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WEDNESDAY EDITION
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Honoring Vietnam Vets
SPECIAL SECTION INSIDE — A5
SPORTS — B
128TH YEAR ❘ ISSUE NO. 25
Service, sacrifice
of Vietnam vets
recognized
nationally
Florence-area veterans say
appreciation of their
contributions in Vietnam
has never been better
National Vietnam War Veterans Day is a com-
memorative holiday, celebrated on March 29, to
acknowledge the service and sacrifice made by
veterans serving in one
B Y M ARK B RENNAN
of America’s most divi-
Siuslaw News
sive and longest wars.
The need to formally
recognize veterans from the Vietnam era was first
acknowledged by President Barack Obama on
March 29, 2012.
Obama issued a proclamation on that day that
“called upon all Americans to observe this day
with appropriate programs, ceremonies and
activities that commemorate the 50 year anniver-
sary of the Vietnam War.”
Obama’s proclamation went on to say, “The
Vietnam War is a story of different backgrounds,
colors and creeds who came together to complete
a daunting mission. It is a story of Americans
from every corner of our nation, who left the
warmth of family to serve the country they loved.
It is a story of patriots who braved the line of fire,
who cast themselves into harm’s way to save a
friend, who fought hour after hour, day after day
to preserve the liberties we hold dear.”
The proclamation was well received by
Vietnam veterans because it captured the multi-
cultural nature of the conflict, which saw volun-
teers and drafted soldiers serving alongside one
another, often forming relationships that would
carry on for years after the individuals’ service
had ended.
The date was made a nationally-recognized
annual holiday in 2017 by President Donald
Trump.
The public recognition of Vietnam era vets
was initially established by individual states in
the 1970s on either March 29 or 30, to acknowl-
edge the day that the last U.S. combat troops
were withdrawn from Vietnam and the day the
last prisoners of war held in Vietnam were
released.
See VETERANS 5A
‘W E
❘ MARCH 28, 2018 ❘ $1.00
SERVING WESTERN LANE COUNTY SINCE 1890
FLORENCE, OREGON
Training for ‘worst case’ scenario
ALICE training teaches proactive responses for Siuslaw School District staff and faculty
B Y M ARK B RENNAN
Siuslaw News
The recent national focus
on school shootings coincid-
ed with a day of training at
the Siuslaw School District
on Friday, March 23.
The training was designed
to prepare and educate facul-
ty and district staff to better
anticipate and respond to an
active shooter situation in or
at Florence schools.
The all-day session was an
attempt
to
familiarize
Siuslaw staff with a recently
updated plan to thwart and
deter an active shooter in the
district.
Since 2007, the U.S.
Department of Education
provided guidance and tech-
niques to school districts that
focused on the “Lockdown”
Siuslaw staff and faculty practice
approach to safeguarding
reunification drills as part of the
students.
ALICE
active-shooter training con-
This plan called for stu-
ducted
by
the district and Florence
dents and teachers to lock the
Police
Department
at the middle
doors to a school or class-
and
high
schools
last Friday.
room and to wait out the
shooter. There were no
proactive elements to the plan. It only called for P o l i c e C o m m a n d e r
teachers to lock the door to their respective John Pitcher.
classrooms and wait.
Pitcher’s presentation
This limited strategy often resulted in high highlighted the major
death counts when the shooter was able to find shift in the strategies
and shoot hiding staff and students, with little suggested by the Depart-
or no resistance.
ment of Education and
In 2013, the Department of Education and other national law
educational institutions spent significant enforcement agencies
resources to research active shooter incidents. when schools find them-
These findings resulted in a major shift in the selves the victims of an
active shooter policies promoted by school dis- active shooter.
tricts across the country. Ultimately, the studies
Pitcher believes the
culminated in the creation and adoption of a Lockdown strategy was
more robust deterrent-based strategy known as not effective and said he
ALICE training.
is glad there is now a more robust effort to stop
ALICE is an acronym for Alert, Lockdown, active shooters available to educators.
Inform, Counter and Evacuate.
“Studies have shown that simply trying to
This reformulated approach to dealing hide from the bad guys wasn’t working. The
with active shooter situations was explained killers would just go from room to room, shoot-
in detail at the Friday training by Florence ing and killing as many people as they could
PHOTOS BY MARK BRENNAN/SIUSLAW NEWS
along the way. The new plan is much more
proactive and I feel it gives the students and
staff in those situations a much better chance of
coming out of the attack alive,” he said.
See
ALICE 11A
HAVE TO START SOMEWHERE AND WE NEED TO START NOW ’
Florence’s unaffiliated ‘March for Our Lives’ opens broader discussion on guns, 2nd Amendment
Protesters carry signs in support of the
national March for Our Lives movement
and to say “Never Again” to gun violence,
especially in schools.
G
INSIDE
un reform activists took to the streets on
Saturday as 75 to 80 residents of the
Siuslaw region marched in support of the
March for Our Lives campaign, a high-school-
student-planned march that brought hundreds
of thousands of protesters out across the nation,
asking for various forms of legislative gun
reform.
The national March for Our Lives was organ-
ized in part by students of Marjory Stoneman
Douglas High School in Parkland, Flo., which
was the scene of a school shooting on Feb. 14
that left 17 dead and many injured. The
Florence march was not an official affiliate
with the national campaign.
“I was really impressed that that many peo-
ple came out in the rain,” Florence march co-
coordinator Maureen Miltenberger said about
the demonstration, which began at the Florence
Methodist Church and worked its way up and
down Highway 101 and parts of Historic Old
Town Florence.
“I was talking to my sister who went to the
Washington, D.C., march that day, and she said
she was standing in the crowd and never felt
such a feeling of togetherness and achievement
in her whole life,” Miltenberger said. “She felt
that the country was on the right track of work-
ing together. Even in our small town of
Florence, I felt that.”
Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Community . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Honoring Vietnam Veterans . .
Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
B6
A3
A5
A4
S TORY AND PHOTOS
B Y J ARED A NDERSON
For Miltenberger, the event was a chance to
remember her son, who at the age of 19 was
killed during a home robbery.
“I wanted my son to be a part of it,” she said.
“Because he died of gun violence, I felt more a
part of it than most people because I’ve gone
through it myself. That’s why I wanted to be a
part of it and make sure it happened.”
“These kids have lived with school shooting
their entire lives; the rest of us have not,”
march participant Nancy Rickard said.
She stated her reason for marching was to
support the students.
“I didn’t march with any signs,” she said. “I
have four grandkids and it’s a worry. We don’t
live in the same protected world that we used
to. It’s not just about guns.”
While the march was largely peaceful, with
demonstrators quietly marching and holding up
signs for cars passing by, the march was not
without some controversy. Three demonstrators
entered the Florence Gun Shop on Highway
101, which was located on the march’s route.
Siuslaw News
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