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WEDNESDAY EDITION
VIKINGS FALL
TO FALCONS
❘ SEPTEMBER 7, 2016 ❘ $1.00
Hot rods rev up
for car show
SPECIAL SECTION — C
SPORTS — B
126TH YEAR ❘ ISSUE NO. 72
SERVING WESTERN LANE COUNTY SINCE 1890
FLORENCE, OREGON
Mapleton
schools
find lead
in water
PURRFECT
PAIRING
Local theater, humane society partner
for upcoming play, ‘Sylvia’
The production team
of Class Act Theatre
learns the proper way
to interact with dogs
during a recent visit to
the Oregon Coast
Humane Society.
Back row: OCHS
Director Tanya Garrett,
CAT producer Paula
Burnette, CAT owner
Rosemary Lauria and
animal care technicians
Susan Lynch and Kip
Foster. Seated: Actress
Polly Fleming, Stewart
the dog and CAT
owner David Lauria.
Inset, Burnette bonds
with a kitten at the
Florence shelter.
District shuts off 10
of its drinking water and
food-prep sources
B Y J ACK D AVIS
Siuslaw News
MAPLETON — Mapleton School
District Superintendent Jodi O’Mara
announced Friday that 10 of the district’s
35 food prep sinks and drinking fountains
exceeded the minimum acceptable lead
levels of 20 parts per billion (ppb) estab-
lished by the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA).
The district used a drinking water lab-
oratory accredited by the Oregon Health
Authority to analyze the water samples.
Samples from all 35 locations were
taken Aug. 19 and delivered to the lab on
Aug. 23. The district received the test
results on Aug. 29.
Elevated levels were discovered in the
district’s elementary and high school
buildings. The affected sources have been
shut off to prevent exposure.
Testing was done in response to EPA
and state of Oregon recommendations.
“I was pleased that we were able to
address all of the issues quickly to ensure
that when students and staff return to school
they have safe drinking water,” O’Mara
said. “The health and safety of our students
and staff is our No.1 priority.”
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PHOTOS BY CHANTELLE MEYER/SIUSLAW NEWS
B Y C HANTELLE M EYER
Siuslaw News
C
lass Act Theatre (CAT) wants to
help more Florence-area pets get
adopted into loving homes. That’s
why it is working with Oregon
Coast Humane Society (OCHS) to feature
ways people can volunteer, foster and adopt
cats and dogs — all through CAT’s upcom-
ing production of “Sylvia.”
“If you’ve ever had a dog in your life,
‘Sylvia’ is going to resonate with you,”
according to the playbill.
A.R. Gurney wrote “Sylvia” about a man
who adopts a dog he finds in the park, his
wife, their marriage and the ways a street-
smart dog turns their lives around.
“I was in love with the script by page
three,” said Rosemary Lauria, who owns
CAT with her husband David.
David Lauria plays Greg, who becomes
smitten with poodle-labrador mix Sylvia,
played by Polly Fleming. “Most of the play
is from a dog’s point of view. It’s not the way
we overlay our mores and taboos,” he said.
“Don’t listen to everything Sylvia says.
She’s a little disgruntled,” said CAT producer
Paula Burnette, who plays Greg’s wife, Kate.
Alexander Grady and Rosemary also star
in the play.
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CAT 9A
SCHOOLS 9A
City Council
works to improve
fiber access
Franchise agreement
with CoastCom renewed
B Y C HANTELLE M EYER
Siuslaw News
‘Caroline’s Cart’ now available at Fred Meyer
Caroline’s Cart inven-
tor Drew Ann Long
demonstrates how the
specially designed
shopping cart works
for children or adults
with disabilities.
Shopping cart assists special needs
children and adults in Florence
B Y J ACK D AVIS
Siuslaw News
INSIDE
Caroline’s Cart, designed
for older special needs chil-
dren and adults, is now
available at Fred Meyer in
Florence. The store has
been offering the cart for
several months.
Fred
Meyer
Store
Manager Tim Cornish said,
“We have a customer that
moved here from The
Dalles and has a special
needs child that is too old
Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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for the regular carts. She
said the Fred Meyer there
had one and she asked if we
could order one for our
store. I had never heard
about it, but it sounded like
a great idea. We contacted
our corporate office and got
it approved.”
According to Cornish,
about six or seven families
currently use the cart on a
weekly basis.
“It has been a godsend
for those parents. It allows
them to have a much easier
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A5
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COURTESY PHOTO
shopping experience,” he
said.
The cart is specially
designed so that a child too
Rods ’n’ Rhodies . . . . . . . . . . C
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Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B
Weather Data . . . . . . . . . . . A2
THIS WEEK ’ S
large to fit into the more
conventional
shopping
cart’s child seat can com-
fortably sit in Caroline’s
Cart and be safely wheeled
around while shopping.
Drew Ann and David
Long, parents of special
needs daughter Caroline,
designed and patented the
cart that is manufactured by
Technibilt in Newton, N.C.
Lynn Warshawsky, grand-
parent of a special needs
See
TODAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
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WEATHER
Full Forecast, A3
Florence City Council voted to extend
a telecommunications franchise agree-
ment with CoastCom for one year after a
lengthy discussion during the Aug. 15
council meeting.
Through the process, the council voted
in favor of economic development and
future improved access to fiber and
telecommunications in Florence.
City Project Manager Megan Messmer
said, “Currently the city has an agreement
with CoastCom to provide telecommuni-
cations, Internet and fiber services
through town and to institutions in town.”
The agreement has been in effect since
2008 with little to no changes.
According to the staff report, telecom-
munications means the transmission of
data. This includes fiber, a technology
that converts electrical signals carrying
data to light and sends the light through
transparent glass fibers.
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