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SATURDAY EDITION
COAST
GUARD CITY
Community
Voices
INSIDE — A8
INSIDE — A3
127TH YEAR ❘ ISSUE NO. 66
D UNES C ITY M AYOR
R EBECCA R UEDE
P ASSES A WAY
City officials and friends
remember the life of the
beloved civil servent
❘ AUGUST 19, 2017 ❘ $1.00
SERVING WESTERN LANE COUNTY SINCE 1890
FLORENCE, OREGON
Happy ending for Heather
Missing woman’s family
talks about experience
Details given on dramatic
Coast Guard rescue
B Y J ARED A NDERSON
A ND C HANTELLE M EYER
Siuslaw News
INSIDE
Dunes City is in
mourning this week as
Mayor Rebecca “Becky”
Robinson Ruede passed
away on Thursday, Aug.
17, after losing a year
long battle with cancer.
She was 61.
A tribute from Dunes
City read; “Becky’s com-
passion for mankind, her
level head and her kind
COURTESY PHOTO
heart made her a perfect
Dunes City Mayor
mayor for our city dur-
Rebecca ‘Becky’
ing a time when healing
Ruede.
was necessary and
strong leadership a
must. Her presence will
be greatly missed as the city faces the new challenges
presented to it every day.”
Ruede, who graduated from Siuslaw High School,
had been Mayor of Dunes City since 2011 and was a
council member before that.
She was employed as the Branch Manager Assistant
Vice President of U.S. Bank in Florence until she was
stricken with cancer in 2016.
She was also the co-owner of West Coast Auto Body
in Florence with her husband, Rick.
Ruede was an avid volunteer in the community,
including past president of Soroptimists International
of Florence, past president of the Florence Christian
Women’s Club, a volunteer for Relay for Life, former
member of the Board of Directors of the Boys and
Girls Club of Western Lane County, a volunteer and
financial educator for Oregon Youth Authority and a
Paul Harris Fellow of Rotary International of Florence.
Ruede said she relaxed by painting; oil on canvas.
Her favorite subjects were nature scenes and vintage
landscapes.
She was also a published poet, having written her
first sonnet at the age of 12, which was a tribute to her
grandfather.
Ruede, who was a certified scuba diver wrote, “My
favorite pastime is being with the family, whether it’s
outings to the snow for some skiing or to the lake for
some water skiing or just hanging at the house and
playing on Woahink Lake.”
Longtime friend and Dunes City Administrator
Jamie Mills remembered her time with Ruede as they
campaigned for the city council together:
“We decided to campaign together and spent many
days ‘walking the streets’ of Dunes City, knocking on
doors and talking to people. I remember one woman
who accused us of many ugly and illegal things at the
top of her lungs before demanding we leave her prop-
erty immediately. Becky quietly thanked her for her
time and we turned and walked away.
“She showed no signs of being taken aback,” she
continued. “I asked her if the things the woman said
upset her at all, as I was quite insulted. She said sim-
ply, ‘She was expressing her opinion. I don’t have to
buy into it.’
“That was Becky, always able to quickly put things
into perspective and to see the good side of everything.
I will miss her so much. She helped to make this diffi-
cult job tolerable and was always there as a shoulder to
lean on.”
Florence Mayor Joe Henry stated, “She was a close
personal friend for Pam and I since we moved to
Florence. She was just a good friend and fellow
Christian. She loved Jesus and knew where she was
going. She’s in heaven as we speak.”
“In Dunes City, Rebecca brought some harmony and
peace to the council,” he said. “She did a great job, and
Florence has had a great relationship with her all this
time.”
As for being mayor, Ruede once wrote, “I really
enjoy working as a volunteer in public service. I
believe if you think you can contribute to society then
you should. It’s your civic duty.”
Ruede is survived by her husband Rick, daughter
Heidi, son Erick, and her grandchildren.
Services will be held on Aug. 30, at 1 p.m. at
Florence Events Center, 715 Quince St.
The service will be open to the public.
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MARK BRENNAN/SIUSLAW NEWS
COURTESY PHOTO/SIUSLAW VALLEY FIRE & RESCUE
Friends and family of Heather Davison never gave up hope
of finding the missing woman,turning to their faith for the
belief that they would ultimately find the wife, daughter
and mother of two.
A Coast Guard helicopter from North Bend lands on
Highway 101 after rescuing Heather Davison from the
brush along a cliff near milepost 181, not far from
where her car had been discovered days earlier.
B Y M ARK B RENNAN
Siuslaw News
The family of Heather Mounce
Davison never gave up hope of
finding their loved one.
The Dallas, Ore., mother of two
had been missing since Saturday
afternoon near milepost 180 on
Highway 101 north of Florence.
Davison’s family gathered to
assist emergency response crews in
the search. Relatives and friends
also came in from neighboring
states to help in the search.
