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Volleyball season for
Mapleton, Siuslaw
SPORTS — B
Sand Dunes Frontier
reopens after fire
I NSIDE — A3
I
128TH YEAR | ISSUE NO. 75
FLORENCE, OREGON
SERVING WESTERN LANE COUNTY SINCE 1890
Habitat breaks ground on 29th home Florence airport
to receive more
than $1 million
for upgrades
By Mark Brennan
Siuslaw News
Stery & Phetes
By Daiien Sherweed
Siuslaw News
(Above center) Carl Palinkas, a pastor at Church on the Rock in Florence, dedicates
Florence Habitat for Humanity’s 29th home during a groundbreaking ceremony
Friday. The home will be built with community support.
F
lorence Habitat for Humanity began con-
struction on its 29th house Friday, Sept. 14
with a groundbreaking ceremony on the cor-
ner of Kingwood and Seventh streets.
The planned three-bedroom, two-bathroom
house has been awarded to Calvin Lloyd and his
two teenage sons.
“I feel very blessed,” Lloyd said. “This is going
to be an awesome chapter in my life and my kids’
life.”
Habitat houses are awarded through a family
selection process that includes eval-
uating a family’s income, credit and
need. Once chosen, a family takes out
a zero-interest mortgage on the house
and must commit “sweat equity”
hours to building construction and
other Habitat for Humanity functions. For sin- of need. After separating from his wife, he found
gle-adult housing circumstances such as Lloyd’s, himself living in a cramped, leaky trailer while
the organization asks for 300 hours of sweat equity trying to balance his role as a father.
from the family.
See HABITAT page 8A
Lloyd was selected based largely on the criteria
Siuslaw meets for first board meeting of school year
School Board hears about Political Action Committee, improved website
New board Chairperson Suzanne
Mann-Heintz gaveled the meeting to
order at 6:30 p.m. with a brief agenda
The first Siuslaw School District on the docket.
Board of Directors meeting of the
There were no members of the
new school year was held Wednesday general public in attendance as Su-
evening at the district office.
perintendent Andy Grzeskowiak and
By Mark Brennan
Siuslaw News
district staff shared with directors
the changes and new programs that
students and parents will see as they
return for the upcoming school year.
Recent hires for the classroom
and for classified positions were dis-
cussed first, with brief biographical
information and work experience
highlighted.
Then Mann-Heintz, who is in-
volved in many ways with student
education issues in addition to her
On Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio,
ranking member of the House Transpor-
tation and Infrastructure Committee, an-
nounced the attainment of $2,686,954 for
airports in Florence, Bandon and Roseburg.
Florence Municpal Airport will re-
ceive the lion’s share of the funding, with
$1,050,000 designated for runway mainte-
nance, improvements and the installation of
a precision approach path indicator to im-
prove the information received by air traffic
using the airport.
“This is great news for the many business-
es and general aviation pilots who depend
on these airports,” said DeFazio. “These
funds will allow for important maintenance
and critical safety improvements to be made
to our local air infrastructure. I’m proud
to support infrastructure investments like
this and will continue to push for increased
investments as the top Democrat on the
House Transportation and Infrastructure
Committee.”
City of Florence Public Works Director
Mike Miller said, “It’s great news on the Fed-
eral Aviation Administration (FAA) grant. It
is slightly more than we requested, as we re-
quested $1,030,000. We received notification
that the grant will actually be $1,050,000.”
Florence City Manager Erin Reynolds
stated, “The City of Florence is thankful to
be receiving this funding to pay for signif-
icant improvements to our municipal air-
port. With this FAA grant, we are able to
leverage local dollars with state funding to
upgrade the lighting and airport runway
safety improvements.”
The process of hiring contractors and the
order in which needed upgrades will occur
is still being determined by Miller, the Flor-
ence City Council and staff.
See AIRPORT page 7A
See DISTRICT page 7A
‘First Step’ for transitional housing approved by Planning
Area partnership
seeks to establish
temporary housing
By Jared Andersen
Siuslaw News
INSIDE
A newly developed program named
First Step, which assists individuals
with transitional housing, was award-
ed a temporary conditional use per-
mit at a City of Florence Planning
Commission meeting this Tuesday,
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paving the way for the organization
to install three interim housing units
on land occupied by the Presbyterian
Church of the Siuslaw.
First Step, which is still in the
process of applying for its nonprof-
it status, is a pilot program that has
committed to helping those without
a secure and safe place to live move
toward a more stable living situation.
“We are limiting our focus to
families with children and the most
needy,” First Step board member
Kathryn Lenox told the commission.
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“Our program will provide families a
safe place to live and will also provide
them to referrals to agencies for as-
sistance to support their transition to
self-sufficiency.”
First Step representatives said that
program participants will primarily
be local residents, forced out of their
homes due to unforeseen circum-
stances.
“We are focusing on people who al-
ready live in the community,” Lenox
said. “How do these families get into
this situation? I can’t really answer
THIS WEEK ’ S
that. Does a parent lose a job? Does
someone get sick? Or maybe they
thought they had the security they
needed, but got kicked out of their
apartment. There are many reasons
people lose their homes.”
Participants in First Step will be re-
ferred by Siuslaw Outreach Services,
local school systems and other local
agencies, who will then be provided
with temporary affordable housing
to help get back on their feet. They
will be set up with a case manager
who will help the participants gain
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✰✰✰✰✰✰✰✰✰✰ SEPTEMBER ✰✰✰✰✰✰ ✰✰✰✰
N ATIONAL P ROSTATE C ANCER A WARENESS M ONTH
Exciting new developments in prostate cancer diagnoses and treatment:
IsoPSA - MRI prostate scan/targeted biopsies - Axumin (PET) scan - & more.
Stay up-to-date – attend Us TOO Florence meetings – talk with urologists.
2nd Tuesday with Dr. Bryan Mehlhaff – 5 to 7 p.m. at Ichiban Restaurant
3rd Tuesday with Dr. Roger McKimmy – noon to 1 p.m. at Ichiban Restaurant
Mayor Joe Henry presents Prostate
Cancer Awareness Month Proclamation
to Us TOO Florence leader Bob Horney
BETTER TO KNOW – THAN TO NOT KNOW
maribob@oregonfast.net or 541-999-4239 for more information
(Bob Horney)
or maintain meaningful employment,
learn helpful budgeting tips and work
to purchasing or renting a more per-
manent home.
“We are creating an environment
for participants to move from tempo-
rary housing into jobs, other housing
and a productive life,” Lenox said.
“We know we will not solve the hous-
ing crisis here in Florence, but we will
provide a hand up for our clients to-
ward self-sufficiency.”
See FIRST STEP page 9A