Bones
from 1A
Bones’ affinity to shorts
and his lifelong disdain of
long pants tracks back to his
days in the navy and his 30-
year career as a Honeyman
State Park ranger.
“I don’t like long pants. I
never have,” Bones explained.
“I wore short pants in the
navy over in Saudi Arabia.
When I was a park ranger, I
wore short pants in the sum-
mer, and in the winter, I wore
coveralls over my short pants.
They are comfortable.”
In addition to working as a
park ranger and later as a casi-
no greeter, Bones and his wife
Kathy have operated Bones
Nursery at 90379 Highway
101 north of Florence that
specializes in rhododendrons.
“I have had the nursery
now for 40 years,” Bones
said. “It has always been a
sideline, but I decided I’m
going to go ahead and do this
full time. I couldn’t work at
the casino full-time and be
here at the nursery full-time.
“I look at the nursery every
day. I try to keep it up. This is
my true passion, the rhodo-
dendrons,” he said.
Bones’ passion for rhodo-
dendrons explains his involve-
ment in the local American
Rhododendron Society.
“It’s all about the rhodies,”
Bones said. “We have two big
rhododendron flower shows
coming up. The first one is
April 16 and 17 at the
Florence Events Center. It will
be the second largest rhodo-
dendron flower show in the
world. The Kew Gardens in
London is the largest.
“We had over 1,000 entries
one year, and I think we are
going to match that with this
show coming up.”
According to Bones, there
are 72 chapters of the
Rhododendron Society around
the world and the Florence
chapter is one of the most
active. It is the only chapter
worldwide that has two-day
flower shows.
Bones and his wife Kathy
were voted Florence First
Citizens in 2005. He also
received the Boy Scouts
Silver Beaver award in 1989,
the highest award the Boy
Scouts gives to volunteers.
Over the 12 years Bones
has worked at the casino, he
has made many friends and
acquired a host of good mem-
ories.
“The casino has done won-
ders for this town,” he said. “I
can see all the good things it
has done. And, they support
so many local nonprofit
groups.”
Rose may have some mate-
rial in mind for the roast
tomorrow.
“We are going to miss him
a great deal,” Rose said. “He
brought lots of laughs and
sometimes drove me crazy,
but I would have never want-
ed anything different than
having Mike around. His posi-
tive attitude has been wonder-
ful for us and he will be great-
ly missed.”
Bridge
from 1A
ODOT said the goal is for
interested area residents to be
able to purchase a section of
the bridge so it can be saved.
“It’s awesome that Hamilton
is very conscious of having the
rails be reused,” said Judy
Bryant, director of finance and
operations at BRING.
Hamilton Construction first
worked with BRING in 2009,
when it donated pieces from
Gold Beach’s historic Isaac
Lee Patterson Bridge. BRING
used several rails from the
bridge in its Garden of Earthly
Delights.
When the contractor moved
on to another historic bridge,
Plan
from 1A
“This has been a significant
and collaborative effort occur-
ring over several months,” said
Board President Mike Webb.
“We note that members of the
Board of Directors, district
staff and community focus
groups joined together and did
an outstanding job in commit-
ting to this project and seeing it
to its final form.”
The district began preparing
for its strategic plan process late
last year. The district invited
external stakeholders to meet
with the consultation group on
Jan. 19. Eighteen community
members were involved.
“The process went extreme-
ly well. The participation of the
11 A
the two agencies worked
together to acquire enough rails
to sell to civic and local groups.
“Hamilton Construction has
really been a friend to
BRING,” Bryant said.
BRING will keep some rails
on hand to sell, but each piece
is about 24 feet long and
weighs 4 to 5 tons. The rest
will be stored offsite.
“People need to understand
that this won’t be quick, or
something you can hop in your
pick-up to come get. These are
heavy,” Bryant said.
A small fee will be added for
transportation if interested peo-
ple are unable to provide their
own.
“It’s a totally different expe-
rience working with objects
this size,” Bryant said.
She said that BRING has
previously sold historic bridge
rails to wineries and other
areas, though she said they
could work in private gardens.
Florence Public Works
Director Mike Miller said, “We
have a couple of projects in
mind for the railings that we’ve
secured.”
The city plans to repurpose
the rails for several sites in Old
Town, such as Gazebo Park,
Old Town Way and an alley.
