SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2017
News about
the Siuslaw
Public Library
Library Tidings,
a regular feature
of the Siuslaw News,
features news about
upcoming Siuslaw
Public Library pro-
grams for adults and
children, new books
and videos, and other
library news of interest
to the community.
Library Tidings by
Kevin Mittge
Book Review
“The Gulf: The Making
of an American Sea”
By Jack E. Davis
When painter Winslow Homer
first sailed into the Gulf of Mexico,
he was struck by its “special kind
of providence.”
Indeed, the Gulf presented itself
as America’s sea — bound by
geography, culture and tradition to
the national experience — and yet,
there has never been a comprehen-
sive history of the Gulf until now.
Given this omission, in this rich
and original work that explores the
Gulf through our human connec-
tion with the sea, environmental
historian Jack E. Davis finally
places this exceptional region into
the American mythos in a
panoramic history that extends
from the Pleistocene age to the
twenty-first century.
Significant beyond tragic oil
spills and hurricanes, the Gulf has
historically been one of the world’s
most bounteous marine environ-
ments, supporting human life for
millennia.
Davis starts from the premise
that nature lies at the center of
human existence, and takes readers
on a compelling and, at times,
wrenching journey from the
Florida Keys to the Texas Rio
Grande, along marshy shorelines
and majestic estuarine bays, both
beautiful and life-giving, though
fated to exploitation by esurient oil
men and real-estate developers.
Rich in previously untold sto-
ries, “The Gulf” tells the larger nar-
rative of the American Sea — from
the sportfish that brought the earli-
est tourists to Gulf shores to
Hollywood’s engagement with the
first offshore oil wells — as it
inspired and empowered, some-
times to its own detriment, the eth-
nically diverse groups of a growing
nation.
Davis’ pageant of historical
characters is vast, including: the
president who directed western
expansion toward its shores, the
New England fishermen who intro-
duced their own distinct skills to
the region and the industries and
big agriculture that sent their con-
tamination downstream into this
estuarine ecosystem.
Nor does Davis neglect the col-
orfully idiosyncratic individuals:
the Tabasco king who devoted his
life to wildlife conservation, the
Texas shrimper who gave her life to
clean water and public health, and
the New York architect who
hooked the “big one” that set the
sports fishing world on fire.
Davis reminds us that amid the
ruin, beauty awaits its return.
Sensitive to the imminent effects of
climate change, and to the difficult
task of rectifying the assaults of
recent centuries, “The Gulf” sug-
gests how a penetrating examina-
tion of a single region’s history can
inform the country’s path ahead.
Welcome Erin Gordenier!
The library is pleased to intro-
duce our newest employee, Erin
Gordenier, to the community.
Gordenier graduated from the
University of Washington’s iSchool
with a master’s degree in Library
and Information Science, and has
worked for nine years in the public
information office for the City of
Beaverton.
Like all of us, Gordenier will be
handling a multitude of tasks, but
her primary focus will be on public
outreach and volunteer coordina-
tion.
Be sure to stop by and welcome
her to the library district!
Rates
from 1A
All that considered, for the
2016-17 school year, Siuslaw
High School had a graduation rate
of 84.7 percent, according to high
school counselor Steven Moser.
The Oregon Department of
Education (ODE) has not yet pub-
licly released a full statement for
any schools for the 2016-17 year,
and instead considers its most
recent data to be from the 2015-
16 year.
According to the ODE, 2015-
2016’s graduation rate was 72.28
percent, only slightly lower than
the Oregon state average of 74.83
percent — and the fourth worst in
the entire United States. The near
85 percent, however, marks a sig-
nificant improvement in what has
become a trend of rising gradua-
tion rates.
In that race of 10 students,
however, there are still two that
aren’t making it to the end, and
these are the youth that especially
should not be left behind. Either
of the two students may have
given up, either lacking the skill
or motivation to see it through.
Something out of their control
may have happened, something
that hindered or even seriously
hurt them. Or they could have
found a different path along the
way.
More students are graduating,
would assist the families the most
as they move in.
“Those grantors who provide
monies for local projects really
like it when local organizations
come together to serve those in
the community,” said Kulman.
So far, three families have
benefitted from the Beacon grant
money, which is available
for ongoing annual projects in
a community.
The Durgan family was given
some pavers to keep the sand at
bay in their yard, while the Fuller
family received a table’s worth of
housewarming gifts last spring.
The committee members met
with the newest FHFH family on
the job site at Nopal Street
recently and determined the
Pinnock-Davis family will
receive a newly refinished table
and six reupholstered chairs so
their family can all eat together.
With the donations received
from the BeachWalk set for
Saturday, Sept. 9, FHFH will
continue these efforts.
For more information about
the upcoming event, contact
Linda Stent, interim executive
director, at 541-844-5573.
but for those who are not, school
is still as imposing a challenge as
ever.
“I ended up getting a GED,”
said a local teen, who asked to
remain anonymous. “The teach-
ers recommended it to me after it
was very apparent to them that I
was not going to get out of the
hole I dug myself.”
