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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (April 8, 2017)
❘ / SIUSLAWNEWS ❘ @ SIUSLAWNEWS ❘ APRIL 8, 2017 ❘ $1.00 SATURDAY EDITION E XTRAORDINARY P EOPLE : T-BALL TAKES OFF Annie Schmidt SPORTS — B 127TH YEAR ❘ ISSUE NO. 28 INSIDE — A6 SERVING WESTERN LANE COUNTY SINCE 1890 FLORENCE, OREGON S IUSLAW N EWS WEATHER LAUNCHES NEW WEBSITE M ONDAY Friday’s storm causes outages Subscribers will be able to log in to see full content Central Lincoln reports 4,000 without power from Lincoln Beach to North Bend T he Siuslaw News, Florence’s No. 1 resource for print and online news, announces a brand new look and more functionality coming to its website, www.the siuslawnews.com. B Y C HANTELLE M EYER The website will be Siuslaw News launched Monday, April 10. To keep up with the changing times and growing social media trends, News Media Corporation is rolling out website updates for each of its community newspapers. Siuslaw News General Manager Jenna Bartlett said, “This is something we’ve been looking forward to for a long time. Our new website will be more user friendly and allow us to provide even more content to our readers.” Instead of going online to find a snippet of Siuslaw News’ front-page stories and sports articles, readers soon will find individual links to stories published in the print edition. Furthermore, photos, press releases and other submissions will allow for even more commu- nity news. The website will be more accessible for both readers and the Siuslaw News team, who will be updating the website multiple times a week. “Being ahead of the curve has been a real focus for us, and something that isn’t easy with a twice-weekly publication,” said Siuslaw News Editor Ned Hickson. “The website is the bridge that will get us to our goals in that area. From a news coverage standpoint, this will allow us to provide more up-to-the-minute information to our readers, as well as get that information to them in more ways.” Breaking news items can now be reported in a more timely fashion, via the website. The Siuslaw News will still cover these items in the print edition, but will be capable of getting readers the basics much sooner. Besides sports and front-page news, readers can also expect to see additional pictures, obit- uaries, court logs, police reports, letters to the editor, opinion pieces and seasonal featured content. In addition, each article on the new website will allow for community comments and inter- action. Siuslaw News staff will moderate these comments as time allows. Easily shared links will also connect website readers with social media websites, such as Facebook, Twitter and Youtube. “Engaging our readers and providing them with an opportunity to engage with us is anoth- er terrific aspect of our new website,” Hickson said. “Now, readers can leave comments, ask questions and also share news items, letters to the editor, photos and more on multiple social media platforms. It’s one more avenue we’ll have in expanding our role as a true communi- ty newspaper.” See WEBSITE 7A M Libraries transform MARK BRENNAN/SIUSLAW NEWS Siuslaw Public Library — 1460 Ninth St. in Florence and 88148 Riverview Ave. in Mapleton — continues to remain relevant during National Library Week and all year, with pro- grams and services for children, seniors and people of all ages and demographics. Siuslaw Public Library highlights new programs, services pril 9 through 15 is National Library Week, which was established by the American Association of Libraries in 1958 to recognize the importance of libraries and library workers to the B Y M ARK B RENNAN communities they serve. Siuslaw News The public’s ability to access information, espe- cially accurate, fact-based information, has rarely been more important than it is now. The number of websites and blogs that create and disseminate information has increased dramati- cally in the last few years. A On the other hand, the problem with this vast reservoir of information is the variable quality and factual reliability of the information posted or shared. That is just one of the reasons that Siuslaw Public Library District Director Meg Spencer believes the need for the services her organiza- tion offers has never been greater. “There has been a lot of talk these days about fake news. Can you trust your sources? The library is the perfect example of a trustworthy See any area residents woke up to no power and various levels of wind damage Friday after a storm swept in overnight. National Weather Service in Portland reported winds as B Y C HANTELLE M EYER high as 69 miles per Siuslaw News hour at Heceta Beach, and between 40-60 miles per hour at other midcoast locations. Central Lincoln PUD (CLPUD), which serv- ices 10 cities and parts of four coastal counties, reports that around 4,000 customers were with- out power at the peak of the storm. “We are patrolling lines, having reports of some lines down and working on the ones we find,” CLPUD’s Twitter for outages said. CLPUD kept up a running feed on Twitter of updates and outage information, noting