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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 18, 2020)
4A | WEDNESDAY EDITION | NOVEMBER 18, 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 Cathy Dietz Ron Annis For Advertising: ext. 318 Publisher, ext. 318 Editor, ext. 313 Office Supervisor, ext. 312 Production Supervisor For Classifieds: ext. 320 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. 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. Mail subscription includes E-Edition. Website and E-Edition: TheSiuslawNews.com Siuslaw News LETTERS Support our local theater now for its future return I was in the “movie” business when I met my husband over 40 years ago. I was president of Spe- cialty Films located inside the 7 Gables Theatre in Seattle. Our films all had an artistic bend and with limited releases. So, I know something about the film business. We just renewed our City Lights Cinemas membership again. What does a membership do? Yes, we get discounts on our movie tickets and everything else, including snacks. Most importantly, our member- ship helps support a community of movie goers like us who want to see the best releases. Our member- ship helps bring performing arts productions — sometimes live — from national and international stages including the world’s finest in dance, theatre and music. All this takes place in a newly renovated, COVID-safe setting which has not lost its charm for safe distance socializing in the lob- by and comfortable, table settings inside each screening room. As COVID restrictions eased, this multi-plex returned to of- fering our community an array of choices for group gatherings. However, until the “coast is clear,” we need to be clear about our little coastal community movie theatre: we need it and it needs us! We lived here in Florence when the theatre was under previous management and then closed for what seemed like an endless peri- od. We were so happy when it was remodeled and reopened under new ownership and management. It has been our first choice for movie entertainment. Congratu- lations to Michael and Susan and their team. Even as it temporarily closes to public screenings during the Nov. 18 through Dec. 2 statewide freeze, please consider joining City Lights Cinemas as members or through its streaming services. Take in a film in person, as soon as they can re-open, or virtually for now. Help protect the greatest little movie theatre in a small town on the Oregon Coast right here in Florence. Your support now will help them stay open and remain in our com- munity, the one that we all love. We are all in this together! —Becky Olson Florence Cold weather shel- ter Imagine being homeless and without shelter in damp and/or freezing conditions, alone in your wheelchair. A homeless man in Bend, who had his legs amputated just last winter due to the cold, died last week in his wheelchair in 35-de- gree weather because Bend has no cold weather shelters and the homeless shelters in the area were full and could not accommodate him. We cannot let such a tragedy happen here in Florence. We are better than that. Florence already has a group to address housing the homeless when the weather gets danger- ously cold here on the coast. With COVID-19 concerns this year, the church cannot safely house people in need under one roof. Florence is extremely blessed to receive 20 individual, collapsible sleeping pods to safely get those in need out of the weather for the nights when temperatures pose the greatest risk to people. The city of Florence does not allow permanent housing for the homeless, but emergency shelter is permitted on these coldest nights. We are so fortunate to have a cold weather shelter group that can supervise, accommodate and manage the arrangement of the pods in a fenced area with an on- site manager to make sure things run smoothly. Thank you Florence for sup- porting this important, compas- sionate endeavor. —Tina Haydel Florence 35th Street PUD is bad planning In a desperate attempt to create some badly needed housing for workers in our city, the city coun- cil mostly ignored the pleas from local residents and the three ap- peals not to build such a densely populated project. The council approved 120 res- idences in a 9.2 acre area. In my opinion, the traffic study was a farce. It was done during the COVID-19 outbreak, when peo- ple were not traveling and schools were closed. It seems nobody asked how many bedrooms were in these 120 residences nor was there any accu- rate numbers on how many vehi- cles will be added to this intersec- tion. Creating a left turn lane from southbound Rhododendron Drive to eastbound 35th Street will help, but it will not reduce the conges- tion and safety for drivers. This property is owned by APIC, the same company that owns Flor- ence Golf Links, formerly Sand- pines Golf Links. This same com- pany was investigated in 2016 for making more than $1.3 million dollars in political donations. The entire approval process does not pass the smell test and my heart goes out to all the residences in the area that may someday have to evacuate quickly due to a tsuna- mi warning. My suggestion would be to plan a way to get to your roof, because drowning in your car trying to get to this intersection is not a good option. —Alan Matisoff Florence 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