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Woodbury to receive Distinguished Service Award
B Y J ACK D AVIS
Siuslaw News
The Florence Area Chamber of
Commerce has selected Grocery
Outlet owner Woody Woodbury to
receive the Distinguished Service
Award for 2014. The award will be
presented on Wednesday, Jan. 21,
during the Siuslaw Business
Awards at the Florence Events
Center.
Chamber
of
Commerce
Executive Director Cal Applebee
said, “We feel that Woody’s leader-
ship roles in chamber, community
organizations and continued serv-
ice to Florence citizens are the
embodiment of the Distinguished
Service Award. He is someone who
selflessly acts each and every day,
participating on committees, as a
business owner of Grocery Outlet
and as a caring individual, to help
make Florence a great place to live,
raise a family and retire.”
Every year Woodbury, through
Grocery Outlet, contributes almost
20,000 pounds of food for Food
Share. He has served on the
Florence Food Share board of
directors and has been a part of
numerous fundraising and pantry-
stocking endeavors, including the
Read for the Need event and the
annual food pounding.
Woodbury has stocked the cup-
boards and pantry with food and
supplies for the new Habitat for
Humanity houses, helping new
homeowners in their start on home-
ownership. Over the years, he has
contributed to Florence Area
Humane Society events and month-
ly fundraisers at his store.
Currently, Woodbury is serving a
second three-year term as a citizen
participant on the Florence Urban
Renewal Agency.
This committee helps in plan-
ning projects for the Florence
Urban Renewal District, recently
the $2.5 million water and
Woody Woodbury
Mapleton pool may get
new lease on life
commit to wellness pro-
grams.
“I’ve called Pacific
Members of the Siuslaw
Source,” Hesse said. “They
Regional Aquatic Center
said they would support
(SRAC) will propose that
wellness programs. They
the
Mapleton
School
said they won’t build a pool,
District allow them to raise
but they would support an
money to repair and reopen
aqua therapy program. They
the pool located on school
can provide funds for that.
district property during
“The big hurdle is acquir-
tonight’s Mapleton School
ing the $600,000 to bring
Board meeting.
the pool and building up to
The SRAC board has
current code standards.”
already paid for initial engi-
The SRAC board plans to
neering to determine what
do some major fundraising
needs to be done to bring
and convince charitable
the pool up to current com-
foundations like the Ford
pliance standards.
Family Foundation, the
The SRAC took over
Meyer Foundation and the
operations of the pool in
Oregon
Community
2006, when government
Foundation to provide
funding to operate the pool
matching fund grants.
was lost due to budget cuts.
O’Mara
said
the
The Mapleton School Board
Mapleton School District
agreed to lease the pool
supports the efforts of
facilities to SRAC for $1
SRAC.
per year in exchange for
“That is one of the rea-
SRAC taking over the
sons for the meeting
responsibility for mainte-
tonight,” she said, “so that
nance and operation of the
SRAC people can come and
PHOTO BY JODI O’MARA
pool facility.
present to the school board
Above, the Mapleton pool facility sits empty, as the Mapleton School
SRAC operated the pool
the proposals that they
Board ponders options during tonight's school board meeting at the
facility until funds ran out in
would like to go forward
high school library at 6 p.m. Below, youngsters and seniors enjoy the
2009.
with.”
popular activity center in recent years.
Lauren Hesse, acting
On Friday, Jan. 9, mem-
president of SRAC, said,
bers of the community,
“Within a month of closing the temporary repairs had been done cost to run the pool was $100,000 SRAC board members and school
pool all the water had drained out, since they were installed in 1986.” per year. This included the pro- board members compiled a list of
The money to
posed pool direc- potential uses for the pool facility.
