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WEDNESDAY EDITION
ATHLETES
PREPARE FOR STATE
❘ MAY 17, 2017 ❘ $1.00
Rhododendron
Festival
SPORTS — B
OFFICIAL PROGRAM INSIDE
126TH YEAR ❘ ISSUE NO. 39
SERVING WESTERN LANE COUNTY SINCE 1890
FLORENCE, OREGON
County investigation finds Florence
police action justified on May 8
JACK DAVIS/SIUSLAW NEWS
Florence Police Chief Tom Turner and District Attorney
Patricia Perlow detail the account of inmate David
Brickey’s May 8 attack on two Florence police officers,
who were released from the hospital last week.
F IFTH
Rhododendron
Festival features
Station Siuslaw
River as parade
grand marshals
I
n honor of U.S. Coast Guard Station Siuslaw
River’s 100 years on the Oregon coast and
Florence’s bid to become a Coast Guard City,
Florence
Area
B Y C HANTELLE M EYER
Chamber
of
Siuslaw News
Commerce named the
local station as the
grand marshals of this year’s Rhododendron
Festival Grand Floral Parade on Sunday, May 21.
“It is certainly an honor,” said Master Chief
Tim Tregoning, officer in charge of Station
Siuslaw River. “It definitely helps us feel part of
the community and like we’re at home while
we’re assigned here.”
“Coasties” at Station Siuslaw River show their
involvement with the Florence community each
year by participating in Rhody Days events. As
grand marshals, they will have even more of a
presence with the color guard, a 29-foot response
boat, parade walkers and the involvement of the
U.S Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla 52.
According to Tregoning, he wants to keep the
festivities open for all members of “the Coast
Guard family.”
“One of the things I try to push is the family
element. A big part of our Coasties feeling at
home when they get to Florence is the inclusion
of their entire family in this community,” he said.
From serving as volunteer firefighters with
Siuslaw Valley Fire and Rescue, dancing and
See
COAST GUARD 7A
During a press conference held at the
Lane County District Attorney’s office in
Eugene Tuesday, District Attorney Patricia
Perlow announced that the Interagency
Deadly Force
B Y J ACK D AVIS
Investigation
Siuslaw News
Team (IDFIT)
determined that
there was no use of deadly force by
Florence Police Department officers dur-
ing an altercation at the Florence
Municipal Jail May 8.
The investigation was brought about by
ANNUAL
an incident that occurred at the jail, which
left 40-year-old inmate David Brickey dead
and 24-year veteran Florence Police Officer
Ken Larson and one-year veteran
Corrections Officer Stephanie Sansom hos-
pitalized with serious injuries and concus-
sions. Both have been released.
Perlow said, “The investigation conclud-
ed that there was absolutely no use of dead-
ly force by Florence police officers. The
investigation has also revealed that had
there been a use of deadly force, it would
have been justified under these circum-
stances.”
The IDFIT was made up of representa-
tives from Oregon State Police, Lane
County Sheriff’s Office and Eugene,
Springfield and Cottage Grove police
departments.
According to Perlow, the 5-foot 9-inch,
260 pound Brickey was an inmate in the
Florence jail. He had been booked in on
disorderly conduct on May 4 and was to be
released May 8.
See
INVESTIGATION 7A
O REGON D UNES T RIATHLON & D UATHLON
B EST IN
THE WEST
Q
uincy Gill races through
the finish line Saturday during
the fifth annual Oregon Dunes
Triathlon & Duathlon in Dunes
City. “Quincy won the sprint
duathalon for the fifth year in a row, and
that was after setting up the bike course
Saturday morning before he went out and
raced,” said event organizer Blair Bronson,
owner of Best of the West Events. According
to Bronson, there were just under 300 par-
ticipants in this year’s event. “For how wet
and miserable it was, it went really well. It
was tough on the participants, because the
weather was so bad. But we had 58 first-time
participants and racers ranged in age from
10 to 76 years old,” he said. Visit ore-
gondunestriathlon.com for race results.
F o r m o r e r a c e p h o to s, se e pa g e B 3.
MARK BRENNAN/
SIUSLAW NEWS
‘The teaching of the future’
Students explore STEM with demonstrations, hands-on exhibits at Science Night
E LECTION
B Y M ARK B RENNAN
Siuslaw News
Looking for
election results?
INSIDE
Readers looking for results from
the May 16 Special Election can
find them in Saturday’s issue of the
Siuslaw News or today on
TheSiuslawNews.com.
The results were made public
last night beginning at 8 p.m., after
the paper’s print deadline, but vote
tallies will be updated online at
TheSiuslawNews.com.
Lane County Elections will con-
tinue to provide updates on the
results until all ballots are
processed.
Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Community . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Kid Scoop . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Library Tidings . . . . . . . . . . .
B6
A3
B5
A5
S
iuslaw School District had
an impressive turnout for
last Wednesday’s Science
Night at Siuslaw Elementary
School. Dozens of parents, stu-
dents and teachers attended the
evening activities that highlighted
and explained different aspects of
the natural and man made world.
Siuslaw Elementary Principal
Mike Harklerode, said the turnout
for “Science Night” was very good
and the energy among the partici-
pants was high.
“It was a huge success. More
than 300 people attended. Kids of
all ages were thoroughly engaged
in the activities in the gym,” he
said. “Student projects were on
display in another part of the build-
ing for parents to see how different
elements of science inquiry and
engineering come together.”
Science Night was a combina-
Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A4
Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A2
Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B
Weather Data . . . . . . . . . . . A2
THIS WEEK ’ S
tion of exhibition and participation
as some students presented science
projects and all had the opportuni-
ty for hands on fun in the scientifi-
cally retrofitted school gymnasi-
um.
Siuslaw
School
District’s
emphasis on the areas of Science,
Technology, Engineering and Math
(STEM) in the education of stu-
dents is one of the main reasons
for Science Night.
Benjamin Wells, STEM coordi-
nator for the elementary school,
sees the evening as another step in
an ongoing effort by the district.
“This is a STEM event, which
is super important because it is
something that we have been
working on bringing more into
our schools for about 10 years
now,” Wells said. “We’ve been
following the next generation sci-
ence standards and lesson plans
and we are trying to implement
them more and more. It is the
teaching of the future and we are
MARK BRENNAN/SIUSLAW NEWS
Students and parents turn out in higher numbers than expect-
ed for May 10’s Science Night at Siuslaw Elementary School.
Siuslaw Middle School will hold a STEAM Fair this Saturday
from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
onboard with that.”
The importance of the STEM
curriculum, and the many pluses
that it brings to local students, is
TODAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
58 43
65 46
67 49
67 49
WEATHER
Full Forecast, A3
echoed by District Superintendent
Andy Grzeskowiak.
S IUSLAW N EWS
2 S ECTIONS ❘ 20 P AGES
C OPYRIGHT 2017
See
STEM 7A