The search team was led by
Davison’s parents, Les and Cindy
Anderson, who had been combing
the area where Davison’s car was
found Saturday. They were begin-
ning to tire due to the physical and
emotional stress of the search.
Cindy recounted the hours lead-
ing up to the beginning of the
search.
“We were at church camp when
we got the news Heather was miss-
ing. There was no cell phone cov-
erage there, so our daughter
Kimery had to come 45 miles up to
get us,” she said. “We came here as
soon as we could and we went
straight to the beach and started
combing the area, but we didn’t
find anything.”
Davison’s family continued
searching during daylight hours for
the next three days, without find-
ing any trace of her.
The members of Davison’s fam-
ily are people of faith, and they
turned to that faith in this time of
crisis.
The group met early Wednesday
morning to discuss the plan for the
day and, as usual, began the day
with prayer and a hope that the
search would be guided by their
faith — and would therefore be
successful.
“Les was so determined,” Cindy
recalled. “He said, ‘I’m not going
home till I find her.’”
The time that passed since
Davison disappeared was growing,
and the family was starting to men-
tally prepare for the worst.
See
B Y C HANTELLE M EYER
Siuslaw News
U.S. Coast Guard Air
Station North Bend and a host
of other agencies played a vital
role in the rescue of Heather
Mounce Davison from a cliff-
side near Florence on Aug. 16
around 2 p.m. Davison sus-
tained only minor injuries in her
five days without food or water.
According to Florence’s 911
Dispatch Center, a call came in
at 1:25 p.m. requesting
Davison’s rescue after she had
been located by her husband.
From there, the call went out to
local emergency response agen-
cies, including Oregon State
Police, Siuslaw Valley Fire and
Rescue,
Western
Lane
Ambulance District, Oregon
Department of Transportation
(ODOT) and Air Sector North
Bend.
A representative from North
Bend said a MH-65 Dolphin
helicopter was already flying
FAMILY 7A
north, so was able to arrive
quickly at the scene. North
Bend had also been part of the
initial search when Davison
was declared missing on Aug.
12.
A statement released by
North Bend said Siuslaw Valley
previously made an attempt to
rescue Davison, but, due to
steep terrain along the shore-
line, was unsuccessful.
Siuslaw Valley Operations
Chief Jim Dickerson, who acted
as rescue command, said he
knew they would need helicop-
ter assistance as soon as he
arrived.
“I was first on scene from the
fire station, and I radioed on
Coast Guard Channel 22 as
soon as I analyzed the situa-
tion,” he said.
Dolphin pilot Lt. Alex
Webber and copilot Lt. Justin
Bunch navigated the helicopter
close enough to lower rescue
swimmer AST3 Tyler Stacey
See
RESCUE 7A
Port of Siuslaw looks for ways to right ship
After months of contention, port works on selling land, customer relations
B Y J ARED A NDERSON
Siuslaw News
At Wednesday’s Port of Siuslaw
public meeting, commissioners and
employees attempted to renew public
confidence following the contentious
dismissal of former port manager
Steven Leskin.
Leskin’s tenure led to numerous
arguments between the commission
and the manager, complaints from
moorage customers and public disen-
chantment with the port and its poli-
cies.
Administrative Assistant Dina
McClure, who is currently acting as
interim port manager, asked to begin
the process of finding Leskin's
replacement.
This is the second time McClure
has assumed the role of interim man-
ager, the first following the retire-
ment of manager Bob Forsythe.
McClure has been with the port since
2009.
She suggested that an individual
step in as an interim manager on a
part time basis, saying, “I'm already
getting behind in my administrative
work because I've been wearing two
hats.”
Commissioner Bill Meyer sug-
gested caution in hiring a new
See
PORT 78A
Unruly OCHS Board meeting demonstrates turmoil
Members call for resignation or recall of board and removal of manager Garrett
B Y M ARK B RENNAN
Siuslaw News
The August Board Meeting of the
Oregon Coast Humane Society
(OCHS) was called to order this past
Thursday to a full room and a highly
energized audience at the Laurelwood
Community Center on Maple Street.
The meeting was the first to take
Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A2
Sideshow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B4
Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B
This Week on the Coast . . . A11
THIS WEEK ’ S
place since an article detailing report-
ed issues and concerns at OCHS was
published Aug. 12, in the Siusalw
News.
OCHS Board President Robert
Bare began the meeting at 5:30 p.m.
with an opening statement that told
the approximately 50 community
members in attendance that the meet-
ing was not an action meeting and
therefore only two board members
were needed to complete the items on
the evenings agenda.
The audience reaction was unfa-
vorable during what would be the
first of many noticeably negative
reactions during the 90-minute meet-
ing.
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Full Forecast, A3
The published agenda for the
OCHS meeting called for reports
from staff and board members, but
the crowd’s dissatisfaction with
Gervais and Bare seemed to be the
primary reason for the high turnout in
the room.
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See
OCHS 7A