Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 27, 2018)
SIUSLAW NEWS | SATURDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2018 | 7A AGREEMENT from page 1A long-term risks to human life and property from the effects of natural and manmade haz- ards of all types and sources, and to enhance capabilities to prepare, respond and recov- er from such incidents.’ We’re working to prepare, respond and recover from large-scale disasters.” WLEOG formed through an IGA in 2007 under ORS 190.010, “which allows govern- ment entities to come togeth- er to work for a common goal and share resources to do that,” Messmer said. It has eight main partner agencies: The City of Florence, the City of Dunes City, Siuslaw Valley Fire and Rescue District, Western Lane Ambulance Dis- trict, the Port of Siuslaw, the Mapleton Fire Department, the Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians Police Depart- ment and PeaceHealth Peace Harbor Medical Center. “We have associate members as well that participate — basi- cally any group that we see that would help respond to a disas- ter or help us plan to respond,” Messmer said. “Our general purpose is to coordinate our emergency preparedness re- sponse and recovery. We know that all our agencies will play a role in this, so we come togeth- er to work on that.” WLEOG provides training, drills and education to the community. Messmer listed some of the group’s successes and ongoing programs, includ- ing the Be Ready! Preparedness Expo, preparedness events with Dunes City and Greentrees, ALICE trainings with Florence Police Department at schools and businesses, amateur radio drills with ARES/RACES vol- unteers and printed and radio information. “We also do a lot of train- ing,” Messmer said. “Over the past few years, we’ve partici- pated in the Cascadia Rising Tabletop exercise, several ac- tive threat drills and mass ca- sualty drills. A lot of the mass casualty drills that we do start from the requirements that the hospital has. They have to have an influx of patients coming in, and they have to train on that annually. We’ve built off those requirements that they have to have it more of a community drill, so we can put all of our response agencies to the test to make sure we’re prepared.” These drills also allow the WLEOG partner agencies to practice the command struc- ture used during an actual in- cident. “In the event of a natural di- saster, or any disaster, and re- sponse, we follow the incident command system. Our com- mand structure would be based on the type of event. In general, for most events we would have a unified command, which would include the fire chief, the police chief and the ambu- lance director,” Messmer said. For day-to-day activities, the WLEOG board and Messmer as chair handle those duties. During its update progress, WLEOG decided on several changes. The board approved those on Oct. 25, as well as its mission and rules of procedure. “As the group has approved an update to their IGA, it needs to be ratified by each member agency’s board, so in this case the Florence City Council,” Messmer said. The council voted to approve Resolution No. 19, Series 2018, authorizing Mayor Joe Henry to sign the IGA with WLEOG. The other partner agencies will be ratifying the updated IGA over the next month. For more information, visit wleog.org. COMMUNITY from page 1A “I ask,” asked Tomeny, “were any candidates harassed when they declined to participant at the recent events at the Elks Club?” This was in reference to a candidate forum recently held at the Elks Lodge, which coun- cil candidate Maureen Milten- berger declined to attend. (This will be covered more fully later in this article.) “I’m not going to mention names, you know who are, you should be ashamed of your- selves,” Tomeny added. “You owe both Geraldine and the community a public apology and you should seriously con- sider resigning.” After the audience applauded Tomeny’s statement, Carmela West addressed the council. “I am an Hispanic female, proud citizen here in Florence. I’ve been for the last year and a half. … I am also very proud to see that we do have a qualified non-partisan female, Hispanic female, running for city council. Our country has truly turned and advanced in many ways for women entrepreneurs, and I was very disheartened by some of the events that happened,” she said. When describing the inter- actions between Lucio, Greene and Lacer, West said, “This kind of passive-aggressive, hostile and incredulous behavior, I feel, is very unethical and immoral to any candidate, much less a female candidate of ethnicity. And this type of bullying behav- ior truly sets us back by decades if this is who we want to be.” West described the city as thriving