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SATURDAY EDITION
SUMMER
TRAINING
Letters to Dad
Sunday, June 18
INSIDE — C
SPORTS — B
127TH YEAR ❘ ISSUE NO. 48
SERVING WESTERN LANE COUNTY SINCE 1890
Coastal
entrepreneurs
prepare for
Demo Day
FLAG DAY – JUNE 14, 2017
S TARS
FLORENCE, OREGON
AND STRIPES FOREVER
June 21 graduation,
showcase features
RAIN’s 11 new startups
Commissioners
vote to rebate
Owen for port
moorage rates
McClure appointed as
interim port manager
for second time
B Y C HANTELLE M EYER
B Y J ACK D AVIS
Siuslaw News
Siuslaw News
R
egional Accelerator and Innovation
Network (RAIN) is concluding its
first Coastal Pre-Accelerator program
with a showcase and graduation during
Demo Day on Wednesday, June 21
from 5 to 8:30 p.m. at the Florence
Events Center, 715 Quince St.
RAIN Coastal Venture Catalyst
David Youngentob said, “RAIN helps
startup ventures that are being founded
here on the coast launch and grow their
businesses faster so they can reach cus-
tomers all over country, and potential-
ly the world. With our partners, we’ve
been administering a three-month boot
camp for startup founders. These peo-
ple are your neighbors that you proba-
bly already know. These are folks that
are trying to launch a company from
scratch.”
During Demo Day, 11 coastal entre-
preneurs will present a 5-minute pitch
on their business, talk about how
RAIN has helped them and share what
they need to scale up to the next level.
“The most important thing is, they
are going to tell you about what they
need,” Youngentob said.
The event will also feature network-
ing time, a keynote address by coastal
entrepreneur and Chef Mels’
cofounder, Sam Gross. Food, beer and
wine will be provided.
The Coastal Pre-Accelerators began
in March in Florence and Lincoln City,
with six entrepreneurs attending the
Florence group and five attending
Lincoln City. Each cohort covered a
range of topics including marketing
and sales, financials and business mod-
eling, and pitching and fundraising.
They addressed these topics through
seminars and workshops, group and 1-
on-1 mentoring, one-page business
plans and more.
Here is a peek at the six local busi-
nesses in the Florence cohort:
Jesse Dolin — Stoney River
Sinkers
Dolin is revitalizing the fishing
world by removing lead from water-
ways. Stoney River Sinkers replace
harmful lead with natural stone that is
better for people, the environment, and
fish and wildlife.
“The key to fishing is natural pres-
entation. What’s more natural than a
stone gliding down a stream?” he said.
As an angler, Dolin saw a need for a
natural alternative and sought to fill a
niche. And now, several years into this
venture, he is gaining recognition,
including winning the Willamette
Angel Conference’s Speed Pitch com-
petition in May.
“I didn’t realize there was this com-
munity of support for startups,” Dolin
said. “I felt that joining the Pre-
Accelerator was exactly what I needed
because it offered a roadmap to success
and connections to mentors who had
experience with launching products.”
Dolin plans to continue building the
Stoney River Sinkers brand through
sharing his passion and excitement for
lead-free fishing.
See
INSIDE
❘ JUNE 17, 2017 ❘ $1.00
STARTUPS 7A
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Community . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Library Tidings . . . . . . . . . . .
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PHOTOS BY MARK BRENNAN/SIUSLAW NEWS
T
he Florence community honored “Old Glory” during a Flag Retirement Ceremony on
Flag Day, June 14. Community members gathered together at Veteran's Memorial Park
on Bay Street to respectfully observe as American Legion Post 59, local scout troops and
other groups “destroyed by burning” flags “in a dignified, ceremonious manner,” as part of U.S.
Flag Code. Three Flag Day Ceremonies throughout the day gave many people a chance to hear
about “The Talking Flag,” its history and what it stands for.
Group files to unionize service caregivers
Most Peace Harbor employees included except doctors, nurses
B Y J ACK D AVIS
Siuslaw News
Service Employees Internation-
al Union (SEIU) has filed a peti-
tion to represent service caregivers
at PeaceHealth Peace Harbor
Medical Center and PeaceHealth
Medical Group clinics.
According to the SEIU filing,
the union wants to represent: “All
full-time, regular part-time, on-
call and per diem service
employees, business office cleri-
cal employees and guards in the
following classifications em-
ployed by the employer at
PeaceHealth
Peace
Harbor
Medical Center.”
This includes Peace Harbor
Lab, Home Health and Hospice,
Rehabilitation and Wellness
Center, Orthopedic & Sports
Medicine Clinic, the Family
Medicine Clinic, General Surgery
Clinic, Internal Medicine/Walk-
In Clinic, Anticoagulation &
Diabetic Ed Clinic and Women’s
Health/OB/GYN clinic.
“We fully respect the right of
our caregivers to be represented
by a union,” said Marie Stehmer,
senior director of human resources
for PeaceHealth Oregon.
See
uring a special meeting June 13,
Port of Siuslaw commissioners
voted to refund former moorage tenant
Gordon Owen more than $1,400 in
daily moorage rate fees imposed after
Owen became delinquent in his moor-
age lease obligations to the port.
Commissioners voted four-to-one in
favor of the motion made by
Commissioner Mike Buckwald.
Commissioner Nancy Rickard cast
the only “no” vote.
Rickard said, “I think we can’t do
this because of public money that we
are responsible for. There is still a dis-
crepancy between the port staff and
Gordon Owen.”
The dispute between the port and
Owen regarding moorage payments on
his 40-foot sailing vessel Tenacious
began in April 2016, when Owen failed
to make a timely payment on his six-
month prepayment obligation to the
port.
Four commissioners, Ron Caputo,
Terry Duman, David Huntington and
Buckwald, voted to refund the money
to Owen, even though the port had to
write off $578 in unpaid moorage fees
Owen owed when he removed the boat
from port property.
In reference to Owen’s three-
page letter presented to the port on
May 17 requesting that $2,989 in
moorage fees be refunded to him,
Huntington said, “I don’t understand a
lot of it.”
Before the vote, Caputo said, “The
fact that he has been late all the time,
he got behind (and) decided not to pay
kind of hurts his whole case. When
there was a dispute, he just stopped
paying. I feel sorry for him, but I agree
with Nancy that we are dealing with
taxpayer funds. Everything we did was
legal as far as we know and as far as
our attorney says.”
In addition to not making any moor-
age payments to the port for more than
six months, Owen failed to provide the
port with proof of insurance or demon-
strate that the Tenacious was seawor-
thy — both port requirements for being
UNION 7A
See
PORT 6A
Planning Commission postpones Helping Hands decision
More written input sought before City of Florence’s conditional use permit vote
Dozens of people attended the June 12 Florence
Planning Commission meeting, most to support
the Helping Hands Coalition’s application for a
temporary conditional
B Y J ACK D AVIS
use permit to convert
Siuslaw News
property located at
1790 Highway 101
from retail to multipurpose human services.
Helping Hands is a nonprofit, all-volunteer
organization dedicated to serving hot meals to
those in need and others who need temporary
assistance.
The group also provides laundry and shower
vouchers.
Helping Hands lost the lease on its former loca-
tion at 1339 Rhododendron Drive last July. Since
then, the organization has been serving hot lunch-
Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A2
Side Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . B5
Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B
This Week on the Coast . . . A8
THIS WEEK ’ S
es every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at the
United Methodist Church at Third and Kingwood
streets.
In addition to comments in support of the pro-
posed new location, commissioners heard from
several people who lived near the proposed site
and were concerned about the effect a concentra-
tion of transients would have on the neighbor-
hood’s quality of living.
City of Florence Planning Director Wendy
FarleyCampbell said, “Our department has com-
mented that they have been working with Helping
Hands and that they have no concerns with the
proposal.”
The commission’s concerns over the initial pro-
posed plan include a lack of adequate parking, the
placement of an outdoor smoking area and traffic
TODAY
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WEATHER
Full Forecast, A3
congestion and flow around Teresa’s Sunrise
Espresso, which is adjacent to the proposed site.
Initially, FarleyCampbell said, “Staff does rec-
ommend approval of this, with the many condi-
tions that are listed in the application.”
The recommended approval is for a two-year
conditional use permit that would expire June 13,
2019, providing Helping Hands is moved into the
site by June 13, 2018.
Commissioners said residents were concerned
about loitering, before and after meals are served.
Helping Hands advocate Rick Hamilton said the
location would be under 24-hour video surveil-
lance to insure no loitering or overnight camping
or parking problems.
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3 S ECTIONS ❘ 26 P AGES
C OPYRIGHT 2017
See
HELPING 6A