SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ SATURDAY, JUNE 27, 2015
11 A
Museum mortgage goes up in flames
Now debt-free, Siuslaw Pioneer Museum plans further expansion projects
Siuslaw News
S
iuslaw Valley Fire and Rescue was
called to the Siuslaw Pioneer Museum
parking lot to oversee a controlled burn
on June 20 as more than 40 people, including
board members, local dignitaries and friends of
the museum, witnessed the burning of the
museum’s mortgage.
The museum is now officially debt free.
Thanks to the generosity of Jean Chapman, a
loyal Siuslaw Pioneer Museum supporter and
volunteer, the museum’s $180,000 mortgage
was paid off. Chapman stipulated that the
museum would be the beneficiary of her home,
furnishings and vehicle upon her death.
“We were all heartbroken when she died, but
she really did a great thing for the museum,”
board president Del Phelps said. “When we got
through probate, we held estate sales to take
care of the furnishings. After we sold the house,
the museum probably netted a total of
$255,000.”
In addition to paying off the mortgage, the
museum was able to put on a badly needed new
roof.
“One door closes and another door opens,”
Phelps said. “We closed the door on the last 10
years with the money that paid off the mort-
gage. We are opening the next door with the
addition of a two-story, 16-foot-by-32-foot
expansion on the south side of the building.”
The expansion project will be broken down
into two phases, according to Phelps.
“After the mortgage was paid off,” he said,
“there was money left to pay for an addition to
the library. With the pledges that are still to
come in from the Legacy Fund, there will prob-
ably be $150,000.”
The library expansion is scheduled to start
this fall.
The building, originally built in 1905, had a
bell tower above the front
entrance that burned down in
1953. The board decided that as
part of the second phase addi-
tion, the museum would rebuild
the bell tower with an elevator
so people with disabilities will
have access to the museum’s
second floor exhibits.
Phelps estimates the new
addition and elevator will cost
approximately $350,000.
“Some of the funds have
already been raised,” he said.
COURTESY PHOTO
“The Legacy Fund that was Siuslaw Pioneer Museum board president Del Phelps
originally created to pay off the (center) torches the $180,000 museum mortgage as
mortgage is being repurposed to museum supporters look on.
pay for the addition and elevator
to five years out because we are going to do it
tower.
“We will keep on with the Legacy Fund different this time. We are going to have the
pledge project, but now it will be geared toward money in our pocket before we do it,” he
the expansion. The elevator project is still four added.
Marijuana
from 1A
“There can be no sales of it,
period, until after at least
January 4, 2016. And that’s just
when you apply for licenses,”
FarleyCampbell said. “People
won’t be able to purchase recre-
ational marijuana until fall
2016.”
According to Reynolds,
Oregon is still deciding laws on
distribution, growth, retail out-
lets, products and how the
recreational marijuana industry
will interact with the medical
marijuana industry.
At this point, Florence will
not make any separate decisions
until the state reaches a consen-
sus and finalizes regulations.
FarleyCampbell said, “The
state law is our law.”
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from 1A
Mark Davison, planning
manager for Oregon State
Parks, added, “What we’re try-
ing to do is reach out, recogniz-
ing that ODOT told us they
can’t put a formalized cross
there. ... Together between us
tonight we can work out a few
options and bring those back to
the next meeting.”
Next, Davison and English
presented some of those options
for Honeyman and the commu-
nity.
One thing they hope to do is
increase pedestrian wayfinding
on current trails.
English pointed out five
zones within the park: North
Cleawox, North Woahink,
South Woahink, the camp-
ground and the “central park.”
A proposed trail plan would
add a loop trail to North
Cleawox, reinstate a historic
trail around Woahink Lake, for-
malize a trail in the East
Woahink day-use area, add a
trail around the campground
and along the campground road
and improve the Overpass Trail.
Some of those additions or
modifications would help keep
“Refer to state law for any-
thing else,” Reynolds advised,
“Our process is dependent on
the outcomes of what’s in legis-
lation right now.”
Before any decisions are
made on a local level, the city
will undergo a public hearing
process, similar to the one held
earlier this year regarding the
land-use for medical marijuana
facilities.
“You determine through land
use and business license regula-
tions how this city wants to
interact with the recreational
marijuana market. Like any
land use decision, and any city
council decision, there will be a
public process for this. There
will be time for feedback, to
understand the tone, tempera-
ment, and tolerance level of this
community,” Reynolds said.
With the Independence Day
holiday the following weekend,
Reynolds, FarleyCampbell and
Pitcher hope that recreational
marijuana users respect the law.
“We’re concerned for the
fourth because it’s a holiday
and a lot of public spaces have
events. ... We’re still going to
enforce and take care of things
that we need to,” Reynolds
said.
“I don’t expect it to be a
issue, but we will issue those
citations. We’ll enforce that
section of the law,” Pitcher
said.
For more information about
recreational marijuana, go to
www.oregon.gov/olcc/mari
juana or follow Oregon’s
“What’s Legal? Educate Before
You Recreate,” campaign at
www.whatslegaloregon.com.
pedestrians off main roads and
allow for greater mileage for
runners.
“In addition to adding more
trails to the park, we also recog-
nize that there are some way-
finding needs,” English said.
Improved campground maps
and more signs at trail heads,
trail markers and intersections
would help show official trails,
but could also include the
Social Trail and other unoffi-
cial, unmaintained trails.
English said, “The hope and
goal with this wayfinding
improvement is to help find the
safest, easiest route to the desti-
nations, especially for campers,
that they are aiming for and
direct them to the paths we
would really like to see them
use.”
The plan would call for signs
using historic designs to match
current Honeyman markers.
As for the Social Trail,
English didn’t have one set plan
yet.
“We have a couple options
we’d like to look into in more
detail,” she said.
These include putting up a
sign with the message “Cross at
your own risk,” or marking the
trail as unmaintained and
screening the entrance on
Canary Road.
The main thing, according to
Davison, is that no decisions
have been made yet.
The planning team still has to
consider liability, pursue further
conversations with ODOT and
finalize the plan.
The next meeting will pres-
ent a finalized trail improve-
ment plan.
According to English, that
meeting will take place in July
or August.
Honeyman
State
Park
Manager Dan Schewlakow
said, “We have an opportunity
to do some very good things in
the park with the possibility of
more resources to upgrade
facilities and improve our
access for various users.”
More
information
on
Honeyman State Park’s trail
system and the public input
process is available online at
honeymanstatepark.com.
The public is invited to com-
ment by contacting English at
jaime.english@oregon.gov; at
503-986-0723 or by mailing
written comments to Jaime
English, OPRD, 725 Summer
St. NE, Suite C, Salem, OR
97301.
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