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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (April 11, 2018)
8 A SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ WEDNESDAY, APRIL 11, 2018 THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM ❘ / SIUSLAWNEWS ❘ @ SIUSLAWNEWS Siuslaw News Community Voices S IUSLAW V ALLEY F IRE & R ESCUE — B Y P ETE “B OA ” W ARREN Recruitment & Retention Coordinator for SVFR M arch’s Fire Academy brought together a cadre of entry-level potential Firefighters, some with N ATURAL experience and others without. A few of the more knowledge- able recruits came from Swisshome-Deadwood Fire Department (SDFD). Newly pro- moted Operations Chief Danny Morgan was among those who took the first Academy offered in 2018. One of his Captains, Jaime McMasters, also gained valuable leadership skills when tasked with running the “whole show” during one of the three weekends the Academy was operating. Chief Hertzbach’s son Aryeh chose to join up and get some valuable experience — possibly for a leadership role within Swisshome-Deadwood's depart- PERSPECTIVE Another academy graduates ment after Chief Hertzbach decides to retire in a few decades. A couple of sisters, Harmony and Lauren, teamed up to help out their department too. Both have won the top performer’s “Munster Award” for their efforts. It took Lauren an extra day to psyche herself up for the first attempt in the “Burn Box.” When asked if she liked it, her replay was like that of a champ: “It was hot and I want to go again!” Our favorite Coast Guard sta- tion offered new volunteers to our ranks as they joined their Florence cohorts in this academy. Zach Beadon tore up the agility test a few days before academy drills started. His Coastie buddy, Luc Pierce, wanted to do better, and later texted me asking for a retake. Sorry Luc, you’ll have to wait until this summer. Mapleton Fire had Tim Moffett and he will represent MFD very well. Locally, we had a few 18-year olds who’ll be graduating high school in another month or so. A couple of them also won the “Munster Awards” for their efforts during the academy. Sean Graham was the first win- ner of the much coveted (but essentially useless) bent hydrant wrench. A week later, Andrew Montgomery won it. Station 2 in Old Town has two new sets of turnouts hanging in the bay from the from the Siuslaw Schools too. One is Abigail Pickett, who met the challenge of the Agility Test. Another proud new firefighter is Kaye Fache who, if you’re up early enough, you’ll see driving students to their classes and to events throughout Oregon. Hands-on is a very important term that directly relates to mus- cle memory, and is what best teaches firefighting recruits. Repetition, repetition and more repetition. With that, I frequently have flashbacks to when I first tried donning all my gear in under a minute. You could see a lot of worried faces initially, as some were breaking into the 2-minute warnings initially. Then, after wearing their gear, they have another 1 minute 15 seconds to put the air packs on and breath air while properly wearing their gear. After a while, they were all able to don their full gear while blind folded; all passed and went on to finish out their academy. ______________________ Pete “Boa” Warren can be contacted at 541-997-3212, or the main SVFR station, 2625 Highway 101, or email Boa@svfr.org. — Seals on the seashore B Y E MILY J. U HRIG , P H D Special to the Siuslaw News T he arrival of newborn wildlife is a clear reminder that spring is a time of renewal when many of life’s cycles begin again. Unlike a lot of marine species whose lives tend to be hid- den beneath the waves, harbor seals are readily observable coastal inhabitants and their pupping sea- son is underway. While this season may bring glimpses of cute baby seals, we must remember to keep nature at arm’s length. Harbor seals can be distin- guished from sea lions, which are also found in our area, by their smaller bodies and lack of ear flaps. They also differ in the orien- tation of their flippers which leads to noticeable differences in their movements on land: sea lions can rotate their flippers under their bodies to support themselves while walking whereas a seal's flippers are not as mobile or supportive. This difference makes seals awkward on land where they flop along rather ungracefully in a motion called “galumphing.” Although harbor seal pups can swim at birth, they are nursed on land with milk that is 40-50 per- cent fat. Human breast milk, in contrast, contains only about 5 per- cent fat. With this nourishing diet, pups develop quickly and are weaned around 4 weeks of age. Production of such rich milk takes its toll on the mother, who may lose half her body fat while nursing. To offset this cost, moth- ers return to the ocean to feed dur- ing the lactation period, often leav- ing the pup alone on the beach to rest. During this time, well-mean- ing people are tempted to intervene and ‘help’ what they believe is a lost pup in distress. However, this intervention is frequently harmful, or even fatal, as it may result in abandonment of the pup or cause it serious health issues. Even without human interfer- ence, nature’s harsh realities mean that pups often succumb to malnu- trition, disease or predation. It’s not uncommon, particularly for young mothers, to have pups born prematurely and underweight, put- ting them at an immediate disad- vantage. Small pups are less able to with- stand cold temperatures and may have difficulty suckling. Their demise is unpleasant to consider, but important for keeping popula- tions in check. Indeed, despite high natural mortality, our local popula- tions of harbor seals are doing well. So, as the weather warms and eventually dries out, go enjoy our beaches and our seals. Just give them space and resist lending a hand that’s likely to do more harm than good. Free cordless upgrade on shades (offer thru May 31, 2018) Blinds • Shades • Draperies • Shutters We Design ~ We Install Residential • Commercial • 30 Years Experience CCB#212734 541-991-3405 M ILITARY H ERITAGE C HRONICLES — Our Vietnam veterans B Y C AL A PPLEBEE Special to the Siuslaw News O n March 29, we celebrated a new federal commemo- rative holiday, National Vietnam Veterans Recognition Day, with some great coverage of the event by Mark Brennan here in the pages of the Siuslaw News. It was long over-due given the “wel- come home” these vets didn't receive originally. While this form of recognition is new for the Vietnam veterans, recognition by other means over the decades has existed and in fact is still growing. Numerous communities around the United States have erected a variety of memorials commemo- rating either the war, the veterans, or both. In Oregon alone, there are over a dozen such memorials scat- tered around the state, largely in municipal parks or in conjunction with memorial gardens at cemeter- ies. But there are also larger and more prominent formal memorials such as in Canby and Portland. The Vietnam Veterans of Oregon Memorial in Portland is located at Washington Park on an eight-acre parcel in a garden-like setting. Inspired by the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington DC, this memorial was dedicated in 1987 and contains the names of all Oregon residents who died or are missing in action. The smaller memorial in Canby is on a busy highway triangular intersection, was dedicated in 2011 and contains a bronze statue of Oregon soldiers as well as a full- size Huey helicopter on a pedestal. It is also a Blue Star Memorial location. Despite the distraction of the noisy traffic, it is well worth the visit. The Vietnam Memorial Wall replica, or Moving Wall, has made appearances in Oregon — twice here in Florence. Museum found- ing board member Tim Sapp brought it to town originally in 2001, just prior to 9-11. A perma- nent version of that memorial is planned in the southern Oregon town of Medford. Even at 80-percent scale, it will still be 360 feet in length and bear the names of 58,479 Americans, at current count, who gave the ulti- mate sacrifice. The effort by Southern Oregon Veterans Benefit has been on- going for a couple years and they have received good support from both the Medford community as well as city leaders. It will sit on 2.1 acres within the Medford parks system. While the southern Oregon memorial wall will be national in focus, another memorial is also being planned as a state memorial in Salem, and it will be not only an Oregon state focus, but will con- tain emphasis on multiple compo- nents of the veterans’ experiences such as MIA/POW, nurses, Agent Orange and other aspects. The 1.5-million-dollar project is to be located on the grounds of the state capitol in Salem and is target- ed for completion Veteran’s Day, 2020. While segments of our society will always debate the Vietnam War itself, fortunately enough of us recognize the distinction between the war and those Americans who served. Both of these new and welcome Oregon memorials will recognize and honor those Veterans. At our next quarterly Military Heritage Day on Saturday, April 21, you can learn more about both of these Vietnam memorials direct- ly from representatives of the two sponsoring organizations. Southern Oregon Veterans Benefit Member at Large, Russ McBride, himself a Vietnam vet, will be joined by the Salem spon- sor Vietnam War Memorial Fund President Steve Bates, and both will share their projects with us. We hope you’ll plan to join us as well. You can learn more about mili- tary heritage by visiting our web- site at www.oregoncoastmilitary museum.com or visit the museum which is open Thursday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and is located at 2145 Kingwood St. FLORENCE HOUSEHOLD HAZARDOUS WASTE Round-Up DENTURE SERVICES INC. LOCALLY OWNED AND OPERATED Open 4 days a week! FRIDAY, $35,/ SATURDAY, $35,/ Here to serve your denture needs: Dentures Partial Dentures Immediate Dentures Implant Dentures Relines & Repairs Same Day Monday-Thursday 10am - 2 pm 524 Laurel St. 541-997-6054 William Foster LD Sherry, Offi ce Manager “As a denture wearer myself, I can answer your questions and address your denture concerns.” ~ William Foster, LD Financing: Citi Health Card 12 Month no Interest FLORENCE TRANSFER SITE 2820 N. Rhododendron Drive SPONSORED BY LANE COUNTY & THE CITY of FLORENCE For More Information Call 541-997-8237
