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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (March 7, 2015)
INSIDE THIS WEEKEND SATURDAY LCC CLASS SCHEDULE WWW.THESIUSLAWNEWS.COM D ON ’ T M ISS O UT ! SERVING THE COMMUNITIES OF FLORENCE • DUNES CITY • WESTLAKE • MAPLETON • SWISSHOME • DEADWOOD • YACHATS AND ALL POINTS BETWEEN 125 Y T H E A R • I N S S U E O . 19 MARCH That’s a wrap 7 • 2015 $1.00 City initiates alley vacation H OME & G ARDEN S HOW Florence loses last family-owned video rental store Planning Commission sets public hearing March 10 B Y C HANTELLE M EYER PHOTO BY JACK DAVIS/SIUSLAW NEWS 3-2-1 Video will close March 31. B Y J ACK D AVIS Siuslaw News After a 19-year run, 3-2-1 Video, located at 2455 Highway 101, will close its doors for good at the end of this month. Florence’s last independent video store, co-owned by Don Huntingdon and Anna Villasenor, first opened at 21st Street and Highway 101 in 1996. In 2002, Huntingdon and Villasenor built the current 4,800-square-foot retail space. “Technology has overrun the disc business, much like you no longer see music stores any more,” Huntingdon said. “Movies are just moving in that direction.” Streaming movies via pay-per-month sites like Netflix and Hulu, and the Netflix movies-by-mail program, have all taken a toll on 3-2-1’s customer base. Redbox, with three Florence loca- tions, also has captured a large share of the walk-up video rental market, with a nationwide average market share approaching 50 percent. National video rental chains have been on the decline for years. Block- buster and Hollywood Video both filed for bankruptcy in 2010. “Electronic delivery is just a more efficient way to distribute,” Huntingdon said. 3-2-1 Video’s last day of operation is Tuesday, March 31. Huntingdon did not discuss what he planned to do after the store closes. Visit Florence Events Center for latest home improvement projects, landscape designs PHOTO BY NED HICKSON/SIUSLAW NEWS SPRING ideas he 19th Annual Florence Home and Garden Show continues at the Florence Events Center today through Sunday. Find more than 40 regional vendors and exhibits featuring home improvement and landscape ideas. Booths are inside and outside, so be sure to stop by today from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. T ROYAL COURT TO SERVE COMMUNITY Students in the 2015 Rhody Court assist Kiwanis in legacy project for Florence B Y C HANTELLE M EYER Siuslaw News he 2015 Rhody Court is dis- cussing what this year’s “Rock ’n’ Rhody” theme means to them — rock and roll, sock hops, poo- dle skirts and, perhaps surprisingly, community service. Annette Foglio and Cindy Wobbe, the Rhody Senior Court advisers, pre- sented the nine seniors from Siuslaw High School with the idea for a project at their weekly meeting on Thursday, Feb. 26. “We have moved the Rhody Court in the last four years from being a girls’ beauty pageant — a very traditional pageant — to moving now towards having boys and making this a show- case of our youth and talent,” Wobbe said. “We’re actually making this a more meaningful and valuable experi- ence for you by giving you opportuni- ties to interact with business leaders in T B1 B6 A5 A2 Obituaries Opinion SideShow Sports the community. “We would like you to be the first court that leaves a legacy. We want you to create a service project that’s a gift to our community. It’s truly something that will get a lot of publicity and will be your gift as the 2015 Rhody Court to the city of Florence,” she added. The advisers presented one of the gateways into the city, an area along Highway 126 that belongs to the Oregon Department of Transportation SPORTS — B INSIDE S AT U R D AY Angling Classifieds Community Courts PHOTO BY CHANTELLE MEYER/SIUSLAW NEWS Adviser Annette Foglio (far left) and student members of the 2015 Rhody Senior Court listen to adviser Cindy Wobbe (foreground) at the court’s weekly meeting. Your A2 A4 B5 B Weather T ODAY S UNDAY M ONDAY T UESDAY Mostly sunny 59 42 Clouds & sun 60 43 Mostly sunny 60 45 Some rain 61 51 but has been managed by members of the community. More recently, Kiwanis took over. “I call it Ternyik Park, after Wilbur Ternyik,” Wobbe said. Ternyik, a former mayor of Florence, was very active in the Port of Siuslaw. He also is a Clatsop Indian and works to preserve area wetlands and native plant species. “He has probably done more than any one single person to build up the community. He’s restored our beaches. … He is a national treasure,” she said. Ternyik, Arolf Salo and others land- scaped the strip of land near the junc- tion of Highways 126 and 101, but have been unable to maintain it. “We talked about, as a gift to the city but also to honor our own national hero, Wilbur Ternyik, having the court take on that project of cleaning it up,” she said. See RHODY 9A Florence City Council initiat- ed the process of vacating an alley in city block 23 during its regular session March 2. The alley lies between the 76 Station at 1570 Highway 101 and the currently vacant Cactus BBQ at 1544 Highway 101. The applicant, Ron LaFranchi, owner of Ron’s Oil Company, owns the three prop- erties surrounding the alley and plans to use the vacated alley as part of a future 24-hour fueling station and convenience store. The applicant is currently receiving signatures from affect- ed property owners. Glen Southerland, assistant planner in the City of Florence Planning Department, prepared documents for the council. According to Southerland, LaFranchi and Ron’s Oil applied for the vacation of the alley right of way on Feb. 26. “The applicants have pro- posed a vacation on approxi- mately 2,570 square feet of an alley between 15th and 16th streets, east of Highway 101 and west of Redwood Street,” Southerland said. The alley runs east to west and is currently unused by Florence because of heavy vege- tation in the eastern portion of the block. “The alley is currently unpaved and undeveloped. There are no plans to develop this right of way for vehicular transportation and there is no ability for through access by traffic,” he said. The council held an initial hearing to determine public interest in the vacation as well as to determine the value of the alley if it is vacated. Because of the adoption of Ordinance No. 11, Series 2014, those request- ing both street and alley vaca- tions are required to pay an assessment for the value lost to the city. Southerland said, “Since the adoption of the ordinance last year establishing that alley vaca- tions should also contribute funds for the loss of that public right of way, based on the crite- ria in current city code, there are two possible valuations that were established.” The first way to determine the value of the alley is to find the average value per square foot of the abutting properties. This would be around $14.95 per square foot. This amounts to about $38,420 for the square footage being vacated. See ALLEY 9A CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK Siuslaw News