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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (March 27, 2021)
4A | SATURDAY EDITION | MARCH 27, 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 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. Soundings, Tuesday 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 Office: 148 Maple St./PO Box 10 Florence, OR 87439 LETTERS Climate change is nonesense... really? Regarding Mr. Ian Eales letter of March 24 (“Climate Change is Nonsense”), most of us un- derstand that climate is certain- ly cyclical as all scientists do. However, to discount the fact that 7 billion-plus of us humans “doing our business every day” on/to our wonderful Earth is not effecting the climate is sheer — in Mr. Eales’ word — non- sense. The evidence is overwhelm- ing from scientists, not the MSM, that the climate is warm- ing because of human (anthro- pogenic) causes. Maybe if folks stopped watch- ing infotainment propaganda and spent time actually inves- tigating accurate sources of in- formation from scientists and climatologists, they would gain an informed logical scientific knowledge of what we’re perpe- trating to our planet, ourselves and on our fellow animal life. The one thing that Mr. Eales got completely and exactly cor- rect is, quote: “City Hall’s job is to ensure we get the most bang for our buck” — with “we” being the powers that be. That’s what it comes down to: Greed. It’s the reason our environ- ment and planet are in trouble. There are none so blind as those who refuse to see. Earth Day is next month. Let’s all consider what we want to leave as our legacy to our chil- dren and planet’s future. Take a good unbiased infor- mative look around folks. —Jeff Gemutliche Florence Southern boarder dilema A couple years ago, I was in British Columbia visiting with a friend of mine. As always, the conversation turned to U.S. and Canadian relations and the U.S. defense of Canada funded by U.S. taxpayers. My friend commented the Chinese Communist could defeat the U.S. any time they choose to. When I ask how they would go about this his answer was quite simple. After war is formally declared the Chinese Communist would send a million soldiers over to surrender. If that didn’t over- whelm our capacity to house, feed and provide medical care — as required under the Ge- neva Convention — then they would send over another five million or so. He had a point. What brought this conversa- tion to mind are the events on the southern border. It’s not one to five million at a time but it is somewhere above a 100,000 a month . — David Davis Florence Office Hours: Monday to Thursday: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday: 8 a.m. to noon Letters to the Editor policy Time to consider private ambulance services I would like to compliment Larry Farnsworth, Joel Marks and RJ Pilcher for their on- point Guest Viewpoint (“Ambu- lance District At Crossroads For Taxpayers,” March 17). The viewpoint states that paramedcis in Oregon and around the country work about 2,912 hours per year — or 56 hours per week, or 11 hours a day. Since when does a para- medic in a small town make $62,000 to $76,000 per year? And since when does a super- visor earn $122,000 per year? The topper is the health cov- erage and PERS liability, and the gall to ask the public to pay more to support this abuse of taxpayer dollars. While we support and need first responders, how long can retirees, small businesses and others fund this as the economy slows? I feel all of this could easily be addressed by considering con- tracting out to private ambu- lance services with high certifi- cation and no taxpayer subsidy. It’s time to vote “no” on the next operating levy and put our services out to bid. —Sondra Zinn Florence 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 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
