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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 9, 2016)
THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM ❘ / SIUSLAWNEWS ❘ @ SIUSLAWNEWS WEDNESDAY EDITION MAKING HISTORY 126TH YEAR ❘ ISSUE NO. 89 Veterans Day special I n f ul l c ol o r SPORTS — C ❘ NOVEMBER 9, 2016 ❘ $1.00 INSIDE COAST LIFE — B SERVING WESTERN LANE COUNTY SINCE 1890 FLORENCE, OREGON Siuslaw Region Vision 2025 forum provides info to upriver communities A town hall meeting for the upriver communities of Mapleton, Deadwood B Y M ARK B RENNAN and Swisshome Siuslaw News was held Nov. 1 at the Mapleton High School Gymnasium. The meeting was presented by the Siuslaw Region Vision 2025 Committee to share information on a number of locally relevant topics. Presentations from Siuslaw Valley Fire and Rescue, United Way of Lane County and an overview from the Visioning Committee highlighted the forum. The event also featured an update from Lane County Public Works Director Tim Elsea on the county’s ongoing efforts to address the instability of sec- tions of Bernhardt Creek Road. “We want you to be aware of the pos- sibilities, so we want to talk about a cou- ple of things,” he said. See PHOTOS BY MARK BRENNAN/SIUSLAW NEWS Students in Mrs. Dolly Greene’s third-grade class filed for candidacy, campaigned and voted for the office of class president on Nov. 8. Students also got to write and vote on ballot measures. C ASTING THEIR VOTE Siuslaw third-grade students learn about the American electoral process UPRIVER 9A I t’s never too early to learn the “fun”-damentals of Democracy, at least if you are a third-grade student of Siuslaw Elementary School teacher Dolly Greene. Siuslaw Valley extends chief’s contract Fire and ambulance districts tighten working relationships through IGA S iuslaw Valley Fire and Rescue (SVFR) Fire Chief Jim Langborg signed a new B Y J ACK D AVIS five-year contract Siuslaw News offered by the dis- trict’s board during the Oct. 19 meeting. The new contract was effective as of the signing date. The contract, replacing Langborg’s origi- nal 2-and-a-half-year contract with annual renewals, was initiated to assure his job continuation through a new five-year Inter Governmental Agreement (IGA) adminis- tration agreement being negotiated between SVFR and Western Lane Ambulance District (WLA). “We think Jim is doing a very good job. He just had an excellent review,” said SVFR Board President John Scott. “We think Jim is the right person to oversee this merger. He has been instrumental in putting it together. He is well educated, well expe- rienced and he is also an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT).” Langborg said the new contract is similar to his original contract, except it gives him more job security. “The only changes to the new contract are changes in severance pay and the assur- ance of a letter of recommendation for ter- mination without cause. Sometimes politics are not necessarily reflective of job per- formance,” Langborg said. He added, “I made no recommendation for changes in pay.” According to Langborg, the new IGA between SVFR and WLA will strengthen interdepartmental communication, training and administration. INSIDE See DISTRICTS 9A Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C6 Coast Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B Courts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A2 Library Tidings . . . . . . . . . . . A5 B Y M ARK B RENNAN Siuslaw News Looking for election results? Readers looking for results from the Nov. 8 Presidential Election will have to wait until Saturday’s issue of the Siuslaw News to see them in print. The results were made public last night beginning at 8 p.m., after the paper’s print deadline, but an updated tally can be found online under Breaking News on our website www. TheSiuslawNews.com. Lane County Elections will continue to provide updates on the results until all ballots are processed. Her students have been studying the electoral process this voting season by participating in debates, candidate nominations, town hall forums and finally by casting their vote in a mock election on Nov. 4. This is the third time that Greene has used the Presidential Election as an instructional tool for her classes. “I created a social studies activi- ty, which includes the nomination of student candidates, debates on important world issues and a mock election. The student candidates are encouraged to take a stand on the issues of education, environment, health and world peace,” Greene said. The process of voting is just part of what the students are encouraged to explore in the exercise. Additionally, Greene hopes her stu- dents will go beyond the basics. “I hope that the debates inspire students to think about important issues, pose questions to their class- room candidates and learn that vot- ing is a responsibility as well as a privilege,” she said. The possibility of inspiring a young person to pursue public serv- ice as a career is also one that Greene encourages. “A former student of mine, Kyle King, went on from being the class president in his third grade election to becoming class president of the freshman class and then the junior class at Siuslaw High school.” Greene said. The students that are currently running for office have decided on See VOTE 9A Rhododendron Drive project moving forward City, contractors complete bike path paving from Ninth to Wild Wind streets B Y J ACK D AVIS Siuslaw News he City of Florence’s Rhododendron Drive bike path project has completed the paving stage from Ninth Street to Wild Winds Street, but recent rain has caused the strip- ing phase to be put off. According to Public Works Director Mike Miller, the con- tractor, Eugene Sand Construction, also installed the pedestrian-activated Rectangular Rapid Flash Beacon to provide a safe pedestrian crossing of Rhododendron Drive on the north side of the entrances into Greentrees Village; completed the retaining wall on the west side of Rhododendron Drive and T Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A4 Scoreboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . C3 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C Weather Data . . . . . . . . . . . A2 THIS WEEK ’ S JACK DAVIS/SIUSLAW NEWS Eugene Sand Construction workers clear brush in preparation for removing a retaining wall along Rhododendron Drive as part of the bike path and Phase II improvements the city is undertaking. TODAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY 63 49 61 51 60 49 58 48 WEATHER Full Forecast, A3 hydroseeded the exposed areas along the entire length of Rhododendron Drive. Miller said, “One item left to complete is the application of the thermoplastic bike lane striping. Due to the way that thermoplas- tic is applied, we need to wait seven days for the asphalt to ‘cure’ before the striping can be applied. And we need dry weath- er for the thermoplastic to bond correctly to the new pavement.” The striping, initially sched- uled to be applied Monday, Nov. 7, had to be postponed due to wet weather. Miller said the contractor hopes to have the striping com- pleted today or Thursday. S IUSLAW N EWS 3 S ECTIONS ❘ 26 P AGES C OPYRIGHT 2016 See PATH 9A CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK A new vision