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Sea Lion Caves presents Winter Music Festival - Florence, Oregon
SPORTS — B
16th A nnual
January 12, 13, 14, 2018
12 Groups - 3 Days of Music, Food & Fun!
128TH YEAR ❘ ISSUE NO. 3
SERVING WESTERN LANE COUNTY SINCE 1890
Weekend’s Winter Music Festival
set to ‘exceed expectations’
Local woman struck,
killed near Glenada Road
Al Stewart, Laurie Lewis
headline event with eye
towards music diversity
B Y N ED H ICKSON
Siuslaw News
Traffic was stopped in
both directions across the
Siuslaw
River
Bridge
Monday evening as emer-
gency crews responded to
the scene of a tragic motor
vehicle
accident
that
claimed the life of a young
Florence woman.
At about 5:15 p.m., 28-
year-old Heather Marie
Sanford was reportedly
walking in the southbound
lane of Highway 101, just
south of the bridge at mile-
post 191, when she was
struck by a 2017 GMC
Sierra truck driven by
Arthur Brown, 70, of
Florence.
Moments later, Tony
Foglio was heading north
just past Glenada Road when
he looked to the left and saw
Brown’s truck quickly pull
off to the side of the road.
“There were papers flying
down everywhere from the
air, so I thought someone
had lost a load of trash or
something,” said Foglio,
who then noticed a figure
laying in the road and wear-
ing a backpack, not far from
his driver’s side door. “I
realized the papers had prob-
ably come from the back-
pack.”
T
MARK BRENNAN/SIUSLAW NEWS
Seeing that another car
had pulled up and that some-
one was presumably calling
9-1-1, Foglio positioned his
truck to protect Sanford by
blocking traffic.
“I felt for a pulse and did-
n’t find one,” he said.
Florence Police, along
with members of Siuslaw
Valley Fire and Rescue and
Western Lane Ambulance
District, arrived shortly
afterward, and were joined
by Oregon State Police
(OSP) Troopers from the
Springfield Area Command
and Florence Worksite.
“Our preliminary investi-
Richard Whitmore served in numerous
capacities for more than three decades
Siuslaw News
INSIDE
Yesterday, Siuslaw High
School (SHS) unveiled a per-
manent tribute intended to
honor a past principal who pos-
itively affected generations of
graduates.
The district dedicated the
SHS “mall and commons area”
to Richard Whitmore, a SHS
biology instructor, school
administrator and vice princi-
pal who ultimately served as
principal for 19 years.
Overall, he was a member of
the Siuslaw staff for more than
30 years, serving in the district
from 1961 to 1992.
He was the type of person
who cared about his students in
a way that carried on after
graduation. His legacy was
always one of unconditional
support for students of the dis-
trict, according to Siuslaw
School Superintendent Andy
Grzeskowiak.
“Mr. Whitmore was a long-
time educator here in the
Siuslaw School District. He
served as both a teacher and an
administrator. After his retire-
ment, as a measure of the
respect he held amongst both
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Library Tidings . . . . . . . . . . .
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he 2018 Florence Winter Music Festival
(WMF) begins this weekend at the
Florence Events Center, 715 Quince St., and the
musicians participating
B Y M ARK B RENNAN
in this year’s concert
Siuslaw News
series represent a broader
range of styles and gen-
res than in previous seasons.
The appearance of Saturday’s high profile
headliner Al Stewart, a staple of FM radio in the
late 1970s, is the most noteworthy attempt by
the Friends of the Florence Events Center to
broaden the appeal of the festival, now in it’s
16th season.
Festival coordinator Howard Cusack said the
change was needed, if the WMF was to contin-
ue.
“From a financial perspective, the previous
folk music model was not generating the ticket
sales needed to sustain the event. We needed
more diversity to attract a wider audience.
Clearly, this has worked, because we are exceed-
ing our own expectations. As of this week, we
will have sold over 1,000 tickets to this year’s
event,” Cusack said.
Another internationally recognized star that
should draw a large crowd is Friday’s headliner,
Laurie Lewis.
Lewis is one of the most respected and prolif-
ic bluegrass performers and educators in the
country. She is a Grammy winner and has twice
been named “Female Vocalist of the Year” by
the International Bluegrass Music Association.
Lewis is backed by a band of musical all-
stars, beginning with her sidekick of more than
30 years, mandolin master Tom Rozum.
The two longtime friends collaborated on the
Grammy nominated CD, “The Oak and the
Laurel.”
Paramedics and first responders stop traffic on the
Siuslaw River Bridge Jan. 8 after a truck fatally struck
local resident Heather Marie Stanford.
Past high school principal
honored with dedication
B Y M ARK B RENNAN
FLORENCE, OREGON
students and staff, the end of
the year the awards for out-
standing senior students were
renamed in his honor,”
Grzeskowiak said.
One of Whitmore’s former
students, Gina Castro-Brandt,
is currently an instructor at
SHS. She has been involved in
the process of obtaining the
permission and the funding to
complete the dedication proj-
ect.
“This has been a Booster
Club project that we have been
working on for quite a while,”
she said.
District policy made it diffi-
cult to rename part of the facil-
ity, and then it took time to pur-
chase plaques.
