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SATURDAY EDITION
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Siuslaw welcomes
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SPORTS — B
INSIDE — A3
126TH YEAR ❘ ISSUE NO. 82
❘ OCTOBER 15, 2016 ❘ $1.00
SERVING WESTERN LANE COUNTY SINCE 1890
FLORENCE, OREGON
SCHOOLS
Principals Forum
focuses on school
safety Tuesday
B Y M ARK B RENNAN
The Siuslaw School District is inviting all
interested residents to attend a free
Principals Forum on Tuesday, Oct. 18, at 6
p.m. to discuss the issue of safety in area
schools. The forum will be held in the
Siuslaw Middle School commons, 2525
Oak St.
The forum is presented by the district and
Florence Community PTA.
Siuslaw School principals Andy Marohl
and Michael Harklerode and Vice Principal
Corky Franklin will be outlining the steps
the district is taking on a number of safety
issues, including natural disasters and
intruder threats.
Florence Community PTA President
Tiffany Holdahl said, “The goal of the
Principals Forum is to gather questions from
our community pertaining to safety and
security in our schools, and to have admin-
istrators share what they are doing to bolster
safety.”
The event will begin with a complimenta-
ry dinner for participants followed by the
forum at 6:30 p.m.
The forum will be hosted by Florence
Mayor Joe Henry.
“This is an important conversation to be
having and a top concern for parents and
school staff,” Holdahl said.
Great Shakeout
prepares region
‘Duck, cover, hold’ Thursday
with earthquake drill
B Y J ACK D AVIS
Siuslaw News
T
he City of Florence, local organiza-
tions and individuals will practice
“Duck, Cover and Hold” during the
“Great Shakeout” earthquake prepared-
ness drill at 10:20 a.m. on Oct. 20.
The worldwide drill, now in its eighth
year, is held on the third Thursday in
October.
City of Florence Project Manager
Megan Messmer said, “Our Public Works
Department has been participating for
several years and City Hall started partic-
ipating last year.”
The exercise is coordinated with
Federal Emergency Management Agency
and Oregon Emergency Management
(OEM).
“The goal is to have large organiza-
tions have their people, at a designated
time, pretend that an earthquake has hap-
pened and to go through the drill. It is a
coordinated way for as many people as
possible to drill for an earthquake,”
Messmer said.
Individuals are also encouraged to con-
duct their own preparedness drill at home.
The drill consists of three elements.
• DROP — Get on the ground since the
shaking will make it difficult to walk and
keep moving objects from hitting or hurt-
ing you.
• COVER — Get under the cover of a
sturdy table or desk and use one arm to
cover your head to keep falling materials
from hitting or hurting you.
• HOLD ON to a table leg to keep the
cover object from moving away from you
and to steady yourself.
INSIDE
See
Ambulance . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Courts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Religion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
A2
B8
A2
A5
BM1 DAN NIELSEN/U.S. COAST GUARD
Active-duty U.S. Coast Guard Station Siuslaw River personnel are honored during the Coast Guard Appreciation Dinner.
Semper Paratus — Always Ready
Appreciation dinner honors Coast Guard’s nearly 100 years on the Siuslaw River
minted and colorful coin had the
n honor of its sustained rela-
Coast Guard logo on one side
tionship with the U.S. Coast
with Station Siuslaw River and the
Guard Station Siuslaw River
City of Florence logo on the other,
for the past 99 years, the City of
along with the event date.
Florence will soon apply for the
The program included the sta-
prestigious Coast Guard City des-
tion’s color guard team, an
ignation.
upscale banquet catered by
The proposal was made earlier
Pavilion Catering, live music,
this year, and, at that time, an
speakers and dancing. Speakers
appreciation dinner was one of the
for the event included Mayor
ways suggested to honor the
Henry, Commander Charles
Florence area’s only active-duty
B Y D EBORAH H ELDT C ORDONE
Guerrero from Sector North Bend,
military unit in town.
For the Siuslaw News
Senior Chief Petty Officer Tim
Florence Mayor Joe Henry
JONATHAN YODER/ U.S. COAST GUARD AUXILIARIST
Tregoning from Station Siuslaw
agreed to spearhead the effort and
Senior Chief Petty Officer Tim Tregoning, officer in charge River and retired Brigadier
the Oregon Coast Military
of Station Siuslaw River, addresses the 250 dinner participants. General Norm Hoffman, who is
Museum agreed to host Florence’s
also the Flotilla 52 Commander.
first Coast Guard Appreciation
Dinner.
