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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (June 8, 2016)
❘ THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM / SIUSLAWNEWS ❘ @ SIUSLAWNEWS WEDNESDAY EDITION ❘ JUNE 8, 2016 ❘ $1.00 Outdoor Adventures OUT FOR A BITE SPORTS — C COAST LIFE — B 126TH YEAR ❘ ISSUE NO. 46 Go green Saturday at fair SERVING WESTERN LANE COUNTY SINCE 1890 FLORENCE, OREGON ACTIVE SHOOTER TRAINING BOOTS ON THE GROUND CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK 7th annual Green Fair features demonstrations, exhibits and more COURTESY PHOTO Dozens of fair exhibitors, includ- ing Laurel Bay Gardens, will offer advice on “living green.” Discover new and interesting ways to “go green” at the seventh annual Florence Green Fair on Saturday, June 11, at the Florence Events Center, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Presented by Siuslaw News and KCST Coast Radio, this free event is geared towards anyone wanting to learn more about environmentally friendly resources and products that could be used at home or in the workplace. Nearly 30 vendors will display a variety of products available on the market and demonstrate how to use them. Many vendors are from the Florence area. Check out Oregon Coast Humane Society’s new Give or Take event to bring and trade small items, such as books, DVDs, CDs, small furniture, appliances, clothes, shoes and toys. Also on hand is the Repair 2 Reuse Café, which will repair items for free, as well as Laurel Bay Gardens’ exhibit on organic gardening soils and products. Look inside today’s newspaper for a special program detailing Green Fair activities and exhibitor information. FRAA seeks to expand art in education Call to artists for June 20 meeting B Y J ACK D AVIS Siuslaw News Florence Regional Arts Alliance (FRAA) is looking for local artists interested in partnering with Siuslaw School District and Lane Arts Council to expand art education in all three district schools through a six-week teaching arts program. The call to artists meeting is Monday, June 20, at 5 p.m. at the FRAA Art Center, 120 Maple St. FRAA President Harlen Springer said, “This call to artists is for visual arts, both 2D and 3D, as well as poetry, creative writing, dance and music.” INSIDE See ART 7A Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C5 Coast Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B Library Tidings . . . . . . . . . . . A5 Obituaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A2 B Y C HANTELLE M EYER Siuslaw News PHOTOS BY CHANTELLE MEYER/SIUSLAW NEWS Florence police participate in the cross-agency Acitve Shooter Training on Saturday at Siuslaw Middle School. Event coordinators say that 140 police, emergency medical services personnel and community volunteers (below) took part in the event. Regional first responders prepare for disaster A rea agencies came together this weekend to plan for the unthinkable and prepare for a worst- case scenario: an active shooter situation in the community. Police, emergency medical services and members of Western Lane Emergency Operations Group (WLEOG) held an Active Shooter Training on Saturday at Siuslaw Middle School. Todd Manns, owner of The Blue Cell, LLC, guided the six-hour event. The Blue Cell focuses on education and training for government and other agen- cies engaged in incident and emergency management activities. “What we’re looking for is opera- tional communication and operational coordination,” Manns said. Afterward, he estimated that 140 people participated in the training session. At the beginning of the drill, Manns introduced Siuslaw Valley Fire and Rescue Chief Jim Langborg, who then listed the many organiza- tions and individuals who helped plan and who participated in the event. “We realized that this is a situation that involves the whole community, not just the police department, fire or EMS,” Langborg said. “It’s a community issue, and it’s going to affect the community, not only on the day of but for weeks and months after.” The drill began at 9 a.m. The scenario was simple — an active shooter at Siuslaw Middle School — but the coordination had to account for many variables. “Initially we had to have a plan. The second piece of that was making sure our plan coincided with every- body else to make sure it was meshed,” Langborg said. Megan Messmer, president of WLEOG, said, “The goal is to prac- tice response in a safe environment so that if anything ever does happen, the response will be intuitive.” Many of the agencies had a script for the event, but had to rely on radio communication, just like in a real-life scenario. Each communication was preceded by, “Exercise, exercise, exercise.” Siuslaw Elementary and Middle schools Vice Principal Andy Marohl made announcements over the intercom about the situation. His words echoed down the mid- dle school’s mostly empty hallways. See DRILL 7A School Board evaluates high school bond defeat B Y J ACK D AVIS Siuslaw News Siuslaw School Board mem- bers held a special meeting May 25 to review the failed new high school bond measure and discussed the steps neces- sary to move forward. The $36.9 million levy to build a new high school and fund other district improve- Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A4 Police . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A7 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C Weather Data . . . . . . . . . . . A2 ments was defeated by 410 votes during the May 17 pri- mary election. The defeat also prevented the district from accessing an additional $4 million state grant that was contingent on the levy pass- ing. Board members agreed that the primary factor in the defeat of the measure was the compressed timeline to pres- THIS WEEK ’ S ent the bond proposal to the community. That timeline was dictated, in part, by the state awarding the district a $4 million matching capital improvement grant that could only be used if the district passed a capital improvement bond within the current bien- nium. The district did not learn it had been awarded the grant TODAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY 62 52 61 47 61 45 61 50 WEATHER Full Forecast, A3 until the end of January. That left less than four months to put the new high school bond measure together and sell the need to the com- munity. Many voters were unaware of the dire need for a new high school until the bond measure was announced. Some saw this as the district needlessly spending money S IUSLAW N EWS 3 S ECTIONS ❘ 24 P AGES C OPYRIGHT 2016 “because they could.” Others thought the district should wait until the middle school bond expires in 2019 before seeking additional funding. Board member Guy Rosinbaum said, “What I got mostly was shock that we needed a new school.” See SCHOOL 7A