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WEDNESDAY EDITION
❘ MARCH 21, 2018 ❘ $1.00
SWINGING INTO
SOFTBALL SEASON
SPORTS — B
128TH YEAR ❘ ISSUE NO. 23
SERVING WESTERN LANE COUNTY SINCE 1890
FLORENCE, OREGON
PHOTOS BY CRYSTAL FARNSWORTH
‘Lighting the torch’ earns gold medals
Rotary Auction brings grand total raised to over $1.5 million since 1960
B Y C HANTELLE M EYER
Siuslaw News
The 2018 Rotary Auction on March 10 was
a night full of winners as the Florence
community raised more than $93,000 dur-
ing the “Lighting the Torch for Our Kids’
Future” event.
otary Club of Florence announced the
grand total of this year’s Rotary Auction
at its lunch meeting on March 20, and
the total had club members feeling like win-
ners. The March 10 Olympics-themed auction,
called “Lighting the Torch for Our Kids’
Future,” raised $93,179.96.
Auction Committee co-chair Kevin
R
McMullen said, “We’re very proud of our
numbers, and very happy. Everybody worked
hard for it.”
He acknowledged that this amount was less
than last year’s “Dancing for the Stars of
Tomorrow” record of more than $109,000, but
called 2017 an “exceptional year.”
“This community is so generous that we
VFW honors first responders at meeting
Responders from WLAD, SVFR and OSP recognized for contributions during 2017
have to be very happy with what we got,”
McMullen said. “One of the biggest things that
happened is that it puts us over that $1.5 mil-
lion mark.”
The Rotary Auction in Florence has netted
$1,560,785.23 from 1960 to now.
See
AUCTION 7A
CONSUMER ALERT
RANSOMED
Ron’s Paint struggles with
the financial burden of
ransomware
PHOTOS BY MARK BRENNAN
/SIUSLAW NEWS
Members of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3232 attend the Florence City Council
meeting Monday night to present plaques to first responders from Siuslaw Valley
Fire and Rescue, Western Lane Ambulance District (left) and Oregon State Police.
B Y M ARK B RENNAN
Siuslaw News
Members of the Veterans of
Foreign Wars (VFW) Post
3232 attended the Florence
City Council meeting on
March 19, which was held at
Siuslaw Valley Fire and
Rescue (SVFR) Main Station
on Highway 101, to present
recognition certificates to
three of the area’s first
responders.
Members
of
SVFR,
Western Lane Ambulance
District (WLAD) and the
Oregon State Police (OSP)
were then presented plaques
for their work during the pre-
vious year.
Ken Smith, Commander of
Post 3232, said the annual cer-
emony acknowledges the
often underappreciated work
done by the SVFR, WLAD
and OSP.
“It seems like we often take
our first responders for grant-
ed. We just wanted to do
something to thank them for
the important work they do,”
Smith said.
Recognition plaques were
presented to SVFR Battalion
Chief Dave Beck, WLAD
Training Officer Rob Chance
and OSP Senior Trooper Lee
Farrar, who were nominated
by their organizations for the
See
HONOR 6A
Coos Bay man dies in crash on Highway 101
B Y M ARK B RENNAN
Siuslaw News
INSIDE
Oregon State Police (OSP)
reported a total of six fatalities in
vehicle accidents in Oregon over
the weekend, possibly due to the
onset of spring and St. Patrick’s
Day on Saturday.
On Sunday, March 18, at
approximately 11 a.m., OSP and
Siuslaw Valley Fire and Rescue
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Community . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Kid Scoop . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Library Tidings . . . . . . . . . . .
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responded to a multi-vehicle
accident at milepost 174 on
Highway 101. This is near the
turn-off for Rock Creek north of
Heceta Head Lightstation.
Jeremy Hackney, age 45, from
Coos Bay, Ore., was driving
north on Highway 101 and drift-
ed into the southbound lane
while navigating a right hand
turn.
Hackney’s vehicle, a 2002
Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A4
Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A2
Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B
Weather Data . . . . . . . . . . . A2
Ford Ranger pickup truck, struck
a southbound 2013 Dodge pick-
up with a camper.
Hackney’s vehicle ricocheted
off the camper and struck a 1998
Ford minivan that was trailing
the pickup. The truck then rolled
to the west side of Highway 101.
Hackney suffered fatal injuries
during the crash and was pro-
nounced deceased at the scene.
His passenger, wife Stephanie
THIS WEEK ’ S
Hackney, age 43, was transported
to PeaceHealth Peace Harbor
Medical Center for non-life
threatening injuries.
No other people suffered
injuries from the crash.
Highway 101 was closed to
one lane for approximately five
hours for investigation of the
accident. The names of the other
drivers involved in were not
identified as of press time.
TODAY
THURSDAY
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SATURDAY
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WEATHER
Full Forecast, A3
Ron Wilson knows his paints. For the past
20 years, Wilson has been sharing his expert-
ise with the Siuslaw
B Y J ARED A NDERSON
community from his
Siuslaw News
Florence-based busi-
ness Ron’s Paint and
Supply, giving advice on everything from the
most reliable fast drying spackle to what a
good sealer is to put on wood outside the
home.
“He is profoundly loved within this com-
munity,” said SK Lindsey, Ron’s Paint’s
administrative assistant. “Everyone wants his
advice, and I’m talking about experienced
contractors.”
But the one thing that Wilson doesn’t know
about is computers, and in late 2016, that lack
of knowledge cost him tens of thousands of
dollars, placing his business in financial jeop-
ardy that, to this day, he is still attempting to
work his way out of.
Wilson was the victim of ransomware, a
malicious virus that takes over a computer
and locks a user’s files.
“One day we came into the office and there
was a prompt on the computer screen that
said, ‘We have your computer files and if you
want them back, pay $500,’” Wilson said.
“They took a chunk of information out of our
computer stating what people owed us and
what we owed other people. At that point, it
threw the books into a tailspin because we
weren’t sure who was supposed to be paying
us and how much.”
Ransomware has become big business for
computer hackers in recent years, with dam-
ages reaching $5 billion around the globe in
2017 alone, according to a 2017 Newsweek
article. And the number of attacks is increas-
ing, rising 250 percent last year.
“Ransomware has become really prevalent
in the last couple of years, and it’s one of the
nastier viruses out there because you can’t
recover from it,” Florence Tech Solutions
(FTS) Computer Repair Services owner
Jolene Medeiros said. “Once your stuff is
locked, it’s locked.”
Medeiros has encountered ransomware
in Florence before, and has helped people
recover from, and protect against, the mali-
cious viruses.
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See
VIRUS 8A