and ever-changing, asking the council members not to take their seats for grant- ed. “We expect grace to keep you grounded; humility, so you J OIN U S I N W ORSHIP BAY BERRY CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP Friday Evenings – 7 p.m. SINGSPIRATION You are invited to come and sing your favorite Ole Time Gospel songs. Come and enjoy a time of fellowship & refreshments before we sing. Bay Berry Square is 1.5 miles north of Fred Meyers’ Store 88906 Highway 101 N, Florence, OR (milepost 185N) For Info: Jack - 541-999-8278 + Ron - mccrary9483@gmail.com THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS Located at Munsel Lake Road and North Fork Road Worship Services 10:00 AM Sunday All are welcome! 541-997-7268 COMMUNITY BAPTIST CHURCH 4590 Hwy. 101, Across from Fred Meyer –- 997-7418 Sunday School, 9:30a.m. – Worship, 10:45 Wed. Prayer - 6:00 p.m. –Wed. Ministries 1-8 Grade 7 p.m. CROSS ROAD ASSEMBLY OF GOD Corner of 10th & Maple –997-3533 Wednesday, 7 p.m. - Family Connections Adult Bible Class, 9:30am on Sundays. Sunday Services, 9am and 10:45am. fl orencecrossroad.org • offi ce@fl orencecrossroadag.org FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH - SBC 1935 25th St. – 997-7660 • Pastor, Ron Allen Series “People of the Bible.” on Wednesdays 6 p.m. A friendly place to worship, vacationers welcome. Sun.; 11am & 6pm, Sunday school 9:45am. FLORENCE CHRISTIAN CHURCH 2nd & Ivy – 997-2961 –Non-Denominational Worship Service: 9:00 am & 10:30 am Middle School and High School youth groups meet on Wednesday. FLORENCE CHURCH OF CHRIST Pre-Denominational (Romans 16:16) 1833 Tamarack Street (2 blocks east of Hwy. 101 on 18th St.) Bible Study: Sunday 10 a.m.; Worship: Sunday 11 a.m. www.churchofchristfl orence.org FLORENCE CHURCH OF THE NAZARENE 12th and Nopal –997-9020 Worship Service 10:30 a.m. Saturdays, Mens’ Breakfast @ 8 a.m. Online Worship Service@ www.fl orencenaz.com FLORENCE SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST 4445 Hwy 101 (South of Fred Meyer) – 997-3951 Worship on Saturday 10:30 A.M. Adult/Children’s Sabbath School 9:15 A.M. FLORENCE UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST FELLOWSHIP 87738 Hwy 101 at Heceta Beach Road RUAUU? All are welcome to explore the answer. Sunday Worship Service ~ 10:00 a.m. www.FlorenceUUF.org - (541) 997.2840 FLORENCE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH Worship Services 10:00 a.m. Sunday Adult Classes at 9am; Children’s Sunday School at 10:30m Coff ee Fellowship Following Service 2nd & Kingwood • (541) 997-6025 FOURSQUARE CHURCH 1624 Highway 101 (next to A&W) –- 997-6337 Pastor George Pagel – Something for the entire family. Sun. Services: 10:45 a.m., Wed. Bible Study 7 p.m. Website:fl orence4square.com NEW LIFE LUTHERAN CHURCH, E.L.C.A. 21st & Spruce Street – 997-8113 Adult Forum 9 a.m. – Sunday School 10:30 a.m. Worship services; Sun. 10:30am & Mon. 5:00 pm Welcome to all! www.lutheranchurchfl orence.com PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF THE SIUSLAW Traditional Worship Service 10:00 a.m. , Reverend Greg Wood Sunday School and Nursery – Organ and Choir All Welcome. Come as you are. 3996 N Hwy 101 997-7136 don’t forget who put you in those positions; and the grit so you always remember to keep ‘Florence First,’” West finished. “Florence First” is Lucio’s campaign slogan. After the audience applaud- ed West, Lucio supporter Jacquie Beveridge addressed the council, and was the first speaker to name Greene and Lacer specifically. “Intimidating a candidate in their place of business and sending an email to that can- didate encouraging them to withdraw from the race is not ethical or acceptable behavior. Your actions have violated your oath of office, and the ethics you have sworn to uphold,” Beveridge read from her state- ment. “As elected public offi- cials, you’ve sworn to observe the requirements of state ethics laws. … You are required to ad- here to the laws of Oregon stat- utes, especially 260.665, which applies to undue influence to affect candidacy, and states in part ‘… a person either acting alone, with or through, or any other person, may not directly or indirectly subject any per- son to undue influence with the intent to induce the person to be, or refrain from or cease being, a candidate.” While the state statute Beve- ridge referenced does prohibit such behavior, it defines “un- due influence” as “force, vio- lence, restraint or the threat of it, inflicting injury, damage, harm, loss of employment or other loss or the threat of it, or giving or promising to give money, employment or other thing of value.” None of these threats oc- curred in the Lacer email, and the only on-record account of Greene’s meeting with Lucio, from