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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 28, 2015)
WEDNESDAY WWW.THESIUSLAWNEWS.COM SERVING THE COMMUNITIES OF FLORENCE • DUNES CITY • WESTLAKE • MAPLETON • SWISSHOME • DEADWOOD • YACHATS AND ALL POINTS BETWEEN Y T H E A R • I S S U E N O . 8 JANUARY 28 • 2015 $1.00 City backs vehicle registration fee on ballot Port may require boats to have insurance If passed by voters, new fees would begin January 2016 Resolution to be presented at February’s commission meeting B Y C HANTELLE M EYER B Y J ACK D AVIS Siuslaw News Siuslaw News Lane County Commissioner Jay Bozievich and County Engineer Bill Morgan proposed to add a county vehicle registration fee (VRF) at last week’s Jan. 20 Florence City Council meeting. A fee based on size and use of vehi- cles would cost $35 per year for pas- senger vehicles, trailers and light trucks. Motorcycles would get a $20 fee. The fee would be up to voters to decide. Councilor Susy Lacer said, “I’m happy to let the voters decide this issue.” The council voted in support of placing the VRF on the May 2015 bal- lot. If the VRF passes, it would go into place in January 2016. “Under this proposal, 40 percent of the revenues would be distributed to the cities within the county based on population. … The annual amount of revenue generated by a county VRF of $35 per year would be approximately $143,000 per year,” according to a statement prepared by the Florence city manager’s office. “It is a very good use of money –– a partnership between the cities and the county. It has somewhat more of a cer- tainty of funding as it is based on usage of the road. If you have four tires on the road, you have a VRF,” Bozievich said. Lane County would receive 60 per- cent of the revenues, which would be used for maintenance and operation of the existing county road system, con- sisting of 1,400 miles of roads and 417 bridges. Any money Florence receives from the VRF would be restricted to road construction, maintenance and operation. Within those bounds, however, “The cities’ portion can be spent the way the cities feel like,” said Bozievich. During its regularly scheduled meeting Jan. 21, Port of Siuslaw com- missioners agreed to put forward a resolution requiring all long-term boats moored in the basin to carry lia- bility insurance to cover the cost of repair and clean up if a boat burns or sinks while at the port. Some boats have insurance, but the port has not required it in the past. Port Manager Bob Forsythe said the insurance company’s last sugges- tion was that if the port was not going to demand the insurance, then the port should segregate the boats that are insured from those that are not insured. Commissioner, commercial fisher- man and boat owner Terry Duman said, “It’s the cheapest insurance you can buy. It is not going to cover your vessel, but you won’t have to worry about the clean-up bill. Every other port we go to requires it. If we don’t require it, we are behind the eight ball. The owners can walk away from the boat, but the port will have to pay for the clean up.” A resolution to require all boats to purchase liability insurance will be presented to the board for approval at the Feb. 18 board meeting. Forsythe also updated the board on a conversation he had with State Rep. Caddy McKeown. According to Forsythe, McKeown has made two legislative requests: A modification of ORS777 regarding the economic development rights of the Port of Siuslaw, and the question of Port of Siuslaw autonomy with regard to the City of Florence. “We want a modification to ORS777, which tells us what we can and cannot do as a port,” Forsythe said. “We requested that Caddy McKeown’s office put forward a modification that See AROUND the track in 70 YEARS J IM A RCHER RUNS 70 TO CELEBRATE 70 TH BIRTHDAY LAPS B Y J ACK D AVIS Siuslaw News PHOTO BY JACK DAVIS/SIUSLAW NEWS A lone figure circled the practice running track behind Siuslaw High School on Monday, Jan. 26: 70-year-old Jim Archer, who cele- brated his birthday by running his age in laps around the 440-yard track, a total of 17.5 miles. “I got the idea when I turned 60. I ran 60 days in a row and then on the last day I ran 60 laps on the track,” said Archer, a Florence resident. “Then I just kept doing it.” Running laps, let alone 70, was a feat his pediatri- cians would have never thought possible. “When I was born, I had a breathing problem and they told my parents, ‘don’t get too attached, because he probably won’t be around too long,’” Archer said. “Then when I got older, up until I start- ed school, I had this lung condition and I would go to the Doernbecher Children’s Hospital in Portland. My treatment was to put me in front of an X-ray machine and turn it up full blast for a while.” Archer got involved in competitive running when he was in the fourth grade. “I started running when they told me I couldn’t,” he said. By high school, Archer was a 440-yard sprinter. “Anything more than two laps was consid- ered punishment.” Archer’s passion for running evolved from being a 440-yard sprinter to longer runs. About 30 years ago he met a marathoner who used to live in Florence. He talked Archer into running a marathon and trained with him, convincing Archer that going more than one or two laps was OK. “Then about 20 years ago I met some guys that came over from Corvallis to run a trail run up around Cape Perpetua. They told me to get off the See TRACK 7A FEE 4A See PORT 7A Reward offered for arsonist may rise B Y C HANTELLE M EYER Siuslaw News The International Association of Arson Investigators is continuing to offer a reward for information about the building fire on Pine Street in Florence on Dec. 7. Right now, that reward is set at $5,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the fire. The Oregon State Police Arson Unit is handling the investigation. Siuslaw Valley Fire and Rescue Fire Marshal Sean Barrett said, “At this time, we know it was a set fire and how it was started.” However, Barrett said, “It is still in investigation.” Building owner Ron Gerber, who kept his law office there, hopes that the reward will help someone come Your INSIDE W E D N E S D AY Classifieds B6 Library Tidings A7 Opinion A4 Police A5 Scoreboard Sports Tides Weather forward with more information. Gerber said the amount of the reward could increase. “We’re trying to get the insurance company to throw in an award, and the net reward could end up as much as $11,000, but that hasn’t happened yet,” he said. Gerber’s daughter Georgette Austin said, “If more people know about the reward, more will come forward if they saw or know something.” Gerber agreed. “If we can get the reward increased, more people will think that this is important.” The issue is very important to Gerber, who bought, renovated and moved offices into the building in 1986. “My parents had their office there for 30 years. Everything they loved was there, even gifts from grandchil- B2 B B1 A2 dren,” Austin said. “How do you pick up the pieces when all those records are destroyed?” Fortunately for Gerber and Scott Bailey, who had office space in the building, most of their work records survived the fire. “The fire was far more intense in the other side of the building than in our end. In some sense, we caught something of a break,” Gerber said. The building also housed Emergence, a drug and alcohol treat- ment program. Gerber has moved his office to 12th Street in the meantime. “Surprisingly, it doesn’t seem to have reduced the flow of business into the office at any significant level,” said Gerber. “Mr. Bailey, who we share space with, does social security and disabili- ty. … He’s the only one in town that Weather T ODAY T HURSDAY F RIDAY S ATURDAY Cloudy Partly sunny 56 43 Sunny Sun & clouds 56 47 57 45 56 43 Sports—B PHOTO BY CHANTELLE MEYER/SIUSLAW NEWS The search continues for the arsonist responsible for a Dec. 7 fire that destroyed a building at 19th and Pine streets. Building owner Ron Gerber plans to tear down the remaining structure and rebuild. does that. It doesn’t seem to have hurt his business. Our business was mostly estate work. … Business-wise, it seems we’ll be OK.” See ARSON 4A CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK 125