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128TH YEAR ❘ ISSUE NO. 32
PROFILE
SERVING WESTERN LANE COUNTY SINCE 1890
FLORENCE, OREGON
‘Wealth of the world’ celebrated on Earth Day
New Earth Day Festival will be Sunday on the port boardwalk from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
B Y M ARK B RENNAN
Siuslaw News
“The wealth of the nation is
its air, water, soil, forests, min-
erals, rivers, lakes, oceans, sce-
nic beauty, wildlife habitats and
biodiversity. ... That’s where all
the economic activity and jobs
come from. These biological
systems are the sustaining
wealth of the world.”
— Gaylord Nelson
Former senator and
Founder of Earth Day
E
❘ APRIL 21, 2018 ❘ $1.00
arth Day is held around the
world, every year, on April 22.
The inspiration for the first Earth
Day, held in 1970, was the desire of a
small group of academics to establish
a day that was dedicated to the idea
that the environment on the planet was
complex, possibly unique and needed
to be protected for future generations.
The first Earth Day has often been
referred to as the birthday of the envi-
ronmental movement in America.
Over the years, Florence has rarely
participated in this worldwide effort to
raise awareness regarding all types of
environmental issues. That will
change this Sunday as the communi-
ty’s first “Earth Day Festival” takes
place on the Port of Siuslaw
Boardwalk from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Maureen Miltenberger is the chair-
person of the Florence Environmental
Management Advisory Committee
(EMAC) and also one of the coordina-
tors of the festival.
Miltenberger said she is pleased that
Florence will be joining more than 1
billion individuals, from 200 coun-
tries, in recognizing Earth Day.
More significantly, she is
glad that there will be a day
in Florence dedicated to
informing the public about
the challenges facing those
that wish to safeguard the
environment for the gener-
ations to follow.
“We hear so much about
pollution, climate and earth
related issues on a national
and worldwide basis that
we wanted to bring aware-
ness and attention to our
own
environment,”
Miltenberger said. “Earth
day encompasses the well-
being of so many areas of
our local everyday life,
including our rivers, our
forests, the ocean and park-
lands, as well as wildlife
and our own children and
grandchildren.”
The theme of this year’s
Earth Day events is partic-
ularly relevant to local res-
idents, as it touches on a
subject that has directly
effected most residents of
Florence in the past few
months.
“Globally this year,
Earth Day is focusing
on reducing plastic pollution,”
Miltenberger said. “This is very time-
ly for the Florence area as we have just
had the sudden change in our recy-
cling where we can no longer include
any plastics in our co-mingled recy-
cling.
“We realize that there are many
groups in our local area who are
involved in one way or another with our
Earth, and we wanted to provide an
annual event to bring us all together.”
The location of the festival is signif-
icant as well.
See EARTH DAY 6A
‘A sense of
meaning’
Area volunteers find purpose,
hope in serving the Siuslaw
community
ABOVE IMAGE COPYRIGHT THE ROBERT RAUSCHENBERG FOUNDATION
The first Earth Day
on April 22, 1970,
used the above
lithograph by
artist Roger
Rauschenberg as its
primary poster.
(Right) Florence
resident Stu
Henderson worked
in the same lithog-
raphy studio, and
later created his
own poster for
Florence.
“Men seem to be born with a debt they can
never pay no matter how hard they try,” Siuslaw
Public Library Director
B Y J ARED A NDERSON
Meg Spencer said at
Siuslaw News
the 30th Annual
Florence Area
Community Coalition (FACC) volunteer recogni-
tion lunch held earlier this month, quoting from
the John Steinbeck novel “Sweet Thursday.” “It
piles up ahead of them. Man owes something to
man. If he ignores the debt it poisons him, and if
he tries to make payments the debt only increas-
es, and the quality of his gift is the measure of
the man.”
Spencer, who was the keynote speaker for the
event, looked at hundreds of volunteers that had
gathered at the Florence Events Center and said,
“By any measure, I know many of you have
made direct payments, and we are all richer as a
result.”
Pulling numbers from just 14 groups in the
Siuslaw region, FACC reported that day that
1,079 volunteers donated a total of 73,984 hours
over the past year. If one were to pay each vol-
unteer Oregon’s minimum wage, that would
equal $758,336.
That’s just from a handful of organizations,
and does not reflect the dozens of other reli-
gious, entertainment, service, social and educa-
tional groups that employ thousands more volun-
teers throughout the year.
