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❘ JUNE 3, 2017 ❘ $1.00
COAST
CENTRAL
ATHLETES
OF THE YEAR
A&E — INSIDE
SPORTS — B
126TH YEAR ❘ ISSUE NO. 44
SERVING WESTERN LANE COUNTY SINCE 1890
Siuslaw Valley,
Western Lane
receive Oregon
seismic grants
FLORENCE, OREGON
FURA passes
first biennial
budget
VETERAN ’ S MEMORIAL PARK
L I V I N G M E M O RY
4 fire stations, ambulance
building to be upgraded
Budget includes $6.4 million
to help fund ReVision
Florence project
Siuslaw Valley Fire and Rescue (SVFR) was
awarded four Seismic Rehabilitation Grants
from the Oregon Business Development
Department —
B Y J ACK D AVIS
Infrastructure Finance
Siuslaw News
Authority.
Western Lane
Ambulance District (WLAD) also received one
grant.
The grants, totaling $729,555, will cover the
seismic rehabilitation costs of four of the eight
fire stations and the WLAD station.
SVFR/WLAD Director Jim Langborg said,
“Each is technically a separate grant.”
North Fork Fire Station will receive
$177,139; Clear Lake Fire Station will receive
$181,022; Sutton Fire Station will receive
$130,734; Canary Road Fire Station will
receive $101,386; and WLAD will receive
$139,274.
According to Langborg, the SVFR Main
Station on Highway 101 was recently built with
adequate seismic protection, so would not
require seismic improvements.
The Florence Urban Renewal Agency
(FURA) budget committee approved the
agency’s first biennial budget for 2017-19
in the amount of
B Y J ACK D AVIS
$9,421,074 during
Siuslaw News
the May 31 meeting
held at the Florence
Events Center.
The two-year budget begins July 1 and
ends June 30, 2019.
Florence City Council decided to move the
city from an annual budget to a biennial
budget earlier this year.
The largest single budget item was $6.4
million to complete the ReVision Florence
streetscape and gateway project along
Highway 101, from the Siuslaw Bridge to
Ninth Street, and Highway 126, from the
intersection with Highway 101 to Quince
Street.
According to the budget message prepared
by Florence City Manager Erin Reynolds,
other budget items approved by the commit-
tee included:
See
SEISMIC 8A
Bones named
Florence Tourism
Ambassador
MARK BRENNAN/SIUSLAW NEWS
F
lorence-area veterans Tony Cavarno, Steve Olienyk and Mike Bones
meet with Siuslaw Elementary second-grade students on Thursday at
Veteran’s Memorial Park to share stories of service to the nation. Area
veterans regularly meet with students and educators to pass on lessons
learned in the military to younger generations. Veteran’s Memorial Park is
just beyond the Siuslaw River Bridge on Bay Street in Historic Old Town
Florence. It is open all year.
Longtime volunteer is first
recipient of new Travel Lane
County award
Travel Lane County and the Florence Area
Chamber of Commerce have announced
that Florence resident Mike Bones has been
selected as the recipient
B Y M ARK B RENNAN
of the 2017 Tourism
Siuslaw News
Ambassador Award for
Florence.
Bones has been a volunteer in the community
for decades and has assisted in a variety of
capacities at many local nonprofit organizations.
He is perhaps best known for his years of work
as a Chamber Ambassador and for his horticul-
ture work as a member of the Siuslaw Chapter of
the American Rhododendron Society.
In the nomination letter sent to Travel Lane
County, Chamber Board Member Annette
Foglio was effusive in praising Bones.
“Mike’s list of accomplishments and contribu-
tions in our city would require what his wife
appropriately labels ‘a huge wheelbarrow’ to
adequately hold his list,” Foglio said.
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AMBASSADOR 11A
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FURA 8A
Fl o r en c e w om a n wi ns bi g o n ‘ Wh ee l of F or t u ne ’
Longtime fan appears
on the show, winning
a cash prize and a trip
A
MARK BRENNAN/SIUSLAW NEWS
See
rea resident and lifelong game show enthu-
siast Tami West appeared last night on one
of the country’s most popular game shows,
“Wheel of Fortune.”
B Y M ARK B RENNAN
West is a fan of the
Siuslaw News
genre and was excited
last summer when she
saw a unique ad.
“Three Rivers Casino advertised that the
‘Wheel Mobile’ was coming to the casino. I
knew right away I wanted to try and go,” said
West. “I’ve always watched the show, so ... we
went.”
West discovered that it was essentially
an audition at the casino and put her name
in for the two-day process.
MARK BRENNAN/SIUSLAW NEWS
“You put your name in this big barrel and
they draw them out six people at a time. You
come up on stage and do a round of ‘Wheel of
Fortune,’” she said.
However, Saturday came and went and
West’s name never got called.
Not one to easily give up on an opportunity to
fulfill a long-held dream, West decided to return
Sunday and hope the results would turn out dif-
ferently.
They did.
“There were a bunch of rounds the next day,
and they kept pulling names and things kept
winding down and winding down,” recalled
West. “Finally I saw that there were three name
tags left in the barrel.”
The show organizers called out the first name
and it wasn’t West. Fortunately for her, that per-
son had already left.
Tami West has watched the ‘Wheel of
Fortune’ since it first started airing.
See
WHEEL 11A
Firefighters, Red Cross respond to mobile home fire
B Y J ACK D AVIS
Siuslaw News
Siuslaw Valley Fire and
Rescue (SVFR) responded to a
reported mobile home fire May
31 in the 1600 block of Second
Street.
Fire Chief Jim Langborg said,
“We got a call about 12:43 p.m.
for smoke coming from a mobile
home. When we got there, we
saw light smoke coming from
cracks in the door and we could
see smoke inside the windows.”
According to Langborg,
neighbors said there was no one
in the residence, so firefighters
had to force their way into the
dwelling.
“We located a small kitchen
fire,” Langborg said. “We put it
out, but due to the damage that
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had gone on with the smoke, we
contacted the Red Cross to make
sure these people had a place to
stay.”
Langborg said the source of
the fire was an oven that had
been set to self-clean.
“According to the occupants,
they had the oven set to self-
clean mode and then left. I don’t
know the condition of that stove.
We don’t know if it was a
mechanical failure of the oven,
or if there was some debris that
ignited during the cleaning
process,” Langborg said.
The American Red Cross
Cascades Region said the fire
affected one family, including
one adult and two children. The
Red Cross provided resources to
help address the immediate basic
needs of the family.
COURTESY PHOTO
Siuslaw Valley Fire and Rescue and the American Red Cross
respond to a mobile home kitchen fire May 31 on Second Street
in Florence. No injuries were reported.
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