THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM
❘
/ SIUSLAWNEWS
❘
@ SIUSLAWNEWS
WEDNESDAY EDITION
U.S. Chamber
visits Florence
SAILORS ON
COURSE FOR STATE
SPORTS — B
INSIDE — A3
127TH YEAR ❘ ISSUE NO. 13
FLORENCE
POLICE
INVESTIGATE
HOMICIDE
❘ FEBRUARY 15, 2017 ❘ $1.00
SERVING WESTERN LANE COUNTY SINCE 1890
FLORENCE, OREGON
S PECIAL S ERIES ( PART I )
Desire for dignity
Death with Dignity Act has ‘Catch-22’ requirements that many are unable to meet
B Y M ARK B RENNAN
B Y J ACK D AVIS
Siuslaw News
Early Sunday morning, former Florence res-
ident Carolyn Stickley, 73, was arrested for
shooting her 93-year-
old ex-husband in the
head, killing him.
Florence
Police
Department received a
911 call from Stickley
on Feb. 12 at 2:42
a.m., saying she had
shot her ex-husband,
Erwin Drake.
Carolyn Stickley
Police responded to
Drake’s riverfront res-
idence at 13 Wild Winds, and found him
deceased from an apparent gunshot wound to
the head.
Stickley, who has a Green Valley, Ariz.,
address, was arrested on murder charges and
transported to Lane County Adult corrections,
where she is being held.
See
POLICE 9A
Special district filing
deadline is March 16
Western Lane County has 24 special dis-
trict positions open for the May 16 special
election. The filing
B Y J ACK D AVIS
deadline is March 16.
Siuslaw News
Interested
candi-
dates need to have a
completed SEL 190: Candidate Filing —
District application turned into Lane County
by 5 p.m. on that day.
Lane County Clerk Sheryl Betschart said,
“We want to remind people to make sure the
forms are completely filled out and that all
instructions are followed.”
Special district positions and terms for
Western Lane County are:
See
ELECTIONS 9A
CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK
Siuslaw News
Ex-wife, 73, allegedly
shoots former husband,
93, and then calls 911
I
n one of the most famous and enduring
dramas ever written, William Shakespeare
poses perhaps the fundamental question
for each of us, “To be or not to be?”
That is the question that Florence resident
Bruce Yelle asks himself on a regular basis.
And the answer he has settled upon, at least for
today, is that he wants to continue “being.”
But that could soon change.
Yelle suffers from a number of life threaten-
ing diseases, the most debilitating of them
being Parkinson’s. He also has Diabetes and
exhibits many of the more acute symptoms that
accompany his illness. His circulation is not
good and he has numbness and pain in his
extremities. His vision can become blurred and
cuts and bruises heal slowly and painfully.
His ability to move about freely is steadily
decreasing while his overall level of pain con-
tinues to increase.
While Yelle knows he wants to continue
“being” for now, he also knows he does not
want to be at a place near the end of his life
where he is in pain, confused and unable to
care for himself — or worse, be unable to
communicate to others that he wishes to exer-
cise his right as an Oregonian to die with dig-
nity.
His concerns about issues associated with
quality of life and self-determination have
compelled Yelle in his decision to eventually
take his own life.
Yelle says he doesn’t want to die today or
tomorrow or even next week. But some day, in
the not too distant future, he will want to avail
himself of Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act
(ODDA).
The problem is, while the intent of the
ODDA is to ensure that citizens are provided a
safe process to legally end their life, individu-
als have to meet a number of criteria to partici-
pate in the ODDA program.
Since the ODDA was enacted in 1997, 1,554
individuals have received prescriptions for life
ending medications.
Yelle’s deteriorating mental condition may
eventually preclude him, or his loved ones,
from engaging in the legally-sanctioned
process designed to end his suffering.
Ironically, while Yelle would likely meet the
ODDA’s criteria today, there’s a good chance
he won’t at the time when he’ll want it most.
“The law now says that I have to be of
sound mind. So I could say, now, that I don’t
MARK BRENNAN/SIUSLAW NEWS
Florence resident Bruce Yelle wants greater control over the time, place and quality
of the end of his life, but his multiple illnesses complcate matters.
want to live with this condition,” Yelle said,
“But as it worsens, I may not be able to use the
law because I may no longer be considered of
‘sound mind’ as I get closer to actually dying.”
