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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 28, 2020)
4A | WEDNESDAY EDITION | OCTOBER 28, 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) Where will we go from here as a community? One thing Terry Tomeny and I agree on in his Oct. 24 Guest Viewpoint (“Enough is Enough: Re- buttal of ‘Investigative Series’”) is his final para- graph: “For God’s sake, once the new City Council is seated, let’s stop the bickering and concentrate on making this City even better.” Working on and pub- lishing our investigative series wasn’t any more en- joyable for us to write than it has been for the commu- nity to read. In addition to requiring many, many hours of work, analysis and discussion, it also resulted in personal threats — both financial and physical — against myself and several of our team members. However, no wound heals if it’s is allowed to fester beneath the surface. The only way to honestly move forward and learn from our mistakes as a community is to unblink- ingly acknowledge what happened and how we ar- rived here. And while we know there are lots of folks who didn’t agree with the se- ries, in my 21 years here I have never received more emails, phone calls or notes of appreciation — from both sides of the divide — for having the courage to embark on something of this size and importance. Ultimately, the decision to publish our 11-week series came down to one simple belief: To allow the partisan manipulation that has woven its way into our community and local government to continue unchecked is much more harmful to our town than saying nothing at all. I care about this com- in a way that is less about partisanship or political ideals, and more about the ideals we all share as mem- bers of this community. We need to remem- ber that most of us either moved here or decided to stay because of similar ide- als regarding a way of life that reflects the merits of a small community. We all want many of the same things for our town From the Editor’s Desk Ned Hickson munity, which I have been a part of for 30 years. The only thing I care about more is what this commu- nity will be like in the next 30 years. Our series was a gut check, which is our role as a community newspaper, regardless of how unpleas- ant that can be at times. And without question, this was one of those times. However, while the se- ries shed light on where we are and how we got here, what really matters most is how we move forward. Ultimately, who is elect- ed next week isn’t nearly as important as how we engage with our city coun- cil and local government as a community from this point on. We can’t rely on social media pages, posts and comments to inform our positions and perspectives. We must be present and engaged with one another as community members — to be a safe, vibrant and supportive place with op- portunities to live, thrive and enjoy a lifestyle differ- ent than larger cities. We want to know or rec- ognize most of the people we run into at the store, restaurants, post office and at events rather than be surrounded by complete strangers in a fast-paced lifestyle. And like a family, we should be able to disagree on things without being forced to disown one an- other simply because a rel- ative few can beneft from dividing us through parti- sanship. It’s like having that un- happy relative that always shows up for family get-to- gethers and tries to create rifts so they don’t have to be miserable by them- selves. We know they are com- ing and what they will try to do. So, we accept it, rec- ognize it for what it is and simply don’t feed into it. Eventually, they either stop or simply leave. On a personal level, I like many of the individu- als we wrote about in our series. That includes Joe Henry and all of our coun- cilors who, over the past few years, have had a more and more thankless job — for which they volunteer as a service to our communi- ty. What’s at issue is the di- vide. As we pointed out, our city council, as well as the community as a whole, has been caught in a tug of war between partisans on both sides while the vast major- ity of people in our com- munity are somewhere in the middle. The question is whether we are willing to acknowl- edge that and, as a com- munity, meet in the middle rather than allow ourselves to be pushed out onto the edges by a relative few. As I said in my original Aug. 8 editorial, hopefully by understanding how the many moving parts within our community have each contributed to arriving at this destination, we can at least have the option, as a community, to pump the brakes long enough to de- cide if this is the direction we wish to continue tak- ing. Or whether we want to take a different road that leads to a better place for all of us as a community. LETTERS Thankful for actions of first responders My wife and I are so grateful to Bri- anna (a nurse at Peace Harbor) and Corey (a local EMT) for their kind- ness to us following our car accident near Heceta Head on Sunday, Oct. 18. Brianna tended to us and to the other driver while we waited for the official vehicles to arrive. Fortunately, there were only minor injuries. Corey and Brianna patiently remained on the scene to offer comfort, and gave us a ride back to town. They made sure we were checked in to The Riverside Inn for the night, before going back to their own lives. Thank you, thank you and God bless you both! Many thanks also to the emergency responders, the state police, and the tow truck operators who were all very competent and car- ing on that day. —Tom and Linda Jenkins Visitors to Florence We need mayor with experience The challenger in the Florence Mayor’s race has been described in Letters to the Editor as a personable individual, good, kind and very sin- cere. Our current Mayor Joe Henry is most often described as experienced, knowledgeable, dedicated and com- passionate. In times of uncertainty, we need an experienced leader to help guide us through the challenges of the future. The job of mayor is more than showing up at community gatherings, smiling and waving to the crowd. Be- hind the scenes there is real work to be done. The mayor and city coun- cilors not only attend city council meetings, work sessions, various city committee meetings and read moun- tains of documents, they also travel to many meetings throughout the state. Oregon government leaders know and trust Mayor Joe Henry because they have worked with him for many years. On the first day of the new term, we need a mayor who knows how to get things done for the city of Florence. If we need support at the county, state or national level, Mayor Henry knows who to call to help solve the issue. In these uncertain times do we want someone who has to ask city employees: Who do I call? On the first day of the new term we need an experienced and dedicated leader at the helm. We do not need a kind person meandering through the halls of city, county and state build- ings introducing themselves. Mayor Joe Henry is the experienced leader Florence needs as we pull out of the current crisis and look to building a future. —Joe Cullivan Florence Time to ‘reset’ the council I read with interest the article in the Oct. 24 edition of the Siuslaw News, “EMAC Again Tables Climate Discussion.” To be clear, EMAC stands for En- vironmental Management Advisory Committee. A committee devoted to the environment fails to even have a discussion on climate change? But then, you take into account that our current mayor stacked this committee with his own appoint- ments, and it becomes clear that there is a partisan agenda here. The Florence City Charter does not provide for a “strong” mayoral form of government; the mayor is only one vote out of five. The position of may- or is to facilitate the meetings while it is up to the entire council to come to a consensus on the issues. All council positions are (supposed to be) non-partisan. Certainly there have always been disagreements on the city council. But until recently, which political party any person belonged to was — and still should be — irrelevant. I have lived in Florence for near- ly 20 years. I have always voted for council members and mayor based on who I believed would work in the best interests of all citizens of Flor- ence, regardless of their personal po- litical party affiliation. I believe it is time to reset the cur- rent mayor and council. For that rea- son, I am voting for Jo Beaudreau as Mayor, as well as Maggie Bagon and Sally Wantz for city council. — Marybeth Marenco Florence Credit, blame works both ways In his Letter to the editor “Some Clarification On Where Credit Is Due” (Oct. 24), City Councilor Ron Preisler mentioned that he served as a tax counselor for AARP Tax Service when I was the Local Coordinator in Florence. I would like to remind him that if an error were discovered on a tax re- turn that any counselor prepared, it was the responsibility of the local co- ordinator (me) even if I did not pre- pare that tax return that had the error. Conversely, if our AARP Tax Ser- vice received a commendation, e.g. successfully passed an IRS audit, I re- ceived the credit again even though I did not prepare any of the tax returns that were audited. I find the relationship between the mayor and the city councilors is very similar to our tax service. Even if the mayor did not do the “hard service” on any of the positive things that happened under his leadership when he was mayor, then he deserved the credit just like he was blamed for any of the negative things that happened while he was mayor. In closing, I want to thank Coun- cilor Preisler for his service as a city counselor with a favorite saying of one of his favorite politicians: “Come on, man.” —Frank Williams Florence 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. 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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