4A |
SATURDAY EDITION
| NOVEMBER 21, 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)
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Copyright 2020 © Siuslaw News
Siuslaw News
Published every Wednesday and Saturday at 148 Maple St. in Florence, Lane
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87439
LETTERS
Donate what you can
to our local restaurants
I’m very proud to live here and
to see how much we all love our
community. Right now, there
are many great restaurants and
bars that we all go to regularly.
Some are now doing take-out or
pick-up service during the cur-
rent two-week “freeze” through-
out Oregon due to the rise in
COVID-19 cases.
That means they are all not do-
ing so well financially. Their staffs
have been cut back very severely.
Well, here is my wish: Please
donate what ever you can to your
favorite restaurant and/or favor-
ite bar to help them get through
these tough times.
Also, try to get the name of
your favorite server, bartender or
local musician(s) and give what
you can.
Many are my friends and are
losing their cars, homes, apart-
ments, etc., because of being out
of work.
Thank you all in advance for
your kindness and concern.
—Paul J. Biondi
Florence-area musician
Grateful for quick local,
county response
The back-to-back storms last
weekend hit us hard. Following
dinner on Saturday evening, we
heard the raucous sound of a
chain saw just outside our home.
Since the wind was up, we thought
a neighbor had a tree down.
Looking out to the front of our
driveway we saw lots of lights on
our street.
I went out to investigate in a
gale force wind and driving rain.
To my surprise, one of our large
trees had fallen across the street
and was being cut up by a work
crew from the county. They
pushed the debris to the side of
the road and promised to return
to remove the cuttings.
In the light of following day, I
went out to see the downed tree
and found it was not one but
three trees that fell side by side. It
appears they were healthy, but the
supporting ground cover of salal
and huckleberry was not enough
to withstand the soaking rain and
strong winds.
The crew returned to our home
on Monday morning in anoth-
er storm with a wood chipper.
Within an hour they removed the
wood from our downed trees, fill-
ing their dump truck.
Only two large pieces were left
that didn’t fit in the chipper. Then
off they went to remove several
more trees along our road.
To cap it all off, on Wednesday
a county sweeper arrived to scoop
up all the pine needles and debris
along our road.
Many, many thanks to the Lane
County road crew from Florence
headed by Adam Lane. They per-
formed admirably during very
adverse conditions to make our
streets safe.
We are very grateful for their
quick response and hard work.
—Mike and Pat Allen
Florence
Right of people to alter,
abolish bad government
Governments are created by
the people. They derive their abil-
ity to rule by the consent of the
people.
When a government tries to
destroy our rights of life, liberty
and the pursuit of happiness, it is
the right of the people to alter or
abolish it.
Governments should not be
changed for frivolous reasons.
The citizenry will suffer a lot of
oppression before they abolish
that to which they are accus-
tomed.
But when they are subjected
to a long train of abuses that are
designed to create absolute des-
potism, it is their right — nay, it
is their duty — to throw off such
government and institute new
guards for their future security.
—James Sherwood
Florence
Finally, a mural that
represents Florence
I know many might be saying
right now, “Not another letter
about that mural on Highway
126.”
However, I think it a very valid
subject right now with a new city
council and committees starting
in 2021 and the fact that more
murals will be on the agenda for
our city.
In January 2019, I had just
moved back to Florence from
Idaho and was reading articles
and Letters to the Editor about
the Quince Street mural that
was being decided on — and ul-
timately chosen and painted —
Office Hours:
Monday to Thursday: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Friday: 8 a.m. to noon
Letters to the Editor policy
in the spring of that year on the
Central Lincoln PUD building.
Before I passed judgement, I
decided to wait until the mural
started to take shape. On three
occasions, I drove down there
and parked to watch it happen. I
was appalled at what I saw devel-
op with the weird colors and sub-
ject matter that had nothing to do
with the Oregon Coast and even
less about Florence.
Even the picture of the bridge is
horrible. I now know who made
this decision but will not list your
names as you know who you are
and should be ashamed.
Why on earth would we pay
someone to come from another
city to paint this when we have so
many great artists right here? Ev-
ery time I go to Eugene now and
come home and have to look at it
— it irritates me.
I have visited Silverton, Ore.,
many times over the past 15 years.
It is a quaint old town where you
will find many beautiful murals
that reflect the history of the
town. The artists did a great job.
At least that city council and its
art committee know their history
and wanted to highlight it. I could
not help but wonder what on
Earth these select members of the
Florence City Council and Pub-
lic Art Committee were thinking
when they made this decision —
and then agreed to pay an exorbi-
tant fee to someone from out of
town, too.
So when I read the story in the
Siuslaw News on Aug. 12 about
the new mural that the Clawsons
wanted to put on their restaurant,
I said “Hallelujah.” Finally, some-
one had a vision of what type of
mural should be painted in this
fine city — and that it should be
done by one of our great local art-
ists, Michael Wood.
I have always admired the mu-
ral on the ICM Restaurant in Old
Town that Mr. Wood recently re-
furbished.
I sure hope that in 2021 our city
council and art committee will
understand how important it is to
showcase our city and the Oregon
Coast, which have so much to of-
fer with the sand dunes, wildlife,
trees, rhododendrons, ocean,
Florence Events Center — and
then use the paint colors that go
along with those themes.
— Linda Payton
Florence
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as part of a community discussion of issues on the
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Email letters to:
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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