that the Reedsport and Florence areas continued to have power outages into the afternoon. At 2:15 p.m., 917 customers remained without power. A low line near Sutton Lake north of Florence and several downed trees on Canary Road in Dunes City caused outages for many rural residents. Within Florence, Public Works crews cleared downed trees on Oak and Kingwood streets and Rhododendron Drive. “It’s been busy,” said Public Works Director Mike Miller. “Crews are handling it with a smile, as they would rather be out there picking up trees and limbs than pumping water.” He said that 46th Street is closed near Fred Meyer due to high water, and that the “seasonal lakes” in some area neighborhoods continue to hold water. LIBRARY 7A See STORM 7A Democratic Club sponsors candidate roundtable Candidates for Port, Library, other board positions lay out positions to constituents T he Bromley Room was almost filled to capacity Saturday, April 1, with people interested to hear can- B Y J ACK D AVIS d i d a t e s Siuslaw News explain their positions as they run for the board of directors for Lane Community College and Siuslaw Public Library and the Port of Siuslaw Board of Commiss- ioners. The Florence Area Democratic Club sponsored the candidate roundtable as a part of its regular monthly meeting. Two of the seven candidates running for three positions on the Port of Siuslaw Board of Commissioners spoke. Bill Fleenor is running to fill current Commission President Ron Caputo’s Position 5 seat. Caputo is not running for another term. Bill Meyer and David Swinney are also running for the position. Fleenor said, “How do you want to see (the port) evolve? What do you want to see us do? The existing port majority only thinks about fishing. I want to see the port sus- tainable and develop jobs.” Shayne Burnem is running against incumbent Terry Duman for Position 1. Burnem said, “One of the pri- mary purposes of the port is eco- nomic development. We need to use (the port) for economic devel- opment, not just fishing. The port has 40 acres that have been sitting for 15 years.” Fleenor and Burnem suggested exploring the possibility of locat- ing a call center on the property. Burnem said, “We have access to high speed data right there. A call center could run 24 hours a day and put a lot of people to work. These are family wage jobs, not minimum wage jobs.” Mark Tilton, one of four candi- dates who is running for three Siuslaw Public Library Director positions, said, “I have been a strong library supporter my whole life. I am currently on the board and I completely support the cur- rent direction of the library.” Sally Wantz was one of three candidates running for the Lane Community College Zone 1 Director position. She announced that because of scheduling con- flicts, she was withdrawing her name, but was supporting Melanie Muenzer. Jeffrey Gratreak is also running for the position. See CANDIDATES 7A Nurses rally community support ahead of federal mediation this week B Y J ACK D AVIS Siuslaw News pproximately 140 people attended the Oregon Nurses Association (ONA) sponsored community meeting at the Florence Senior Center April 4 to support Peace Harbor Medical Center nurses in ongoing contract negotia- tions with PeaceHealth Medical Group. Area residents and nurses from as far away as Oregon Health and Science University INSIDE A Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . Extraordinary People . . . . . . . Sideshow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B5 A3 A6 B4 Peace Harbor nurses and supporters gather at the Florence Senior Center April 3 to rally support for Oregon Nurses Association’s federal mediation talks with PeaceHealth that begin Monday, April 10. in Portland joined with local nurses and ONA rep- resentatives to hear updates on the failed con- tract negotiations. ONA labor representa- tive Gary Aguiar said, “The community support at Tuesday’s meeting was terrific. Far more attended than we expected. We had to open up the partition to the next room to get more space. We ran out of chairs and parking spaces.” The meeting was held Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A4 Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A2 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B Weather Data . . . . . . . . . . . A3 JACK DAVIS/SIUSLAW NEWS THIS WEEK ’ S TODAY SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY 51 39 57 43 53 38 58 43 WEATHER Full Forecast, A3 after the last negotiation sessions between nurses and PeaceHealth represen- tatives failed to reach an agreement Feb. 27 and 28. Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service is set to begin mediation between ONA and PeaceHealth Monday, April 10. The nurse’s contract with PeaceHealth Peace Harbor Medical Center expired Dec. 31, and was extended until Jan. 31. The nurses are currently working without a contract. ONA and PeaceHealth have been negotiating since last December to try and agree on a new contract. S IUSLAW N EWS 2 S ECTIONS ❘ 18 P AGES C OPYRIGHT 2017 See NURSES 7A CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM
