Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (April 14, 2018)
THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM ❘ / SIUSLAWNEWS ❘ @ SIUSLAWNEWS SATURDAY EDITION ❘ APRIL 14, 2018 ❘ $1.00 “I love to help people buy and sell property” Delbert lb L. "Del" l Phelps hl Real Estate BROKER VIKS SET PACE WITH PRS SPORTS — B Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Northwest Real Estate 1875 Hwy 101, P.O. Box 276, Florence, OR. 97439 Cell - 541-991-7787 dphelps@bhhsnw.com • oregoncoastallistings.com A member of the franchise system of BHHS affi liates, LLC 128TH YEAR ❘ ISSUE NO. 30 SERVING WESTERN LANE COUNTY SINCE 1890 N ATIONAL C HILD A BUSE P REVENTION M ONTH In t h e s w i n g o f t h i n g s Solutions to preventing child abuse B Y D AMIEN S HERWOOD For the Siuslaw News (Editor’s note: In recognition of Child Abuse Prevention Month, Siuslaw News is offering feature stories, guest viewpoints and editorials focusing on this issue, including this special two-part series to help identify child abuse and some of the local resources for victims as well as abusers.) or those obs- erving Child Abuse Pre- vention Month, April is a time to reflect on their communities and the contributions they can make toward securing safe environments for children. A daunting issue to tackle, child abuse manifests in a variety of ways — and not all of them are obvious. While forms such as physical abuse may appear the most conspicuous and receive the lion’s share of public attention, other more insidious forms, such as neglect and psychological abuse, often remain hidden under public radar and go unreported. In the 2017 fiscal year, there were 1,479 founded incidents of child abuse in Lane County. Adding to the problem, although workable for communities fortunate to have enough Child Protective Services (CPS) staff, the incidents are not reflective of the group’s entire workload. In all, Lane County received 8,287 reports of child abuse. The process of assessing how best to deal with each case can be demanding, especially in rural areas. Caseworkers are expected to make assessments, searches, notifications, visits, team meetings, action plans and referrals, as well as and provide court testimonies and document dozens of cases at any given time. Heavy caseloads can prevent work- ers from engaging effectively with fami- lies and achieving positive outcomes. When government entities are inundat- ed, the perplexing task of filling in the gaps means communities must take proac- tive steps to identify and engage local problems. In Florence’s case, the community has risen to the challenge thanks in large part to volunteers and local organizations. INSIDE See SOLUTIONS 7A Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kid Scoop . . . . . . . . . . . . . Library Tidings . . . . . . . . . . . B6 A3 B5 A5 Spruce Point hosts Memory Care Fair Left, aerialists Sally Brewer and Ashly Milliot perform with CROW this weekend. Above, Haylee Cole holds a pose on the silks. CROW works with Revelers Aerial Works to take ‘Tarzan’ to new heights F Parental and Caregiver Factors Ultimately, the onus of child abuse pre- vention falls into the hands of adults. While creating reasonably safe environ- ments for children can involve communi- ty-wide efforts, much of that burden falls to parents. Last year, mothers and fathers made up 76.4 percent of all perpetrators of child abuse in Oregon. While the myriad of inherent stresses related to parenthood may play into this, certain parental risk factors emerge as salient, yet amendable. First among these is parent education. The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, which provides federal funding and assigns government roles to numerous prevention and support projects nationwide, cited parent education as a FLORENCE, OREGON S TORY AND P HOTOS B Y C HANTELLE M EYER Siuslaw News “Sometimes you have to Hulk out’ and grab the silks to pull yourself up,” Sally Brewer of Revelers Aerial Works said about climbing the green silk “vines” hanging on stage at the Florence Events Center. She recommended instead that students mostly use their feet and legs in various wrapped posi- tions to climb the silks and hold poses. Brewer and her colleague Ashly Milliot have been working with Children’s Repertory of Oregon Workshops (CROW) since February to bring stunning choreographed aerial artistry to this weekend’s production of “Tarzan.” The show opened on Thursday to two packed audiences as CROW entertained students from Siuslaw and Mapleton school districts, Reedsport Elementary School and homeschool students. These free outreach shows are part of CROW’s campaign to give back to the community. In addi- tion, CROW actors visited Spruce Point Assisted Living, Elderberry Square, Kiwanis Club of Florence, Florence Rotary Club and KCST/KCFM Coast Radio to bring a little bit of “Tarzan’s” “Two Worlds” to people. A grant for specialty materials allowed CROW to contract with Revelers and buy other items specifically for “Tarzan.” “The Miller Foundation grant was huge because it created the overall look of the show,” said CROW Artistic Director Melanie Heard. “The silks add so much.” See TARZAN 9A Free event offers info, strategies and techniques for caregivers B Y M ARK B RENNAN Siuslaw News On Wednesday, April 18, Spruce Point Assisted Living and Memory Care Community will be presenting a Memory Care Fair at the group’s facility at 375 Ninth St. in Florence. The free event is designed to provide information on services available to sup- port families, friends and professionals assisting in the care of individuals suffer- ing from memory- and cognition-related health issues. Lisa Douda, Community Relations Director for Spruce Point, said that Spruce Point wants to present a forum, open to the public, to discuss the chal- lenges facing caregivers and to suggest strategies and techniques that might help people involved in this critical work. “We have been working with the Alzheimer’s Association on having care- giver support groups and education class- es, but we wanted to do something com- munity wide that would benefit everyone, not just those who live here with us,” Douda said. “This event is meant as a support tool for anyone caring for those with Alzheimer’s or other dementia.” She said the event will be a “one-stop shop” for be information on support groups, educational classes, caregiver care, estate and trust planning and pallia- tive care. “This will help caregivers to ease the burden of having to search out these See CARE FAIR 6A Children’s visitation area at DHS gets upgrades Every Child, an advocacy group for children, leads the effort to improve old space B Y M ARK B RENNAN Siuslaw News The Department of Human Services (DHS) received assistance this month in an upgrade to its facil- ities at 3180 Highway 101. A new organization to Florence, Every Child, spearheaded the refurbish- ment of one the areas used to work with marginalized youth. Cathy Coontz is the director of the Florence Chapter of Every Child and she wants residents to know about the work the child advocacy group is involved with in this area. “When Every Child starts in a new community, raising money and doing the makeover is one of its first main activities. It is a great way to become known in the communi- ty, and to establish a relationship with the DHS staff,” Coontz said. Every Child’s website shares the group’s mission statement, goals and objectives: “Every Child aims to provide love, care and support for vulnerable children and families in Oregon in partnership with Oregon’s Department of Human Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A4 Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A2 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B Weather Data . . . . . . . . . . . A2 THIS WEEK ’ S MARK BRENNAN/SIUSLAW NEWS Volunteers and members of the group Every Child recently finished working on an upgrade at the Department of Human Services office on Highway 101. Every Child started a local chapter in November 2017 to assist underserved youth in the Florence area. Services.” According to the website, Every Child states it will fight relentlessly for children in crisis and that it is committed to finding safe places for children to be nourished and sup- ported. “Every Child just started here in TODAY SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY 54 44 49 40 50 41 51 42 WEATHER Full Forecast, A3 Florence in November 2017,” Coontz said. S IUSLAW N EWS 2 S ECTIONS ❘ 18 P AGES C OPYRIGHT 2018 See EVERY CHILD 6A
