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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 24, 2016)
10 A SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ SATURDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2016 Report from 1A Commissioner Terry Duman said, the port’s “buy local guide- lines” state, “whose headquarters, or majority owners reside within the Port of Siuslaw district.” “We were asked to vote on this last month with no other knowl- edge,” Duman said. “It says in my commission ethics that I can ask reasonable questions. Just because the staff tells me something — I don’t have to agree with every- thing the staff says. “If we are going to base our decision on who (Leskin) inter- viewed, I would like to hear the pros and cons of the applicants, not just the pros of the one he approves.” Commissioner Nancy Rickard said, “When we turned (the selec- tion process) over to the staff I feel it is micro-managing for us to decide to ignore their recommen- dation.” Referring to the port’s decision to turn the interview process over to the port manager three years ago, Duman said, “Five minutes prior to that decision, we approved the buy local guidelines. Then we turned around and handed it to a company in Eugene.” Duman said he was the only commissioner to vote against that decision three years ago. “I said, ‘that will never happen again. We have buy local guide- lines,”’ he said. “Is it my fault that Coast Insurance is the only local company that applied for it?” Duman then reread the sen- tence regarding headquarters or majority owners residing within the Port of Siuslaw District. “Coast Insurance has been the company of record (for the port) before. Our insurance is the same, no matter who we choose,” he said. Caputo suggested the port put the decision off, but Leskin told commissioners that Special Districts Insurance Services required the port to make a deci- sion by Dec. 24. Duman, Huntington and Caputo voted to approve the reso- lution to appoint Coast Insurance as the insurance agent of record for the port. Rickard voted no and Buckwald abstained. During the final public com- ment period, former port commis- sioner Bill Fleenor spoke to the board about the port’s fiscal responsibilities Fleenor said, “Ports were estab- lished in the 1800s and 1900s to help resource extractors and to facilitate economic development in the community.” He said the role of ports as economic development engines has not changed. He continued, “The port needs to bring in more money than it spends. This last audit, we lost $189,000, in spite of the $285,00 worth of tax money we collected from the very people we are sup- posed to be helping. “As a citizen, I look to the port as an economic development engine to bring jobs to this com- munity, not take my property tax money and spend it on projects that are not benefiting the commu- nity.” Leskin said,“The port carries a lot of debt. We are in the process of consolidating our debt and reducing some of that burden. The No.1 long-term financial goal is to pay down the debt and not incur additional financial obligations.” Arts from 1A The end result of the brainstorm- ing session between Pohlman and Pickell had a two-fold objective: First, a competition that would reward participating students with the opportunity to win some holi- day spending money, and, second, to develop their artistic skill set at the same time. Pohlman and Pickell call ed their recycled brainchild, “the first annu- al Repurposed Art Competition.” The competition was open to all Siuslaw High School students and awarded the top three entries a cash prize and highlighted display space in the Resto-Art Gallery. Pohlman added that this was important so the students can com- plete the process of conceptualiz- ing, creating, displaying and hope- fully selling their work. “The reason I decided to give cash prizes is that teenagers are not only really busy, but sometimes they need a little extra motivation to do something extra curricular,” she said. The criteria for entries was sim- ple. Objects had to be primarily made from reused materials and the work had to be turned in to the high school for judging. The response from the students was encouraging and many fol- lowed through on the process, cre- ating a wide variety of artistic objects. “Ultimately there were 10 pieces entered into the inaugural Repurposed Art Competition and the judges had a difficult time deciding on the three winners,” Pohlman said. Seven judges, including Pohlman, Pickell and Siuslaw High School instructors, judged the pieces. “The quality of the entries was very high and the judges had some hard decisions to make,” Pohlman said. “Eventually I decided to add two honorable mention winners, just because the pieces were so good.” The young artists’ finished pieces were than displayed in Pohlman’s gallery and immediately attracted attention. “Benjamin Cahoon won first prize and his piece sold almost immediately, which is great. The customers that bought the winning entry were really nice and agreed to leave it in the gallery to the end of the year so everyone can see it,” Pohlman said. Cahoon’s artwork was titled, “What Are You Waiting For?” and featured typography, metal, clock and lamp parts and an old picture frame. He won $250. The second place winner of the competition was Jessalynn Keppol, winning $150 for a copper wire tree on a metal base, and third place went to Maya Howard, winning $50 for a dragon sculpture made from tin from soda cans. Honorable mention went to Nathaniel Jones for a welded metal man sculpture and to Hayley Hensley and Hope Garcia for their dream catcher. These pieces have also attracted MARK BRENNAN/SIUSLAW NEWS Resto-Arts owner Tamara Pohlman (left) and Art Instructor Kim Pickell (right) present plaques to Jessalynn Keppol and Maya Howard, the second and third place win- ners. some attention. Pohlman believes that all the artists that entered the repurposed event have learned a great deal from the experience. She looks for- ward to expanding the competition in the future to include middle school and elementary students and increasing the overall number of participants. To view the winning entries in the re-purposed art competition, stop in to The Resto-Arts Gallery at 1255 Bay St. Merry Christmas & Happy New Year from all of us at the Pink Parlor! THE PINK PARLOR SALON 1379 Rhododendron Drive 541-902-5158 St. Mary, Our Lady of the Dunes Catholic Church Christmas Eve. Dec. 24 5:30 PM Mass Join us Sunday, Dec. 25th at 10:00am for Carols, Candles & Communion Corner of 10th & Maple St. • 541-997-3533 www.florencecrossroad.org email: office@florencecrossroad.org Come One, Come All to New Life Lutheran Candle Light service and Holy Communion December 24th • 6:00 pm and 10:00 pm Christmas Day Service December 25th • 10:30 am New Life Lutheran Church, ELCA 541-997-8113 • 21st & Spruce Street Come Join Us in Celebration Christmas Day Dec. 25 Florence 11 AM Mass Reedsport St. John the Apostle Church 8:45 AM
