SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ SATURDAY, JULY 18, 2015
9 A
Florence teams up with National Child Safety Council
B Y C HANTELLE M EYER
Siuslaw News
Business leaders and citizens
of Florence received letters last
week from the Florence Police
Department (FPD) and the
National Child Safety Council
(NCSC) asking for donations to
create safety education materi-
als for children.
At the July 6 Florence City
Council meeting, City Manager
Erin Reynolds gave her
endorsement.
“We are doing a solicitation
for donations to support inter-
action and to increase the
friendliness of our police offi-
cers to the public,” she said.
“There are some great educa-
tional materials we are going to
be soliciting donations for.”
The NCSC is a nonprofit
organization that gathers com-
munity donations to fund pro-
fessional educational resources
on child safety and police
appreciation.
Florence Police Chief Tom
Turner said, “(The NCSC) pro-
vides materials I could hand out
to youth, senior citizens and
young adults. They provide this
wide variety of informative
materials with a positive bent.
It has a law enforcement edge
... but the dominant factor is
that it’s about behaving.”
According to 2014 statistics,
NCSC produces more than 300
different pieces of educational
material. Each city or service
working with NSCS can tailor
the materials to fit certain age
groups and topics. The materi-
als range from bicycle safety
and bullying awareness to drug
prevention, Internet safety and
other important issues.
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The NCSC also provides
materials that can help prevent
seniors from being victimized,
with topics on driver safety,
drug trends, domestic violence
and identity theft.
“I worked with NCSC a cou-
ple times before,” said Turner
about his experiences as Lane
County Sheriff. “I’ve been real-
ly impressed with the program
and with the materials. One of
the things I saw here in
Florence is that I would love to
have this as an option.”
The letter that went out to
businesses in the Florence area
said that the NCSC materials
cost $1.90 per child. The letter
then asked for donations to
benefit groups of children from
30 to 200 students, or $57 to
$380.
Those who donate may also
choose to include their business
name on the material.
“One of the things that I’m
pleased about with this group is
that it is a force-multiplier. If it
gets a small amount of money,
it can actually provide more
material than you might be able
to do on your own,” Turner
said.
The NCSC also provides
crafts, coloring pages and
activities to make the learning
more accessible.
Turner had been particularly
impressed by a fold-out police
car that children can put togeth-
er.
“You can lay these materials
out at a high school, and you’d
be surprised by how many
youth take advantage of this,”
he said. “Parents will take it
because they want the informa-
tion. The material is full of
websites, informational activi-
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The NCSC can send safety
materials for 30 to 5,000 chil-
dren at a time.
The materials Florence and
the FPD chooses will depend
on the amount raised by the
community.
The deadline for donations is
Friday, Aug. 7.
“Once the donations come
in, we as a city can decide what
materials we want to have,”
Turner said. “We get to use the
materials wherever we want. In
our schools, community, events
— anything that’s out there for
the youth or seniors, whatever
group is the target. It winds up
being a very cost-effective
activity for us in the police
department.”
He added, “People really
respond to this. I was shocked
Board
Scott said, “Jim had gotten a
good performance review, and
actually gotten a raise recently.
He was caught unaware by
this.”
Scott added, “We went
through a strategic plan formu-
lation. ... They were interview-
ing citizen and district staff,
and Jim came through that in
good shape.”
The
“new
direction”
Carnahan wants the board and
SVFR to take is, essentially,
going back to basics.
“I would like to see us focus
more on volunteers. I think we
need to slow things down and
get more volunteers. ... We
also at this point need to get
everybody on the same page.”
The board decided to call on
former fire chief John
Buchanan to step into the
interim role.
“I actually contacted him
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COMING UP ON WEDNESDAY JULY 22: USING TECHNOLOGY SAFELY | GPS DEVICES
Texting While Driving
S
Texting while driving is
banned for all drivers in 45
states and the District of
Columbia, according to the
Insurance Institute for
Highway Safety. Additionally,
novice drivers are banned
from the activity in Missouri,
Oklahoma and Texas.
Some drivers are still legally
allowed to text while driving
according to their state law,
under specific circumstances.
In Texas, for example, driv-
ers in school crossing zones
and on public school property
during the time reduced
speed limit applies are
banned from texting while
driving. Drivers over 18 not in
these areas, however, are
allowed to text while driving.
