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❘ 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
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NURSES 7A
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