4A |
WEDNESDAY EDITION
| MAY 19, 2021
Siuslaw News
P.O. Box 10
Florence, OR 97439
NED HICKSON , EDITOR
| 541-902-3520 | NHICKSON @ THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM
Opinion
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ongress shall make no law respect-
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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 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
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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
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Ned Hickson
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LETTERS
Freedoms have
responsibilities
“But this is a free country!
I can fire my cannons! I can
support the Viet Cong! I can
bike down the left side of the
road, with no helmet! So I it’s
my right to turn down op-
pressive vaccines!”
For the past 50 years, the
U.S. has been lucky in the
pandemic-public health de-
partment.
Some of us have forgot-
ten how contagious diseases
are not always just personal
choices. Few of us remember
mandatory smallpox vac-
cines (RIP 1972).
Few of us have seen active
TB or polio.
Few of us remember Ty-
phoid Mary, who had a re-
sponsibility to wash her
hands or stay out of public
kitchens.
I hope we remember to
thank our public health pro-
Office Hours:
Monday to Thursday: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Friday: 8 a.m. to noon
Letters to the Editor policy
fessionals.
—John Egar
Florence
You did not forget
Thanks and gratitude to the
sponsors of the full-page dis-
play honoring Armed Forces
Day in the Siuslaw News, and
in recognizing our serving
and retired veterans.
You did not forget!
—Delmer (Del) Neeley
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:
Reflections on another Rhody Days that wasn’t
and safe, the normal
tapestry and grandeur
of Rhododendron Days
was missing for only
the second time since
WWII. However, as a
For the second year
in a row — and for
only the third time
in its history — our
little coastal town of
8,000 didn’t increase by
another 15,000 from
visitors coming to have
a little fun and cele-
brate… well… a flower.
A rhododendron, to
be exact.
The Rhododendron
Festival has been going
on for 114 years and,
under normal circum-
stances, for four days
our town becomes an
unlikely concoction
of flower enthusiasts,
Free Souls bikers and
tourists all co-mingling
over beers, carnival
rides, fast cars, cot-
ton candy and ba-
con-wrapped hot dogs.
I describe it to others
as “Sturgis meets Mar-
di Gras,” with a little
Rose Festival thrown
in (But better because,
hey… rhodies.)
This year, like last
year, was something
different. Under the
necessary restrictions
and guidelines, we
must follow to keep
our community and
one another healthy
family grew accus-
tomed to the arrival
of the Davis Carnival
during the annual
Rhododendron Festi-
val and living so close
From the Editor's Desk
Ned Hickson
community, each of us
carries the spirit of our
beloved festival within
us. On social media,
folks shared memories
and photos, participat-
ed in the Rhody Run
— both in-person and
virtually — and some
restaurants even of-
fered carnival food like
corn dogs and elephant
ears.
For my first 18 years
here at Siuslaw News,
I was always assigned
to photograph the
parade route along Bay
Street, where the bikers
congregate, lining their
Harleys along both
sides for several blocks.
I’ve had nightmares
about tripping over a
Fat Boy and sending a
row of Harleys crash-
ing like dominoes —
and then being invited
to the Olympics after
setting a new sprint
record.
I spent 20 years
living in Old Town
across from the Port of
Siuslaw boardwalk. My
that we could practi-
cally high-five riders
on the Tilt-o-Whirl
without leaving the
porch.
The banging together
of carnival rides late
Wednesday nights
signaled the beginning
of four days of crazi-
ness that transforms
our quiet community
into a beautiful exam-
ple of controlled chaos
shared by upwards of
20,000 diverse visitors.
During Rhody Week-
end, you can usually
see baseball-capped
Korean War veterans
talking with bikers
whose leathers were
stitched with Vietnam
War veteran patches;
young families posing
with owners of clas-
sic cars built decades
before they were born;
“Captain Jack Sparrow”
sharing a laugh with
an out-of-town police-
man. It is always an ex-
ample of how easily we
can find a connection
with others, no matter
how different, when
given an opportunity
— or the right circum-
stance — to do so.
In the case of our
annual Rhododendron
Festival, when the
carnival rides go up,
people’s guards come
down. Whether a biker
or banker, policeman
or pirate, there is an
unspoken agreement
and genuine interest
in having that shared
experience together —
and an understanding
that it wouldn’t work
any other way.
Under normal
circumstances, these
same people would
likely pass each other
without a word, assum-
ing they would even be
in the same vicinity.
But it’s everyone’s
willingness to partici-
pate in that little bit of
“crazy” that becomes
a common thread we
all share for a few days
each year.
As more of us are
vaccinated and, hope-
fully, infection rates of
the COVID-19 virus
slowly and consistently
drop as a result, we
can all look forward to
the notion of sharing
that common thread
of a little well-earned
“crazy” for Rhody Days
in 2022.
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