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❘ JANUARY 13, 2018 ❘ $1.00
SATURDAY EDITION
VIKINGS FALL New art on view at
TO TIGERS Bridgeport Market
SPORTS — B
128TH YEAR ❘ ISSUE NO. 4
SERVING WESTERN LANE COUNTY SINCE 1890
Dunes City
opens water
rights to
Woahink
After months of debate, Dunes City
Council voted unanimously on Jan. 17 to
issue South Coast Water District a permit
to use water from
B Y J ARED A NDERSON
Woahink Lake.
Siuslaw News
At issue are 85
homes in the city
that currently receive water from Siltcoos
Lake, though the water quality traditional-
ly has been poor. To help alleviate water
quality issues, South Coast Water District
has been working with the city to have the
residents receive water from Woahink
Lake as well, which is where the majority
of Dunes City residents receive their
water.
However, some residents have been
concerned about the transfer of rights,
fearing the extra water usage would put
the water levels of Woahink at risk.
Dunes City initially planned to vote on
the issue last month, but councilors want-
ed to hear expert opinions before making
a final decision.
In Wednesday’s meeting, the council
heard testimony from Regional Water
Master Susan Douthit, along with South
Coast Water District owner Randall Reitz,
who currently filters the Siltcoos Lake
water for residents.
WATER 6A
FLORENCE, OREGON
W i n t er M u s i c
F e s t i va l
‘ l e t s i t
g r o w ’
City Council allows
Siltcoos residents to
receive water from
Woahink Lake
See
INSIDE — A5
PHOTOS BY MARK BRENNAN/SIUSLAW NEWS
C
astletown, a band from
Portland, started the 16th
annual Winter Music Festival
at the Florence Events Center on
Thursday with the Kids Concert 2018.
One of the group’s songs has the
chorus, “let it grow,” and Kids
Concert organizer Rachel Pearson
said that really summed up the event.
“It was so positive for the kids,” she
said. In total, Siuslaw Elementary sent
600 students, Mapleton Elementary
sent nearly 100 students and
Highland Elementary in Reedsport
sent close to 200. “Thank you to prin-
cipals Mike Harklerode, Jodi O'Mara
and Beckie Miller, as well as the bus drivers and teachers, for making all this
happen,” Pearson said. “It’s a lot of work, but both concerts were just fabulous.”
The Winter Music Festival continues through Sunday with the free Florence
Regional Arts Alliance Artisan Fair on Friday and Saturday and music all weekend
at the events center, 715 Quince St. For more information, visit
WinterMusicFestival.org.
Humane Society accepts request to hold new elections
Department of Justice inquiry into board appointments, elections determines a change is necessary
B Y M ARK B RENNAN
Siuslaw News
INSIDE
The Civil Enforcement Division
of the Oregon Department of Justice
(ODOJ) and Oregon Coast Humane
Society (OCHS) are in the process
of determining how best to conduct
a membership election to seat a new
board for the organization as quick-
ly as possible.
Elizabeth M. Grant, Senior
Assistant Attorney General at the
ODOJ office in Portland, said in
phone interviews on Jan. 9 and 10
that talks were ongoing with OCHS
legal representation, members of the
OCHS Board of Directors and
ODOJ staff.
A letter sent to OCHS’s legal
team from Grant’s office dated Oct.
17, 2017, and obtained by the
Siuslaw News, stated that, “It has
come to the attention of this office
that Oregon Coast Humane Society
(OCHS) is experiencing conflict
related to its governance, including
disputes concerning the voting
rights of members. ...
“The Department is requesting
that OCHS provide certain docu-
ments and information to the
Department that may be relevant to
its governance, membership issues
and assets.”
On Thursday, Grant said the
ongoing talks with the Florence
nonprofit were amicable in tone and
representatives from OCHS had
been cooperative to this point in the
inquiry.
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“We asked the OCHS Board, at a
meeting in mid-December, to pre-
pare a plan for membership elec-
tions to elect a new board of direc-
tors. We also asked that OCHS get
the plan to us by Feb. 15,” Grant
said.
The ODOJ’s main area of inter-
est, as expressed in the six-page
ORS 65.311 apply. That provision
provides that members have the
right to elect directors at the annual
membership meeting.”
Grant was unable to share the
exact nature or contents of the docu-
ments provided to the ODOJ by the
shelter’s board in response to their
request, but was willing to charac-
“We believe that many of the issues that are of
concern to us could best be addressed with a
membership vote .”
— Elizabeth M. Grant, Senior Assistant Attorney
General Oregon Department of Justice
assessment sent to OCHS, has to do
with the validity of recent board
appointments and the legitimacy of
its sitting directors.
ODOJ also expressed concern
about the confusion and tensions
surrounding membership meetings.
The department made it clear that
it believes the applicable Oregon
statutes require membership meet-
ings and open membership elec-
tions.
Grant’s October letter to the
OCHS legal team was clear, citing
the membership requirements of
ORS 65.001(28)(a).
