4A |
SATURDAY EDITION
| MARCH 6, 2021
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 2021 © Siuslaw News
Siuslaw News
Published every Wednesday and Saturday at 148 Maple St. in Florence, Lane
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Siuslaw News
Office:
148 Maple St./PO Box 10 Florence, OR
87439
Letters to the Editor policy
LETTERS
Thankful for
vaccination clinic
I received my first vaccina-
tion on March 3 at the Florence
Events Center at 6 p.m. The event
was efficiently organized and im-
plemented by cheerful, helpful
and focused volunteers.
Doctors, parking assistants and
search and rescue personnel were
all wonderful. The ambiance was
confidence inspiring.
I am grateful and thankful for
their participation.
—Tarno Greene
Florence
Learn more about
hallmarks of tyranny
For any readers who wish to
learn more about the hallmarks
of tyranny, I highly recommend
a book by Yale historian, Dr.
Timothy Snyder: “On Tyranny —
Twenty Lessons from the Twenti-
eth Century.”
It’s short, concise and fi lled
with recent historical examples as
well as solid advice on preserving
democracy.
Th e audio book, which I
checked out online from the Siu-
slaw Library, was so engaging
that I later bought the hard-copy
book.
—Jill Th omas
Florence
Vaccination clinic
well done
Kudos to our local CERT team
volunteers and those from Lane
County Search and Rescue and
Mountain Rescue who did a stel-
lar job of organizing and con-
ducting the fi rst mass-vax clinic
on March 3.
Having read accounts from
friends in other areas, some of
whom waited in lines for well
over an hour, we are very fortu-
nate to have such an event here
with friendly, competent people.
Well done, Florence!
—Jacquie Beveridge
Florence
Forefathers saw
inequities of imposed
religion
In response to Marshall Den-
ton’s Guest Viewpoint (“Th e Dan-
ger of Totalitarianism Here In the
U.S.” Feb. 27), his assertion that
the original intent of our founding
fathers was “God over man over
government,” he is incorrect.
Th e First Amendment to our
Constitution specifi cally states:
“Congress shall make no law re-
specting an establishment of re-
ligion, or prohibiting the free ex-
pression thereof, or abridging the
freedom of speech, or of the press;
or the right of the people peace-
ably to assemble, and to petition
the government for a redress of
grievances.”
Th e colonies that the founding
fathers wanted to integrate into a
cohesive nation were a mixed bag
of proprietary colonies owned by
a person or group, charter colo-
nies with royal contracts and royal
colonies that solely functioned to
benefi t the king.
Some were based solely on trade
and profi t or mixed in with reli-
gious freedom, and one (Georgia)
was a penal colony that originally
was chartered to outlaw slavery.
Some colonies were liberal and
some colonies saw religious free-
dom as their right to impose their
religion on others.
When our Constitution was
ratifi ed and Washington became
president, he was presented with
letters from various groups want-
ing Washington to confi rm that
religious freedom and equality ac-
tually existed.
In George Washington’s Virgin-
ia, Catholics had not been allowed
to pray in public. In some colo-
nies, Jews were not allowed to vote
or hold offi ce.
Th e list goes on from intoler-
ance to persecution of individuals
who did not profess a religion and
groups who professed other faiths.
President Washington replied
to those letters. Among the re-
plies from Washington was a let-
ter to Moses Seifar, who would
become lay leader of Jeshuat Israel
in Newport, R.I.: “For happily the
government of the U.S. ....gives to
bigotry no sanction, to persecu-
tion no assistance ...”
Quoting George Washington:
“Religious persuasions are always
productive of more acrimony and
irreconcilable hatreds than those
which spring from other cause ...”
Th is is the basis for the sepa-
ration of church and state as af-
fi rmed by our Constitution. Th is is
the founding fathers’ acknowledg-
ment of the inequities imposed by
state religions the colonists fl ed
from.
Our elected offi cials swear al-
legiance to our Constitution that
consists of the executive branch,
the courts and our congress spe-
cifi cally set up to police each oth-
er from becoming dominant and
overriding the rights of the peo-
ple. We do not swear allegiance
to the president and we cannot
allow a faction of the dominant
religion to impose their personal
beliefs and interfere with the laws
that govern all the people.
—Karen Mahoney
Florence
Doing what is best for our students and families
(Editor’s Note: Viewpoint sub-
missions on this and other topics are
always welcome as part of our goal
to encourage community discussion
and exchange of perspectives.)
A year ago this week, Oregonians
were watching the advance of the
Coronavirus and trying to brace
for disruptions that would follow. I
don’t think anyone thought it would
be as disruptive or as long-lasting as
it has proven to be.
After nearly a year of Distance
Learning, Siuslaw Elementary has
just completed two weeks of Hybrid
Instruction. About three-quarters of
our nearly 500 students are on-cam-
pus for partial days twice per week.
This has been a year of adjust-
ments and flexibility for all. Schools
have adjusted the number of stan-
dards we can instruct in shortened
school days; students have adjusted
Guest Viewpoint
By Mike Harklerode
Siuslaw Elementary Prinicpal
the way they learn and complete as-
signments; families have adjusted
their entire routines around work,
childcare and schooling.
Most teachers, kids and families
have created completely new plans
multiple times in the last 12 months.
I cannot stress enough how proud
I am of the Siuslaw School District
Office Hours:
Monday to Thursday: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Friday: 8 a.m. to noon
staff. School staff families have
not been immune to the pressures
shared by so many other families in
the community.
This year has been marked by
long hours, uncertainty and fears
for health and safety. Through it all,
there has been a deep commitment
to being all we need to be for kids,
parents, and the community during
uncertain times.
As Siuslaw Middle and Siuslaw
High School prepare to begin Hy-
brid Instruction, please know that
all educators across the district still
have the same professional commit-
ment to do what we have done all
year.
We will do what is best for kids.
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
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space available and the volume of letters received.
Letters that are anonymous, libelous, argumen-
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Letters containing poetry or from outside the Siu-
slaw News readership area will only be published at
the discretion of the editor.
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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
President Joseph Biden
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, D.C. 20500
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
TTY/TDD: 202-456-6213
www.whitehouse.gov
900 Court St. NE - S-417
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1705
Email: Sen.DickAnderson@
oregonlegislature.gov
Oregon Gov.
Kate Brown
State Rep.
Boomer Wright (Dist. 9)
State Sen. Dick
Anderson (Dist. 5)
160 State Capitol 900 Court St.
900 Court St. NE
Salem, Ore. 97301-4047
Salem, OR 97301
Message Line:
503-986-1409
503-378-4582
Email: Rep.BoomerWright@
www.oregon.gov/gov
oregonlegislature.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
Lane County Dist. 1
Commissioner
Jay Bozievich
125 E. Eighth St.
Eugene, OR 97401
541-682-4203
Email: Jay.Bozievich@
co.lane.or.us
313 Hart Senate Office Bldg
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-3753 | 541-465-6750
Florence City Council
www.merkley.senate.gov
& Mayor Joe Henry
Florence City Hall, 250
U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio Highway 101, Florence, 97439
(4th Dist.)
541-997-3437
2134 Rayburn HOB
ci.florence.or.us
Washington, DC 20515
Email comments to Florence
202-225-6416
City Recorder Kelli Weese at
541-269-2609 | 541-465-6732 kelli.weese@ci.florence.or.us
www.defazio.house.gov