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❘ FEBRUARY 10, 2018 ❘ $1.00
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UP SEASON
SPORTS — B
INSIDE — A3
128TH YEAR ❘ ISSUE NO. 12
SERVING WESTERN LANE COUNTY SINCE 1890
F LORENCE
FLORENCE, OREGON
AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
SIUSLAW AWARDS
Imagination, service focus of annual awards
honoring 2017 people and businesses
Siuslaw Steering
Committee
seeks continued
comment
Public forum will discuss
options, survey results
B Y M ARK B RENNAN
Siuslaw News
Siuslaw School District Superintendent Andy
Grzeskowiak is encouraging residents to attend a
public forum at Siuslaw High School on
Monday, Feb. 12, at 6 p.m, with members of the
district’s Steering Committee and the Siuslaw
School District Board of Directors.
The purpose of the discussion will be to
review the pre-bond planning work and bond
project priorities to be included in any future
bond requests.
The Steering Committee also hopes to receive
input from community members that may not
have had an opportunity to contribute to the
process to this point, according to Grzeskowiak.
“The Monday meeting at the high school has
three purposes,” he said. “First, it is scheduled
for student input. Previous meetings have been
difficult for students to attend and share their
thoughts on what is needed to improve the safe-
ty and learning environment of the high school.
“Second, more community members have
been joining in the process over the last few
months and have more ideas to share and ques-
tions to ask.”
Future First
Citizen
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PHOTOS BY
RODGER BE
NNETT
See
DISTRICT 8A
EMAC looks to
change recycling
equation
B Y M ARK B RENNAN
Siuslaw News
r Bettina
utive Directo to the
le
p
Chamber Exec
eo
p
comes
Hannigan wel vous” themed awards.
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“Rhody
F
lorence Area Chamber of Commerce
hosted the 2017 Siuslaw Awards at the
Florence Events Center on Wednesday. It
was a chance to honor local businesses with a
number of awards, as well as to thank three spe-
cific community members for their impact on
the community through service.
Chamber Executive Director Bettina
Hannigan welcomed attendees to the event.
“I’m looking out here and seeing friendly
faces and people who like to do business,” she
said. “We hope that you are enjoying our
‘Rhody Rendezvous’ experience. Terry Abeyta,
our very own assistant executive director and
Tony’s Garage — “Stu Johnston”
Business of the Year Award
B Y C HANTELLE M EYER
Siuslaw News
event coordinator, along with the decorating
committee, have rocked this place out of the
park.”
The committee worked with event center
staff to festoon the flat floor of the building with
rhododendrons, festive lighting and other
greenery.
Hannigan then told a story about the many
hats people in the community wear.
“At the chamber, our primary hat is econom-
ic development for our members. This means
First Citizen
Rachel Pearso
n declares
she is “Siusl
aw Proud.”
using all available resources — leverage, edu-
cation, advocacy and relationships — to support
our members. It takes resources to help people.”
She said that the chamber’s resources equip
businesses and people to support area nonprof-
its, hire more people and pay better wages, in
addition to the chamber’s second “hat” as the
marketing partner of the City of Florence.
Hannigan then talked about the importance
of an “imagination hat,” as she once needed for
a visit to Disneyland with her 8-year-old
nephew.
See
AWARDS 6A
Port of Siuslaw holds third public meeting
INSIDE
On Feb. 7, the Port of Siuslaw held
its third public input meeting where
members of the
B Y J ARED A NDERSON public
could
Siuslaw News
address their
concerns to the
Port Commission about security
issues and sanitation, along with
showing support for public art on
port property.
After the public meeting, an exec-
utive session was held on the new
port management position, where
public action was taken afterward.
The input meeting began with a
Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Community . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
B7
A3
A4
A2
letter of complaint from a liveaboard
port moorage customer, listing a
litany of problems the writer felt
plagued the docks.
The first section of the letter was
devoted to security on the docks.
“Currently, there is a total lack of
enforcement of the 100 existing Port
of Siuslaw ordinances, primarily
because of the absence of a routine
(port) presence on the docks, result-
ing in an all-day, all-night long
unawareness of events, complaint
follow up or enforcement action,”
the letter writer said.
Sideshow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B6
Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B
This Week on the Coast . . . . A7
Weather Data . . . . . . . . . . . A2
The letter stated that the writer
had witnessed fist fights, drug users
and “transients/drunks” who have
urinated and defecated outside their
window, night crabbers, overnight
campers in sleeping bags, skinny
dippers and out of season fireworks,
among other things.
The letter went on to state that the
port’s actionable response solution
was to report violations to the
Florence police. But the writers
claimed they had contacted the
police and were told “off the record”
that this is a port problem, not a
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MONDAY
TUESDAY
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See
ENVIRONMENT 8A
Sanitation, security, public art and
port manager position discussed
police problem, and not to bother 911
with these incidents.
Florence Police Commander John
Pitcher was contacted for a response
to the complaint.
“That’s just not true,” he said. “I’ve
talked to port personnel and they were
aware of complaints. We pulled calls
and we pulled reports. We went down
there every time we were called, and
there was nothing there.”
As to the port policing issues on its
own, Interim Port Manager Dina
McClure stated that the port does try
to address complaints, but office staff
WEATHER
Full Forecast, A3
Florence’s Environmental Management
Advisory Committee (EMAC) met for the first
time in 2018 on Tuesday evening at the Florence
Events Center.
The committee began their work by taking
public comments from the audience.
Two prominent community members took the
opportunity to address the group, Mayor Joe
Henry and City Councilor Joshua Greene.
Henry told the committee that he felt the work
it is engaged in is vital to Florence, citing the
recently approved city ordinances modifying
takeout food containers, as an example of the
positive impact EMAC has on the city.
“I just wanted to thank you for the great job
you did on the styrofoam issue, that is something
that will be very beneficial to our community in
the long run,” Henry said.
is limited in its hours. Many of the
complaints come in during the week-
end, when the port office is closed.
However, the port does have new
security cameras, and more will be
installed soon.
“We go back and look at the videos
if there’s a problem,” McClure said.
“If somebody says there’s a concern,
we go back and check it out.”
McClure encouraged customers to
contact police dispatch if any inci-
dents do occur.
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See
PORT 8A