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WEDNESDAY EDITION
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Youth build
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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
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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
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C OPYRIGHT 2017
See
MANGO 7A
CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK
2017 Rhododendron Court
Roblan,
McKeown ALWAYS READY TO RHODY
hold
Town Hall