❘
/ SIUSLAWNEWS
❘
@ SIUSLAWNEWS
SATURDAY EDITION
CHOPPY WATER
FOR SAILORS
Mapleton class gets
prickly new pet
SPORTS — B
SCHOOL NEWS INSIDE
127TH YEAR ❘ ISSUE NO. 8
FURA explores
beautification
projects
SERVING WESTERN LANE COUNTY SINCE 1890
FLORENCE, OREGON
READY TO RHODY
Rip City Academy program
supplies jerseys, tickets,
workshops and expertise
D
See
URBAN RENEWAL 9A
B OYS AND
G IRLS C LUB
TEAMS UP
WITH B LAZERS
Revision Florence, Downtown
Revitalization Team and
Public Art Committee share
visions for Florence
uring the Jan. 25 Florence Urban
Renewal Agency (FURA) meeting,
the board of directors received
updates on the $6 to 7 million ReVision
Florence project, the Downtown
Revitalization Team
B Y J ACK D AVIS
program and Public
Siuslaw News
Art Committee activi-
ties.
City of Florence Project Manager Megan
Messmer said that more than $2 million of
the estimated $6.95 million Revision
Florence project was the result of a 50 per-
cent contingency pad and future underground
utilities.
She told directors that the $1.6 million
contingency number would come down as
the project progressed and costs estimates
became firmer.
The city has negotiated a $460,000 not-to-
exceed contract with Murray, Smith and
Associates to provide engineering and design
services for the project.
Murray, Smith Civil Engineer Chris Link
said, “As we get more detailed the contin-
gency (rate) will drop. Basically final plans
will go to 3.5 percent.”
He said that figure was standard for
Oregon Department of Transportation
(ODOT) projects.
City Manager Erin Reynolds assured the
board that this was not the final estimate.
❘ JANUARY 28, 2017 ❘ $1.00
B Y M ARK B RENNAN
Siuslaw News
B
JENNA BARTLETT/SIUSLAW NEWS
2017 Rhododendron Festival Court
A
ll 13 members of the 2017 Rhododendron Court met this week to begin their
campaign towards the 110th Rhododendron Festival, May 19 to 21 in Florence.
Senior Court Princesses Eyza Abbas, Chehalis Stinger, Claire Waggoner, Abby
Watkins and Jewel Roby and Senior Court Princes Benjamin Cahoon, Michael
Larson and Kyle Doran will mentor the Junior Court Princesses, first-grader Clover
Holbrook, second-grader Chloe Clark, third-grader Madi Jerabek, fourth-grader
Arianna Williams and fifth-grader Ava Center. Mapleton School District has three
students participating this year and Siuslaw has 10. From now until May, the
Senior and Junior Courts will work to be “Always Ready to Rhody” with
the Rhododendron Court Committee to develop leadership and com-
munication skills and make public appearances in the area. This year’s
Queen Rhododendra and King of the Coast will be crowned in a coro-
nation ceremony in May.
oys and Girls
Club of Western
Lane County con-
tinues to improve
the services and
programs it offers to
the Florence com- MARK BRENNAN/SIUSLAW NEWS
Boys and Girls Club
munity.
student Alejandro
One of the latest
programs it has wears one of the jer-
introduced is a seys supplied by the
partnership with Portland Trail Blazers
for the Rip City
the Portland Trail
Academy program.
Blazers, named “Rip
City Academy.” The
program's goal is to support efforts of organi-
zations around the state that want to conduct
local youth basketball leagues.
Teen Program Director Tracy Aaron said
the opportunity to participate in the initiative
brings with it many benefits.
“Basically, you sign up with them and it’s a
partnership. They will sponsor your basketball
team. Every kid that signed up to play will get
a ticket to a Blazers game,” Aaron said. “They
also get to purchase, at a very reasonable
price, a Nike jersey.
See
BLAZERS 9A
Turn on the radio: Florence’s lifeline
In the event of a natural disaster, local ham radio club
may be Oregon coast’s only link to outside world
It’s not a matter of if —
it’s a matter of when. That
is the overarching theme
that the members of
Florence’s amateur ham
radio club want to share
with the community.
PHOTOS BY MARK BRENNAN/SIUSLAW NEWS
INSIDE
(Above) Florence ARES/RACES
member Bill Herbner, left, and
President Bob Pine show the
emergency ham radio equip-
ment they maintain. (Below,
right) Details of the group’s
mobile communications unit.
Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Community . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Religion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
B7
A3
A5
A4
Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A2
School News . . . . . . . . . Inside
Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B
Weather Data . . . . . . . . . . . A2
THIS WEEK ’ S
Members are referring to the
unfortunate inevitability of a
large-scale
B Y M ARK B RENNAN
disaster hit-
Siuslaw News
ting
the
Oregon coast
and, more specifically, Florence.
The need for communication
services during a time of crisis
seems obvious, but is often over-
looked in the planning for such an
event.
The preparations for disaster
are centered on civic entities. The
responsibilities of the police and
fire departments are delineated in
action plans and exercises that are
rehearsed and evaluated. There
are, however, some eventualities
that cannot be simulated.
Those eventualities are the rea-
son that the Central Oregon Coast
Radio Club (COCRC) and its
members have spent tens of thou-
sands of dollars of their own
money to insure that vital commu-
nications continue during a disas-
ter.
COCRC organized two smaller
subsets of the agency to take a
larger role in assisting first
responders when the inevitable
occurs. This group of highly
trained radio operators comprise
the Florence chapter of the
Amateur Radio Emergency
Services (ARES) and the Radio
Amateur
Civil
Emergency
Services (RACES), network.
Bob Pine, the president of
Florence ARES/RACES, believes
that the current set up for emer-
gency communications is ade-
quate, but the physical structures
that house needed communication
equipment are suceptible to flood-
ing or other damages.
“We anticipate that during a
catastrophic event this area is
going to be cut into three pieces,”
Pine said. “The bridge going south
is going to collapse, since it is not
seismically designed to withstand
a 9.0 earthquake. Towards
Mapleton we have a road that is
frequently flooded, and going to
Eugene, which is where we would
hope to receive assistance, there is
a tunnel that was never designed
for an earthquake. Going north,
we have a road that has perpetual
landslides.”
The prospect of isolation during
a time of crisis is not simply spec-
ulation; it is based on a situation
that occurred in Oregon not too
long ago.
“In 2008, there was intense
flooding in Astoria. Astoria was
completely cut off. There was no
phone service, no cell phone
TODAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
57 38
53 37
58 40
51 43
WEATHER
Full Forecast, A3
reception or Internet,” Pine said.
“Emergency management in
Salem was trying to figure out
what was going on, but an individ-
ual noticed that some one kept
bringing in updates from other
areas, and it turned out he was a
ham radio operator. He was on the
radio with other operators, and
they were able to communicate
what was happening on the
ground.”
This experience was critical to
the realization by state authorities
that radios could play an integral
part in the system needed to main-
tain communications between
locally affected areas and the civic
entities tasked with their recovery.
In a remarkable display of bi-
partisanship, a bill was quickly
passed that authorized funding to
establish ham radio centers in all
counties in the state, for the spe-
cific purpose of communicating
during natural disasters.
The Florence ARES/RACES
group has created and maintained
the network for the community
since that bill took effect. The
group continues to upgrade and
improve on the system currently
in place here, in Mapleton and in
Dunes City.
One of the major upgrades that
the group has undertaken is the
purchase and equipping of a trailer
that has been turned into a mobile
S IUSLAW N EWS
2 S ECTIONS ❘ 20 P AGES
C OPYRIGHT 2017
See
RADIO 9A
CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK
THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM