SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ SATURDAY, JUNE 17, 2017
3 A
Florence Kiwanis to hold District’s longest tenured librarian set to retire
annual Great Duck Race Linda Weight has seen the introduction of computers, the internet and e-books
The Florence Kiwanis Club
is sponsoring the 20th annual
Great Florence Duck Race.
The race is held to raise funds
for local scholarships and
grants for non-profits. The
Great Duck Race will be held
on Tuesday, July 4, at 1 p.m.,
on the boardwalk at the Port of
Siuslaw Marina by ICM.
Tickets for the event are $5
and may be purchased at the
Florence Area Chamber of
Commerce, Roby’s Furniture
and Appliance and State Farm
Insurance.
CASA, Coffee and Conversation
Join Court Appointed Special Advocates ( CASA) on
Saturday, June 17th, 3:30-4:30pm
@ Florence Library- Bromley Room, 1460 9th St.
Advocates will share stories, followed by Q&A.
Learn about CASA while enjoying prize
drawings, coffee, lemonade and light desserts.
Visit us online: www.TheSiuslawNews.com.
B O N N E V I L L E
P O W E R
B Y M ARK B RENNAN
Siuslaw News
Linda Weight, a librarian at
Siuslaw Public Library, has
been working there for 31
years. During that time, she
has been involved in nearly all
of the changes and develop-
ments that have occurred in
the district over the last three
decades.
Weight has held a number
of different positions during
her tenure at the library. In the
past, she has worked as a chil-
dren’s and reference librarian,
collection development coor-
dinator and local area net-
works (LAN) administrator.
Library Director Meg
Spencer said that Weight has
always been willing to take on
whatever needed to be done to
add to the services and infor-
mation available to library
patrons.
“Many of these vital skills
were acquired out of necessi-
ty, and in response to the
needs of the district,” Spencer
said.
In 2003, Weight was recog-
nized as the Library Employee
of the Year by the Oregon
Library Association.
She is the only current
A D M I N I S T R A T I O N
LANE-WENDSON TRANSMISSION LINE
REBUILD PROJECT OPEN HOUSE
Construction in your area
BPA will begin work this summer to rebuild the Lane-Wendson transmission line between Florence and
Eugene in Lane County, Ore. The fi rst of the three phases of construction will occur along the transmis-
sion line just east of Florence to the town of Mapleton.
BPA selected Henkels & McCoy Inc. as the general contractor. You are invited to meet with BPA em-
ployees and construction representatives June 21 at an open house in Florence, Ore.
MARK BRENNAN/SIUSLAW NEWS
Linda Weight will retire at the end of June, after working in the Siuslaw Public Library
system for more than 31 years.
employee to work in the
library’s previous location
inside Florence City Hall.
Currently, Weight coordi-
nates technology for the dis-
trict, manages volunteers and
oversees the numerous com-
puter workstations that are
used by clients and staff.
These days, the use of com-
puter work stations seems as
essential to library services as
books are, but Weight remem-
bers when that was not the
case.
“I remember the very first
time we used the internet to
answer a reference question
and we could see the potential
for the internet as a reference
tool,” she said. “We had a per-
son come in who was thinking
about being a bone marrow
donor. They wondered about
the health risks involved.”
Weight smiled as she relat-
ed the memory from 1991,
recalling that staff entered the
basic information and, after
quite a while, finally started to
receive responses.
“Within a couple of days we
got a lot of information that
we were able to print and give
to this person,” she said. “The
person was then able to go for-
ward with the procedure.”
Weight said she is looking
forward to retirement and will
be doing the things that many
retirees do — traveling,
spending time with family
and, not surprisingly, reading.
“I’ve been working full
time my whole adult life,
and I’ve been working here
for 31 years, so it’s going to
be odd,” Weight said. “I am
really looking forward to
spending more time with
my husband, who’s been
retired for almost 10 years.
I’m also very involved with
my church, and I will be more
involved there. This should
be a nice change, but it may
take me a while to get used
to it.”
The Friends of the Library
will be holding a retirement
party for Weight from 3:30 to
5:30 p.m. on Saturday, June
24, in the Bromley Room at
the library, 1460 Ninth St.
Spencer extends an invita-
tion to all.
“We hope that all communi-
ty members who know Linda
will stop in to say goodbye,”
Spencer said. “She will be
missed by staff, patrons, vol-
unteers and everyone else
involved in the library.”
For more information, call
541-997-3132.
Meet BPA and the Contractors Open House
June 21 – 5-7 p.m.
Florence Events Center
715 Quince Street, Florence, OR 97439
Visit the project website at: www.bpa.gov/goto/LaneWendson. You may also contact BPA Project
Manager James Semrau at 360-619-6629 or jesemrau@bpa.gov, or Sandra Billings at 541-988-
7432 or slbillings@bpa.gov. Construction activities will include heavy equipment on local highways
and access roads. Helicopters will also be used to fl y material to hard-to-access areas. Traffi c control
measures will be used.
For Americans with Disabilities Act accommodations, please call toll free at 1-800-622-4519.
Drivers now have third option on license
Beginning in July, Oregon
residents will have the option
to mark their sex as “not
specified” on their applica-
tion for a driver license,
instruction permit or identifi-
cation card.
Under a new administra-
tive rule approved June 15 by
the Oregon Transportation
Commission, card holders
who do not wish to identify
as either male or female will
have a third option when they
obtain, renew or replace their
license, instruction permit or
ID card at Oregon DMV.
An “X” will appear instead
of “M” or “F” in Oregon
driver records and on the
driver license, instruction
permit or ID card.
The new rule came about
after an Oregon resident’s
court order authorized a sex
change from female to “non-
binary.”
In order to comply with the
order, DMV needed about a
year to implement the
change.
Time was required to study
state laws, update computer
systems, work with business
partners such as law enforce-
ment and courts, and change
administrative rules.
Drivers whp wish to make
a change on a license card
more than a year before
renewal date, must pay a
replacement fee.
Any time residents need to
visit an Oregon DMV office
in person, DMV suggests
they
first
visit
OregonDMV.com to find
office hours and locations.
Drivers are reminded to
make sure to have everything
needed before the visit.
Residents can do some
DMV business from home at
OregonDMV.com, but cannot
obtain, renew or replace a
driver license, instruction
permit or ID card online.
SATURDAY
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JUNE 17
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WEDNESDAY THURSDAY
FRIDAY
RECEIVE $10 OFF
your next visit when you get
something shrink wrapped!
Pricing begins at $10/ft .
Bring this ad in or simply mention you saw it.
4515 Hwy. 101 N., Florence
541- 997-5049
AJ and Megan Shervin, Owners
Open Monday - Friday 8am-5pm