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SPOTLIGHT ON
SPORTSMANSHIP
Man ‘drives thru’
Papa Murphy’s
SPORTS — B
INSIDE — A3
127TH YEAR ❘ ISSUE NO. 68
SERVING WESTERN LANE COUNTY SINCE 1890
FLORENCE, OREGON
Friends of the FEC receives $30,800 grant
Oregon Cultural Trust awards Cultural Development Capacity Grant for lighting, sound
O
regon Cultural Trust announced this week
that Friends of the Florence Events Center
(FEC) received a Cultural Development
Capacity Grant totaling $30,800.
“Generous spring
B Y C HANTELLE M EYER
donors lifted Oregon
Siuslaw News
Cultural
Trust
fundraising to a new
high, resulting in a record $2.94 million in
grants to 136 cultural nonprofits for fiscal
year 2018,” the grant package stated.
The grant will “support theater lighting and
sound equipment upgrades to improve sustain-
ability of the cultural events center operations.”
The Friends of the FEC will provide match-
ing funds for the project, with in-kind dona-
tions and donated staff hours bringing the
total project to $70,000.
FEC Marketing Specialist Jennifer Connor,
who worked with the Friends to write the
grant, said, “This is something we’ve been
hoping to do. It has been on the wish list since
we started raising money (in 2016) with
Dancing with Sea Lions. We saw there might
be potential to do something big.”
Connor and members of the Friends attend-
ed
several
Oregon
Cultural
Trust
“Conversations with Funders” to determine
the type of grant they should seek.
“When we talked to some of these organi-
zations back in January, they said there
weren’t a lot of people applying in this cate-
gory. Everybody heard that, and about 70
grants were requested in the capacity catego-
ry. There was really stiff competition this
year,” Connor said.
According to Oregon Cultural Trust, the
Cultural Development Grants — which
Local firefighters
aid in the Chetco
Bar conflagration
Siuslaw Valley Fire and
Rescue sends 3 members to
assist in suppression efforts
On Aug. 20, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown
declared the Chetco Bar Fire a conflagration.
This
declaration
B Y M ARK B RENNAN
empowered the Oregon
Siuslaw News
State Fire Marshal to
mobilize local munici-
palities to assist in fighting the fire.
In response, Siuslaw Valley Fire and
Rescue Chief Director Jim Langborg has dis-
patched three full-time firefighters to join in
the effort to contain the Chetco fire.
The Chetco Bar blaze, located approxi-
mately five miles northeast of Brookings, was
first reported on July 12, and apparently start-
ed by a lightning strike.
Originally, the fire was only a half-acre in
size and grew slowly at first, due to high
humidity and cool temperatures. Now, the fire
has grown to approximately 100,000 acres
with more than 1,000 personnel assigned to
the suppression efforts.
According to Langborg, the Siuslaw Valley
firefighters are making meaningful contribu-
tions to the Chetco effort.
“The Taskforce our crew is assigned to is
responsible for structural protection, which
includes triaging, prepping and, when needed,
protecting hose lines,” he said. “We continue
to think our firefighters will remain at the fire
for the rest of the week, because the fire has
not been contained at this time, and it may be
as long as two weeks.”
Siuslaw Valley has a mutual assistance
agreement with other fire districts in Lane
County and sends firefighters when the situa-
tion requires a larger response team than a
small municipality can provide.
INSIDE
See
FIREFIGHTERS 8A
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❘ AUGUST 26, 2017 ❘ $1.00
Are the kids
still alright?
Part II
Local teens speak about the
normalization of alcohol
B Y J ARED A NDERSON AND
H ANNA A NDERSON — INTERN
Siuslaw News
CHANTELLE MEYER/SIUSLAW NEWS
Florence Events Center, 715 Quince St., will get new LED stage lighting and an upgrad-
ed sound system thanks to an Oregon Cultural Trust Cultural Development Capacity
Grant obtained by the Friends of the FEC. Above, the Friends host a Florence Area
Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours Aug. 3 under the stage lights of the FEC.
address access, capacity, creativity and preser-
vation — included first-time awards to 37
organizations and an average grant award of
$17,050. More than half of the grants went to
organizations outside the Portland Metro area.
FEC Director Kevin Rhodes said, “It’s nice
that we got an award this size while being on
the coast. Now we have some resources to
work with.”
The Friends wrote the grant with assistance
from local grant writer Susy Lacer and includ-
ed a video made by Margaret McDiarmid.
“Margaret’s video showcased performances
at the FEC,” Connor said.
See
GRANT 6A
D UNES C ITY APPOINTS NEW MAYOR
Councilor Bob Forsythe is appointed mayor on Aug. 25;
citizens discuss cannabis grow facilities
Forsythe moved to
Dunes City in June
2015, where he and
With a candle
his wife Cindy have
burning in memory of
been building a new
the
late
Mayor
home near Darling’s
Rebecca Ruede, the
Resort.
