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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (March 30, 2016)
10 A SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30, 2016 LRP auditions for ‘Quilters’ Saturday NextStep to host Auditions for the play “Quilters,” a two-act musical drama written by Molly Newman and Barbara Damashek, will be held Saturday, April 2, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The show is produced by Last Resort Players. Auditions are at the Florence Land from 1A Roblan said that he and McKeown started getting let- ters, phone calls and emails about the assessment right away. “We called ODF and talked to them about having a meet- ing. We didn’t understand the whole thing either,” he said. McKeown said, “My office has been contacted as many times as Arnie’s has. This is something that caught us off guard as well. I certainly appre- ciate Arnie setting this up and getting some questions answered and maybe we can avoid something happening like this again.” Roblan said that ODF imme- diately agreed to the informa- tional meeting when he asked for more information for his Council from 1A “I would say that in some categories we’re doing really well,” Turner said. Florence Police Department consists of 15 officers, includ- ing sergeants, Lt. John Pitcher and the chief. It opens an aver- age of 10,000 case number reports a year. “One of the reasons you see me in uniform is because I need to be,” Turner said. Compared to the average 70,000 case number reports per year that Lane County Sheriff’s Office and the City of Eugene process, Turner said that Florence is in good shape, despite some higher profile crimes. He listed a murder last November, the first in the city in 23 years; a series of dump- ster fires in 2014 and a multi- agency response to a vehicle pursuit on Highways 101 and 126 in December, culminating in arrests and “the end of a lit- United Methodist Church, Second and Kingwood streets. The play requires seven women of a variety of ages from age 20 and older. The set- ting is the American West as a pioneer woman and her six daughters face frontier life. Each actor will have several roles. Be prepared to sing 16 to 32 measures of Americana type music, such as “Rock of Ages,” “Down in the Valley,” “Amazing Grace,” etc., and plan to sing with a piano or acapella. Bring piano accompa- niment music if available. Candidates will also read from a script. Callbacks will be on Sunday, April 3, at 1:30 p.m. if necessary. Annie Schmidt will direct, with Meg Spencer assistant directing and Deb Young as music director. For more information, call 541-997-1023. constituents. Under the ODF’s policy, the 832 properties will now be paying around $65 a year for wildfire protection. With changes in property sizes and the addition of subdi- visions, these properties haven’t been paying the assess- ment, even though many of their neighbors have been. According to Smith’s pres- entation, 29,462 tax lots were already paying forest patrol assessments in the Western Lane District. “The areas around you have been paying this assessment. We protect properties even within the City of Florence that have a wildland threat. That’s not delineated for us,” Smith said. “Fire Chief Jim Langborg likes that we’re partnered in that area as we bring things to the area that he can’t. It means we have a good partnership.” Roblan added, “I trust that ODF is trying to do what they think is right. They aren’t try- ing to pick anybody out. They’re trying to be fair to all the residents in the area.” He said this was a good thing, as “Oregon fights fires better than anyone else in the world.” Dunes City Councilor Tom Mallen attended the meeting and said, “Look at this whole nation. People are mad, and I’m mad. When we get blind- sided by this, it’s just a really bad time.” For him, and many others, the “point was how the ODF went about” the assessment. Some said there should have been a committee in place, or that everyone in Oregon should pay. “We feel like we’re being singled out,” one couple said. “This is what ODF does every year,” Roblan said. “The big issue this time is there were over 800 properties added in an area the same size they review every year.” He said that his office would make sure all the processes were legal, as well as passing all this information to Lane County’s newly formed Forestland Classification Committee, which meets for the first time later this year. McKeown said, “Arnie has done a wonderful job of quanti- fying what we need to do. He’s going to check on the sugges- tions you brought up.” Both elected officials agreed that they would do what they could so people wouldn’t be blindsided by a situation like this in the future. tle crime spree that was plagu- ing the coastal areas and Eugene.” He also praised his depart- ment for the arrests made for the March 3 arson of a home in Old Town. “The incident was terrible, but it resulted in two arrests