Over time, the student realized
that it was no one single thing that
led to being unable to graduate —
no one assignment, test or
absence. Instead, it was a constant
barrage of those issues, and most
often a combination of all of
them.
“I thought I would be able to
dig myself out of the bad hole that
I was in at the time,” the student
explained. “By about halfway
through [senior year], it just
became very apparent that it was
not going to happen.
“I was missing some classes,
and then it started piling up with
more work, and no one really
wanted to help me with that,
either. ... It just kind of cascaded
into a mess that I knew was not
going to work out.”
A combination of many issues
can lead students to not graduat-
ing, but those issues can start
early in a student’s career.
For the school administration,
the beginning of senior year is not
early enough to start thinking
about graduation — it has to be
much sooner.
“The idea is to focus in and
make sure our freshmen, our
sophomores, even our eighth-
graders over at the middle school
are learning the skills are pre-
pared as best they can,” Moser
said. “I think it’s really a system
of making sure that students are
getting their seven or so credits a
year, so by the time they hit their
senior year, they’re already at
twenty or twenty one credits, and
really only needing the last cou-
ple of English or government
credits.”
The anonymous student agreed
that help from the school was
vital when they found they could-
n’t control their issues with
school on their own.
“I had a couple of teachers here
and there that offered assistance,
and that’s why I did pass their
classes,” the student said. “But
some didn’t help, and that’s why I
started flunking those classes, and
that’s why it went really badly.
They needed to actually give me
that extra push. I don’t mean that
I needed their undivided atten-
tion, I just mean that they needed
to give me some sort of attention
to help with those issues that I
was falling behind with.”
At the end of the day, however,
Moser said students’ welfare
needed to be addressed, not just
the statistic of graduation rates.
The full focus now is on the stu-
dents affected, and whatever
would be best for them.
“GEDS don’t necessarily
improve our graduation rate, but
ultimately, it’s what’s going to be
best for the student,” said Moser.
“I’ll always try to go for the regu-
lar diploma, just because I think
it’s the best possible outcome for
the years that students have spent
at school, but I’ll never count out
the GED as a possible option for
a student.”
A GED is sufficient enough to
be accepted by two-year colleges,
such as Lane Community
College. High enough of a score
on the GED test may also qualify
a student for certain four-year col-
leges, as well.
“I want to try to get into col-
lege,” the anonymous student
said. “I’m thinking something
along the lines of Portland State
University, or maybe Lane
Community College here in
Florence. At either one of those
two, I can get some interesting
classes.”
“I think that’s a big thing with
the system that’s been created
here,” Moser said. “There’s not
just a ‘one size fits all’ education
anymore.”
Sign up for Winter Leagues!
Looking for something different to do
this winter? Break out of your old
routine and join us for good old
fashioned fun at Holiday Bowl.
We have plenty of leagues for
men, women, kids and
social leagues.
League Bowling begins
after Labor Day Weekend!
Everyone is Welcome to Join a League at
Holiday Bowl
Florence, OR • 997-3332
Registration to sing with the
Community
Chorus
of
Florence will take place every
Thursday in September at the
Presbyterian Church of the
Siuslaw, 3996 Highway 101.
Registration will begin at
6:30 p.m. each Thursday, fol-
lowed by rehearsal from 7 p.m.
to 8:30 p.m. thereafter until the
Christmas
Concert
in
December.
The Chorus does not require
an audition.
For more information, call
541-997-3469 or visit www.
communitychorusflorence
oregon.org.
KRAB KETTLE
280 Hwy. 101 M 541-997-8996
Mon.-Sun., 10-6
Fresh
CRAB
Four Shilling Short Concert
Don’t forget — tonight Four
Shillings Short will be presenting a
free concert at the library between
6 and 8 p.m. in the Bromley Room.
This duo is always popular so
people are encouraged to arrive
early to get a seat.
Florence Elks team up with Habitat for house warming
Florence Elks Lodge 1858
committee members Karen
Smales, Joyce Middleton and
Sandy Kulman applied for a
grant from the Elks National
Foundation to provide a little
warmth to Florence’s Habitat for
Humanity (FHFH) new home-
owners this past year.
The committee met with the
new owners to determine what
Community Chorus seeks
singers for holiday show
Get Results...List With Dan.
Dan Gilday
Broker
541 554-1844
Royal St Georges #48 – Great
location for your brand new
gated community home near
Sandpines Golf Course, under
construction now. Still time left for
you to pick out some finishing
touches. This 1839 sqft, 3 bdrm,
2 bath home includes large 3-car
tandem garage and all the
amenities of a fine custom home.
$348,000. #2711-17074865
1749 Highway 101 • 541-997-1200
S
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201 -
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BEST O
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Library
Tidings
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6 A
F LO E N C
R
Two years in a row!
Best Burger
Best Sandwiches
Best Doughnuts
We serve Breakfast and Lunch!
Donuts • Biscuits and Gravy
Breakfast Burritos
Deli Sandwiches and so much more!
Open 7 Days a week!
Eat in or call for take out!
1136 Hwy. 101 • Florence
541-997-8630