“I think the rails will dress
the area up, make it look nice
and add that historic element,”
Miller said. “Once the projects
are complete, it’s going to
transform the area.”
ODOT’s restoration of the
Siuslaw River Bridge includes
upgrading the bridge rail to
current safety standards.
Hamilton Construction is
replacing the old deck railing
with precast, reinforced con-
crete that replicates the look of
the original but meets current
standards for pedestrian and
vehicle safety.
About half of the rail has
already been removed and the
contractor will remove the rest
over the course of the restora-
tion project.
For more information, or to
purchase a rail, contact Bryant
at BRING: 541-746-3023 x302
or judyb@bringrecycling.org.
For more about the Siuslaw
Bridge Restoration project,
visit www.siuslawbridge.com.
external stakeholders was
excellent. They were able to
articulate what they want to see
from the district,” Burright
said.
Seventeen internal stakehold-
ers met two days later. Burright
said that the “multitude of opin-
ions” reflected many aspects of
the community.
“I think the process gave
people an opportunity to look
at where we are now, identify
what we need to focus on and
show where we want to go
next,” Burright said.
He said the priorities identi-
fied by the two groups were
especially valuable to the dis-
trict. Ensuring technical com-
petence of responders, main-
taining reliable equipment and
continuing to be compassionate
were ranked highest.
“I was pleased in the order of
the stakeholders’ priorities,”
Burright said. “The community
identified our need to be a reli-
able EMS system that meets
the needs of our community as
it grows and changes.”
The strategic plan also out-
lines action steps the district
will take. Some of its needs are
to assign a permanent director,
implement a community pres-
ence, consider facility require-
ments, assess staff in light of
the growing size of the com-
munity and identify funding
sources and grants.
“Now the work has to hap-
pen,” Webb said.
The work is divided into cat-
egories — critical, short term,
mid term and long term.
One of the first big projects is
replacing Burright’s interim posi-
tion. Western Lane is currently
exploring the feasibility of shar-
ing administration with Siuslaw
Valley Fire and Rescue.
“This plan will be used as a
living guide to lead us into the
next several years,” Burright
said. “It will serve as a valuable
tool in determining the overall
performance and success of the
district. ... It will set priorities,
focus energy and resources,
strengthen operations and
ensure that all are working
toward common goals.”
Burright and the board of
directors thanked the commu-
nity and staff who helped with
the process, including consult-
ants Don Bivens and Jack
Snook.
School
from 1A
More than 100 people have
attended three open house
meetings
in
Mapleton,
Deadwood and Swisshome to
hear how funds would be spent
and to ask questions.
A second round of commu-
nity meetings are scheduled for
the district to discuss planned
improvements and costs asso-
ciated with the passage of the
Mapleton School District
Bond. The meetings are
Tuesday, April 19, at 6 p.m. at
the Swisshome Church,
Wednesday, April 20, at 6 p.m.
at the Deadwood Community
Center, and Thursday, April 21,
at 6 p.m. at Mapleton High
School.
In addition, the district sent
out fliers to district patrons in
Mapleton, Deadwood and
Swisshome explaining the
bond amount, how much it
would cost and answering fre-
quently asked questions.
According to Mapleton
School District Superintendent
Jodi O’Mara, the 25-year bond
length is comparable to other
Lane County school districts.
The upgrades and repairs pro-
posed by the district, such as
new roofing, mechanical, elec-
trical, plumbing, septic systems
and building exterior upgrades,
would have a 40-year life
expectancy.
According to a flier sent out
to district residents, the bond
rate would be $1.59 per $1,000
of assessed property value.
That would mean a home val-
ued for tax purposes at
$100,000 would have an
assessed annual tax of $159, or
$13.25 per month.
The matching state funds
and the seismic improvement
funds would not be part of the
assessment.
O’Mara said, “The last
Mapleton School District bond
expired in 1961. We have not
had an active bond or levy for
the schools since 1961.”
Some work could begin this
summer, but most of the work
would be done during the 2017
summer break.
“Our goal is to be able to
keep Mapleton School District
functioning for our students
and to be able to provide them
the education they deserve,”
O’Mara said. “It is pretty black
and white. If it doesn’t pass, the
issues are still going to be there
and we are going to have to
find a way to fix it.”
Information is available at
www.mapleton.k12.or.us, or
call O’Mara at 541-268-4312.
CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK
SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 2016