These challenges have not prevented Yelle
from planning his next step.
“I am working on writing a petition to get
the law changed. I want to make sure that
someone with a terminal disease that has no
chance of recovering, regardless of whether
they have six months to live or not — especial-
ly if it is a neurodegenerative disease — that
they can make arrangements to end their life
while they are still rational,” he said.
Yelle is fortunate that he has adequate health
care for his current level of need. He also has a
partner, his wife Kathleen, to help with his
physical challenges and to support him on the
days that his emotions are raw.
But while his health challenges are manage-
able at this point, the nature of his illnesses
dictates that his physical and mental abilities
will continue to diminish in the months ahead.
Yelle has come to terms with the inevitable
outcome that awaits him; he knows that he will
eventually die from his conditions. In the
meantime, he wants to know his wife and
friends won’t have to care for his increasing
physical and mental needs as his condition
worsens.
What is uncertain is how to proceed with
planning his death to ensure his own sense of
dignity
“I want to be able to draw the line now. I do
not want to have someone toilet me and feed
me,” Yelle said emphatically. “I do not want to
be dependent on others for these and other per-
sonal hygiene tasks. And I should not have to.”
See
DIGNITY 9A
Ownership of iconic Stearman biplane changes hands
The familiar blue and yellow plane will continue to ‘hang’ in Florence
B Y M ARK B RENNAN
Siuslaw News
lorence residents have
become accustomed to
the muffled whirr of the
old plane’s engine and its
bright blue and yellow paint
job passing overhead. They
look skyward hoping to catch
a glimpse of this airborne relic
from another time.
And a lot of them make
their way to the Florence
Municipal Airport to take a
trip skyward in the colorful
biplane that was built in 1943.
The ownership of this well-
known aerial wonder has
recently been transferred to
INSIDE
F
Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Community . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Library Tidings . . . . . . . . . . .
Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
B6
A5
A5
A4
transplants Terry and Winette
Tomeny.
Often referred to by locals
as “The Stearman” the
biplane’s longtime owner,
Sam Spayd, has decided that
he is ready for a change in his
personal flight plan.
“I’ve had the airplane for 20
years and I am very accus-
tomed to flying it. So I am
looking for a different type of
plane to purchase and fly.
Basically, I am looking for a
new challenge,” he said.
Spayd’s decision to find a
new plane came at a good time
for recent retirees Terry and
Winette. The Tomenys had
been looking for a place on a
Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . A2-3
Scoreboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . B4
Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B
Obits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A2-3
lake with a nearby airport and
they heard about Florence.
Terry came for a visit and
realized this was the perfect
spot. They relocated, moved
the piper cub they owned to
the airport and started getting
to know their hanger neigh-
bors, which included Spayd.
“About a year ago, a friend
of ours mentioned to us that
Sam was thinking of selling
the Stearman, and so we
talked to Sam. He said he was
interested in selling the
plane,” Terry said. “And I
asked him, do you make any
money doing this? And he said
no. Then I asked him, do you
lose any money doing this?
THIS WEEK ’ S
And he said no. And then I
said perfect!”
Terry is a pilot and aviation
enthusiast and he and Spayd
became friends almost imme-
diately.
“Sam and I have very simi-
lar backgrounds. We are both
career Air Force guys that
continued to fly afterwards.
And one of the main things
that connected the two of us is,
we both have a real love for
aviation. And we have both
flown all kinds of stuff. Sam
flew the big airliners and I
flew the fast jets, but we both
See
BIPLANE 9A
MARK BRENNAN/SIUSLAW NEWS
Members of team Aero Legend, from left, Winette
Tomeny, Sam Spayd and Terry Tomeny stand in The
Stearman’s hangar. The Tomenys recently purchased the
73-year-old biplane from Spayd.
TODAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
57 49
50 39
53 41
49 39
WEATHER
Full Forecast, A3
S IUSLAW N EWS
2 S ECTIONS ❘ 20 P AGES
C OPYRIGHT 2017