“We live in a place where every organization,
every church, every social club — we all rely on
you, and what you do for us,” Spencer said.
“That’s really more special than what I can say.”
In celebration of National Volunteer week,
April 15-21, the Siuslaw News visited three dif-
ferent organizations within the area and spoke
with the volunteers who help make a difference
within our community.
See VOLUNTEERS 6A
Lane County adopts 3-year strategic plan City considers roundabout on Kingwood
focused on health, safety & partnerships ARTS Program grant for
INSIDE
The Board of County
Commissioners voted unani-
mously to adopt a new strate-
gic plan for 2018–21 that will
focus the work of Lane
County into four priority
areas during the next
three years:
• Safe,
Healthy
County
• Vi b r a n t
Communities
• Robust Infra-
structure
• People
and
Partnerships
To improve lives
is the overall pur-
pose
behind
the
County’s work — from
Public
Health
to
Transportation Planning —
identified during the creation
of the Strategic Plan.
“Lane County provides a
wide array of services to the
community,”
said
Lane
County
Board
of
Commissioners Chair Jay
Bozievich. “Each resident,
regardless of where in Lane
County they live, is affected
by the services we provide
and we must be purposeful in
how we allocate resources
and the efforts of our staff. A
Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Community . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Sideshow . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
This Week on the Coast . . . .
B5
A3
B4
A8
three-year plan helps us make
the most of our work.”
The strategic plan identi-
fies 13 key initiatives that fall
under the priority areas,
including:
• Increase housing options
for residents to reduce home-
lessness and increase afford-
ability
• Maintain and enhance
public safety funding and
service delivery, focusing on
outlying and rural areas
• Enhance equity and
Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A4
Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A2
Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B
Weather Data . . . . . . . . . . . A2
access in service delivery and
representation in governance.
“We are very pleased that
nearly 800 community mem-
bers participated and helped
us create this plan,” said
County Administrator
Steve Mokrohisky.
“Over the next three
years,
every
department and
division in Lane
C o u n t y
Government will
use this plan as
the blueprint for
their work and
strive to serve Lane
County residents with
passion and with a focus
on creating solutions.”
The new Strategic Plan
replaces
the
previous
2014–17 plan and was devel-
oped with the help of Lane
County community members
and employees.
More than 790 community
members participated in an
online survey and several
attended a variety of focus
group and open house events
as the plan was developed.
The full strategic plan can
be found at lanecounty.org/
strategicplan.
THIS WEEK ’ S
2022-24 could improve
traffic safety, flow
B Y C HANTELLE M EYER
Siuslaw News
On April 16, Florence City Council
approved Resolution No. 7, Series 2018,
authorizing staff to apply for an All
Roads Transportation Safety (ARTS)
Program grant for safety enhancements to
Florence’s transportation system.
If accepted, the grant could fund
Florence’s first roundabout at the inter-
section of Kingwood and Ninth streets.
According to the staff report, project
selection is scheduled to begin this fall
for projects to be delivered in years 2022-
2024. Projects will be selected for either
COURTESY IMAGE
“hotspot” or “systemic” improvements
and
added
to
the
Statewide Florence Public Works is considering installing
Transportation Improvement Program a roundabout at the intersection of Kingwood
(STIP).
and Ninth streets if approved for an All Roads
“ARTS is a transportation safety pro- Transportation Safety (ARTS) Program grant for
gram for all public roads, so that can be the 2022-24 funding cycle.
local county and city roads, not just state.
The goal is to reduce fatalities and seri-
State highways, with 8,000 miles, had 49 per-
ous injuries,” said Florence Public Works cent of those per year; city streets, with 10,000
Director Mike Miller.
miles, had 27 percent and county roads, with
The program uses federal funds from the 26,000 miles, had 24 percent.
Highway Safety Improvement Program and
The ARTS Program aims to reduce fatalities
applies them to help prevent the other 50 per- and serious injuries and address safety on all
cent of fatal and serious injury crashes that public roads. It works with Oregon
occur on local agency roads.
Department of Transportation (ODOT) and
According to Miller, between 2011 and 2015, local agencies on the selection process.
Oregon had 1,926 accidents per year with fatal-
See TRAFFIC 8A
ities and serious injuries on its 44,000 miles.
TODAY
SUNDAY
MONDAY
TUESDAY
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59 44
69 49
68 49
WEATHER
Full Forecast, A3
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