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128TH YEAR ❘ ISSUE NO. 24
❘ MARCH 24, 2018 ❘ $1.00
SERVING WESTERN LANE COUNTY SINCE 1890
FLORENCE, OREGON
Woodbury’s work shows what’s ‘possible’ SVFR, WLAD
receive positive
audit report
Grocery Outlet owner
to retire, continue to
serve community
B Y M ARK B RENNAN
Auditor suggests minor
changes to procedures
to ensure future accuracy
Siuslaw News
W
oody Woodbury and Casey
Kawahara are employer
and employee. The two men are
nearly a half century apart in age
and, perhaps most importantly,
they are also friends.
Woodbury is the current owner
of the popular discount food store
and Casey is an employee with
Autism Spectrum Disorder. The
two have known each other for the
past few years and have worked
together at Florence Grocery
Outlet during that time.
April is Autism Awareness
Month and also the last month
that Woodbury will own Grocery
Outlet. His last day as the owner
of Grocery Outlet will be April
24.
Woodbury began working with
Casey and getting to know his
mom, Kelly Kawahara, when
Casey started working at Grocery
Outlet as part of his education
plan at Siuslaw High School.
Casey was participating in a
program led by Teri Gehlke and
designed to assist students in
B Y M ARK B RENNAN
Siuslaw News
MARK BRENNAN/SIUSLAW NEWS
Woody Woodbury (right) and Casey Kawahara work together at Grocery Outlet in Florence.
Woodbury hired Casey after he graduated from a special education program at Siuslaw High
School. Now, the two consider themselves friends.
gaining the skills and confidence
needed to acquire and hold onto a
job in a commercial environment.
“I think the individuals in the
Special Education Programs at the
high school have a lot to offer,”
Woodbury said. “I’ve been doing
this for around 10 years now.
Casey was in the program for four
years and he worked here a couple
days a week. Then he turned 21
and could no longer participate in
the program through school, so I
talked with his mom, Kelly, and
she said Casey would really like to
continue working. So I hired him
and he’s been working here for
going on two years now.”
Casey has several duties he per-
forms as part of his job.
“I really like working here,” he
said. “I have some stuff I work on
each day and I get the chance to
see my friends and to talk with
Woody. He’s been a great boss to
me and he is a really nice guy,
too.”
Kelly believes that the opportu-
nity given to her son has changed
his life for the better on many lev-
els. She said she holds Woodbury
in the highest regard, not only for
what he has done for her son, but
also for the Florence community.
See
POSSIBLE 7A
Veterans need drivers for hospital trips
Florence DAV needs additional drivers for Portland, Roseburg routes
B Y J ARED A NDERSON
But because of the driver short-
age, veterans risk losing out on
Siuslaw News
The Florence chapter of the
Disabled American Veterans
(DAV) is in need of additional van
drivers to help transport veterans
to medical facilities in Portland
and Roseburg.
The volunteer-run program,
which provides free transportation
for vets to Department of Veterans
Affairs (VA) medical centers in the
state, would ideally have 15 driv-
ers for the Portland route and five
drivers for the Roseburg route.
However, as of now, there are only
eight and two drivers for the
routes, respectively.
The need for trips is high. With
a high population of veterans in
the area, coupled with an older
population, the trips are a crucial
for those needing VA medical care.
“Normally we run five days a
week,” Jim Swant, lead driver for
the Portland route, said.
get them to their medical appoint-
ment, otherwise they would be
“You’d be surprised how many veterans don’t know
what they’re entitled to. Some people think that they only
get three years of medical care, but it’s not true. They get
lifetime medical care if they meet the qualifications.”
— Jim Swant, Florence DAV member
receiving vital medical care.
“If something comes up and I
can’t drive, or the other person
can’t drive, you’re out of a driver,”
said Ken Casey, lead driver for the
Roseburg route. “We try to fill in
for each, but if you’re out of town,
and if you don’t have anyone to
back you up, a person’s not going
to get a ride.”
“A lot of veterans don’t have the
means to get to the hospital on
their own,” Swant said. “Some of
them don’t have cars, some of
them don’t drive. Some of them
are too old to drive. It’s a means to
dying left and right because of lack
of medical care.”
The DAV operates a fleet of
vehicles around the country pro-
viding free transport to VA centers,
a vital service for seniors in rural
or isolated communities. Florence
acts as a hub for the Oregon coast,
being the halfway point between
Roseburg and Portland.
“We have 21 pickup points,”
Swant said about his route. “We
go up Highway 101 north of
Lincoln City and cut through
Otis. We have two pickups there
in Otis, and one down the road.
Our farthest north pickup is
Sheridan.”
