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JANUARY
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FOLKS flock
TO FEST
Hundreds attend annual
Winter Folk Festival
at Florence Events Center
Boys and Girls
Club faces
financial crisis
New fees for after-school
programs start next month
B Y J ACK D AVIS
Beginning Sunday, Feb. 1, the Boys and
Girls Club of Western Lane County will
implement a drastically increased fee struc-
ture. According to a letter sent to parents, the
increase is needed to cover the cost of after-
school care and enrichment programs.
The cost of the Boys and Girls Club mem-
bership will remain at $25 per year per child.
The new fee structure for after-school pro-
grams will be $30 per week per student, with
a 10 percent discount for more than one stu-
dent per family, in addition to the annual
membership. The new fees will total $900 per
school year and be due in nine $100 payments
throughout the school year.
According to current Boys and Girls Club
board members, the Boys and Girls Club has
not increased its $25 annual dues since its
inception more than 30 years ago.
Boys and Girls Club board members have
set three town hall meetings to discuss the
reasons for the increase. The first meeting was
yesterday, Jan. 20. There will be two more,
tonight and Thursday, Jan. 22, both at 6 p.m.,
at the Siuslaw Elementary School cafeteria.
Anyone with questions or comments is invit-
ed to attend.
In a letter sent out to parents, retiring Boys
and Girls Club Executive Director Jonathan
Hicks said, “We have implemented, and will
continue to pursue, as many cost-cutting
measures as we can find to ensure that the
club and its services survive, both for the
good of our children and our employees.”
Hicks and his wife Denise have moved to
Sisters, but he will remain as executive direc-
tor of the Boys and Girls Club to help with the
management transition.
Police nab suspects
in burglaries
B Y C HANTELLE M EYER
Siuslaw News
PHOTOS BY RYAN CRONK AND JACK DAVIS/SIUSLAW NEWS
Winter Folk Festival’s annual amateur pie contest and sale was a hit during last weekend’s event, which also featured an artisan craft
fair and a full lineup of performers, including headliner singer-songwriter Tom Paxton (above right), at the Florence Events Center.
B Y C HANTELLE M EYER
Siuslaw News
ore than 1,100 people attended last
weekend’s Winter Folk Festival,
which ran from Saturday, Jan. 17, to
Sunday, Jan. 18, at the Florence Events Center.
It was the 13th year of the popular annual
event.
Headliner Tom Paxton and eight other artists
entertained concert-goers with sets of music,
which included a range of genres from folk,
bluegrass, world, pop, Celtic, rock and Western.
This was Paxton’s final year performing at the
festival as he is retiring.
M
The pie-baking contest invited entrants in
separate pie categories.
The grand-prize winner was Jean Edelman
for her pecan pie, which won first place in the
nut category. Also in the nut pie category, Janet
Wellington took second place.
Hal Weiner won first place in the sugar-free
category.
Ginger Buchman won first place for her
apple pie, and Beverly Schriver took second
place. Buchman also won first place for her
berry pie, with Jean Edelman taking second
place in the berry pie category.
In the “other fruit” category, John James
Gilreath won and Janet Wellington took home
second place.
A “pie by the slice” fundraiser sponsored by
Friends of the Florence Events Center let atten-
dees purchase slices of the winning pies, pies
entered in the contest and pies donated by com-
munity members.
An Artisan Craft Fair drew attendees to the
festival with booths from local and regional
vendors. Merchandise included candles, soaps,
photography, crystal glass prisms, unique jewel-
ry and textile, metal, wood and garden art.
Gourmet jams, roasted nuts and hard cider
were also available for purchase.
Winter Folk Festival will return next year with
more folk music, artisans and pie makers.
Former SHS grads, now sheriff’s deputies, receive lifesaving awards
B Y J ACK D AVIS
Siuslaw News
Two Benton County sheriff’s
deputies, both Siuslaw High School
alumni, received lifesaving awards
last month during the Oregon State
Sheriff’s Association Conference at
Your
INSIDE
W E D N E S D AY
Classifieds
B6
Library Tidings A5
Opinion
A4
Police
A6
Scoreboard
Sports
Tides
Weather
the
Riverhouse
Hotel
and
Convention Center in Bend.
Deputy Sheriff Michael Pitcher,
29, and Deputy Sheriff Kody
Reavis, 25, received the award Dec.
8 for saving the life of a man Jan.
27, 2014.
According to Dwes Hutson, pub-
B5
B
B1
A2
lic information officer for the
Douglas County Sheriff’s Office,
the two officers responded to a
report of a 14-foot aluminum boat
that washed ashore on the property
of the Brandy Bar condominiums
on the Umpqua River, east of
Reedsport. The boat had been
reported stolen.
“At approximately 12:15 p.m.,
there was a second report of a man
attempting to cross the river using a
cooler as a flotation device in the
same location,” Hutson said.
See
AWARDS 7A
Weather
T ODAY
T HURSDAY
F RIDAY
S ATURDAY
Partly
sunny
54
43
Mostly
cloudy
56
49
Mostly
cloudy
57
48
Partly
sunny
58
47
Sports—B
An alarm triggered on Bay Street on Jan. 13
led to the Florence Police Department (FPD)
arresting a suspect accused of breaking into
two businesses.
This follows the Jan. 2 arrest of three sus-
pects in connection with a burglary in
December.
“Burglary affects a lot of people. It was
good to show that we’ve caught some sus-
pects,” said Lt. John Pitcher, FPD.
In the two instances, four suspects were
arrested and transported to Lane County Adult
Corrections (LCAC).
On Dec. 28, 2014, the FPD received a
report of a burglary of a residence on 17th
Street in Florence. When the occupant of the
residence returned, he reported that his home
had been broken in to and several items had
been stolen. Firearms were included in the
stolen articles.
“They had a lead at the beginning,” said
Pitcher.
On Jan. 2, after an investigation of the lead
and interviews, Florence police officers
arrested the following suspects in connection
to the burglary: Brad Michael Taylor, 28,
Alisha Sue Juliano, 26, and Emily Crystal
Armstrong, 18. The three suspects were from
the Florence area.
The suspects were charged with burglary,
criminal trespass, criminal mischief and four
counts of theft.
See
SUSPECTS 7A
CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK
Siuslaw News