS
Help us keep our
businesses open
I am confused by the adminis-
tration’s belief that if we open our
schools and businesses without
doing adequate testing and contact
tracing — and without insisting
that people protect each other by
wearing a mask — that somehow
our economy will thrive and we
will all be back on the glory train of
economic stability.
As it happens, the opposite seems
to be the case; we seem to be having
our lessons in cause and effect.
Our coastal town has had a re-
birth in the last 40 years. It has be-
come a destination for many visi-
tors. We welcome them and try to
provide a reasonably good getaway
from cities and personal stress-
es. And their contribution to our
economy helps us to maintain Old
Town and our community in a way
that is pleasing, welcoming and re-
laxing.
Up to now, we’ve been able to
avoid COVID-19 contamination
and keep many of our businesses
open. But current misunderstand-
ings about the seriousness of the
pandemic have brought people
here who, for one reason or an-
other, are either unwilling to wear
a mask or believe that we have no
virus cases and don’t see the need.
Now the influx of people getting
away from quarantine and lock-
down have brought the virus to us,
and businesses have had to tempo-
rarily close their doors in recent
weeks to try to regroup.
If cases continue to rise in areas
like ours, the chances of having an-
other lockdown increase, threaten-
ing our businesses, our health and
our ability to maintain our com-
munity as a viable destination.
We hope that people coming
here to Old Town and other parts of
Florence will be more thoughtful.
And if you live here, help us out —
economically as well as physically
— by wearing a mask and observ-
ing physical distancing, whether
you are inside or outside (Crowds
of people on our small sidewalks
without masks can also make pass-
ing residents ill. We would rather
not cross the street to avoid you).
Help us keep our businesses
open and our residents (the medi-
an age here is about 65) healthy so
we can continue to accommodate
you as a respite from the heat and
the anxiety of confinement.
—Joann Henderson
Florence
Portland is not example
of ‘peaceful protesting’
While I respect the right of Don-
na Mlinek to share her views in the
Suislaw News (“Respecting Consti-
tution, Bible Are Not Exclusive,”
July 29), I must respectfully dis-
agree.
Webster defines “Peaceful” as
“not quarrelsome; free from dis-
turbance; calm; of or in a time of
peace.”
Not one of these is the case
in Portland. BLM and the An-
ti-Trump forces have taken over
portions of the city, burned build-
ings, destroyed businesses, injured
folks, looted, vandalized and left
parts of the city in ruins.
Jerry Nadler refers to the rioting
in Portland as “a myth.”
Ms. Mlinek refers to the peace-
ful “moms, dads and vets” who
are being gassed, but what wasn’t
mentioned was the gangs wield-
ing baseball bats, explosives, lasers,
Molotov cocktails and guns, or how
many police officers have been in-
jured.
We have the right to peaceful
protesting, but when lives, busi-
nesses and homes are at risk, that’s
going too far. This destruction, this
carnage, this total disregard for
others has gone on far too long.
—Trish Rhodes
Florence
What type of Mayor
do we want?
In 2018, Sandra Roumagoux, the
Mayor of Newport and on behalf of
the Newport City Council, signed
off on a “A Proclamation Recogniz-
ing Climate Change Awareness.”
The journey to this proclama-
tion began by two organizations,
350 Oregon Central Coast and
Citizens’ Climate Lobby Newport,
when they requested that the Unit-
ed Nations Human Rights on Cli-
mate Change be accepted by the
Newport City Council.
Mayor Roumagoux responded
with the Climate Change Procla-
mation.
The proclamation began with a
declaration that “climate change,
created by atmospheric warming
caused by greenhouse gases, has
reached a critical level” and that
“science has shown that climate
change is a result of human activ-
ity.” She ended the proclamation
by urging “residents and visitors to
address this very serious and pro-
found crisis facing our globe.”
Mayor Roumagoux did this on
behalf of the Newport City Council
as well as herself.
At the last Florence City Coun-
cil meeting on July 20, Council
Vice-President Ron Preisler, who
ackowledges the threat of climate
change and responded to his con-
stituents’ call for action, presented
a modified version of the Newport
proclamation for discussion and a
vote.
Unlike Newport, Councilor Pre-
isler had to bypass Florence May-
or Joe Henry, who effectively shut
down any meaningful discussion of
the merits of the proclamation and
it was defeated by a 3-2 vote.
What type of mayor do we want
for Florence? One like Mayor Rou-
magoux who will listen to her con-
stituents, or one like Joe Henry
who doesn’t?
—Michael Allen
Florence
Proposed 126 new homes
will come at a cost
I live in the small community
called Sea Watch Estates across
the street from the new proposed
high-density development of 126
new houses.
Besides all the other potential
issues with this development, I’ll
focus on one: groundwater.
This area has a well known issue
with groundwater because of a clay
layer about 40 ft down. Water isn’t
absorbed here but instead travels
horizontally through the 40-feet of
loose sand under our homes at Sea
Watch and goes out to the Siuslaw
River via our slope on the river’s
edge.
Anyone knows plants use wa-
ter. Imagine how much nine acres
needs? The City’s plan is to remove
all the vegetation and infiltrate all
water from the development into
the ground. This will create about
2-plus million cubic feet of addi-
tional water annually that will be
travelling horizontally through
that 40 feet of loose sand under our
homes.
In 1998, a Sandpines develop-
ment put a much smaller amount
of water in that area which, as a
result of the extra pressure on our
slope, caused a “blowout.” The sub-
sequent erosion nearly took out
a house. The City had to correct
this issue. The homeowner had
expensive repairs. In researching
information to try to get the City
to consider this issue, I found that
the groundwater issue — the geol-
ogy causing it and the damage it’s
done in the past — is in their own
records.
Yet, it appears there is zero con-
sideration of this known issue in
any of the City’s plans.
If the project moves forward as
is, settling and slope failure (pos-
sibly causing home loss) is a sure
thing. We are a small HOA, mostly
retired and on a fixed income. The
City approved our Sea Watch Es-
tates development as a viable place
for one to build a home and live.
What concerns me most is find-
ing out that the City had all this in-
formation and apparently excluded
it as a factor in planning, knowing
that the groundwater issue has
caused us damage in the past, and
certainly will again.
Perhaps Sea Watch (25 homes)
can’t complete against the tax rev-
enue of 126 new homes?
They may call this progress. My
hope is that the City may read this
and redesign a drainage system
that won’t destroy our community.
I would hope that any development
the City does, would work to pro-
tect the homes of people already
living here.
—Steve Williams
Florence
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Letters to the Editor policy
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Email letters to:
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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