Veterans also drive themselves
to Florence for the van service,
coming from as far away as Coos
Bay for the transport.
“Some of them just go up for a
routine physical or maybe they
have a doctor’s appointment,”
Casey explained about the veter-
ans who use the program.
Some veterans only need trans-
portation once every three months
for routine checkups, but others
need weekly trips. The trips can
be particularly important for
those needing care after compli-
cated medical procedures.
Because the veterans are often
too ill to travel, the van trips are
particularly vital when the length
of the journeys are factored in. A
Portland trip can average 350
miles, with the driver’s day last-
ing up to 15 hours.
See
DRIVERS 9A
Lights out tonight for Earth Hour
B Y D AMIEN S HERWOOD
For the Siuslaw News
INSIDE
Earth Hour, a one-hour event
encouraging individuals and com-
munities to turn off non-essential
electric lights, will be held today,
March 24, from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m.
local time.
The worldwide event, organized
by the World Wide Fund for Nature
(WWF), aims to raise awareness
about environmental issues such as
climate change and sustainable liv-
ing.
Earth Hour began as a lights-off
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event in Sydney, Australia, in 2007
and has since expanded across the
globe to more than 180 countries and
territories, according to the group’s
website. Participants are encouraged
to turn off what lights they can for
the event, but to exercise common
sense in respect to safety.
Though the exercise itself is not
meant to reduce energy or carbon,
the organization says, “Participation
in Earth Hour symbolizes a commit-
ment to change beyond the hour.”
Impactful energy reduction during
the event is thought by many to be
negligible, though a 2014 study pub-
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lished in the peer-reviewed journal
Energy Research & Social Science
reported an average electricity con-
sumption drop of four percent in 10
participating countries over a six-
year period during Earth Hour
events.
“While the goal of Earth Hour is
not to achieve measurable electricity
savings, the collective events illus-
trate how purposeful behavior can
quantitatively affect regional elec-
tricity demand,” the authors of the
study said. “The policy challenge is
to convert these short-term events
into longer-term actions, including
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DISTRICTS 7A
Energy conservation now a focus of
11th annual ‘hour without power’
sustained changes in behavior and
investment.”
Oregon has spearheaded such
efforts toward long-term change. In
2016, Oregon legislators passed a
clean-energy bill to eliminate coal
from the state’s electricity supply
and required that at least 50
percent of electricity sold by electric
companies come from renewable
resources.
According to the U.S. Energy
Information Administration, there
are currently no commercial coal
mines operating in Oregon and the
state’s last coal-fired power plant is
WEATHER
Full Forecast, A3
Siuslaw Valley Fire and Rescue
(SVFR) and Western Lane Ambulance
District (WLAD) held board meetings
Wednesday and Thursday this week, at
the SVFR Main Station on Highway 101.
The most significant information dis-
cussed during the separate meetings was
a comprehensive report delivered by
Auditor Chris Mahr on the financial sta-
tus of the two districts.
That report indicated that there were
no serious issues that were unexpected or
required any immediate action by direc-
tors of either body.
Mahr first went into detail about the
process used by his firm, Chris Mahr and
Associates CPAS, to assess both districts’
financial status. He then discussed his
firm’s duty to comply with certain state
mandated reporting requirements.
Mahr assured the directors that there
were no issues of malfeasance or fraud
found during the audit, and, most impor-
tantly, his report to the state would be
positive.
“You were in compliance with all areas
reviewed, so it is a thumbs up as regards
ORS (Oregon Revised Statutes) require-
ments and statutes,” Mahr said. “Your
staff was very cooperative and provided
us with all requested information
required by the state to be included in
our report.”
He also mentioned that his firm had
identified a number of areas that would
benefit from minor modifications to the
districts’ current accounting procedures.
He suggested that board members take
a more active role in observing monthly
vendor transactions and noting any obvi-
ous discrepancies in monthly financial
reconciliations.
Mahr said the suggested changes
would strengthen the oversight process
for both districts and act as an additional
check to identify or prevent any potential
fraud in the future.
Directors for both boards accepted
Mahr’s report, after asking a few basic
questions. The directors then thanked
him for the presentation and the work
done by his firm on their behalf.
due to shut down by the end of
2020.
Central Lincoln PUD, which
serves electricity to 112 miles of
Oregon’s central coast, embodies the
spirit of the 2016 legislation.
“Our electricity is 95 percent car-
bon-free and almost all of it is
renewable,” said CLPUD Public
Affairs Manager Chris Chandler.
“It’s not a matter of unplugging from
coal-based energy because we don’t
get any of our power from coal or
diesel.”
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EARTH HOUR 8A