Dunes City Council
In 2016, he ran for
held a meeting that
the Dunes City coun-
led to the swearing in
cil as a write-in can-
of a new mayor and a
didate.
heated discussion on
“A while back,
growing marijuana in
Rebecca asked me to
Dunes City.
sit on Dunes City
The Aug. 25 spe-
Council and I was
cial session, which
honored to do so,”
JARED ANDERSON/SIUSLAW NEWS
played to an overflow
Forsythe said. “I tend
audience at Dunes Valerie Cain-Mathis defends her medical to get involved every-
City Hall, started out marijuana facility to the Dunes City where I live, whether
peacefully as the Council and local residents in a meeting it be a homeowner
council paid tribute to Aug. 25.
association or city,
Ruede.
mainly because I
A call for nominations to replace Ruede as found that if other people decide what is good
mayor was then made. Councilor Robert for me, I want to at least have a voice in it.”
Forsythe was the only member to nominate
He will fill out the remainder of Ruede’s
himself for the position.
term, ending on Jan. 8, 2019.
He also asked current Council President
Forsythe is taking the mayorship at a partic-
Sheldon Meyer if he would be interested in tak- ularly contentious period in Dunes City, as evi-
ing the position.
denced in the remainder of the meeting.
Meyer replied, “I’ve done this for a long
At issue was a marijuana grow facility that
time, and I think I’d be better as council presi- is finishing up construction within city limits.
dent and fill in when I need to.”
Oregon State Measure 91 allows posses-
Forsythe’s nomination was approved unani- sion, manufacture and sale of marijuana in
mously, and he took the oath of office to Oregon, with licenses being issued by the
applause from the audience.
state.
Forsythe, a Vietnam veteran, spent 43 years
According to Dunes City Administrator
in manufacturing with a focus on Procurement Jamie Mills, “Neither the city council nor the
and Equipment Management.
voters of Dunes City placed a local ban on the
He moved to Florence in 2009 after retiring November 2016 ballot. As a result, these mar-
and served on several committees and organi- ijuana licenses are legal within the city.”
zations, including being the chair of the
The site’s owner, Valerie Cain-Mathis,
Environmental
Management
Advisory came before the council in a public meeting
Committee and the Florence Budget on April 13 attempting to assuage residents’
Committee.
fears about her facility.
He also served as Port of Siuslaw port man-
ager from 2012 to 2015.
See DUNES CITY 6A
B Y J ARED A NDERSON
Siuslaw News
Sideshow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B4
Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B
This Week on the Coast . . . . A9
Weather Data . . . . . . . . . . . A2
THIS WEEK ’ S
TODAY
SUNDAY
MONDAY
TUESDAY
Full Forecast, A3
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66 53
WEATHER
(Editor’s Note: This is the second in a
three-part series examining teen alcohol use
in Florence.)
Youth drinking can often be met with a col-
lective shrug.
If a parent is caught giving a child a quick
puff of the latest recreational marijuana
hybrid, the police would be instantly called
and the parent would be swiftly charged and
socially ostracized.
If a parent gives a child a glass of wine, it
raises fewer eyebrows. In fact, in Oregon, it’s
perfectly legal to do so.
Earlier this week, regarding the first part of
this series, Jamie Boyd Wallace commented
on the Siuslaw News Facebook, “Probably
should focus on teen pot smoking more it’s
bad here in florence and schools don’t care!
(sic).”
Schools have been addressing the issue of
marijuana use by teens, most recently when
the Siuslaw School District worked on final-
izing language for drug testing in sports.
But, according to Florence Police
Commander John Pitcher, alcohol is by far the
number one drug issue facing Florence area
teens.
Local resident Nicole, as she prefers to be
called, saw this dichotomy first hand.
In her early 20s, she was married with a
child and a full blown alcoholic. Her husband
was a methamphetamine addict at the time
who also had a penchant for marijuana.
One afternoon, a sheriff came to their door
to confirm an alibi of one of their acquain-
tances. He smelled marijuana in the home,
which the husband had smoked earlier, out of
view of the child.
“The fact that my son was in the house, and
they could smell it, they tried to take my son
away from me,” Nicole said. “The charge was
neglect and endangering the welfare of a
minor.”
Her husband wasn’t allowed in the home
and required to take narcotic anonymous
classes.
“I told them I didn’t use drugs, but I had to
leave work and take drug tests two to three
times a week,” Nicole recalled. “I had to see a
caseworker. They would come into my home
at any time and go through my kitchen to
make sure I had food.”
Nicole always came up negative on the
tests, but the caseworkers never noticed, or
inquired about, her heavy drinking.
“At that time, I was drinking a lot,” she
said. “I would come home from work and
drink several glasses of wine. I didn’t want
to have to deal with the reality of being a sin-
gle parent. I just thought that would never be
me.”
For Nicole, drinking was more dangerous
to her precarious home-life than anything
else, but there were never any tangible, legal
consequences for it. It was a crutch for her to
lean on, so she kept drinking.
Those lack of legal consequences, Nicole
believed, is what kept her drinking for so
long. All of her family members had, at one
time or another, been arrested for violations
ranging from drug use to disorderly conduct,
but never her.
The legal issues her family had run into
involved, for the most part, illicit drugs.
Alcohol was the acceptable family way to
deal with turbulent times.
And it’s a lesson Nicole learned from an
early age.
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DRINKING 7A