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SATURDAY EDITION
B EST OF
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127TH YEAR ❘ ISSUE NO. 26
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SIUSLAW
PLAYS ON
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❘ APRIL 1, 2017 ❘ $1.00
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SERVING WESTERN LANE COUNTY SINCE 1890
FLORENCE, OREGON
Port special meeting gets contentious Regional ICE
Florence residents caught
up in three-state ICE
sweep March 26
B Y J ACK D AVIS
Siuslaw News
During the March 31 special
meeting, several Port of Siuslaw
Commissioners butted heads with
Port Manager Steven Leskin on
several unresolved issues from the
March 15 board meeting.
Commission President Ron
Caputo and commissioners Terry
Duman, Mike Buckwald and
David Huntington attempted to
take Leskin to task on several
issues, including inappropriate
behavior relating to a report Leskin
read into the record of the last port
meeting,, anger management
issues, stemming from the same
meeting, unreasonable moorage
rate charges and poor port staff atti-
tude toward customers.
At the Jan. 30 special meeting to
discuss Leskin’s job performance,
Commission President Ron Caputo
had said, “I personally would give
Steven the rating of ‘excellent.’”
Commissioners also attempted
to resolve several unsettled dis-
putes with current port moorage
lessees.
At the top of the list was an
ongoing dispute between the port
B Y J ACK D AVIS
Siuslaw News
O
NED HICKSON/SIUSLAW NEWS
Siuslaw Port Commission President Ron Caputo explains to fellow commissioner Nancy Rickard
why he believes Port Manager Steven Leskin should follow commission recommendations.
and boat moorage lessees David
Swinney and Michelle Culwell of
Florence.
The disagreements between
Swinney, who is currently running
for port commissioner in the May
16 special election, and the port go
back to at lease 2014. Though there
were different board members, a
different port manager and differ-
ent circumstances, Swinney com-
municated similar grievances in a
2014 letter addressed to the port
and a 2017 email sent to the port.
In March 12, 2014, Swinney
wrote of then Port Manager Bob
Forsythe that the port “…is no
longer directed by a board of five
elected officials but managed and
See
PORT 7A
Band of Brothers helps on the home front
Local veterans work together to assist in projects for variety of causes
tephen Ambrose was an American
historian, bestselling author and
Emmy Award winning producer. His
biographies of
B Y M ARK B RENNAN
President Dwight
Siuslaw News
D. Eisenhower,
Richard Nixon
and Meriwether Lewis are considered
essential contributions to the historical
record of America.
His most important and enduring con-
tribution to the public’s understanding
of modern American history, however,
may be his 1993 Non-Fiction book,
“Band of Brothers.” Ambrose’s book
told the story of the 506th Regiment of
the 101st Airborne, using the recollec-
tions and letters of the soldiers of the
unit as the basis for the book.
The significance of this work may be
best evidenced by the fact that Florence
S
has its own version of this famous
group of veterans, working to better
the community in a number of differ-
ent ways.
Tony Cavarno, one of the first mem-
bers of the local Band of Brothers,
points out that unlike the original
“Band of Brothers,” this group is made
up of veterans from other services.
“Our group is made up of members
of all the services. We have veterans
from the Army, the Marines, Navy,
Coast Guard and the Air Force,”
Cavarno said. “These guys are from
the VFW, the Elks, the American
Legion and other veteran groups. All
these guys give freely of their time and
MARK BRENNAN/SIUSLAW NEWS
their money to make our community Members of the local Band of Brothers meet weekly at
better.”
Florence Elk’s Lodge #1858 to discuss the group’s volun-
teer projects and donation requests from local civic
See BROTHERS 7A organizations.
n Sunday, March 26, federal Immi-
grations and Customs Enforcement
(ICE) agents conducted a raid in
Florence as part of a larger operation that
took place in Oregon, Washington and
Alaska.
A total of 84 foreign nationals were arrest-
ed, including four men from Florence.
