4A |
SATURDAY EDITION
| APRIL 17, 2021
Siuslaw News
P.O. Box 10
Florence, OR 97439
NED HICKSON , EDITOR
| 541-902-3520 | NHICKSON @ THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM
Opinion
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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 2021 © Siuslaw News
Siuslaw News
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Office:
148 Maple St./PO Box 10 Florence, OR
87439
Letters to the Editor policy
LETTERS
Voting for Martindale
for school board
I am thrilled that Larry Martin-
dale announced his running for the
Siuslaw School District Board of
Directors.
I have had the pleasure of work-
ing beside Larry for approximately
four years as a member of the Board
of Directors of the Boys and Girls
Club of Western Lane County.
He holds outstanding leadership
skills, is a great listener, outstand-
ing problem solver and a very re-
spectful man.
Larry has no doubt seen a lot
over his 38 years as a teacher, ed-
ucational consultant and adminis-
trator for elementary, middle and
high school.
I honestly feel he would be a
great advocate for our district both
for our students, teachers and staff
— especially during today’s chal-
lenging times.
I will be voting for Larry Mar-
tindale for Siuslaw School District
Board of Directors position #6.
—Pixie Center
Florence
Change course at WLAD
According to a Guest Viewpoint in
the Siuslaw News March 17 (“Am-
bulance District Is At Financial
Crossroads”) and in a paid adver-
tisement in that same edition ti-
tled: “What are you willing to pay
for?” the Western Lane Ambulance
District (WLAD) has constructed
a goldplated special district, com-
pliments of what some see as an
unsatisfactory union negotiations.
I do not cast dispersion at any
employee at WLAD; all of whom I
have seen or worked with have top-
notch intentions and sincerity.
However, in this day and age sin-
cerity is a much overrated virtue!
Having served on 13 budget
committees through the years, in-
cluding four elected positions, nev-
er has any budget been operating
in a deficit in the way that WLAD
is and has been. This is a great dis-
service to the citizens of Florence
and the surrounding service area
and those benefiting from the ex-
orbitant salaries and benefits of the
district will fight to keep “the good
times rolling.”
Why is the taxpayer being
gouged for paramedics’ sick leave,
vacation, training at overtime rates
as dictated by the union and three
supervisors getting a possible $122,
586 — even much more than our
Fire and EMS Chief?
I feel the WLAD board in some
cases shill for union wishes and are
really not trained in the all import-
ant skill set of negotiation; after all,
they are citizen volunteers and la-
bor is well aware of those shortfalls.
My recommendation is this: The
citizens of Florence should vote a
resounding “Nay” to any tax levy
proposed by WLAD. Furthermore,
it is now time to privatise ambu-
lance service, possibly with the
same employees at a much lower
benefit package and more cost-ef-
ficient service.
I never imagined that Florence
would repeat the irresponsible be-
havior of the federal government’s
spending spree.
It’s time to reverse course drasti-
cally or suffer the consequences.
— Joel Marks
WLAD Budget Committee
Annexation coverage, presentations are misleading
(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.)
and future development, including
some sent by Lane County Com-
missioner Jay Bozievich that rec-
ommended that no annexation be
permitted until many problematic
The April 7 article in the Siuslaw
News regarding the Benedick Hold-
ing LLC (BH LLC) annexation is
misleading for a number of reasons.
It unwittingly serves the purpos-
es of the COF Planning Department
— and ultimately the city council.
This is mainly because there has
conveniently and consistently been
a selective presentation of this is-
sue by Planning Department head
Wendy FarleyCampbell (WFC),
which has been skewed in favor
of the annexation/zone change, as
well as the openly proposed stated
reason by BH LLC, which is for the
future development of the property
by them.
The public has effectively been
cut off from presenting its side.
Remember: people in the county
can’t vote on city matters such as for
mayor and council members. As a
result, limitations are placed upon
them the public. There is only lim-
ited 3- and 5-minute speaking times
allowed by individuals or their law-
yer, even though a 15-minute total
time is allowed but can’t be utilized
by any “single” speaker.
Commenting individuals against
the annexation have been repeat-
edly cut off mid-sentence in their
presentations. When last counted,
there were well over 1,000 letters
sent in protest over the annexation
Guest Viewpoint
By Jeff Talbot
Florence
issues are resolved.
These issues include legal liability
ramifications and financial and ju-
risdictional responsibilities, among
many others.
Commissioner Bozievich is well
versed in this matter being directly
involved for over 10 years when it
was on Lane County’s plate — this is
a direct quote from a letter he wrote
to the Mayor and City Council:
“I believe the City should act with
caution as it moves forward with
any development of this property
and require the developer to com-
plete the process of upgrading the
storm drain system in the previous
phases of the development prior to
annexation of lands that discharge
to that system.”
City of Florence Public Works
Director Mike Miller is aware and
has also raised similar concerns but
his testimony has been truncated in
WFC’s presentations.
The Siuslaw News article stated
that many of the concerns raised
by the public were either irrelevant
or exceeded the scope of the city
council. However, the Siuslaw News
Office Hours:
Monday to Thursday: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Friday: 8 a.m. to noon
stated that FarleyCampbell “walked
the council through a very detailed
letter by BH LLC’s attorney Michael
Farthing.”
No “very detailed letter objec-
tions” were ever allowed against the
annexation/zone change proposal,
though. This goes against the City’s
own by-laws (the state’s also) that
must include public involvement.
Consider this: In a court of law,
there is a presentation by one side
or the other in which one side (A)
presents its evidence to a jury on an
unlimited continual basis but the
other side (B) is not only limited in
the amount of time of its presenta-
tion but also whether its evidence is
even deemed relevant by the other
side (A), not even if that original
side (A) brought up the matter in
the first place.
Simply in legal terms, that’s called
“opening the door” for further dis-
cussion, admissible evidence or
cross examination.
In effect, FarleyCampbell’s side
or presentation had the power of
judge, jury and executioner because
there was not a comprehensive pre-
sentation of all the facts and aspects
of this issue to the city council — or
actually to the public — as a whole.
I submit that the City of Florence
most certainly can be held legal-
ly accountable for future liability
problems (unlike City attorney
Ross Williamson suggested) arising
out of this annexation because it has
“in the record” knowledge of such
problems and has been warned by a
government official of such.
The Siuslaw News welcomes letters to the editor
as part of a community discussion of issues on the
local, state and national level.
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As with all letters and advertising content, the
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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