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Reedsport
event carves up
the competition
Grant secures
hose for fire 3
departments
SPORTS — B
128TH YEAR | ISSUE NO. 50
INSIDE — A3
FLORENCE, OREGON
SERVING WESTERN LANE COUNTY SINCE 1890
Port of Siuslaw
chooses new
commissioners
5-member commission now
complete as Craig Brandt,
Craig Zolezzi join port
By Jared Afdersof
Siuslaw News
The Port of Siuslaw Commission chose
two new commissioners Wednesday night,
filling two vacancies that opened earlier
this year.
Craig Zolezzi, who owns two branches
of Zolezzi Insurance Agency in Drain and
Sutherland, Ore., and Craig Brandt, a re-
tiree who has done a considerable amount
of volunteer work with the Salmon and
Trout Enhancement Program (STEP), were
chosen.
The openings were created when com-
missioners David Huntington and Nancy
Rickard stepped down from their positions.
Huntington was hired as the port’s man-
ager, while Rickard vacated her position to
focus on her new role as a board member
on the Siuslaw School Board District Advi-
sory Committee.
“It’s a tough position for us to be in,”
Commissioner Terry Duman said as he
opened the nomination process to a packed
house of potential hopefuls and curious
audience members.
Ten people in total submitted appli-
cations for the positions and were then
whittled down to five who received public
interviews.
“We have to make a tough cut,” Duman
said. “The 10 applicants were more than
what we thought we would ever get, and
then we had to pare it down to five. It’s just
a tough cut, as we have friends and neigh-
bors (among the applicants). It’s going to
cause some hurt feelings.”
He later added, “I wish we could have a
board of eight.”
See PORT page 10A
Local police,
sheriffs serve
warrants,
arrest 6 Friday
On June 22, a pair of search warrant exe-
cutions escalated into a full police presence
that included officers from Florence Police
Department, Lane County Sheriff ’s Office
and the Lane County Special Response
Team (SRT) at a pair of residences just
north of Florence.
At about 7:15 a.m., neighbors along
Highway 101 near Friendly Acres Road
reported hearing what they believed to be
gun shots coming from a home at 88359
Highway 101 as Florence police and its
partner agencies executed search warrants
Story afd photos
simultaneously at that residence and a
By Ned Hicksof
nearby home at 5459 Friendly Acres Road.
Siuslaw News
The gun shots that residents heard were
actually “flash bangs,” which officers used
to disorient occupants of the homes after
gaining entry, according to City of Florence Public Florence Police Officers and Lane
Information Officer Megan Messmer.
County Sheriff Deputies worked
By 10 a.m., the operation had been completed
together to arrest six individuals
and six individuals had been arrested for counts
after serving search warrants to
ranging from illegal drug possession to felon in
two residences near Friendly
possession of a firearm.
See ARRESTS page 6A
Acres Road Friday.
OCHS holds annual member meeting
First public meeting under new leadership shows positive interactions with members
By Mark Breffaf
Siuslaw News
The Oregon Coast Humane Soci-
ety (OCHS) held its annual member-
ship meeting June 21 at Lane Com-
munity College Florence Center.
It was the first OCHS board meet-
ing open to members since the elec-
tion of a new board of directors in
April following a recommendation
by the Oregon Department of Jus-
tice (O DJ) to hold an election to seat
new directors as soon as procedures
for the process could be put in place.
The ODJ’s recommendation was the
result of an inquiry undertaken after
members complained of voting ir-
regularities and personality conflicts
within OCHS.
ODJ’s inquiry turned up no fi-
nancial or criminal wrong doing
and primarily focused remediation
efforts to replace previously seated
board members whom ODJ lawyers
felt had been elected or appointed
under questionable circumstances.
None of the previously serving di-
rectors choose to run for re-election
and all seven seats on the board were
filled by new directors.
For the seven individuals on the
new board, their primary task has
been aimed at restoring the commu-
nity’s confidence in the leadership of
OCHS.
At Wednesday’s meeting, a table
was set up to assure all attendees
were current members of the OCHS.
The board of directors were seated at
a long table with their names prom-
inently displayed on placards at the
front of a large classroom. Copies of
the meeting agenda and reports from
board members were made available
to all attendees.
See OCHS page 6A
Florefce coftifues to address area’s housifg feeds
New multi-use Cannery Station could bring progress, concerns
By Jared Afdersof
Siuslaw News
INSIDE
The City of Florence Planning Commis-
sion held a meeting on June 12, to discuss
the new Cannery Station project, a multi-
use development that could bring hundreds
of jobs and new residents to the community.
The project will have a whole host of fea-
tures geared toward the 55+ community,
including transitional housing, an assist-
ed living facility with a memory care unit,
apartment complexes, homes and multiple
storefronts that can hold shops, business
and restaurants.
The meeting was not to approve a final-
ized plan of the project, but to approve the
overall concept and construct guidelines in
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the next phases of the project that will bring
cemented plans before the commission.
While the 10-year project could help fos-
ter growth within Florence, there have been
concerns about Cannery Station’s impact
on the city, including issues with traffic and
concerns from neighboring communities.
But along with the concerns, there are
also high hopes that the project will truly
cement Florence as a “City in Motion.”
Histors
Cannery Station, or Cannery Hill as it
was originally named, was first proposed
in 2008 by Arlie & Company, a develop-
ment company founded by the husband
and wife team John Musumeci and Suzanne
Arlie. The company was responsible for the
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THIS WEEK ’ S
mixed-use, urban center Crescent Village in
Eugene.
“They had wanted some rental properties
I had, and they said in exchange for that I
would be part of their Florence property,”
said Chuck McGlade, one of the founders of
the Cannery Station project.
McGlade is a physician by trade who has
dedicated his work to senior care for the
past 15 years. He also owns Ridgeline Man-
agement Company, which manages senior
housing in multiple states.
Arlie and Musumeci thought that his ex-
perience would be a good fit for Cannery.
In 2008, they proposed their plans to the
city, and it seemed like the project was a
“go.”
See CANNERY page 8A
TODAY
SUNDAY
MONDAY
TUESDAY
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Florence, nonprofits move
forward with land agreement
By Chaftelle Meyer
Siuslaw News
On Monday night, Florence
City Council approved an
option agreement and agree-
ment to sell the real proper-
ty at 1424 Airport Road to
Willamette
Neighborhood
Housing Services (WNHS)
and Neighborhood Econom-
ic Development Corporation
(NEDCO). The two nonprof-
its will use their new site con-
WEATHER
Full Forecast, A3
trol to help with the applica-
tion for an Oregon Housing
& Community Services Local
Innovation Fast Track (LIFT)
grant. The grant application
period closed yesterday.
“This is a grant that is fo-
cused on homeownership, so
affordable housing but on a
homeownership track. It’s not
for rentals,” said City Record-
er Kelli Weese.
See LAND page 7A
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