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Pounding returns
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INSIDE — A3
SPORTS — B
127TH YEAR ❘ ISSUE NO. 91
❘ NOVEMBER 15, 2017 ❘ $1.00
SERVING WESTERN LANE COUNTY SINCE 1890
Boys and Girls
Club rebrands
for teens
FLORENCE, OREGON
V ETERANS D AY 2017
HONORING ALL WHO SERVED
New Teen Director Crystell
Wise looks to bring high
school age kids to the program
B Y J ARED A NDERSON
Siuslaw News
T
he Boys and Girls Club of Western Lane
County is going through a rebranding for
teens, thanks to its new Teen Center Director
Crystell Wise.
“We’re going
to make the
after-school
program cool,”
Wise said.
Wise
has
held the posi-
tion for only a
week, so she
has yet to make
a master plan,
“But I have a
lot of ideas,”
JARED ANDERSON/SIUSLAW NEWS
she said.
She has a tall
Boys and Girls Club Teen
order.
Director Crystell Wise
Boys
and
Girls Club Director Jack Davis said, “Let’s just
say, with regards to the high schoolers, we
don’t have a brand.”
“We’re not on their radar,” Wise said.
This isn’t just an issue facing the Florence-
based program, Wise and Davis explained.
Across the country, Boys and Girls Clubs’
biggest challenge is getting older teens, espe-
cially high school students, into the program.
High school students are generally mobile,
with after school responsibilities like jobs and
extracurricular programs.
Above all, teenagers, unlike elementary stu-
dents, have a say in how they spend their free
time.
Getting teenagers into the program is vital,
Wise believes, because they will be shaping
the direction of the world sooner than most
adults think.
Before she was hired at the club, Wise, who
holds a degree in political science from the
University of Tulsa in Oklahoma, was a social
worker in Eugene.
“I was dealing with the no-chance/last-
chance type of clientele,” she said. “The home-
less and the mentally ill.”
See
I S
PHOTOS BY JARED ANDERSON AND MARK BRENNAN/SIUSLAW NEWS
ROB GRIFFES FOR THE SIUSLAW NEWS
O
n Nov. 11, Florence recognized those who served in
the U.S. military with multiple events in celebration
of Veterans Day. Members of Veterans of Foreign
Wars Post 3232 and the “Band of Brothers” group started the
day by holding a sunrise ceremony at the Pacific Sunset
Memorial Park Cemetery. Later in the morning, Florence Elks
Lodge 1858 and the Ladies of the Elks held an early morning
craft and bazaar fundraiser to support the programs they
organize and contribute towards throughout the year. The
high point of the day was the annual Florence Veterans Day
Parade, which started at the Florence Events Center and made
its way down Quince Street and through Historic Old Town.
Multi-generational crowds lined Bay Street and stayed despite
the rain. Patriotic organizations are welcome to join the parade
each year, such as the Siuslaw High School Band, VFW,
Daughters of the American Revolution, American Legion Post
59, Boy and Girl Scouts and others who marched, drove, rode
and played — all to thank area veterans and those who served.
For more photos, see 10A
TEENS 9A
COASTAL LIVING IN JEOPARDY ?
P ART I: SOS
Siuslaw Outreach Services shows how the housing, employment crisis in the Siuslaw Region has reached a tipping point
B Y J ARED A NDERSON
Siuslaw News
E
INSIDE
ach night, people living in the
Siuslaw region who work 60
hours a week are forced to live in
their cars. While Social Security is
supposed to help sustain shelter and
basic necessities for the elderly, peo-
ple in several age demographics are
finding themselves driven to sell
donated items of clothing or panhan-
dle just to pay the utility bills.
These are just two examples of the
symptoms that many, including city
officials, private business owners and
nonprofit organizations in the
Siuslaw region, are calling a housing
and employment crisis; it crosses all
ages and socioeconomic barriers and
impacts residents of the region in dif-
ferent ways.
“The whole area, in relation to
housing and employment, is devastat-
ing to me,” said Dianne Huenergardt,
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director of Housing Assistance for steady rise in mental health problems jobs,” SOS Executive Director Bob
Siuslaw Outreach Services (SOS) in and domestic abuse as individuals Teter said. “People come here not real-
Florence.
and families deal with the stress — izing that things start to shut down at
SOS has provided a wide variety of with some victims feeling forced to the end of October and people start
services to the community, including remain in dangerous situations getting laid off. In the summer, they
emergency vouchers,
think, ‘Oh, I have a full-
housing assistance and
time job right now, I’m
self-sufficiency class- “A lot of times you’ll see these cars that are parked set.’
And
then
es, since 1986.
November
comes
and
at [grocery stores] late at night. The people have
It served 2,959 jobs, but they just don’t have a home to go to.”
the work scales back. It
clients in 2016 —
picks up for the holi-
— SOS Executive Director Bob Teter days and then goes back
equivalent to more than
30 percent of the City
down.”
of Florence’s population.
because they are unable to find a
Even when workers do have steady
The physical health of Siuslaw res- place to live.
employment, the wages are miniscule.
idents is also being adversely affect-
The crisis SOS and other local
According to Teter, the average
ed, with families choosing to live in organizations are seeing stems from a wage for the people SOS serves is $10
mold-infested homes because a short- combination of extremely low wages an hour. Often, when people do work,
age of available housing options sim- from part-time work, coupled with a they aren’t given full-time hours.
ply leaves them no choice. In many dearth of affordable housing.
“One of the things that I noticed
cases, these living conditions can
On the employment side, the dra- that created a barrier for people was
lead to respiratory problems for chil- matic decline of the logging and fish- the whole issue of employers being
dren or the elderly.
ing industries have created a reliance required to provide benefits,” Teter
Running parallel to the issues of on tourism jobs.
said. “So, we see a lot of employers
low wages and a lack of housing is a
“They are low wage, seasonal now trying to work around that by
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Weather Data . . . . . . . . . . . A2
THIS WEEK ’ S
TODAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
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50 43
53 41
55 47
WEATHER
Full Forecast, A3
keeping people’s hours below 30. So
as soon as they start getting close to
30, they scale them back — and peo-
ple can’t live on that.”
Teter stated that under these condi-
tions, it is normal for individuals to
work two or three jobs at any given
time.
“We had a single mom a while back
who was working 15 hours a week at
Fred Meyer and 25 hours a week at
Safeway, and she also worked late at
night at the casino about 20 hours a
week,” Teter said. “And she relied on
family members to take care of two lit-
tle ones that she had.”
Despite all of the hours and family
assistance, she was not able to make
ends meet on her own and ended up at
SOS asking for help, relying on the
program’s emergency vouchers for
help with utilities, clothing, food and
paying for prescriptions.
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LIVING 7A