Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 11, 2017)
THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM ❘ / SIUSLAWNEWS ❘ @ SIUSLAWNEWS WEDNESDAY EDITION BOWLING TO THE TOP Youth build snow creations COAST LIFE — B SPORTS — C 127TH YEAR ❘ ISSUE NO. 3 ❘ JANUARY 11, 2017 ❘ $1.00 SERVING WESTERN LANE COUNTY SINCE 1890 FLORENCE, OREGON State’s looming $1.5 billion budget deficit will hit social services, schools B Y J ACK D AVIS Siuslaw News S tate Sen. Arnie Roblan and State Rep. Caddy McKeown addressed a standing- room-only crown at the Siuslaw Public Library’s Bromley Room for a town hall meet- ing on Saturday, Jan. 7. Both talked about budget challenges and other issues to be addressed in the upcoming state con- gressional session, including international trade, eldercare and protecting the state’s shellfish industry. According to Roblan, the budget submitted by Gov. Kate Brown faces an approximate $1.5 bil- lion deficit. “We are about $1.5 to $1.8 billion short,” Roblan said. “We don’t have enough money. If you remember back when we were $3.5 billion short, we were in a recession and we assumed we were going to have to be a little short. “We are not in a recession right now. We have had pretty good steady growth for a long time and we are still $1.5 billion short,” he added. Roblan said every facet of the budget, includ- ing education and healthcare, are going to see cuts. “This shows us that we can’t grow our economy out of this problem,” he said. “It is systemic. We have needs that are going to cost more than we have revenue coming in. There has to be a con- versation about doing that. We are going to have to do some cutting. You are going to see a budget in about two weeks from the co-chairs to balance this budget with a $1.5 billion short- fall. Everybody is going to be screaming, from See COURTESY PHOTOS Members of the 2017 Rhododendron Senior Court from Siuslaw High School receive roses as they meet Florence Mayor Joe Henry and the Rhododendron Court committee. Wendy Krause (left) stands with Senior Princess Jewel Roby and Senior Prince Kyle Doran (below) from Mapleton High School. TOWN HALL 7A 2017 is the 110th annual Rhododendron Festival in Florence, celebrating a grand tradition of native rhododen- drons and honoring local youth in the Grand Floral Parade and a yearly coronation. This year’s “Always Ready to Rhody” theme honors U.S. Coast Guard Station Siuslaw River as the festival’s grand marshalls. This week, the Rhododendron Committee announced the selections for the 2017 Rhododendron B Y C HANTELLE M EYER Court, comprised of Siuslaw News a Senior Court of five princesses and three princes, and a Junior Court with five princesses. “The students are all wonderful representatives of Florence and Mapleton,” the committee said. “These courts will be introduced at various func- tions during the next few months.” Members of the Senior Court were presented with roses by Florence Mayor Joe Henry and committee member Wendy Krause. The Senior Court Princesses are Eyza Abbas, Chehalis Stinger, Claire Waggoner and Abby Watkins from Siuslaw High School and Jewel Senior Princesses Claire Waggoner and Abby Watkins from Siuslaw High School Roby from Mapleton High School. The Senior Court Princes are Benjamin Cahoon and Michael Larson from Siuslaw and Kyle Doran from Mapleton. Junior Court Princesses from Siuslaw Elementary are first-grader Clover Holbrook, second-grader Chloe Clark, fourth-grader Arianna Williams and fifth-grader Ava Center. The third-grade princess is from Mapleton, Madi Jerabek. From now until May, the Senior and Junior Courts will work with the committee to develop leadership and communication skills and make public appearances in the area. On May 13, this year’s Queen Rhododendra and King of the Coast will be crowned in a coro- nation ceremony. Florence swears in mayor, councilors at meeting Western Lane Ambulance District presents Citizen Lifesaving award B Y J ACK D AVIS JACK DAVIS/SIUSLAW NEWS More than 60 people packed the Siuslaw Public Library’s Bromley Room Saturday, Jan. 7, to attend a town hall meeting with State Sen. Arnie Roblan and State Rep. Caddy McKeown. INSIDE Florence’s Emergency Cold Weather Shelter will be open Wednesday, Jan. 11, and Thursday, Jan. 12, with the possibility of Friday, Jan. 13, if weather conditions remain below freezing. The Emergency Cold Weather Shelter is at the Presbyterian Church of the Siuslaw, 3996 Highway 101. Registration starts at 5 p.m. For more information or ways to help, call Greg Wood at 541-991-8208. Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C6 Coast Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . A3 Library Tidings . . . . . . . . . . . A5 Siuslaw News T he City of Florence contin- ued its motion into 2017 with a full agenda for the first Florence City Council meeting of the year. During the Jan. 9 council meet- ing, Mayor Joe Henry and coun- cilors Joshua Greene and Ron Preisler were sworn in for new terms of office. Greene and Preisler will continue as council president and vice president respectively. The mayor serves a two-year term and councilors serve for four years. Prior to the swearing-in, Western Lane Ambulance District (WLAD) presented Florence area resident Larry Scott with a Citizen Lifesaving Award for saving the life of a car accident victim on Sept. 2, 2016. WLAD Operations Manager Matt House said, “He came upon a serious motor vehicle on Highway 126 near milepost 25. He broke the rear window, pulled the injured driver to a safe loca- tion and administered first aid. Within seconds, the car became fully engulfed in flames. This alone saved the man’s life. Western Lane Ambulance is proud to present the Citizen Lifesaving Award.” See COUNCIL 7A Library introduces new language program with food, fanfare B Y M ARK B RENNAN Siuslaw News iuslaw Public Library has added a new language learn- ing system to its available patron database. The Mango Language Program was unveiled last Saturday during a well-attended, hands-on work- shop in the Bromley Room. According to Library Director S Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A4 Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A2 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C Scoreboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . C4 THIS WEEK ’ S Meg Spencer, the addition of Mango to the libraries database was done in response to patron requests. “This came about as part of our most recent strategic plan. We did a large survey and we asked everyone to tell us the one thing that they really wanted to see at the library. We gave them a list of options and language learning by far exceeded all the other options,” Spencer said. Choosing the system to offer required research. Eventually, library staff settled on the Mango Language Program, primarily because of the program’s ease of use, but also because of the num- ber and variety of languages offered. “We investigated many online programs and Mango is the one we chose, mostly because it is TODAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY 44 30 45 26 44 32 48 39 WEATHER Full Forecast, A3 really user friendly and it has more than 70 languages you can learn with just your library card and your pin number,” Spencer said. “There are a lot of great things about this program. For example, you can take an online placement test and it will tell you where you should start your learn- ing program.” S IUSLAW N EWS 3 S ECTIONS ❘ 24 P AGES C OPYRIGHT 2017 See MANGO 7A CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK 2017 Rhododendron Court Roblan, McKeown ALWAYS READY TO RHODY hold Town Hall
