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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 19, 2017)
SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ SATURDAY, AUGUST 19, 2017 Highway 101, where ODOT and Rescue Family from 1A “It had been a long week. Heather had been out there since Saturday,” said Les. “Friends from Idaho and California had come to support us, so we got together this morning and we prayed and prayed, because we weren’t sure what the outcome was going to be.” Port from 1A manager too quickly. “What I worry about is, we’ve had a little bit of trouble the last four or five months. An outside individual may not be sure whether the problem was with the board or with someone else,” he said. “If Dina can agree to work in her position for a while, I would like the opportunity for the port to show the world that we've got our stuff together.” Commissioner Terry Duman agreed. “I think we need to rest on our laurels a bit and let things get even OCHS and Western Lane Ambulance were waiting. An ambulance then transported Davison to PeaceHealth Peace Harbor Medical Center in Florence. ODOT Public Information Officer Angela Beers Seydel said, “We worked closely with the state police, who requested that we close the road to create a landing zone for the helicopter and so the ambu- lance could be ready.” ODOT maintains a Florence crew “that responds to all kinds of calls as quickly as possible,” Beers Seydel said. She said Highway 101 was closed for up to 20 minutes, as a minor fender bender required some additional work to clear the roadway. After the rescue, the Dolphin helicopter flew to Florence Municipal Airport to refuel. While there, the four crew members told airport representatives Lou Morales, Tom Ball and Sam Spayd about the conditions of the rescue while they enjoyed the airport’s complimentary coffee. As the story goes, the crew was in the first hour of a 24-hour shift, and had already completed a water rescue before coming to Davison’s aid. “The pilot had to work really hard to position the helicopter in all that wind,” Ball said. “It was 36 miles per hour, and the one who got lowered to the woman said it was incredibly loud.” Ball also said that noise may have been a factor in the delay of Davison’s rescue; efforts to find her centered near where she had parked her car near milepost 180 on Highway 101. Davison was found on a cliff in the vicinity, off milepost 181. Florence Police Commander John Pitcher said, “Those who watched the rescue kept saying how amazing the pilot had to be with all that wind blowing. They did an outstanding job.” Dickinson agreed. “I have utmost respect for Lt. Webber and Lt. Bunch for flying the helicopter as they did,” he said. “The high winds were still consid- ered a flyable condition, but it took courage and honor for all four to perform their duty.” During the rescue, Siuslaw Valley Chief Director Jim Langborg was incident command and Western Lane Operations Chief Matt House was EMS com- mand, forming a unified command. Dickinson said, “This was not possible without the coordinated effort of all on the scene. We assist- ed each other with our assets and were able to save (Davison’s) life.” Appropriately, the City of Florence was honoring the U.S. Coast Guard and its local station, Station Siuslaw River earlier that day as Florence became an official Coast Guard City. The group, although somewhat discouraged, decided they would continue searching, believing God would intervene on their behalf. Denton Davison, Heather’s new husband of little more than a week, took up the narrative at this point in the discussion. “I was looking down the side of the cliff and I heard a voice,” he said. “At first I thought it was the family behind me. Or a seagull. The wind was whipping pretty good and it was hard to hear ... and I turned around and looked behind, so I could tell no one was actually talking to me. I kept looking up and I saw her hand and arm come up. That was all I could see, so I just started waving back and yelling her name. I could barely even see her. “It really was a miracle that we found her.” Denton then called 911. Siuslaw Valley Fire and Rescue coordinated the rescue effort, uti- lizing a U.S. Coast Guard helicop- ter from North Bend. The family was on the ground watching the rescue and were awed by the effort that saved their daughter and wife. “The Coast Guard was there in five minutes and those guys were amazing,” Les said. “They were so professional and they got there so fast — it was a miracle.” Cindy was close to tears about her daughter’s rescue. “It’s a joy and a miracle, and we are all so happy and relieved that we found her and she is alive and she will be OK,” Cindy said. “We just want to thank everyone that helped, especially the Coast Guard. It really is a miracle, and we thank the Lord for returning our daughter to us.” Denton said Friday that Davison was doing well. She had sustained minor injuries from her fall and was having some memory issues related to the accident, but her prognosis was good. “We are just happy to have her back,” Denton said. “We want to make sure she is healthy and we are waiting for some test results, and we will go from there. “We are just so thankful and appreciate the efforts and good wishes of everyone that helped.” keeled.” Commissioner Mike Buckwald stated he wasn’t interested in hir- ing an interim manager, with Duman adding, “We already have a great interim manager.” The commission agreed to give McClure latitude to hire extra help through the busy season, with the caveat that she remains as interim manager. Duman then requested McClure begin looking into options to push the development of the 40-acre industrial park the port owns, located at the end of the cul-de-sac in the Pacific View Industrial Park off Kingwood Street in Florence. The park, which had been in development for over a decade, has remained largely vacant since its inception. “Right now we’ve been sitting on this property for way too long and it’s just costing us money,” Duman said. “Our role as a port is not to just own this property. Let people develop it and bring com- merce to the area.” He suggested putting a call out to multiple realty brokers to come up with solutions on how to pres- ent the park to potential buyers, including ideas for redesignating the property as commercial or res- idential. The commission then tackled issues surrounding moorage cus- tomers’ complaints, specifically the requirement for vessels to have insurance. Leskin, who first implemented insurance requirements the previ- ous year, faced criticism toward his tactics to ensure compliance, including soliciting