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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
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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
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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
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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