Every Station Siuslaw River
received a specially designed chal-
See GUARD 7A
Representatives from the city,
active-duty member received per-
lenge coin upon arrival. The newly
Port of Siuslaw, veterans groups,
sonally addressed invitations, as
Station Siuslaw
Daughter of American Revolution, did active auxiliary members.
River personnel
the U.S.
received personal
Coast Guard
“It is the people that truly make
invitations for
Auxiliary and
the Coast Guard what it is today.”
themselves and a
Station
—R ETIRED B RIGADIER G ENERAL N ORM H OFFMAN
guest and a com-
Siuslaw
memorative
River banded
Challenge Coin
together to form a dinner commit-
Over 250 guests arrived dressed
depicting the
tee and plans were made over the
in evening attire, military uniform
logos of the U.S.
next months.
or Coast Guard uniform of the day,
Coast Guard,
On the evening of Oct. 7, those
Service Dress Bravo Alpha.
Station Siuslaw
plans came to fruition with a well
Coast Guard active-duty mem-
River and the
attended, semi-formal dinner affair bers, command staff from Sector
City of Florence.
DEBORAH HELDT CORDONE/ U.S. COAST GUARD AUXILIARIST
held at the Florence Events Center. North Bend and Auxiliarists all
I
Siuslaw Valley conducts early morning rescue
Thick brush hampers rescue attempt of three lost north of Florence Monday
B Y J ACK D AVIS
Siuslaw News
A
late evening beach walk
took a dangerous turn as
three transients attempted
to return to their car through thick
brush near Carl G. Washburne
State Park around 1 a.m. Monday,
Oct. 10.
Siuslaw Valley Fire and Rescue
(SVFR) Fire Marshall Sean
Barrett said, “Our duty chief,
Chief Jim Langborg, got a call
from the dispatch center saying,
‘There is someone missing, they
don’t know where they are and
they can’t get out.’”
Three people from out of the
area were lost off the trails near the
park. A 17-year-old youth, the son
one of the other two people, was
able to crawl through about 200 to
300 yards of heavy brush to reach
the car and his cell phone. He then
called for help.
According to Barrett, Oregon
State Police (OSP) first received
the call at 1:05 a.m. Monday
morning.
Langborg and an OSP officer
were the first responders to the 911
call made by the teenager.
The state park is outside the
SVFR district response area, but
the department still chose to help
in the rescue.
“At about 2:48 a.m. the chief
decided he needed more help. He
could hear the people screaming
out there but could not get to them
through the brush. We responded
with a total of 14 people on
scene,” Barrett said.
While one crew used chainsaws
and other implements to cut a path
through the brush to reach the two
stranded people, another crew
searched for a possible alternative
way in.
Langborg said, “It took our vol-
unteers about two and a half hours
to cut their way into them. It taxed
a lot of different skill sets. There
were some medical components to
it, there were some rescue compo-
nents to it and some wild-land fire-
fighting components, using the
saws and those types of skills.”
Barrett said hypothermia was a
concern.
“They were cold and wet,” he
said. “They weren’t hypothermic,
yet, but they were miserable. The
crew got blankets to them to warm
them up and then started bringing
them back out. The trail was only
about half cut when the firemen
brought them out.”
Langborg said one of the vic-
tims was carried out in a special-
ized Stokes carrier.
“The adult male was treated on
scene and then released and the
female was transported to the hos-
pital. The son was fine,” Langborg
said.
He added, “When you go out
and hike, you should take your
survival kit with you, you should
have your cell phone with you and
you should know where you are
going. If you don’t and things go
wrong, they can go really wrong.
These folks were lucky our volun-
teers were there to rescue them.”
The rescue was completed at
5:54 a.m.
Siuslaw Valley Fire and Rescue,
Western Lane Ambulance Dist-
rict, local public works, Oregon
Department of Transportation,
Florence Police Department,
Central Lincoln PUD and the U.S.
Coast Guard will be busy respond-
ing to storm conditions along the
coast this weekend.
City of Florence Public Works
is already at work clearing debris
and checking known problem
areas.
The city’s website has informa-
tion on how citizens can report
storm related issues at ci.florence.
or.us/publicworks/report-storm-
related-issues.
DRILL 7A
Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A4
Side Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . B7
Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B
Weather Data . . . . . . . . . . . A2
THIS WEEK ’ S
TODAY
SUNDAY
MONDAY
TUESDAY
60 55
60 53
60 53
63 57
WEATHER
Full Forecast, A3
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