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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (March 21, 2015)
COUPONS INSIDE www.shoppelocal.biz SATURDAY WWW.THESIUSLAWNEWS.COM SERVING THE COMMUNITIES OF FLORENCE • DUNES CITY • WESTLAKE • MAPLETON • SWISSHOME • DEADWOOD • YACHATS AND ALL POINTS BETWEEN 125 Y T H • E A R I S S U E N O . 23 MARCH 21 • 2015 $1.00 City offers Sheriff Turner police chief position B Y C HANTELLE M EYER Siuslaw News Lane County Sheriff Tom Turner was offered the position of Florence police chief this week, under the con- ditions of a successful background check and contract negotiations. Turner, 54, would take “We upped the criteria, over the Florence duties posted it and started accept- May 1 from interim Chief ing applications,” City Lynn Lamm, if the condi- Manager Erin Reynolds said tions are accepted. Lane of the hiring process. “We County would then need to did our first review on hire a temporary sheriff March 6. We had 12 applica- until the May 2016 election, tions.” in which voters will decide Only two applicants Sheriff Tom on a replacement. matched what the city want- Turner Finding a new police ed. chief was one of the Florence City “We were looking for a law Council’s main goals this year. enforcement perspective, a good, Port rate increases encounter pushback strong career and heavy experience as a top-level something, whether that be a chief, sheriff, possibly a lieutenant or a captain, but someone who had expe- rience at that level of leadership. That’s not always easy to come by,” Reynolds said. She said Turner’s experience placed him above the other applicant. “Far and beyond Tom had that experience (we were looking for), and not only that, he had that local thing. And that was the other piece we were really looking for, is that local connec- tion,” she said. Turner said, “One of the things that was so fantastic about the opportunity is that’s where I wanted to go. That’s where I wanted to go back ever since I left.” He began his law enforcement career as a resident deputy for the Lane County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO) in Florence in 1982. See CHIEF 9A THIS IS ‘OUR TOWN’ CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK If accepted, Turner would begin Florence duties May 1 B Y J ENNIFER C ONNOR Special to Siuslaw News December Members voice concerns over proposed new costs B Y J ACK D AVIS Siuslaw News One item on the Port of Siuslaw’s commission agenda for the March 18 meeting was a resolution to revise rates and fees. The proposed increases caused concern among the port’s December Members. Beginning Dec. 1, 2013, the Port of Siuslaw granted special advance reser- vation privileges to a group of RV campers designated the December Members. In order to receive the spe- cial advanced reservation benefit, guests had to have stayed at the port’s RV park for a period of at least one month for three consecutive years. Typically, December Member guests have both RVs in the park and boats moored at the port’s dock facilities. During the meeting, December Member Janine Strain said that under the proposed new rate structure, her boat moorage fee would increase from $176 per month to $337 per month. According to port staff, the logic behind the increase was that the daily moorage rate was multiplied by four to achieve the weekly rate, while the daily campground rate was multiplied by six to determine the weekly rate. The goal was to have the campground and moor- age weekly and monthly rates based on the same equations. Strain told commissioners that she had called and received prices from Salmon Harbor RV Park in Winchester Bay on moorage rates. She said they were, “much less.” Board president Ron Caputo suggest- ed tabling the issue until next month so further study could be done. Commissioner Bill Fleenor said, “I think we need to put some specifics in, requesting staff to come back with some comparative rates and some inter- nal justifications for how we are struc- turing the rates. Then we can have a better discussion as to whether these rates are appropriate or not.” Manager Bob Forsythe offered to send the information electronically to commissioners so they would have time to review it before the next meeting. The motion to postpone rate increase discussions until April was approved. See B1 A6 B5 A5 A6 In Brief Obituaries Opinion SideShow Sports LAST RESORT PLAYERS REVIVE CLASSIC PLAY THIS WEEKEND L ast Resort Players raises the curtain on “Our Town” this weekend at the Florence Events Center, but for this production, it will be an imaginary curtain. When Thornton Wilder wrote “Our Town” in the late 1930s, American audiences expected to see a theater production behind a proscenium arch and through what is called the “fourth wall.” Wilder used the role of the Stage Manager to completely break this realistic illusion. On stage most of the time and speaking directly to the audience, the Stage Manager goes far beyond audience expectation. The role includes B Y C HANTELLE M EYER Siuslaw News Members of the Protect Florence Aquifer citizens group spoke about the impact of herbicides on aquifers during Florence City Council’s March 16 meeting. Shauna Boyd, who has lived in the Florence area since 2001, led the presenta- tion during the public com- ment period. “I represent a large group in Florence of concerned cit- izens. ... As we’ve done research, we’ve come to find that this could affect the entire community’s water source. It’s taken on a whole new urgency,” she said. Protect Florence Aquifer represents residents from Florence and the surround- ing areas who are concerned with the spraying of herbi- cides near residences, wildlife and, especially, water sources. “This could affect more than just the north lakes area,” Boyd said. The area in contention is 80 acres owned by Howard SPORTS — B Your A8 A6 A4 B4 B narrator, philosopher, stage manager and occa- sionally another acting assignment. The patriar- chal figure makes sense of the daily living, love and marriage and the reality we face “when our fit” is over on this earth. “Now, we can get on with the wedding,” the Stage Manager says, removing an apron and don- ning a clerical collar, immediately switching from the drugstore owner, Mr. Morgan, to the minister who conducts the wedding. In Act III, the Stage Manager philosophizes on death and the eternal aspects of humankind while helping Emily make the transition from the world of the living to a more eternal state. Originally written at a time when all stage man- agers were male, in recent years women have been more and more often cast in the role. See TOWN 9A Group forms to address herbicide use near Florence aquifer PORT 8A INSIDE S AT U R D AY Angling Births Classifieds Community Courts PHOTOS BY CHRIS GRAAMANS Annie Schmidt as the “Stage Manager” narrates while Lyndsey Keppol as “Emily Webb” and Jesse Reeves as “George Gibbs” marry. Weather T ODAY S UNDAY M ONDAY T UESDAY Rain Rain Rain 57 45 55 45 53 45 Mostly Cloudy 56 46 and Lisa Charnock in the hills above Clear and Collard lakes. The Charnocks sprayed their property with herbicides to prevent growth of Scotch broom, salmonber- ry and blackberry plants. These invasive species thrive on logged land with- out prevention techniques. The Charnocks chose to spray glysophate aerially in 2014. This year, they will use a backpack crew to manually spray triclopyr. While the Charnocks act within their rights as proper- ty owners, the concerned cit- izens question spraying her- bicides so near to area streams that are part of the broader Siuslaw watershed. See SPRAY 9A