4A |
WEDNESDAY EDITION
CHANTELLE MEYER , EDITOR
| OCTOBER 27, 2021
Siuslaw News
P.O. Box 10
Florence, OR 97439
| 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
Siuslaw News
(Editor’s Note: View-
point submissions on these
and other topics are always
welcome as part of our goal
to encourage community
discussion and exchange of
perspectives.)
Easy to Repeat a Lie
In response to Mr. Den-
ton’s letter on Oct. 9, I
read on the internet that
Hillary Clinton actual-
ly won the 2016 election,
President #45’s four-year
term will be annulled, and
every single thing passed
during those four years
will be rescinded.
See how easy it is to re-
peat a lie?
It doesn’t matter how
many times you or others
insist that the election was
stolen, you know and I
know that simply can’t be
true — otherwise Presi-
dent Joseph Biden would
not be in office today.
Have you considered the
fact that if Trump actual-
ly did win in 2020, he is
automatically disqualified
from running for office
again, because a president
is limited to two four-year
terms?
See how complicated it
gets when a lie is substi-
tuted for the truth?
With regard to politi-
cally active churches, are
you familiar with the con-
cept of the separation of
church and state? Are you
encouraging
mosques,
synagogues, The Church
of Satan and others to be-
come politically active or
just Christian churches?
It is my understanding
Copyright 2021 © Siuslaw News
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that churches exist to pro-
vide spiritual teachings,
not for political activism.
If churches are to become
political
organizations
perhaps it is time to take
a look at reforming some
of the tax advantages they
currently benefit from.
In addition, on Jan. 6, a
violent mob composed of
radical right wing extrem-
ists attacked our Capitol
because they believed the
“big lie” about the pres-
idential election being
stolen. Numerous court
challenges, recounts, and
audits have proven that Jo-
seph Biden won the 2020
presidential election and
is currently the legitimate-
ly elected president of the
United States.
— Chandra Generis
Florence
What Happened to Fair
& Impartial Reporting?
I recently received a re-
quest from Siuslaw News
to participate in Newspa-
pers In Education (NIE).
A $30 donation would
supply a student with a
nine-month subscription
to the newspaper. On its
face, it is a reasonable re-
quest, but in retrospect I
am bothered by the single
point of view often pro-
moted by Siuslaw News.
For example: Some time
ago, there were a dozen
or so people gathered in
front of Florence City Hall
to express their opinion on
climate issues. That group
received a front page pic-
ture and a nice write-up
explaining their views.
Fast forward to Sept. 18,
when 30 to 35 people
expressed their point of
view at the intersection
of Highways 101 and 126
reference masking of chil-
dren.
No photographs. No ar-
ticle outlining their view.
Nothing but crickets from
Siuslaw News.
Apparently, because the
point those folks were
making goes against the
radical left position, it is
generally ignored by the
media. I was surprised
that the Siuslaw News
would fall right in step
with most of those other
media sources.
I have a simple question
for the editor and sub-
scribers: what happened
to the fair and impartial
reporting of events occur-
ring in our community?
There once was a time
that the Siuslaw News took
pride in the fact it report-
ed all local events from a
neutral perspective.
— Cliff Worley
Dunes City
(Editor’s Note: Siuslaw
News covered one of the
unmasking demonstrations
in the Aug. 25 edition, giv-
ing it front-page placement
and several photos. Future
events were not submit-
ted to us. The communi-
ty is welcome to send in
news releases and event
information to editor@the
siuslawnews.com for inclu-
sion in the newspaper.)
What are you voting for?
(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.)
fully burdened cost to the district is
over $150,000 per employee.
This is what you are considering
in this vote: your $42,356 income
versus their $150,000 income.
Let’s remember that the district
The proponents of the two prop- has three line supervisors. Each is
erty taxes you each pay every year paid over $122,000 per year. This is
to provide a government subsidy
to the local ambulance service
Guest Viewpoint
would have you believe that this
By Larry Farnsworth
is a proper role for government.
They can’t imagine an ambulance
Local resident
service living within its means.
