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