But many localities within
Texas have enacted their own
bans on using cell phones to
text while driving.
You can see how this
non-uniform approach could
be confusing.
Check out the IIHS col-
or-coded map on the organi-
zation’s website (wwww.iihs.
org) to find out where your
state stands. Contact your
local Secretary of State to find
out how any related laws
impact your city or county.
A DANGEROUS
ACTIVITY
Even though we can’t all
ince text messaging is a relatively new issue
in the world of driving laws, the ramifications
of doing so are not yet universal.
© FOTOLIA
seem to agree on the legality
of texting while driving, we all
should pay attention to the
statistics.
According to the National
Highway Traffic Safety
Administration and its “Stop
the Texts, Stop the Wrecks”
advertising campaign:
• You are three times more
likely to crash your vehicle if
you text while driving;
• 49 percent of adults say
they have been passengers in
a car when the driver was
sending or reading text mes-
sages on their cell phone;
• 68 percent of teens and
young adults disagreed that it
is easy to text while driving
and still pay attention to the
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road; and
• 78 percent of teens and
young adults say they have
read a text message while
driving, while 71 percent say
they have composed and sent
one.
at the amount of money raised
in Lane County when this was
put out.”
“It sounds like a great pro-
gram to bridge a lot of gaps that
we have in our society,”
Councilor George Lyddon said.
Florence Mayor Joe Henry
said, “I definitely think we
should support this.”
He also suggested that the
city council might be able to
provide funds as well.
Depending on the success of
this year’s fundraiser, Turner
said that he would recommend
working with the NCSC on a
yearly basis.
For more information, go
online to www.nationalchild
safetycouncil.org.
If you would like to donate,
contact the Florence Police
Department at 900 Greenwood
St. or call 541-997-3515.
this morning,” Carnahan said
on Thursday. “Buchanan had
said in the past that he would
make himself available if we
ever needed him. He’s always
available if we had a ques-
tion.”
“Buchanan was there for 25
years. The whole group is kind
of this ‘old guard’ that was
there forever,” Scott said.
He included former board
member Steve Olienyk as a
member of the “old guard.”
Buchanan’s transition back
from where he lives currently
in Woodland, Calif., is aided
by the fact that he has a home
in the area.
Carnahan
said
that
Buchanan would assume the
interim position most likely on
Monday, July 20.
Until then, the SVFR duty
chief will act as interim chief.
Carnahan noted, “I happen
to be duty chief, but it will be
rotated amongst all three duty
chiefs.”
The other duty chiefs are
Fire Marshal Sean Barrett and
Operations Officer Marvin
Tipler.
“All three of us will be out
working at this until we get
done,” Carnahan said.
Scott felt that there might be
a conflict of interest.
“Carnahan as duty chief is
paid through the department,”
Scott said. “That should recuse
him from any action because
he is an employee. That
seemed to be a grey area. I
think we need to get legal
council’s opinion on that,
which I will do very shortly.”
He also said that an issue of
this importance should have
been on the agenda.
“The board needs time to
consider the issues that are on
there,” Scott said. “I’m not too
sure of the legality of this.”
Carnahan said, “It was a
board decision. Each board
member only has one vote.”
Scott was disappointed with
the results. He said that it
blind-sided him, the communi-
ty and Langborg.
“Well, you just don’t fire
somebody — and summarily
fire them. There was no loving
or kissing on that, it was just
boom! Here’s the hammer,” he
said. “I don’t like to see any-
body treated like that. Jim had
made quite an investment in
our community. ... He was in
for the long haul.”
Only six to eight people
were present to hear the out-
come of the vote. Afterwards,
one of the volunteer fire cap-
tains resigned in protest.
The City of Florence’s pub-
lic information officer Megan
Messmer said, “Siuslaw
Valley Fire and Rescue pro-
vides a valuable service for
our community. As a city, we
work with the department and
will continue to do so.”
Langborg was hired at the
end of 2013 when Buchanan
retired. Before then, he was
fire chief in Socorro, Texas,
and Templeton, Calif., and the
deputy chief in Whiteriver,
Ariz. He has more than 20
years’ experience in fire and
emergency medical services.
Langborg did not return
calls from the Siuslaw News
asking for comment.
