THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM
|
SIUSLAWNEWS
|
WEDNESDAY EDITION | AUGUST 8, 2018 | $1.00
@ SIUSLAWNEWS
INTO THE HALL OF FAME
Siuslaw High School holds Induction Aug. 10
SPORTS — B
128TH YEAR | ISSUE NO. 63
FLORENCE, OREGON
SERVING WESTERN LANE COUNTY SINCE 1890
Vehicle vandalism creates Local teacher,
racial controversy Tuesday fisherman
loses life at sea
Teacher, coach and fisherman
Bruce McKibbin found unresponsive
near capsized boat
PHOTOS BY MARK BRENNAN/SIUSLAW NEWS
On Tuesday morning, travelers on Heceta Beach Road spot-
ted racist vandalism on a Honda Civic that had been aban-
doned along the roadway. Within a few hours, someone else
had painted over part of the message.
A
small car abandoned by the
side of the road is usually not a
newsworthy event in Florence.
There are some circumstances, how-
ever, where the break-down of an old
vehicle has a much more significance
to local residents.
On Tuesday, Dylien Jack was head-
ing to work at about 8 a.m. along Hece-
ta Beach Rad when he noticed that the
vehicle, a light blue four-door Honda
with the license plate QJK-343, had
been vandalized with a racial epitaph
written in bright pink spray paint.
“Over the last few weeks, the wind-
shield had been smashed, then the
doors were bashed in,” Jack said of the
car, which had been there for about
three weeks. “But Tuesday morning, I
PHOTO COURTESY U.S. COAST GUARD PACIFIC NW
A Dolphin helicopter crew from U.S. Coast Guard Air Facility Newport and
two 47-foot motor lifeboat crews assisted in the recovery of an over-
turned vessel outside the north jetty of Siuslaw River on Aug. 6.
By Mark Brennan
Siuslaw News
By Jared Anderson
Siuslaw News
couldn’t believe what I saw.
I went back to make sure I
was seeing what I was see-
ing.”
What he saw were the words “Kill
N-gers” [sic] sprayed in large letters
across the side of the vehicle facing
the roadway. Jack posted a photo on
the Florence, Oregon Facebook page
and, by 9 a.m., had received dozens of
comments before the post was eventu-
ally removed.
“I waited a long time before press-
ing the ‘post’ button, but just decided
it was important to say something and
deal with the consequences,” said Jack.
“I was glad to see so many people not
happy with what happened.”
Residents who spoke with the Siu-
slaw News said they had contacted the
City of Florence and were referred to
Lane County, which told them there
are constraints on what actions could
be taken to remove the car.
See VANDALISM page 8A
On a routine flight between Newport
and North Bend, pilots with the United
States Coast Guard (USCG) Air Facility
Newport noticed an overturned vessel
just outside the North Jetty of the Siu-
slaw River on the afternoon of Monday,
Aug. 6. After searching the area, USCG
swimmers retrieved the unresponsive
body of longtime Florence resident
Bruce McKibbin, transferring him to
medical personnel, where he was pro-
nounced deceased.
Two USCG 47-foot motor lifeboat
crews inspected the jetty for other pos-
sible survivors but found that McKibbin
Revising ReVision Florence
By Chantelle Meyer
Siuslaw News
INSIDE
The City of Florence, Florence Ur-
ban Renewal Agency and Oregon De-
partment of Transportation (ODOT)
will continue to move forward with a
revised timeline for the Highway 101
ReVision Streetscaping Project. This
comes after the agencies’ June decision
to repackage the project after the ini-
tial bids for construction came in well
over the projected estimates.
ReVision Florence is a beautifica-
tion and streetscape project of High-
way 101 from the Siuslaw River Bridge
north to the intersection of Highway
126, and then extending east to Spruce
Street.
It’s “the big topic” for Urban Renew-
Classifieds. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Community. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Kid Scoop . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Library Tidings . . . . . . . . . . .