on its own. We realized there must
tor’s salary of In addition to the pool they include
be some repairs that were needed. cover the cost of
a p p r o x i m a t e l y a wellness center for visiting med-
“We already knew that, by law, the engineering
came
$40,000 per year. ical professionals; a resource/com-
there needed to be an upgrading of studies
Potential revenues munity
the two drains in the bottom of the from fundraising
center;
space
for
from lessons, mem- rehab/physical therapy, including
pool. In the process of the drain and grants. The
Rivers
berships and facili- water therapy in the pool; a visi-
work, concerns arose over the Three
ty rentals would tor’s center; a large meeting space;
pipes and vein-like cracks, which C o n f e d e r a t e d
gave
offset a portion of an indoor play space for students
had previously been filled but the Tribes
SRAC a grant to
the annual cost.
fillings didn’t hold.
during and after school; an indoor
Hesse
said, walking space; and a place for
“This led to the question of cover most of the
“There is a project- people to exercise, use weights,
whether there was a gap under the cost of the engi-
survey
ed gap of $30,000 treadmills, etc.
pool caused by the water seeping neer’s
to $40,000 between
out through the cracks. No gaps report. An SRAC
“As a district we realize that we
revenue
and cannot have a pool by ourselves,”
were found. Nor was any pipe board member
also made a large
expenses
that O’Mara said.
leakage discovered.”
SIUSLAW NEWS FILE PHOTO
SRAC would have
SRAC received an estimate of donation,
“We can’t fund it. It is fiscally
According to the engineer’s sur- to continue to meet through irresponsible for us to even think
approximately $100,000 to seal
the pool and repair degraded sur- vey report, the total cost to bring fundraising, big donors and part- that we could. Our economic base
the pool up to code, including seal- nerships with organizations such is lower than it has been in the
face edges of the pool.
“The next question was the pool ing the cracks, was approximately as PeaceHealth Peace Harbor past. While we do own the facili-
Medical Center.”
equipment,” according to Hesse. $600,000.
ties and the property, we
Mapleton School Superintend-
In addition, Hesse said many
“Pumps, heaters and dehumidifiers
needed upgrading, because only ent Jodi O’Mara said the estimated insurance companies have funds to
See POOL 6A
B Y J ACK D AVIS
Siuslaw News
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See
WO0DBURY 6A
Tom Paxton
headlines Winter
Folk Festival
13th annual music fest starts
Saturday morning and runs
through the weekend.
Tom Paxton will headline the 2015 Winter
Folk Festival on Saturday, Jan. 17, at 7:30 p.m.
at the Florence Events Center. There also will
be eight other performers during the day on
Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 18, in addition to
the annual Artisan Craft Fair and amateur pie-
baking contest and sale.
Paxton has become a voice of his genera-
tion, addressing issues of injustice and inhu-
manity, laying bare the absurdities of modern
culture and celebrating the tenderest bonds of
family, friends and community.
In describing Paxton’s influence on his fel-
low musicians, Pete Seeger said, “Tom’s songs
have a way of sneaking up on you. You find
yourself humming them, whistling them, and
singing a verse to a friend. Like the songs of
Woody Guthrie, they’re becoming part of
America.”
Paxton has been an integral part of the song-
writing and folk music community since the
early 1960s Greenwich Village scene, and con-
tinues to be a primary influence on today’s
“New Folk” performers.
See
FESTIVAL 6A
U.S. Attorney
may take over pipe
bomb case
B Y T HERESA B AER
Siuslaw News
The Florence Police
Department (FPD) has
announced that the case
concerning pipe bombs
found in this area late
last year may be turned
over to federal authori-
ties. The case is current-
ly under investigation
by the Portland Police
Neal Allen
Bureau and the FPD is
Panschow
cooperating in the
effort.
In September 2014, a woman discovered a
pipe bomb on 22nd Street near Highway 101,
which she turned over to police.
Two months later, a pipe bomb exploded
near the same area. No one was injured, and no
damage was reported in either incident.
An FPD detective learned of other pipe
bomb incidents that might have been
COURTESY PORTLAND POLICE BUREAU
See
BOMB 6A
CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK
Chamber of Commerce
to host awards
ceremony Jan. 21.