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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (June 6, 2018)
THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM | SIUSLAWNEWS | WEDNESDAY EDITION | JUNE 6, 2018 | $1.00 @ SIUSLAWNEWS SOFTBALL SATURDAY MAY/JUNE SCHOOL ZONE SPORTS — B INSIDE Sponsored by: 128TH YEAR | ISSUE NO. 45 FLORENCE, OREGON SERVING WESTERN LANE COUNTY SINCE 1890 Police prepare New transmitter installed on Glenada Hill Oregon Coast for National Central Amateur Radio Club gets grants, support Night Out for new repeater August event set to strengthen relationship between Florence Police Department, community At Monday’s council meeting, Florence Police Chief Tom Turner approached the Florence City Council about gar- By Chantelle Meyer nering interest in the Siuslaw News National Night Out held in August. “National Night Out is an annual communi- ty-building campaign that promotes police-com- munity partnerships and neighborhood camara- derie,” Turner said. “It is celebrated by more than 38 million neighbors across 16,000 communities in all 50 states and we are very interested in par- ticipating in it.” This is the program’s 35th year, but the first for Florence. The event is set for Tuesday, Aug. 7, at Miller Park from 6 to 9 p.m. Turner said that School Resource Officer Bran- don Bailey and other officers in uniform will pro- vide community interaction, a free barbecue and games. Attendees of all ages will be welcome. According to the National Association of Town Watch, “National Night Out enhances the rela- tionship between neighbors and law enforcement while bringing back a true sense of community. Furthermore, it provides a great opportunity to bring police and neighbors together under posi- tive circumstances.” There will be displays from Florence Police De- partment and Florence Public Works, as well as other community groups who decide to join. See NATIONAL NIGHT page 7A Workshop discusses ‘End of Life’ issues INSIDE The Oregon Death with Dignity Act, enact- ed in 1997, has proven to be a model for other states seeking a way By Mark Brennan to address the is- Siuslaw News sues that arise in any discussions centered around end of life decision making. There are aspects of the original law, however, that have come to the attention of those working in the field, or with those attempting to utilize the law, that has raised concerns. The requirements of the act are very specific and, under the law, a competent adult Oregon resident who has been diagnosed, by a physician, with a terminal illness that will kill the patient within six months may request in writing, from his or her physician, a prescription for a lethal dose of medication for the purpose of ending the patient's life. Additionally, the patient must be determined to be free of a mental condition im- pairing judgment. Then, if the request is authorized, the patient must wait at least 15 days and make a second oral request before the prescription may be written. See WORKSHOP page 7A Classifieds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . B7 Community. . . . . . . . . . . . . A3 Kid Scoop . . . . . . School Zone Library Tidings . . . . . . . . . . . A5 By Mark Brennan Siuslaw News C ommunication is central to hu- man success on Planet Earth. The ability to share information from one individual to another, and between groups of people in differ- ent places, has elevated our species to a position of dominance and control around the world. Electronic and digital technolog- ical advances are an important part of this equation and Florence has recently added another level of so- phistication to its worldwide digital communication footprint. The Central Oregon Coast Am- ateur Radio Club, (COCARC) has added an additional repeater to the local antenna array that translates and rebroadcasts radio signals. CO- CARC supports an Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) and Ra- dio Amateur Civil Emergency Ser- vice (RACES). Bob Pine, the emergency co- ordinator for West Lane ARES/ RACES, believes this additional piece of equipment will allow for significantly better communication in the region during an emergency situation. “Florence’s new amateur radio digital repeater on Glenada Hill will extend existing emergency ra- The antenna on Glenada Hill, pictured across Siuslaw River from Historic Old Town Florence, now features a new repeater. dio communications coverage to Mapleton, Dunes City and west Lane County,” Pine said. “The new repeater also helps facilitate com- munications with the Lane County Emergency Manager’s office in Eu- gene.” He said the repeater uses Yaesu’s “Digital Fusion Technology.” “This is equally exciting for local ham radio operators as the Wires-X system allows any amateur radio operator to enjoy world-wide com- munications using only a 5-watt digital handheld transceiver from anywhere within the west Lane community,” Pines said. ABOVE PHOTO BY MARK BRENNAN/SIUSLAW NEWS There are non-emergency uses for the newly installed equipment, which can be utilized at events or training exercises that might bene- fit from continual communications. “The new capability was put to good use during the recent Dunes City Triathlon/Duathlon, when COCARC used the repeater to provide complete communications coverage of both the entire bicycle and running courses,” Pine said. “Twenty members of the club were positioned throughout the course to provide instant status and emer- gency reports on the racers.” See RADIO page 7A COURTESY PHOTO Residents could put STAR Voting on November ballot Proponents say it is ‘A step toward freeing people to vote for their favorite candidates’ By Jared Andersen Siuslaw News H allie Roberts believes that STAR (Score Then Auto- matic Runoff) Voting will revo- lutionize the way people vote in Lane County, and throughout the entire country. “People are aware of the prob- lems with our voting methods,” Roberts said. “We end up with results that are not really what the people wanted. If we can im- plement a system that will lead us to more broadly favored candi- dates winning, I think our polit- ical process will be reinvigorated and people will be inspired to be a part of the process once they see it’s working more smoothly.” Roberts is the campaign man- ager for STAR Voting, which was created by political scientist Alan Zundel and Mark Frohnmayer, a Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A4 Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A2 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B Weather Data . . . . . . . . . . . A2 THIS WEEK ’ S Eugene entrepreneur and creator of the organization Equal Vote Coalition. The three are looking for signa- tures for an initiative that would both change how county officer elections are held, and how Lane County residents would vote for those candidates. Roberts said the system has the potential to save candidates money while campaigning, great- ly reduce voters and candidates gaming the political system and, eventually, doing away with the need for partisan politics all to- gether. It’s a tall order, particularly when looking back at the difficul- ties that have faced the American electorate in the preceding de- cades that have created labels like “spoiler candidates” and “strategic voting” that many believe point to fundamental flaws in how Ameri- cans choose their elected officials. But is STAR really the right choice to fix these electoral ills? Is it a fool proof system, or are there lingering issues about the process that still need to be resolved? To find that answer, it’s best to look at what the STAR system is and how it relates to the electoral problems of the past. The System Roberts will tell anyone about STAR. In an attempt to gather sig- natures for the group’s initiative in hopes of getting STAR into the November election in Lane Coun- ty, she has been using every trick in the book to get the word out, from online videos to newspaper interviews. “I’ll even go to your house to help explain it to you,” she said. The initiative she is advocating for is broken into two parts, the TODAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY 61 48 60 49 61 50 57 47 WEATHER Full Forecast, A3 first of which is to do away with May primaries for the non-parti- san Lane County races for com- missioners, sheriffs, assessor and district attorneys. Instead, the votes would take place during the main November election. Currently, these races are most- ly decided in May. If a candidate wins the race with a plurality of votes, that person becomes the winner. In the example of the May West Lane County Commissioner race between Jay Bozievich, Nora Kent and Beverly Hills, Bozievich re- ceived 55.75 percent of the vote, compared to Kent’s 38.61 percent and Hills’ 5.39 percent. Bozievich received over 50 percent, so he will move alone to the November general election ballot in Novem- ber, clinching the win. See STAR page 8A S IUSLAW N EWS 2 S ECTIONS | 22 P AGES C OPYRIGHT 2018