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SATURDAY EDITION
RAISING
THE BAR
Royals prep for
Rhody Days
SPORTS — B
SCHOOL NEWS — INSIDE
127TH YEAR ❘ ISSUE NO. 34
TRANSPORTATION
SERVING WESTERN LANE COUNTY SINCE 1890
F
lorence and Yachats will begin a one-
year trial transit service starting July
1, because of a $290,110 pilot project
grant received by Lane Transit District (LTD)
from Oregon
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Department of
Siuslaw News
Transportation.
According to LTD
Accessible Service Specialist John Ahlen, the
grant will fund connecting the last stretch of
Highway 101 not currently served by transit
service.
Ahlen met with about 12 local and region-
al transit personnel and area citizens during a
stakeholder meeting at Florence City Hall
Thursday to receive input on a proposed rider
survey scheduled to be posted on the LTD
website in next week.
The survey is designed to receive potential
rider input in several categories, such as pre-
ferred days of the week and hours the service
would run; the primary reason for using the
service, such as shopping, medical recre-
ational or employment; and rider location and
demographics.
See
TRANSIT 6A
Lane County Parks
holds public forum
Master Plan will include
significant public input
L
ane County Parks Department held a
public meeting April 26 at the Mapleton
High School Library to solicit citizen input on
the county’s Parks and
B Y M ARK B RENNAN
Open Space Master
Siuslaw News
Plan, which is current-
ly being developed.
The presentation was made by Parks and
Animal Services Manager Mike Russell, and
was less a presentation than an inquiry into
what community members want to do and see
in their parks.
County representatives began the evening
with an overview of the current planning
process.
See
PARKS 7A
FLORENCE, OREGON
S t u de n ts a id i n e f f or t to r e s t o r e d un es
Yachats-
Florence bus
service to S
start in July
Transit service will connect
the last un-served portion
of Highway 101
❘ APRIL 29, 2017 ❘ $1.00
Siuslaw Middle School students remove invasive Scotch broom during field trip
B Y M ARK B RENNAN
Siuslaw News
prays of bright yellow are
mixed in with the varied
shades of brown that make up the
mountains of sand around the area
called dunes. While these plants are
visually appealing, they are not as
harmless as they look.
Scotch Broom is an aggressive,
invasive species that has taken hold
in many areas around Florence. The
yellow plant is choking out other
life on the sands and poses an
ongoing threat to wildlife and
native plants.
That is why Siuslaw Middle
School students went on a field trip
Friday to help remove the offend-
ing plants from the dunes off
Heceta Beach Road.
Middle School Principal Andy
Marohl coordinates the school’s
“Stream Team” and believes the
threat of invasive species is one
that needs to be discussed with stu-
dents and addressed.
“Invasive species are an impor-
tant topic for students to learn
about. They are the number one
cause of biodiversity loss — next to
habitat destruction — and we live
in a very special ecosystem that has
been greatly impacted by invasive
species,” said Marohl.
The tenacity of Scotch broom
makes it a particularly difficult
MARK BRENNAN/SIUSLAW NEWS
Above, Kyle Terry (right),
Program Manager for the
Siuslaw Watershed Council,
assists students in the removal
of a large clump of invasive
Scotch broom. Students spent
Friday morning clearing the
plant from the dunes near
Heceta Beach Road.
plant to remove. The middle
school’s field trip focused on the
plant, for good reason.
See
DUNES 7A
Western Lane board upholds termination decision
Board of Directors swears Yecny in as interim commissioner to replace retiring Sneddon
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Siuslaw News
D
uring the April 27 Western
Lane Ambulance District
(WLAD) Board of Directors meet-
ing, more than 30 people crowded
into the small conference room and
hallways to hear arguments and
rebuttals regarding the decision to
terminate WLAD employee Cindy
Haberman.
Haberman was placed on paid
administrative leave on March 13
while an investigation into charges
of “insubordination and unwilling-
ness to follow the directions of
your supervisor,” were conducted,
according to a termination letter
dated April 4 and sent to Haberman
from Siuslaw Valley Fire and
Rescue (SVFR) Chief and WLAD
Director Jim Langborg.
WLAD Board President Mike
PHOTOS BY JACK DAVIS/SIUSLAW NEWS
Terminated Western Lane Ambulance District employee Cindy
Haberman (inset left) reads a prepared statement to the WLAD
board, (above) during a 90-minute appeal of her firing during
the April 27 board meeting.
Webb moderated the tense, but
mostly civil, discourse, allowing
Langborg and Haberman to present
their respective positions.
Webb had to repeatedly inform
audience members that they would
have a chance to speak, but must
wait for the proper time.
Langborg said, “After continued
efforts, over a period of time it was
found that the situation with this
employee (Haberman) was not
going to work out.”
According to Langborg, the deci-
sion to terminate Haberman was
made after revelations from a
March 8 LifeMed meeting came to
light.
LifeMed is a subscription mem-
bership available to local residents
to help them offset the expense of
an ambulance bill.
See
DISTRICT 6A
‘Spy Plane’ pilot gives a history lesson
Col. Jay Murphy speaks about Cold War during military museum Heritage Days
B Y M ARK B RENNAN
Siuslaw News
ension between North Korea and the
U.S. has been in the news recently,
and Florence residents had an opportunity
to hear from an individual with unique
insight into that dynamic last Saturday at
T
Col. Jay Murphy, U.S. Air Force
retired, speaks of his Cold War
exploits to a rapt crowd April 22
at the Florence Municipal Airport.
INSIDE
MARK BRENNAN/SIUSLAW NEWS
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Religion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A10
School News . . . . . . . . . Inside
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Weather Data . . . . . . . . . . . A3
THIS WEEK ’ S
Florence Municipal Airport.
On April 22, Oregon Coast Military
Museum (OCMM) sponsored a Heritage
Day presentation by Col. Jay Murphy, a
retired U.S. Air Force pilot who flew the
SR-71 Fighter Jet on classified spy mis-
sions in the 1970s and 1980s.
OCMM Director Cal Applebee
believes that the plane was one of the
most important technological develop-
ments of that era.
“When one thinks of Cold War ele-
ments like cloak and dagger or ‘Spy vs.
Spy,’ we often think in terms of people.
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However, there have been numerous tech-
nological developments over the years
that figure prominently in the Cold War,
and one of those is the SR-71,” Applebee
said.
A crowd of approximately 75 heard
about Murphy’s exploits in the famous
stealth fighter. They seemed enthralled by
the colonel’s tales of danger and heroism.
In the 1960s, Lockheed developed the
SR-71 under CIA auspices. It was the first
aircraft designed to incorporate stealth
S IUSLAW N EWS
2 S ECTIONS ❘ 22 P AGES
C OPYRIGHT 2017
See
HISTORY 6A