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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 6, 2016)
❘ / SIUSLAWNEWS ❘ @ SIUSLAWNEWS SATURDAY EDITION BASKETBALL RESULTS Remodeled teachers’ lounge INSIDE — A8 SPORTS — B 126TH YEAR ❘ ISSUE NO. 11 Siuslaw wins state lottery School district to receive $4 million grant for upgrades if bond passes B Y J ACK D AVIS ❘ FEBRUARY 6, 2016 ❘ $1.00 SERVING WESTERN LANE COUNTY SINCE 1890 FLORENCE, OREGON CHAMBER Bollinger named interim director Taking the spotlight Search continues for hiring permanent replacement Siuslaw News S TAFF R EPORT Siuslaw School District Business Manager Kari Blake announced to the school board on Wednesday that the dis- trict was selected to receive a state matching fund grant of $4 million, which would be used to help pay for a new high school building. Siuslaw was one of six districts select- ed from 13 applicants to receive the matching fund grant, Blake said at the Feb. 3 special board meeting. Now, the school district must move quickly to complete the steps necessary to place a school bond initiative on the May 17 ballot. The grant will only be available if district voters approve the bond measure. Siuslaw School District Superinten- dent Ethel Angal said, “We have the opportunity to save our taxpayers $4 mil- lion. These funds will only be available in this biennium and we had to be willing to go out for a May bond election, which creates a very short timeline.” According to Angal, the district facili- ties planning team determined, after careful evaluation, that the high school built in 1970 has reached the end of its useful life. “It still looks fine,” Angal said, “but systems are starting to fail. We are start- ing to have to invest a lot of general fund dollars in repairing and replacing sys- tems like heating, cooling and water. We are just one major catastrophe away from a real financial pickle.” The school board will be presented with a final election resolution for poten- tial approval at the Wednesday, Feb. 10, board meeting. Sea lions arrive for FEC’s 20th anniversary The Board of Directors of the Florence Area Chamber of Commerce announced this week that Sherri Bollinger has agreed to serve as the organiza- tion’s interim Sherri executive Bollinger director until a permanent director is hired. Bollinger will shadow cur- rent chamber Executive Director Cal Applebee, who will retire Feb. 26. Bollinger is not a stranger to the Florence Area Chamber of Commerce or working with businesses. She has been the chamber’s events coordinator since July 2015. “The future of the Chamber and continued growth is vital to our success and the success of Florence. I speak for the execu- tive board when I say, Sherri has our best interest in the fore- front and will lead the chamber on an interim basis,” said Jenna Bartlett, chamber board presi- dent. “We continue to strive to achieve the mission of promot- ing business growth as we tran- sition to new leadership.” The chamber plans to contin- ue the recruitment and hiring process to select a permanent executive director. P orter the sea lion took the stage at Florence Events Center (FEC) Feb. 1 as the last of 21 life-sized sea lion fiberglass statues arrived in Florence. The statues are part of the FEC’s 20th anniversary celebration, “Dancing with Sea Lions.” Now, local and regional artists will spend the next two months painting and decorating each sea lion. All 21 sea lions will gather at the FEC in April before they are installed at locations from Reedsport to Newport, but mostly in Florence. PHOTOS BY C HANTELLE M EYER Siuslaw News See SCHOOL 11A Red Cross offers free smoke alarms to Florentine residents Volunteers install record amount as part of nationwide campaign to reduce home fire deaths B Y C HANTELLE M EYER Siuslaw News A INSIDE merican Red Cross is on a mission to prevent home fire deaths and injuries and recently teamed up with Florence-area agencies to install free smoke alarms in Florentine Estates. Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B7 Coastal Events . . . . . . . . . . A10 Obituaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A2 Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A4 Linda Stent and the Florence Red Cross Disaster Action Team invited the Red Cross Disaster Project Manager for Lane County, Frank Spangler, to attend a meeting about the Home Fire Preparedness Campaign at Florentine Estates in early January, during which residents were able to sign up Religion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A5 SideShow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B6 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B Word on the Street . . . . . . . A9 for home installations. More than 100 residents signed up to participate. “The amount of deaths caused by home fires is extremely high — too high,” Spangler said. “The majority of those deaths or injuries are caused by homes that either do not have a working smoke alarm or do not have a smoke alarm. We recognize that num- ber is way too high.” The Red Cross plans to reduce home fire deaths and injuries by 25 percent over the next five years. “We do that by installing smoke alarms in communities that are at-risk. When I say at risk, that’s everybody. Fires do not discriminate,” Spangler said. Thirty volunteers from THIS WEEK ’ S American Red Cross volunteer teams of three installed nearly 300 smoke alarms in Florentine Estates homes last Saturday. Red Cross Disaster Project Manager Frank Spangler, Florence Red Cross Disaster Action Team member Linda Stent and Red Cross volunteer Henry Bodkin made up one team. Far left, Spangler demonstrates the proper placement for a new smoke alarm. PHOTOS BY CHANTELLE MEYER/SIUSLAW NEWS Florence Red Cross, Siuslaw Valley Fire and Rescue, Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT), the Florence Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Florence Siuslaw Lions TODAY SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY 54 42 59 47 61 46 62 48 WEATHER Full Forecast, A3 Club met at Florentine Estates, a 55-and-over gated communi- ty, first thing last Saturday morning, Jan. 30. Andrew Swift, the disaster preparedness and safety coor- dinator for the Red Cross Cascades Region, split the vol- unteers into groups of three. Each team had an educator, to teach residents how to test and maintain smoke alarms S IUSLAW N EWS 2 S ECTIONS ❘ 22 P AGES C OPYRIGHT 2016 See ALARMS 11A CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM
