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
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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.
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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