on March 12. This was outstand- ing. It is relatively rare to make any arrests in an arson investi- gation anywhere,” Turner said. He added that the city’s overall arrest record is success- ful and the department works hard to close cases. However, as more people use social media to report crimes in public or private groups, more people are aware of crimes that do happen. Sometimes Turner finds out about issues through people contacting him directly, before police dispatch can reach him. He said that the police are limited on what information they can share, so they often do not tell the public until the case is solved. He assured residents that police continue to work on cases outside of the public eye. Turner listed some of his sta- tistics for crime in the Old Town area and Miller Park, as well as the department’s plans to reduce total incidents. “I’m proud of the fact that we have really low statistics numerically. I hate that people are victimized,” Turner said. “But in totality, we’re in really good shape. That’s the part we want to keep prevalent at the top of our minds.” Councilor Susy Lacer said, “I appreciate your very accu- rate and factual summary of the state of crime, or more impor- tantly the lack thereof in our fair city.” She and the other councilors acknowledged that those who have been victims of crimes would be sensitive to levels of crime in the city, but that she hoped they would be comfort- ed by the police chief’s words. “Public safety problems in Florence are always subject to change. We have large scale Tuesday 3/22 Beverly Curtis Beverly Curtis Westlake Westlake Oregon Stove Works Oregon Stove Wrks Wednesday 3/23 Donna Youngblood Nora Lupton Florence Florence Fresh Harvest Café & Bakery Safeway Thursday 3/24 Debra Fisher Raymond Bray Florence Florence Three Rivers Casino Resort Purple Pelican Antiques Friday 3/25 Diana Taplin Becky Lowe Florence Florence Safeway Grocery Outlet Saturday 3/26 Billie Cox Bear McDaniel Florence Florence Safeway Safeway Sunday 3/27 Andy Bush Richard McPhedran Florence Florence Safeway Chen’s Family Dish Bear McDaniel Elvin Price Westlake Florence Three Rivers Casnio Resort Safeway Monday 3/28 planned events like Rhody Days, Fourth of July weekend, parades, seasonal changes and more. These can cause chal- lenges,” Turner said. He said the department would continue to be “ever vig- ilant and prudent” of resources in the continued fight on crime. Mayor Joe Henry said, “I’m really proud of the job you have done over there and the whole department. It’s great to live in a city where we can feel safe.” Turner’s report is available at www.ci.florence.or.us/coun- cil/ city-council-meeting-145. recycling roundup Get rid of those broken or unwanted electronics Saturday, April 2, from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., when NextStep Recycling of Eugene will be at the Real Food Co-op collect- ing anything that plugs in or runs on batteries, including cell phones, computers, stere- os, DVD players, cords, cables, TV and vacuums. NextStep is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide technology and training to children and adults who have barriers to employ- ment and education, while protecting our environment and community from haz- ardous waste. Joining NextStep at the col- lection point will be ARC of Lane County collecting unwanted clothing. The ARC’s mission is to advocate to enhance the digni- ty, expand the opportunities and protect the rights of per- sons with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families. They provide a variety of educational and support opportunities for our families in Lane County. Real Food Co-op, which supports local food sustain- ability, is at 1379 B on Rhododendron Drive. Call 541-997-3396 for more information. PARTS CONSIGNMENTS SERVICE Let us Sell Your Rv, Auto, Boat, Cycle, ATV For You For Free $$$ We Have The Highway Frontage - We Advertise - We Provide Professional Sales Representatives and Best Of All It Doesn’t Cost You Anything. Florence RV Consignment 4390 Highway 101 North, Florence 541-991-2001 or 541-902-0741 Buying or Selling? I can help. Richard Beaudro Principal Broker 541 991-6677 1601 Rhododendron #658 – Well cared for Greentrees listing with a 2-car carport, and access ramp. 2 bdrms, 1 bath and an extra 1 bed/1bath through breezeway. Private wind protected back- yard. $69,000. #2549-16592778 1749 Highway 101 • 541-997-1200 Stephanie Matt Cameran Jack Honesty • Quality • Integrity Pest Tech Inc. is locally owned and operated. We are dedicated to providing professional pest management solutions. We service the greater Florence area, Central Oregon Coast and Southern Oregon. Our team of friendly certifi ed technicians have the experience and knowledge needed to help our customers with their pest control needs. Give us a call to learn how we can help protect your home or business. Give us a call today. 541-997-3781 509 Hwy. 101, Florence PestTechInc.com
