4A |
WEDNESDAY EDITION
| MAY 5, 2021
Siuslaw News
P.O. Box 10
Florence, OR 97439
NED HICKSON , EDITOR
| 541-902-3520 | NHICKSON @ THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM
Opinion
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LETTERS
Vote for women
My wife and I were going over
the ballot received this weekend.
After a lot of reading and
talking with people who have
more extensive knowledge of
many of the candidates than we
do, I figured there’s an easy for-
mula to follow, that I think will be
best for all of us.
Left side of the ballot: Vote For
Women
The only contested race with
no women: Community College
District 5. The best bet to repre-
sent us to ensure the quality of
education and attention to fiscal
responsibility: Steve Mital
None of the middle or right
column offices on the ballot are
contested.
In addition, I’m very pleased
that Maureen Miltenberger is
running. A parent, a former
elected official, extremely knowl-
edgeable — she’s an indefatigable
volunteer and has been immense-
ly involved in community better-
ment for decades. We’re lucky to
have her.
—Frank Smith
Florence
Creativity, experience
needed for LCC board
I have known Mark Boren for a
couple of years. He was born and
raised in Lane County and raised
a family in the Fern Ridge area.
I noticed that he is passionate
about education and training.
He is currently Chairman of
the Board of Fern Ridge School
District, so I was excited when he
told me he was running for posi-
tion 1 on the Lane Community
College Board of Education.
As a Firefighter/EMT by pro-
fession and specifically a Training
Officer, he began as a volunteer
and continued for six years while
working as an Instructional As-
sistant in Special Education for
the Lane Education Service Dis-
trict.
Mark believes that LCC is
primed to support the Career
Technical Education needs of the
ever-growing programs in the
local school districts. We need
someone who can hit the ground
running.
Too often, people run for the
Lane Community College Board
as a political stepping-stone.
Not Mark.
Lane Community College is a
place where he can add creativi-
ty and experience to helping in-
structors, students and their fam-
ilies succeed.
—Sherry Harvey
Florence
Sneddon is informed
choice for school board
I have known Kady Sneddon
for about 15 years and worked
beside her on multiple projects
for the benefit of the community.
She is intelligent, capable and
works hard to accomplish what-
ever task before her. I was thrilled
to see she was willing to serve
on the Siuslaw School District
Board.
As a lifelong resident of Flor-
ence and graduate of Siuslaw
schools, Kady has an informed
perspective to bring to the school
board. In addition, as a mother of
a first-grade student at Siuslaw,
she has direct knowledge of the
challenges faced by students and
she is vested and committed to
long term success for the district.
Kady’s stated priorities include
fiscal oversight, increasing career
education opportunities and ad-
dressing technological inequal-
ities for teachers and students.
As a small business owner, she is
proficient at budgeting, manag-
ing staff and thinking creatively
to solve problems.
She also understands the daily
difficulties experienced by work-
ing parents of school-aged chil-
dren.
I feel Kady Sneddon will bring
a welcome perspective to the Siu-
slaw School Board. Her strengths
in collaboration and building
partnerships will effectively serve
the district and local students.
I am proud to vote for Kady.
—Susy Lacer
Florence
Lacouture knows
the issues at hand
This year we get the opportuni-
ty to vote for Brian Lacouture for
the school board.
Brian has four kids and they
attend all three schools in our
district. As a parent, Brian knows
what it takes to raise kids in our
school district and what things
might need to improve; he is close
to the issues at hand.
Brian is one who is always
volunteering and getting things
done. In 2012, I was working with
the city to help improve the 18th
Street Park. After all the grants,
fundraising and ordering the
equipment, Brian was the first to
volunteer to get the park put up;
he made it happen.
Brian has volunteered with
my husband for years within our
church, scouts and even as a soc-
cer coach. He has a love for the
youth and always wants the best
for them. If you are ever close to
Office Hours:
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Letters to the Editor policy
the stadium during an event, you
will hear Brian yelling and cheer-
ing the youth on.
I believe Brian will be an excel-
lent choice for school board. He
cares about the kids in our school
district, especially because four of
them are his. He gets things done
and knows how to work hard; he
knows how to uplift and encour-
age the youth.
Your ballet was just mailed to
you, look for it and take the time
to vote.
—Erin Linton
Florence
Re elect a champion
for students, families
As a member of the Lane Ed-
ucation Service District Board,
I have been privileged to work
with Rose Wilde, a dedicated and
innovative advocate for students
and their families.
Rose Wilde has shown incredi-
ble leadership skills, as a Chair of
the LESD Board, member of the
Legislative Policy Committee for
the Oregon School Board Asso-
ciation and now, as Chair of Or-
egon Association of ESDs, where
she co-founded the Equity and
Racial Task Force.
She has trained school board
members from across the state at
our conventions and seminars.
Before Rose joined the Lane
ESD Board eight years ago, she
had already demonstrated her
deep care and compassion for
children and families, working
with the 90-by-30 organization,
where she connected with many
of our Florence community
members, as well as Womenspace
in Eugene.
Rose carried that compassion
forward in her board work to en-
sure success for all of our K-12
students in Lane County, no mat-
ter what their background.
Her newest priority is expand-
ing Career and Technical Educa-
tion services to give an opportu-
nity for all students to train for a
living wage job.
Rose Wilde has eight years of
work experience for the Lane
ESD board, as well as significant
connections at the state level. She
offers the stability and continu-
ity we need as we cautiously re-
open schools.
I want Rose to continue to en-
gage with students and families
while she helps build a vision for
our future. I will be voting for our
champion, Rose Wilde.
—Nora Kent
Florence
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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