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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (July 24, 2021)
4A | SATURDAY EDITION | JULY 24, 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 LETTERS (Editor’s Note: Viewpoint sub- missions on these and other topics are always welcome as part of our goal to encourage community dis- cussion and exchange of perspec- tives.) PUD took care of the problem Dear Editor and Florence, I offer a simple shout out today for Lincoln County PUD. These guys work hard in all sorts of nasty, dangerous conditions, and beauti- ful summer days. They have been reconstructing the power lines on Rhododendron Drive so they won’t have to fix storm damage later. Thank you for being proactive, thank you for the dark rainy nights and, thank you for the extra service Tuesday afternoon, July 13. That day, they were heading home after a long day and drove by Jerry’s and saw the cable TV lines down on the ground, blocking our parking lot. It had just happened. I had gotten some survey tape on the cables in hopes they would be safe from traffic. I was starting to make calls and these guys just drove by and tucked up the cables. They aren’t power cables belong- ing to PUD. They had the equip- ment and just swooped in and opened up the parking lot of Jerry’s and took off. As Janet might say, “You’re my heroes, and if I had capes I would give them to you. Thanks.” Why did the cable come down? Well the cable was too low and there was this guy in a tall truck. Not a customer, just a guy need- ing the ATM. He was in and out in about 10 minutes. Stuff happens. Keep Calm and Jerry On! Thanks to PUD, we could that day! — Karl and Janet Engel Jerry’s Place Florence our water bill 250 - 300% higher than it is now! This is well beyond “rate shock!” It means a yearly increase of nearly $900 for water ONLY ser- vice. This is neither fair nor equi- table. Using their figures from their letter, which was NOT received by all households affected, the av- erage bill would rise from $47.54 to $121.02 per month. This would place our “water only” bill as our second highest yearly expense. Only our property taxes would be higher! As a small utility involving just over 100 households, we are water customers only and have no inter- est in funding company expansion costs or paying multiple times rates for Florence, Portland, Oregon State, or national averages. Our own household bill is lower than their starting number because we use less than most. Please note their starting num- ber is already higher than most national averages. I have specifics and good references verifying this statement. As such, we must depend on the PUC to protect us from such pred- atory measures against customers, a number of whom have lost trust in what is a local monopoly pro- viding a life sustaining commodi- ty — water. A strong hard look at company practices might be a good starting point for the PUC. Therefore, I humbly, but strongly suggest the PUC protect us from such practices. Please don’t let a utility take unfair financial advan- tage of a small customer base, a number of whom are seniors with fixed incomes. Thank you in advance for an eq- uitable and fair decision. — Ron Stanley Dunes City Climate Change Facts? Huge water rate increase “The North Pole will be ice-free in the summer by 2013 because of possible in Dunes City man-made global warming” stated Please let me begin with a person- al comment saying how very bless- ed we are to live in such a beautiful area. So, I find myself saddened by feeling the need to write the PUC (public utility commission) about such a negative situation. I am writing to express my strong opposition to an outrageous re- quest to the PUC for a very large rate increase by Puttman Infra- structure, aka South Coast Water Company, in Dunes City. With my recent bill was a notice of intention dated July 1 to make by Al Gore in 2009. Fact checked by PolitiFact, which says this is only mostly true. This is just one of numerous claims made over the years which was “conventional wisdom” at the time, but which turned out to be incorrect. Perhaps someone could point me to one of these previously accepted “facts” which turned out to be ac- curate. — Ralph Nichols Florence The Power of Florence Since we were unable to come together on Saturday, June 16, as a community, we hope that the 11th Annual Power of Florence Day (held on July 17) was a huge suc- cess with many people working on individual projects. We applaud Kaylee Graham for her incredible foresight and unselfishness at the age of 11 to begin this annual day of service to our community. We did our part that day by pick- ing up trash along a section of Rho- dodendron Drive. We have many wonderful and dedicated volunteers in Florence who not only participated in this event but who volunteer on a reg- ular basis for many worthy causes. It is in this spirit that we want to encourage people to volunteer for the “Adopt-a-Street” program through the Florence Department of Public Works. When you adopt a street, you agree to pick up trash along a street of your choice at least four times a year. Public Works employees will orient you and provide reflective vests and trash bags for your use. Filled bags can be dropped off at Public Works or someone will come to your home to collect them. We chose to adopt a section of Rhododendron Drive from 35th Street to Sebastian Street. We also chose to split this 2+ miles in half and pick up trash in each direction twice a month mainly, because this road gets a lot of use by locals and visitors. In this way, we never have to pick up more trash than we can carry, but we also get in a good walk at least once a week! As a reminder, trash is not only unsightly, but dangerous to wildlife and humans. The sad part is that most trash is deliberately tossed. So, if you are looking for some- where to volunteer, we encourage you to adopt a street. Call Public Works at 541-997-4106. Let’s make every day a Power of Florence day! —Pat and Mike Allen Florence County responsibility My neighbor just had his mo- torized wheelchair stolen from his yard. As we are in Lane County, he phoned the Lane County Sheriff ’s Office to file a police report. He was told it would be a $50 fee to have someone come and take a report! Gee, that makes me feel safe and protected. — Pat Berry Florence 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. 314 541-997-3441 For Classifieds: ext. 310 DEADLINES: Wednesday Issue—General news releases, Monday noon; Classified line ads, Monday 10 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 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 and Guest Viewpoints as part of a community discussion of issues on the local, state and national level. Letters are subject to editing for length, grammar and clarity. Publication of any letter is not guaranteed and depends on space available and the volume of letters received. Email letters to cmeyer@thesiuslawnews.com To be considered for publication: Letters must address pertinent or timely issues of interest to our readers at-large. In addition: • Letters reflect the opinion of the writer. The Siuslaw News cannot verify the accuracy of all statements made in letters. Authors should ensure any information is ac- curate, fair and not from second-hand knowledge or hearsay, and include sources where possible. • Letters have a 300-word limit and may be edited for grammar and clarity. • Authors must sign their full name and include their street address (only city will be printed), as well as a daytime phone number and/or email address for verifi- cation. The person who signs the letter must be the ac- tual author. Siuslaw News does not accept anonymous Letters to the Editor. • Siuslaw News will not print form letters, libelous letters, business promotions or personal disputes, poet- ry, open letters, letters espousing religious views with- out reference to a current issue, or letters considered in poor taste. Letters also may not be part of letter-writing campaigns. • Writers are limited to one published letter every two weeks. To submit to the Siuslaw News: Emailed submissions are preferred. All letters need to include full name, address and phone number; only name and city will be printed. Handwritten or typed letters must be signed. The newspaper, at the sole discretion of the publish- er and editor, reserves the right to reject any letter that doesn’t follow the above criteria. 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