Private ambulance services are more than the chief of police earns
efficient and cover all of their own in Florence. Fully burdened, each
costs to operate, including their of these three supervisors costs tax-
own capital and equipment re- payers over $200,000 per year. Each
placement needs, without charging of them earns more than their own
taxpayers three times for an ambu- operations chief for supervising a
lance ride. Both the government small handful of employees. The
and private ambulance services entire operation has an entitlement
receive the same identical rates of tax and spend culture. Government
patient service revenue reimburse- boondoggle best describes this op-
ment from Medicare, Medicaid and eration.
insurance, regardless of their stated
Chief Michael Schick wrote in
charges. Each operates on the same Western Lane Ambulance District’s
income but have vastly different 2020-21 Budget, “We believe that
expectations or experience about the district’s financial future to be
expenses.
questionable. Expenses over the
According to the U.S. Cen- last few years have been increas-
sus, Florence households average ing annually at a much higher rate
$42,356 in income. We have our se- than our revenues. It is essential
niors being nickeled and dimed to that the district take a multi-facet-
provide a starting salary of $62,000 ed approach to solve these financial
per year to first year paramedics. issues by decreasing costs and in-
In just five years, this increases to creasing revenue.”
over $82,000 per year. Including all
He also stated, “It is the position
their benefits — expensive health of the district that the current con-
plans, a $3,000 cash bonus to pick tracted wages and benefits are not
up their co-pays and deductibles, a sustainable when used in long-term
full month of vacation upon hire, financial projections.”
free gym club memberships, cell
This chief and this district have
phone stipends and picking up the failed to implement the necessary
6 percent employee contribution fiscal cost reductions to turn this
responsibility for the underfunded operation around.
PERS retirement program — the
Our local COVID-stressed busi-
nesses know how hard you have to
work to provide a service, provide
a competitive and decent wage for
your employees and, hopefully, re-
main viable and profitable despite
every economic challenge. This
government-run ambulance service
increased compensation costs over
$210,000 this very year, knowing
full well that “taxpayers will just
pick up the tab.”
Most every business in Flor-
ence would love to have that
kind of deep taxpayer wallet to
dig into and to be able to offer their
own staff that kind of compensa-
tion.
Just a reminder about PERS. The
proponents of the ambulance tax
suggest that the $3.4 million dol-
lars that the ambulance district
owes to the State of Oregon PERS
retirement program for unfunded
actuarial liabilities is small com-
pared with the $200 million owed
by Lane County taxpayers, the $5
million owed by the City of Flor-
ence taxpayers, or the $10 million
owed by the Siuslaw School District
taxpayers.
That gives us no comfort at all
that we are being driven into a fis-
cal ditch by the PERS program.
Taxpayers are being fleeced and the
ambulance district continues to al-
low employees to supercharge their
benefits with the use of vacation
pay and unused sick leave redemp-
tion.
Vote No on the $5.4 million prop-
erty tax levy. This district needs to
either live within reasonable finan-
cial means or let us switch to one
of the great private ambulance ser-
vices widely used around our state
and up and down the coast.
Vote no.
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Siuslaw News
Office:
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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. Pub-
lication 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 in-
terest to our readers at-large. In addition:
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• Letters have a suggested 300-word limit and may be
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author. Siuslaw News does not accept anonymous Letters
to the Editor.
• Siuslaw News will not print form letters, libelous let-
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• Writers are limited to one published letter every two
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to include full name, address and phone number; only
name and city will be printed. Handwritten or typed let-
ters 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-303
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, H-476
Salem, Ore. 97301-4047
Salem, OR 97301
Message Line:
PO Box 39000 Florence, OR
503-378-4582
97439
www.oregon.gov/gov
503-986-1409
Email: Rep.BoomerWright@
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden
oregonlegislature.gov
221 Dirksen Senate Office Bldg
Washington, DC 20510
Lane County Dist. 1
202-224-5244 | 541-431-0229
Commissioner
www.wyden.senate.gov
Jay Bozievich
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley
313 Hart Senate Office Bldg
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-3753 | 541-465-6750
www.merkley.senate.gov
U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio
(4th Dist.)
125 E. Eighth St.
Eugene, OR 97401
541-682-4203
Email: Jay.Bozievich@
co.lane.or.us
Florence City Council
& Mayor Joe Henry
Florence City Hall, 250
2134 Rayburn HOB
Highway 101, Florence, 97439
Washington, DC 20515
541-997-3437
202-225-6416
ci.florence.or.us
541-269-2609 | 541-465-6732
www.defazio.house.gov