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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 18, 2021)
4A | WEDNESDAY EDITION | AUGUST 18, 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. 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, $84; 6-month , $61; 3-month subscription, $37.50; Out of Lane County — 1-year, $107; 6-month, $74; -month subscrip- tion, $50; E-Edition Online Only (Anywhere) — 1-year, $65; 6-month, $35; 3-month, $15. Ask about our senior discounts. Mail subscription includes E-Edition. Website and E-Edition: TheSiuslawNews.com Siuslaw News Office: 148 Maple St./PO Box 10 Florence, OR 87439 LETTERS (Editor’s Note: Viewpoint sub- soon and gets the help he needs. — Pat and Mike Allen missions on these and other topics Florence are always welcome as part of our goal to encourage community dis- Elevate Education cussion and exchange of perspec- Without tives.) Misinformation Kudos to All Involved We would like to thank Megan Messmer, Florence Assistant City Manager and Public Information Officer, for her quick response to an incident that occurred at our 99th Climate Strike on Friday, July 30, in front of City Hall, when a young man began shouting ob- scenities and tried to destroy and/ or take our signs. In an attempt to retrieve the signs, one participant fell and cut his head on the sidewalk. When she saw this happening, Megan called the police and the EMTs, who responded quickly. The participant was bandaged by the EMTs and the police took an incident report. We took him to Peace Harbor Emergency, where he was well looked after by the doctors and nurses there. We also would like to thank those responding EMTs, police officers and the doctors and nurs- es that assisted. They all did their jobs with both efficiency and com- passion. All who were there and wit- nessed this incident are concerned with the mental health of this young man who ran off after this incident. We hope that he is found Wednesday, Aug. 11, saw some 40 individuals from the communi- ty gather to ostensibly discuss “el- evating education” in the Siuslaw School District. Unfortunately, it turned into a massive misinfor- mation event that will only harm our students. It was disappointing to hear so many myths being perpetuat- ed by obviously caring parents. I heard that we don’t know anything about the Delta variant, there ar- en’t outbreaks in schools over the summer, kids don’t spread the vi- rus, and only kids with underlying conditions die, so it’s not worth masking every child. While the group is advocat- ing “mask choice” and claim that they aren’t political, “Unmask The Children” signs were printed and available to be handed out. Most of the claims seem to rely on a recent Youtube Video by Dr. Daniel Stock in Indiana, which have been thoroughly refuted. Most specifically, the claim that aerosol particles go through masks has been repeated many times and totally distorted. According to J. Alex Huffman, an aerosol scientist in Denver, the masks are affective because air flows around fibers in masks, but the virus does not because the fi- bers block the virus. Stock also claimed our own im- mune system is better than a vac- cine, despite many people getting COVID more than once, and stud- ies showing increased immunity with COVID vaccines. Finally, the doctor claimed that Vitamin D, Zinc and Ivermectin treat COVID because it worked on 15 of his pa- tients. I don’t think that even rates a response. I am always ready to work with members of the community to “el- evate education.” I believe we can go back to teaching algebra and geometry to every student, that all students deserve the highest level of science and computer technol- ogy courses, that arts students de- serve the same level of infrastruc- ture support as athletes. I don’t believe any student should have a “dumbed down” curriculum. But injecting politics of any kind into our school district is not the path forward. — Sandy Todd Florence (Editor’s Note: On Monday, Aug. 16, the Siuslaw School District Board of Directors decided to plan a special meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 1, for the exclusive purpose of hearing public comment concern- ing the start of the school year and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.) Thank You, a Meeting and Hope (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.) this could amount to a loss of about $90,000 per year to our community (Florence businesses for example). The next letters, dated July 29 and Aug. 2, 2021 were very well worded dealing with company costs. I no- I’d like to thank the Dunes City ticed no consideration for lowering Council and mayor for their letter or adjusting rates which could be to the PUC in opposition to the proposed huge rate increase by Guest Viewpoint South Coast Water Company. It By Ron Stanley explained the financial burden to the community and suggest- Dunes City Resident ed the company could look for investors and other sources for offsetting their costs. It is worth among (perhaps the) highest rates reading. in the nation. I’d also like to thank the Siuslaw Now we have an informational News for printing letters and arti- meeting this Thursday, Aug. 19, cles on the subject. (COVID permitting) at the Dunes The affected households discov- City Hall. I hope this is not simply ered the time to act was quite short a presentation of costs and per- if SCWC’s letter (dated July 1, 2021, ceived justification for the same in- not 2020) was the first view of costs. crease, but will include many other Also, the PUC hearing was sup- facets of the issue, fully addressed posed to have been in early August as outlined by the Dunes City letter before the request was withdrawn of opposition and those of us who by SCWC. The yearly increase of wrote officially to the PUC. almost $900 estimated was not a Water is a commodity, but it is one-time cost, but a permanent in- also power when it comes to cus- crease. With over 100 households, tomers who have no choice about being massively overcharged un- less there are safeguards in place. So, Oregon, the PUC, customers, Dunes City and the company as well all need to be very careful about allowing dangerous prece- dents to be set. I hope we will hear a well-bal- anced and fully prepared pre- sentation offering many sources the company has searched for or is already pursuing to help with funding, not simply one point of view being presented again. These could include (but are certainly not limited to) investors, grants, and some of all that “infra- structure” money that’s out there or coming soon. Thank you in advance to all who will present and receive informa- tion about the company’s issues. I look forward to a good and re- spectful relationship between the company, its customers and Dunes City. South Coast Water Company is holding its open house on Thurs- day, Aug. 19, at 6 p.m. at Dunes City Hall, 82877 Spruce St., West- lake. 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 suggested 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