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WEDNESDAY EDITION
An American
tradition
MURRAY JOINS
MAPLETON
SPORTS — B
126TH YEAR ❘ ISSUE NO. 95
❘ NOVEMBER 30, 2016 ❘ $1.00
INSIDE — S CHOOL NEWS
SERVING WESTERN LANE COUNTY SINCE 1890
FLORENCE, OREGON
WATER RIGHTS
Water rights agreement
concerns Siltcoos,
Tahkenitch lake residents
I
PHOTOS BY MARK BRENNAN/SIUSLAW NEWS
Mrs. Claus (above) and Santa Claus (right) rode into Old Town on a Siuslaw Valley
Fire and Rescue fire truck and took photos with youth in Gazebo Park during the
annual Florence Holiday Festival on Saturday.
Santa Claus — he’s
coming to town!
A
wet but enthusiastic crowd greet-
ed Santa and Mrs. Claus in
Florence’s Old Town on
Saturday, Nov. 26, to usher in the winter
holiday season at the Florence Holiday
Festival.
Chamber of Commerce Event
Coordinator Nancy Pearson said the after-
noon was well received by those in atten-
dance.
“Other than the rain, the festival was a
great success. There were tons of kids to
see Santa and to take hayrides, and the
singing was a big hit,” she said.
The festivities began with Santa’s
arrival at Old Town Park, continued
throughout the drizzly afternoon with free
hayrides and culminated after 5:30 p.m.
The highlight of the day was the light-
ing of the community Christmas tree
by Florence Mayor Joe Henry, which
went without a hitch as the rain stopped
for just long enough to allow some carol-
ing and the flip of the switch that lit the
tree. SEE PAGE 6A FOR MORE PHOTOS
PHOTO BY DEBBIE MEYER
Santa’s arrival in
Old Town signals start
of holiday events
B Y M ARK B RENNAN
Siuslaw News
Florence’s community Christmas tree is at the Siuslaw River Bridge
Interpretive Center on Bay Street in Historic Old Town.
Casino helps deliver holiday gifts to Florence youth
Three Rivers Casino Resort sponsors holiday promotions, 13th annual Toy Drive
B Y M ARK B RENNAN
Siuslaw News
T
INSIDE
hree Rivers Casino Resort
Consumer Marketing Dir-
ector Rich Colton wants the
community to know about and par-
ticipate in the casino’s 13th annual
Toy Drive, which is happening
right now.
“It’s amazing that we have been
doing this for 13 years,” Colton
said. “Basically, you bring an
unwrapped toy into the casino for
donation and you will receive $5 of
free play. This is through
December 16, and we will then
take the toys over to the
Soroptimists and they will divvy
Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C6
Community News . . . . . . . . . B
Library Tidings . . . . . . . . . . . A5
Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A4
them up.”
This is just one of a number of
efforts by Three Rivers to positive-
ly impact the community, accord-
ing to Andy Tidball, promotions
coordinator for the casino.
Tidball was raised in Florence
and he said he sees this and other
efforts by Three Rivers as an
opportunity to contribute to his
hometown.
“I grew up here. For me, it’s
important to give back to the
community that gave to me when I
was a kid,” Tidball said. “So for us
to do stuff like the coat drive and
the toy drive and even the food
drive, it really helps people in our
town.”
Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A2
School News . . . . . . . . . Inside
Scoreboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . C2
Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C
Three Rivers has a number of
special promotions that it spear-
heads, including the recently com-
pleted coat drive for the Siuslaw
Public School District.
“Our patrons donated 82 coats
and we delivered them to the
Florence PTA. They distributed
them to the elementary school,
middle school and all the way up to
the high school,” Colton said.
“This was our first year doing this
and our goal next year is to collect
and distribute 100 coats.”
While some of the casino’s giv-
ing campaigns are seasonally
focused, some are once a year and
others run year round.
Colton said, “For Veteran’s Day,
THIS WEEK ’ S
we
donated
416
buffet
lunches to vets, and they seemed to
really appreciate that. And
all year long we have been collect-
ing money and food donations for
Florence and Mapleton Food
Share. Basically you can bring
in three cans of food on Monday
and play bingo for free. We also
have a promotion where folks
that donate three cans of food can
play 18 holes of free golf on
December 10.”
When asked why he and his staff
seemed to take these efforts so seri-
ously, Colton’s response was meas-
ured and somber.
See
TODAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
51 39
52 40
52 47
55 47
WEATHER
Full Forecast, A3
n addition to purchasing 427 acres zoned
heavy industrial from International Paper
Company (IP) in Gardiner, Tacoma based
Industrial Harbor USA, LLC. (IH) also
acquired the rights to
B Y J ACK D AVIS
15 million gallons of
Siuslaw News
water per day as part
of the $3.3 million
deal that closed Monday, Nov. 21.
The Gardiner site is the former location of
IP’s paper mill, lumber mill and sawmill.
Construction on the mill complex began
in 1962. At its peak, IP employed nearly
1,000 people at its Gardiner location. The
downturn in the Oregon lumber industry
caused the facility to close in 1998.
IP originally valued the water rights to the
two lakes at $12 million and the 427-acre
mill complex site at $10 million.
The water rights specified that of the 15
million gallons authorized, IP could take up
to 11.7 million gallons of water per day
from Tahkenitch Lake for non-industrial
use. A pump was installed in Siltcoos Lake
to pump water into Tahkenitch Lake to
make up the difference if needed.
Dunes City Manager Jamie Mills said,
“IP, in order to keep their water rights active
on Siltcoos Lake, would use it once a year,
running the pump for 24 hours. That is all
they would do. Whoever purchases it will be
allowed to use a lot more than that.”
IH has not said what types of business it
will be recruiting for the site.
“A representative of IP told me that they
took the pump out of Siltcoos, where it
would pump water into Tahkenitch Lake,”
Mills said. “For the new owners to use
those water rights they would have to go
back and install a new pump to standards
set by the state.”
She added, “Tahkenitch is the primary
water source. Siltcoos is the supplemental
source, only when they can no longer draw
from Tahkenitch. If I lived on Tahkenitch I
would be very concerned.”
According to Mills, representatives from
the governor’s office, county and tribal
members and State Sen. Arnie Roblan met
last summer to discuss Siltcoos and
Tahkenitch lake water concerns when the
South Coast Water District’s system, which
services Siltcoos Lake residents, failed.
“I made them aware that (the water
rights) issue was dangling out there. At that
point in time the transaction was in escrow
but had not closed,” Mills said. “The state is
aware of it and Susan Douthit, the Douglas
County Watermaster who oversees the
diversion at Siltcoos, is very aware of the
situation, for which I am very thankful.”
State Sen. Arnie Roblan said, “I have spent
many years working with IP and the City of
Reedsport and value our relationship. We
hope to keep the industrial land as industrial
land and to determine what works best for
the region’s economic development goals.”
Roblan added, “Although we had little
information on the details of the sale, we will
work closely and diligently with the city, the
new owners and water users in our communi-
ties on the future use of the property.”
In addition to the mill sites and the water
rights, the agreement transfers over the own-
ership of the two dams located on the
DRIVE 6A
S IUSLAW N EWS
3 S ECTIONS ❘ 24 P AGES
C OPYRIGHT 2016
See
WATER 6A
CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK
International
Paper sells
Gardiner
property