lawyers for collections. Leskin felt this was vital to restore order and consistency with moorage customers. John Murphy, co-owner and agent from Coast Insurance Services Inc., researched what similar ports along the coast require and presented his findings to the board. In Murphy’s opinion, a minimum policy of $500,000 was needed for commercial ves- sels, and $100,000 for recreational. Leskin set the amounts at $1 million and $300,000, respective- ly. Murphy said he believed that the lower insurance would “make a better economic relationship with the tenants because we would be easier to deal with.” For uninsured or underinsured vessels staying 10 days or less, a waiver would have to be signed waving the port’s liability in case of an accident, requiring the ves- sels “repair, at their own expense, or to reimburse the Port of Siuslaw for all losses, breakage, or damage that occur during their stay.” To further protect long-term port tenants, uninsured vessels would need to moore outside the main dock areas, staying in the transient dock on the west end of the port or one of the outside slips away from the main docks. Lastly, new roles were assigned to commissioners: Nancy Rickard nominated Duman as chair; Buckwald nominated Huntington as first vice-presi- dent; Duman nominated Rickard as second vice president; Duman nominated Buckwald to secre- tary; Rickard nominated Meyer for Treasurer. All positions were approved unanimously. Dickson arrived late to the meet- ing, which seemed to further agi- tate the crowd. The financial report was deliv- ered by Bare, due to the lack of Treasurer Deborah LaMonica in attendance. Bare made his comments with the disclaimer that he did not know many of the details regarding the report, which indicated the OCHS coffers currently hold approximate- ly $700,000 in assets, which appeared to surprise many audi- ence members. The first confrontation of the evening between the board mem- bers and the audience came after Bare announced that the Animal Welfare Committee and Long Range Planning reports would not be given at the meeting. This caused another strong reaction in the crowd, including utterances from the crowd that were out of order. It was at this juncture that Bare called for a short recess, skip- ping the remaining agenda items without explanation. Garrett and Dickson left the meeting at this point, even though individuals in attendance would later have questions for them dur- ing public comment. Lisa Pappas, an outspoken for- mer volunteer at OCHS spoke pas- sionately about her experiences at OCHS, going well beyond the three minutes allotted for each speaker. This prompted Bare to challenge Pappas. “We are a private organization, and we are a nonprofit,” said Bare. “So when you get up and accuse people and threaten their liveli- hood, you have to be careful what you say — you can be sued for libel or slander.” Former OCHS board member Scott Bailey was the next to speak, insisting that the current board was illegitimately seated and suggest- ing a meeting of the membership to elect a new board in order to restore membership confidence in OCHS leadership. Bailey accused Gervais and Bare of acting contrary to the intent and letter of the bylaws and should allow a vote for a new board. Bailey’s comments were met with loud approval and another round of shouted concerns and questions that went unanswered by the two board members. Bare thanked Bailey for his input and did not respond further to the suggestion. At that point, individuals started talking over one another, some calling for Gervais to resign and others asking why Garrett was not there to answer questions about operational concerns at OCHS. Bare threatened to adjourn the meeting if audience members did not control their outbursts. The audience continued to shout questions at Bare and Gervais, who seemed unable to respond to meet the crowd’s satisfaction with a number of the questions thrown their way. Bare followed through with his threat and quickly adjourned the meeting after a few brief comments from those still wishing to speak. from 1A EMT crews from Siuslaw Valley down by cable to hoist Davison up. Flight mechanic AET2 Cassandra Hunter operated the hoist and the helicopter’s radio. U.S. Coast Guard Sector North Bend’s Facebook page has a video of part of the rescue, showing Stacey’s 250-300-foot drop to the brush-covered cliff where Davison had been since Saturday. Once Stacey retrieved Davison, the pilots landed the helicopter on from 1A Tanya Garrett, Shelter Manager, began the discussion of agenda items with the Shelter Report, detailing the number of adoptions, transfers and intakes made during the month. Garrett’s report, though present- ed in a fact-based manner, was heavily criticized later that evening for failing to address the audience’s concerns about the welfare of and socialization plans for the animals. OCHS Development and Marketing staff member Danielle How To Participate The fee to participate is $20. An ad for the Community Wide Garage Sale with a map of all par- ticipation sales will be published in the Siuslaw News on September 6th and 9th. Because of print deadlines, the registration deadline is 5pm Thursday August 31 2017. You will also receive two offi cial Community Wide Garage Sale signs as well as a tip sheet on how to have a great sale. Please post signs only on private property with the owner’s consent. Posting signs on City utility poles, street or signal light poles, and median strips is against the municipal code. Maps will be available at the Florence Visitors Center. Name ____________________________________Phone____________________________ Address___________________________________Email____________________________ Subdivision name (if any) ____________________________________ Dates (CIRCLE): Times: Friday 9/8 ___________ Saturday 9/9 ___________ Sunday 9/10 ___________ 15-word description:( Date, times and address are included. Addition words over 15 are $0.50 each.) Add’l Words ___________ ___________ ___________ ___________ ___________ ___________ ___________ ___________ ___________ ___________ ___________ ___________ ___________ ___________ ___________ ___________ ___________ ___________ ___________ ___________ 7 A Bring payment to to 148 Maple St in Old Old Town or or Bring form form and and payment 148 Maple St HIstoric in HIstoric Town mail Siuslaw News PO PO Box 10, 10, Florence, OR OR 97439 mail to to Siuslaw News Box Florence, 97439 Call 541-902-3526 |ÀRUHQFHFKDPEHUFRP Call 541-902-3526 | fl orencechamber.com Deadline 31st at at 5pm to to be be included on on the the map. Deadline is is August August 31st 5pm included map.