Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 8, 2020)
4A | SATURDAY EDITION | AUGUST 8, 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. LETTERS TODAY’S HERO I took Kingwood to work today, and noticed the flags were up. As I ap- proached the airport, traffic coming north was stopped for a young man and his skateboard, crossing to the east. As soon as he got across, he took off run- ning, ducking into the paved path that heads into the neighborhood. And then his friend, who I hadn’t seen, ran across and kept running too. What was going on? The answer appeared right away. Old Glory lay on the ground at the south driveway edge of the airport, her aluminum support cracked at the base, apparently from pressure applied by two strong young men of Florence. I pulled over, as did the woman be- hind me. We weren’t sure what to do, but we noticed someone at the airport with a vehicle bigger than either of ours, so I went to tell him what had happened. He was driving a City of Florence vehicle (And dang, he told me his name, but I forgot it!). He picked up the injured flag, rolled it up, said he could find out what to do in the situation and that he could take care of getting the flag back to Kiwanis (which put the flags out.) Thank you, sir. I don’t know what to make of those young guys, but I sure appreciated the help from the others today. —Ivy Medow Florence MASKS DON’T COMPLETELY PROTECT FROM VIRUS Many people are convinced that the onerous mandate of wearing face masks will lessen the impact of the current pandemic. This is a contested perception. Many randomized controlled trials concerning the use of masks to protect against being infected with pulmonary virus have concluded that masks do not make a significant protection of infection. Both the WHO and CDC initially said that masks were not required. Then later, the CDC changed and said that masks should be worn. One might think that more current studies would be the reason that they decided to change their recommendation. It seems the truth is the opposite. No randomized controlled trials have been done concerning masks and SARS CoV- 2. They have based their recommenda- tion on studies of air flow of droplets and finer particles using different masks. Observational studies concerning SARS CoV-2 have concurred with pre- vious trials that the wearing of masks does not completely protect from being infected or spreading the virus. —James Sherwood Florence BITTER DIVISIONS ACCOMPLISH NOTHING Self-righteous condescension by the most radical liberals, many with Marxist leanings, have used the race and bigotry card to shut down any intelligent con- versation or debate for many years now. Those same individuals blame climate change for everything and yet promote the “Green Plan” with advertisements of serene windmill farms with birds chirp- ing in the background or of a bird be- ing saved from an oil spill when, in fact, windmill farms kill millions of birds each year around the world and provide only 7.3 percent of energy produced in the United States. Meanwhile, Hollywood hypocrites and sports stars exude self-importance and forget that they are just entertainers and should entertain — not lecture us. People have become afraid to say how they truly feel for fear of being condemned by losing their job or being “cancelled.” All Lives Matter is not a racist state- ment to me. It is one that anyone who believes in God should utter without fear of reprimand. There is a terrible inequity that occurs when an able-bodied person sits home and qualifies for all the free things while another, who is working, qualifies for nothing and no help. That inequity has led to frustration and anger for many. Hyphenated nationalities have anni- hilated the melting pot mentality that slowly but surely brought us all together through assimilation. I am not a Portu- guese-American; I am a proud “Ameri- can” who loves this country. Period. The importance of family and God are slowly eroding. Nations and empires have failed when this happens. It saddens me that many young people believe that socialism and communism are the way to go. They live in a time of soundbites and are easily influenced by the wrong people. Their parents and teachers have failed to teach them the history of this great country. They are misinformed about the historical and present realities of life in socialist and communist countries. They do not en- gage in healthy debate but, instead, shut all debate down, choosing to remove history instead of learning from it. Many Democrats have become ob- structionists and promoters of division in our country. I did not always agree with Barack Obama, but he was our president and I gave him a chance out of respect for the office. Donald Trump is now our president. Hopefully, those who disagree with him will acknowledge his accomplishments and give him a chance out of respect for the office. Those who only get their news from sources that hate him