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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (June 16, 2021)
4A | WEDNESDAY EDITION | JUNE 16, 2021 Siuslaw News P.O. Box 10 Florence, OR 97439 CHANTELLE MEYER , EDITOR | 541-902-3520 | CMEYER @ THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM Opinion The First Amendment Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibit- ing the free exercise thereof; or abridg- ing 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. “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 Chantelle Meyer Front Office For Advertising: ext. 318 Publisher, ext. 318 Editor, ext. 313 541-997-3441 For Classifieds: ext. 320 DEADLINES: Wednesday Issue—General news releases, Monday noon; Classified line ads, Monday 9 a.m.; Legal Notices and Display Ads, Friday noon. Saturday Issue—General news releases, Thursday noon; Classified line ads, Thursday 10 a.m.; Legal Notices and Display Ads, Wednesday 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 sub- scription, $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 Before you judge a person … In response to Saturday’s guest editorial by E Monks, a retired lawyer (“Govern- ment Not Helping with Em- ployment Challenges,” June 12): As a short recap, this was about how unemployment is coddling the lowest paid in our community and why they should get back to work, and why it’s the state’s fault. First, 600,000 Americans didn’t die in the Great De- pression; their way of mak- ing a living didn’t open and close as fast as the tide. Second, you and I are en- joying the benefits of Social Security (heavy on the so- cial), and it will be long gone before any of these people even get close to reaching that age. They will have to work until they die. Perhaps they didn’t have the oppor- tunity to become a lawyer and they deserve their fate. The lowest paid in this community get a break, probably the only one they’ll get in their lives, and all you can see is them playing vid- eo games. They are not. Many became improvised schoolteachers, frantically trying to remember how algebra works so they could help their children. Third, back to socialism (I know that wasn’t the top- ic). Did you cash your stim- ulus check or did you send it back? Didn’t think so ... Fourth — When was the last time you worked for minimum wage? You looked at the help wanted ads, I look at the price of rent in this town. I look at the numbers of bro- ken people living in their cars (if they’re lucky). Yes, some of them are drug ad- dicts or useless, but not as many as you would think. Lastly, I would suggest be- fore you judge a person, you walk a mile in their shoes. — Edward R. Gunderson Florence The result of human action? I appreciate a recent Face- book post of side-by-side arguments made in a recent Opinion section of the Siu- slaw News by Florence cli- mate champion Mike Allen and “climate denier” — in quotes because this is my humble and perhaps not fully-informed opinion — Sam Spayd, whose name is vaguely familiar in connec- tion with championing Flor- ence restaurant owners who went rogue locally over Ore- gon Gov. Kate Brown’s mask and shutdown COVID safe- ty restrictions. Both opin- ion writers are as fine and articulate advocates of their positions as one might hope to find. As I read both opinions, it seems to me their argu- ments come down to this: is climate crisis, as we witness and experience it today, the result of human action or not? Do we, individually and collectively, have re- sponsibility and agency to affect a change in how this story of climate on Earth goes? I don’t believe Mr. Spayd forwarded any argument to challenge the fact that cli- mate change is real. Rather, he argues that it’s “esoteric” to say we collectively and in- dividually have a responsi- bility to act and do so more wisely than we have been. Let’s simplify this argu- ment. Let’s say a certain Mr. Spayd plants tomatoes in his garden and then refus- es to water them — nature will take care of it because it rains fairly regularly. He won’t feed them to help them grow, because it’s tough luck if they aren’t strong enough to do that on their own. When he complains to his neighbor about how poorly his tomatoes are doing, the neighbor responds with a bunch of “esoteric” BS about horticulture and studies of what works and doesn’t work to produce a crop of fine, ripe and delicious to- matoes. Mr. Spayd could then be possibly jealous of the healthy plants his neigh- bor consistently produces, which provides yet anoth- er reason to disregard and make light of his neighbor’s “esoteric” BS. Mr. Spayd, with respect and an earnest hope to help you be more successful in growing tomatoes, I intend no ill your way as I say your garden most certainly re- quires more lovingly care and attention than you are presently giving it. — Darlene Norwood Florence An additional two cents Regarding the recent cli- mate articles that have ap- peared of late in the Siuslaw News, I would like to add my two cents’ worth. I totally agree with Mr. Steve Williams (“The Great Florence Climate Debate,” June 12) with one exception, I will not give up my juicy hamburger. With world population at 7.9 billion, I think that 8,500 people in Florence cannot possibly solve the problem if there is one. Personally, it seems to me that the world goes through cycles every 25,000 years or so. However, I then read Mr. Frank Smith’s article (“Sleuthing for Truth,” June 12) with great interest. It ap- pears that he has a problem with conservative thinking and/or our military folks. FYI Mr. Smith, Thomas Fred Spayd, aka Sam Spayd, is retired from the US Air Force. During the Vietnam War, he was a spooky pi- lot. You might want to look that up if you were not over there. He then went on to fly the C5 for the Air Force and retired as a full colonel. More than likely he was given a nickname in the military as most pilots do. By the way, Sam was award- ed the Distinguished Flying Cross, and that’s a real big deal in the military. As for your “facts” about President Trump’s docu- mented lies — 30,000, wow, that would be somewhere around 20 each and every day of his term in office. Come on man, give me a break! — Paul Gargis Dunes City Boardwalk zoning Interesting that the Siu- slaw News articles on En- terprise Zones, on one hand, and the Boardwalk’s new seating amenities were next to each other in the newspaper on June 12. As mentioned in the zoning article, it is a fact that the green space, adjacent to the Boardwalk, is zoned for commercial development and can be sold. Many of us have been lulled into assuming that this community asset is set aside for us. Not true. Could we get ahead of this development project and let it be known that commercial and residential buildings one, two or three stories high, would be dev- astating not only for locals, but also for the tourists? The Boardwalk and the green space are a wonderful respite after shopping the existing stores and visiting the food and drink venues. Before the pandemic, this green space was available for scheduled and sponta- neous activities which didn’t put money into the Port’s coffers, but the benefits were priceless, and could be again, to a weary citizenry now and in the future. Scrap the “design con- cepts” put forward in the 1990’s and keep this green strip of irreplaceable land for use by the public. — Mary Lehman Florence Office Hours: Monday to Thursday: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday: 8 a.m. to noon Letters to the Editor policy 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 Siuslaw News readership area will only be pub- lished 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 perspec- tive rather than partisanship and campaign-style rhetoric. 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 polit- ical 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 reject any letter that doesn’t follow the above cri- teria. Email letters to: cmeyer@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