B6
A3
B5
A5
al right now, according to Chairperson
Joshua Greene.
Construction on the project is
scheduled to begin in January 2019.
City Project Manager Megan Mess-
mer released a new timeline for ReVi-
sion at the end of July and presented
a letter to Urban Renewal on Aug. 1,
detailing the expected changes to busi-
ness and property owners in the proj-
ect’s corridors.
“Since most of them came to our
open house, I just want to keep them
up to date on the new process,” Mess-
mer said. “They are now aware that
the project has been delayed and that
we won’t be starting construction later
this month.”
The initial timeline — which
planned to begin construction in Au-
Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A4
Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A2
Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B
Weather Data . . . . . . . . . . . A2
gust and finish by next spring — was
scrapped after ODOT received bids
significantly higher than the project’s
$7.4 million budget. The contractor
portion was estimated to cost $4.4
million, but the lowest estimate was 47
percent higher than that.
“Over the past month, our staff have
been working with Murraysmith En-
gineering, Dougherty Landscape Ar-
chitects and ODOT to address some
of the items that came out of the first
bid process,” Messmer said.
This included removing some items
from the “biddable items” that the po-
tential contractor would have to pur-
chase, such as benches, bike racks and
some parts of the lighting, and having
the city purchase and install those di-
rectly.
THIS WEEK ’ S
See BOATER page 6A
City, Urban Renewal adapt streetscaping
project to address high bids, confusion
“We don’t need to pay the profit
margin of a contractor, subcontractor
and engineering management from
ODOT to acquire those,” Messmer
said. “We can much more easily pur-
chase those outside of the contract,
and Public Works has the capability of
installing those. We’d also track their
work as part of this project.”
In addition, ReVision will feature
some economies of scale not present
in the initial bid process by bidding
the project under one proposal. This
will cover both ODOT’s paving of the
roadways and the city and Urban Re-
newal’s streetscaping.
“Our philosophy as we move for-
ward with this is we do want to main-
tain all the infrastructure pieces and
the hardscape — the sidewalks, the
TODAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
69 56
72 57
68 57
71 54
ADA ramps and the plazas … and
updating the lighting, the irrigation,
undergrounding — all those things
that will be difficult to do after they
pave the road,” Messmer said. “That’s
the direction we have provided to our
engineers.”
Some components will be post-
poned until the main construction is
finished and completed by either an-
other contractor or Public Works.
Under the new timeline, the final
design is due to ODOT on Aug. 10.
Once it is reviewed, ODOT will pass
it on to the Oregon Office of Project
Letting, which will send it out to bid
around Oct. 11. The bid application
process will be open for five weeks.
See REVISION page 7A
S IUSLAW N EWS
2 S ECTIONS | 16 P AGES
C OPYRIGHT 2018
WEATHER
Full Forecast, A3
was alone on the vessel when it capsized.
McKibbin was known throughout the
community as a coach, teacher, fisher-
man and mentor to many in the Flor-
ence area.
“We are devastated at the port,” said
Port of Siuslaw Manager David Hun-
tington, a longtime friend of McKibbin.
“Bruce was a huge part of the local fish-
ing community. He was not only a great
friend of mine, he was a great friend and
mentor to so many others who grew up
in Florence.”
“He embraced life,” said retired
Siuslaw School district teacher M.J.
Church, who taught with McKibbin
Travel Lane County’s 2018
Destination Award Winner
QUADS
KIDS
4-SEAT
2-SEAT
TAKE THE WHEEL
AND EXPLORE.
SANDDUNESFRONTIER.COM
The Original Dune Adventure
541-997-3544
4 Miles South of Florence
Right After Honeyman State Park
83960 Hwy 101 S Florence OR
LOCATED AT
Sand Dunes Frontier
83960 Hwy 101 S
Florence, OR 97439
TORE X AT VRENTALS.COM
N O G E R O , Y T I C S E N U D
541-997-5363