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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
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Cloudy
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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