are get- ting a distortion of the truth. Bitter division accomplishes nothing. We have a strong local leader in Mayor Joe Henry and a strong national leader in President Trump. My husband and I will vote for both in the upcoming election. —Vicki Martin Florence Keep USPS Flags Flying (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.) American flags flying in the wind last Tuesday, in celebration of the 1790 cre- ation of the U.S. Coast Guard, were fes- tive. Flying under the radar is the severe privatization of the U.S. Postal Service created 15 years earlier by the Continen- tal Congress, 1775. Benjamin Franklin was appointed first Postmaster General. The Pony Express arrived in 1860. Later on, Hollywood ac- tors, with leather mail bags flying, raced in on exhausted, sweaty horses to remote stations, for fresh steeds. Rural Free De- livery arrived 1896. In 1954, Mrs. Peter- son, my persistent, sixth grade teacher, taught us to properly write our address- es. “Kathy Damon, Rural Free Delivery, Clymer, NY” She was also the township’s historian and taught reverence for our country’s history. She wanted us to know what “RFD” meant. The Postal Reorganization Act of 1970, signed by Richard Nixon, began privatization of the postal system. The name was changed to United States Post- al Service. The USPS is a service, not a business. It is self-funding, does not receive tax dollars, and is required to serve the entire country. It has more than 630,000 employees and 100,000 are mili- tary veterans. Ronald Reagan’s 1988 Commission on Privatization recommended, among oth- er things, that the Postal Service “more actively pursue contracting out opportu- nities in all its functions” and “divestiture of federal assets should be pursued.” Brick and mortar post offices, built-to-last pre- 1950s, were icons across America. They were ordered, “sold to the highest bidder.” USPS now leases three-fourths of its operational spaces. Lease problems sometimes justify closures. But the real Guest Viewpoint By Kathryn Damon-Dawson Westlake, Ore. kick in the stomach came in 2006 when G.W. Bush signed the Postal Account- ability and Enhancement Act, which is a mandate to prefund 75 years worth of re- tiree health benefits, in just 10 years. That means USPS has to prepay the health benefits for imaginary employees who may not even be born yet. The mandate is responsible for 100 percent of the Postal Service’s net losses, nearly $5.5 billion an- nually. No other federal agency or private sector business prefunds its retirement benefits. In 2007, As soon as D.J. Trump was sworn in, his Office of Management and Budget produced a report that called for privatizing the USPS. In April 2019, Oregon’s U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio, House Oversight and Reform Committee, introduced the USPS Fair- ness Act. On Feb. 5, 2020, the U.S. House of Representatives passed HR 2382 with a sweeping bi-partisan vote of 309-106. It was received in the Senate on Feb. 10. There’s also a Senate version: USPS Fairness Act, SB 2965, introduced in De- cember 2019 by senators Steve Daines (R- MT) and Brian Schatz (D-HI). Both bills present identical language to fully repeal the prefunding mandate of Bush’s Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act. Under these acts, the USPS would re- vert back to a pay-as-you go system that the Postal Service used prior to PAEA. Unfortunately, Senate Majority Lead- er Mitch McConnell refuses to bring SB 2965 to the floor. By repealing the pre- funding mandate, the USPS would be able to focus on offering new products in order to better meet its mission to service every American household and business. On May 6, Trump’s appointed USPS Board of Governors named Louis De- Joy as Postmaster General. Since 2016, DeJoy has donated more than $2M to Trump and RNC. DeJoy did not come up through the ranks of USPS. He was CEO of his real estate and investment company in North Carolina. DeJoy ordered a sudden slow-down of mail delivery. As I understand it, hours- of-use of automatic sorting machines have been cut. Less time is allowed sort- ing and delivering the mail. Letter carri- ers must leave mail behind at distribution centers if it delays the completion of their routes according to new, tight, schedules. Apparently, no employee overtime is allowed, postal hours are being cut and a backlog of mail is resulting. Will Congress allow USPS, our 245-year-old American monument, to collapse so private corporations can com- plete their systematic take-over of what was once a financially viable mail service? Expect soaring costs and elimination of rural post offices in Deadwood, Maple- ton, Westlake, even Florence? Keep our flag flying over USPS build- ings. Put some pressure on Mitch. Go to your post office to thank our post office heroes who are hard at work for all of us. 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 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