“If an organization is incorporat-
ed as a membership organization,
and the articles and bylaws do not
set forth membership voting proce-
dures for the election of directors,
the statutory default provisions of
Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A4
Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A2
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Weather Data . . . . . . . . . . . A2
terize the interaction as “positive.”
In addition, while OCHS did not
provide all the documents request-
ed, it did provide enough of the
material to adequately evaluate the
situation, Grant said.
She then went on to say the
department had reviewed the
records OCHS had submitted and
concluded a membership election
was appropriate and necessary to
address the department’s concerns.
“We believe that many of the
issues that are of concern to us could
best be addressed with a member-
ship vote,” Grant stated.
In response to repeated requests
for comment, a letter from the
OCHS Board of Directors was sent
to the Siuslaw News on Friday
morning following discussions with
the ODOJ earlier that day.
THIS WEEK ’ S
The letter is addressed to Oregon
Coast Humane Society Members
and seeks to update the organiza-
tion’s membership on the most
recent developments in the inquiry
by the ODOJ (see page A2).
“A group of members brought to
the attention of the current board
their concerns that members have a
right to elect the Board of
Directors,” the letter said. “In prac-
tice, the Board of Directors was not
elected by members for many years.
... The Department of Justice deter-
mined that the Oregon Coast
Humane Society was established as
a
membership
organization.
Therefore, its members have a right
to elect the Board of Directors.”
The letter continues, detailing the
board’s perspective on the efforts to
clarify the many unsettled circum-
stances surrounding the OCHS
board and its sitting directors.
Siuslaw News contacted Grant
after the receipt of Friday’s letter to
the OCHS membership.
While she could not comment on
the specifics of the conversations
between the ODOJ and OCHS,
Grant was optimistic about the
eventual outcome of the situation.
As the OCHS board develops a
plan to transition toward an elected
board, it will postpone any monthly
meetings until a plan is approved by
the Department of Justice, with a
tentative submission deadline of
Feb. 15.
See
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WEATHER
Full Forecast, A3
T HE BUSINESS
OF M ARILYN
Photography restoration
business discusses the
future of the medium
B Y J ARED A NDERSON
Siuslaw News
Editor’s note: This is a continuation of
the article “Restoring Marilyn,” which
can be found online under the Special
Series archive at thesiuslawnews.com.
With the release of its new book “The
Essential Marilyn by Milton H. Greene,”
Florence-based The Archives is bringing
the art of photographer Milton H. Greene
to the masses.
The business, which is run by Milton’s
son Joshua Greene, has been restoring the
famed photographer’s hundreds of thou-
sands of photographs for years. With the
help of Greene’s employees James
Penrod, Shawn Penrod, Rob Welles and
Stephen Jones, the photographs have been
meticulously restored to their original
glory.
The business is a cross section of art
and commerce, and has created debate
among its employees about what consti-
tutes art, how it is distributed and dis-
played, the film industry, if photography is
actually art and what the future of photog-
raphy will become.
“It’s a tough business,” Greene said.
Milton’s photographs of legendary stars
of the Golden Age of Hollywood have
become iconic images. Marilyn Monroe.
Frank Sinatra. Maria Callas. The photo-
graphs can be seen throughout establish-
ments in Florence like City Lights
Cinemas and Waterfront Depot.
While photographs have thrilled film
devotees for decades, questions about the
importance of these pictures pictures are
being raised. Are the days of classic icons
like Monroe numbered?
“Future generations won’t care about
pictures of Marilyn Monroe or Frank
Sinatra,” Greene said. “That kind of thing
is probably going to fade away.”
In the old studio system, stars like
Monroe were under long-term contracts.
Humphrey Bogart was exclusive to
Warner Brothers, unless the studio heads
loaned him out to other studios. The image
of the stars was just as much a commodity
to the system as the films they were in.
Therefore, the studios were extraordinari-
ly careful as to how the stars were por-
trayed to the public.
But since the late 1960s and early ’70s,
as the studio systems began to break
down, actors became free agents, and their
carefully manicured public portrayals
were diminished. The public knows Bruce
Willis and Kathleen Turner more for red
carpet photographs and stills from their
films than studio shoots.
Compared to the Golden Age of
Hollywood, stars themselves have been
marginalized. In the 1930s, people would
see a Clark Gable picture solely because it
had Clark Gable.
For the most part, modern audiences
choose films for what they are about, not
who is in them. “Wonder Woman” is not
popular because it stars Gal Godot and
Chris Pine, but because it’s about DC
Comics’ Wonder Woman.
Because of these reasons, it’s doubtful
high art collectors will clamor for pictures
of Robert Downey Jr. or Jessica Chastain
to grace their walls anytime soon, The
Archives believes.
While stars like Jennifer Lawrence do
have professional studio shoots, they are
dwarfed by the extraordinary volume of
paparazzi photographs that fill the inter-
net.
“Everybody has a camera now,” Shawn,
office manager for The Archives, said.
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