“This operation highlights our commitment
to promoting public safety through the pur-
suit of targeted criminals residing in the U.S.
illegally,” said Bryan Wilcox, acting field
office director for Seattle Enforcement and
Removal Operations.
According to the ICE website, 60 had
criminal records, but 24 — almost one third
of those arrested, including at least one
Florence resident — apparently did not.
Daniel Lara Rendon, 35, and his wife,
Odilia Garcia Justiniano, 30, have lived at the
Ocean Breeze Trailer Park on 27th Street for
the past three years.
The park manager, who asked to remain
anonymous, said Rendon and Justiniano both
had to pass a criminal and financial back-
ground check before moving into the park.
“They both had a very clean history,” he
said. “They are wonderful tenants who’ve
never been a problem. Daniel helps others in
the park and is always friendly.
“Both have been taking English classes at
Lane Community College here in Florence,”
he added.
The manager said park residents own the
homes and rent the space. He also said two
other Latino families live in the park.
Rendon works in the timber industry and
was fully employed at the time of his arrest.
Florence Police Commander John Pitcher
said Florence police records showed no
arrests or convictions for Rendon.
According to Pitcher, an ICE agent con-
tacted Florence police and told them that ICE
was in the area at 1 p.m. on March 26. ICE
called back at 5 p.m. to say they had left the
area.
Pitcher was given no further information as
to what ICE was doing, or who was arrested.
According to one of Rendon’s neighbors,
an unmarked white van and a dark SUV
pulled up at the trailer park Sunday afternoon
and two bearded ICE agents got out of the
SUV. They wore side arms and were carrying
assault weapons.
See
ARRESTS 7A
Battery theft threatens traffic on Siuslaw River
U.S. Coast Guard reports two thefts at one navigation aid since November
B Y C HANTELLE M EYER
Siuslaw News
INSIDE
U.S. Coast Guard Aids to
Navigation Team Coos Bay,
(ANT) maintains lighthouses,
buoys, lights, day beacons and
fog signals along 240 miles of
the Oregon coast. Each May,
ANT places a sound signal at
the end of the North Jetty in
Florence. In addition, ANT
responds to reports of theft
and vandalism on any of the
aids to navigation it maintains.
In November, U.S. Coast
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Guard Station Siuslaw River
reported that the Siuslaw
River Inner Range Front Light
was out. When ANT investi-
gated, crew members discov-
eredthat a battery had been
stolen. The same light was
again targeted in March.
Chief Tom Hines, officer in
charge of ANT Coos Bay,
said, “We handle aids to navi-
gation up and down the coast.
When the lights go out, we
have a discrepant aid.”
Aids to navigation are
buoys, lights and signals that
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Side Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . B4
Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B
Weather Data . . . . . . . . . . . A3
help mariners navigate chan-
nels in rivers and on the ocean.
“If an aid stops working, we
have to restore function in
order to maintain safe and
proper operations in waters,”
Hines said. “When the aids are
discrepant because of theft or
vandals, it exacerbates the
problem.”
Coast Guard aids to naviga-
tion require both a primary
and secondary battery to func-
tion. Aids to navigation batter-
ies are used by the U.S. Coast
Guard, U.S. Navy, and private
THIS WEEK ’ S
parties to power lighted buoys,
signals and other navigational
aids. Each is marked with a
serial number.
According to Hines, the
thieves removed one battery
and its wiring from the the
Siuslaw aid before rewiring
the second battery. This kept
the light powered for a short
time, but was not enough to
maintain full operation. When
the light went out, Station
Siuslaw River reported it.
PHOTO COURTESY U.S. COAST GUARD
See
BATTERY 7A
TODAY
SUNDAY
MONDAY
TUESDAY
58 43
54 40
53 41
59 49
WEATHER
Full Forecast, A3
U.S. Coast Guard Siuslaw River Inner Range Front Light
S IUSLAW N EWS
2 S ECTIONS ❘ 20 P AGES
C OPYRIGHT 2017
CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK
crackdown
hits Florence
Commissioners
pose directives that
port manager
declines to follow.