Greene himself, does not support the state standard. City of Florence staff looked into legal concerns regarding the email and found that no laws were broken. A complaint was registered to the Oregon Office of the Sec- retary of State against Greene regarding the incident, but per a letter addressed to Greene by the organization, “Our office reviewed the complaint and closed the matter.” However, Beveridge stated in the meeting, “Your actions do not represent me or any others in this community, and I hope that you will answer to the proper authorities.” The audience applauded, and Greene and Lacer, having been specifically named in the pub- lic accusations, were allotted time to speak by Henry. “This is always going to seem like a ‘he said, she said’ thing, so I will apologize first and foremost in front of all of you if I have caused any undue pain or sorrow for you Geral- dine,” said Greene, who went on to share his account of the event, and his explanation for it (found in Part I, published Oct. 24). “I am excited in hav- ing young people in politics. So please understand, in no way was it my purpose to scare you or intimidate you. And as you remember, I said, ‘Be honest about your position,’ and I gave you a hug. We were happy. That was never the intention, and it was never what my words were. But I do feel, from the other side of the coin, that you should be more prepared for position. There’s truth in that, because of what it requires.” One person applauded, fol- lowed by loud groans and jeers from the audience. Then Lacer spoke, thanking the speakers. “I know that it’s not easy to come speak to our body, so I appreciate you taking the time to do that,” she said. “I’ve al- ready apologized to Geraldine, and I will do so publicly again, and to the rest of the commu- nity. I, in no way, intended to harass or intimidate her. As I’ve said before–” “Oh, come on, we read your email!” someone yelled in in- terruption. Lacer continued, “I have also indicated to Geraldine, I, 100 percent, supported her when she chose to run. I went and collected signatures on her be- half and was thrilled she was running for council.” Public comment ended at the point and the usual city busi- ness resumed. Towards the end of the meeting, however, Coun- cilor Ron Preisler discussed his view of the public comments. “I found the audience partic- ipation extremely politicized,” he said. “The group of people were on one side of the fence, and it was an organized activi- ty in my mind. And the attack on my fellow councilors I think was totally inappropriate.” The Siuslaw News cannot confirm if the public speak- ers were organized, though Tomeny, who spoke with the Siuslaw News, stated that his participation wasn’t — he was just furious about Lacer’s email and offered to speak up. How- ever, he can’t speak to the other commentators, and saw how the night could be seen as or- chestrated. “Actually when I left, the speakers come up to me and said, ‘Well that worked great,’” Tomeny recalled. It wouldn’t be the first time that politics for this election have entered the arena. That would be January, when Henry first met current council candi- date Miltenberger. See COMMUNITY page 9A RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS (QUAKERS) “War is still not the answer.” FCNL We worship in homes at 11am Sundays Call 997-4237 or 902-9511 for locations. RESURRECTION LUTHERAN CHURCH, L.C.M.S. Every Sun., Bible Class 9 a.m., Worship Service 10 a.m. 85294 Hwy. 101 S. – 997-8038 DVD of Weekly worship service available. Pastor Randy Benscoter ST. ANDREW’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH 2135 19th St. –- 997-6600 8:30am, Tuesdays, Morning Prayer Sunday Services: 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. - Wed, 11 a.m. Everyone Welcome – Come walk our Labyrinth. SAINT MARY, OUR LADY OF THE DUNES CATHOLIC CHURCH Get Results...List With Melody. Melody Beaudro Principal Broker 541 991-2151 1791 Siano Lp – Updated man- ufactured home on 0.17 acre. All new cabinets in kitchen, laundry, and bathroom. Fully fenced home with 2 bdrms, 1 bath, new roof in 2018, newer laminate fl ooring, skylight and vaulted ceilings. Lovely landscaping, pa- tio, and green house. Detached garage with shop addition. $169,500. #2861-18567774 1749 Highway 101 • 541-997-1200 Masses: Sat. 5:30 p.m., Sun. 11:00 a.m. 1.5 miles south of river on Hwy 101 – 997-2312 Join Us In Worship 4 lines, approx 15 words, $10 a week 4 week Minimum Deadline 3 p.m. Mondays. To be included in this directory contact the Siuslaw News at 997-3441, or drop off information at 148 Maple St., Old Town, Florence. See Jim for your auto sales needs! 2150 Hwy. 101 • Florence (541) 997-3475 • 1-800-348-3475 www.shoppelocal.biz
