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
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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