“I was vice president of the
Booster Club at the inception
of the project, and we received
overwhelming community and
alumni support through social
media and written letters for
the presentation,” Castro-
Brandt said.
Whitmore’s wife, Barbara,
was on hand for the unveiling
of the plaque honoring her late
husband. Whitmore passed
away in 2012 at age 76.
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Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A4
Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A2
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gation has determined that
Sanford was walking in the
travel portion of the south-
bound lane of Highway 101
when she was struck,” said
Sgt. Erik Fisher of the OSP’s
Springfield command office,
who oversaw the investiga-
tion. “Sanford suffered fatal
injuries and was declared
deceased at the scene by
medical personnel.”
Sanford was wearing dark
clothing at the time and had
been reported by other passing
motorists as a hazard immedi-
ately prior to the accident.
See
FATALITY 7A
T HE V OLATILE N ATURE
I S
“I’m lucky to have wonderful musicians to
share the stage with. People can expect to hear
stellar fiddling from Kentucky native Brandon
Godman, beautiful singing and mandolin from
Tom Rozum, sparkling banjo and harmony
vocals from Patrick Sauber, and irrepressible,
groovy bass playing from Sam Grisman,” Lewis
said. “The songs will draw from my deep cata-
log of originals and also from the repertoires of
many of the bluegrass greats.”
The latest CD by Lewis and her band is the
2016 release, “The Hazel and Alice Sessions,”
which was nominated for a Grammy award for
Best Bluegrass Album.
Jeff Scroggins and the band Colorado will
precede Lewis on stage Friday evening, playing
at 7 p.m.
Scroggins is a masterful banjo player who
brings amazing technical prowess to his rendi-
tions of classic and original bluegrass and Cajun
blues.
Winter Music Festival’s Saturday shows
begin at 10:30 a.m. and continue through out the
day, with six performances before the highly
anticipated set by Al Stewart at 8:30 p.m.
On Monday, FEC Director Kevin Rhodes said
Stewart’s concert is “five tickets short of a sell
out.”
Stewart is comfortable with his place in rock
and roll history. While the crowd may come to
hear the hits they grew up with, there are other
See
OF
FESTIVAL 7A
E DUCATION
COASTAL LIVING IN JEOPARDY ?
P ART VIII
Local education systems struggle with the ups and
downs of funding while trying to build the future
B Y J ARED A NDERSON
& D AMIEN S HERWOOD
Siuslaw News
Jesse Motichka fiddles with his iPad
during his fifth-grade math class. His
eyes are transfixed on the screen and his
headphones drown out the world around
him. In most cases, this would earn him
an earful from his teacher and a time-out,
but in Mapleton Elementary School, kids
are encouraged to play with their technol-
ogy.
Jesse is playing a game — on his
teacher’s orders. As he fidgets with dials
that scroll through numbers, a digital win-
dow correspondingly shoots through
space, whizzing by celestial bodies until he
narrows in on his target number. A correct
matching of numeric place values deposits
more coins into his online profile. His
classmates at either side are engrossed in
their own math-based games, each work-
ing busily to earn more points.
Activities like this have become part of
the curriculum in Mapleton’s elementary
math classes, instituting a unique digital
approach to learning.
“The kids just soak it up and they’re not
afraid to jump in and start pushing but-
tons,” said Sarah Timpe, who teaches
third- and fourth-grade. “It’s more like a
video game, so it’s more engaging to them.
But instead of typical video games, they’re
figuring out answers.”
A Smart Board at the front of each class
THIS WEEK ’ S
invites students to write, erase and drag
objects on a digital screen for a more inter-
active experience. For reading classes,
children can find sound patterns and drag
words into matching columns. It’s a tech-
nology the students are enthusiastic to
engage with and one the teachers are find-
ing helpful.
“The Smart Board was a little tricky, but
I figured it out,” said fifth- and sixth-grade
teacher Clara Smith. “I can pull up a
PowerPoint with our lesson on it and I can
write on it. … We have a document cam-
era, too, which is part of the new-age over-
head.”
Mapleton Elementary School’s advance-
ments are preparing a generation for an age
that increasingly relies on new technology
for commerce, work and education. As
these tech-savvy children grow up, it
remains to be seen if their skills will
remain in the community or entice them to
find work elsewhere.
Mapleton
School
District
Superintendent Jodi O’Mara believes
future workers may have more opportuni-
ties to work with technology.
“When they graduate, a lot of the jobs
out there are going to be technology-based
or even home-based,” she said. “I think it
could potentially keep more graduates in
the community.”
While the degree to which technology
will play a role in each child’s life depends
on the paths they choose, Mapleton teach-
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ing staff agree technology encourages
problem-solving skills in a way unique to
their generation.
“I think it’s good because they’re seeing
a different kind of technology than they
would use at home,” said Smith.
Timpe said, “I can say from personal
experience I’m somewhat challenged with
learning new technology. Having access to
it now is an advantage because technology
is always changing.”
Jesse and fellow fifth-grader Alex
Burnett both plan to follow family foot-
steps.
“I wanna do what my dad does,” said
Alex. “He does logging.”
“I’ll probably do the same thing,” said
Jesse.
Neither boy thinks all this new technol-
ogy will influence their jobs as adults.
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EDUCATION 9A