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SAILORS ENTER
HEART OF SEASON
CROW BRINGS HOLIDAY
MUSIC TO SENIORS
INSIDE — A3
SPORTS — B
128TH YEAR | ISSUE NO. 103
FLORENCE, OREGON
SERVING WESTERN LANE COUNTY SINCE 1890
Solving the
plastic dilemma
Now
that's a
wrap
Plastic recycling
subject of Jan. 2 workshop
By Mark Brennan
Siuslaw News
Story i Photo
By Jared Anderson
Siuslaw News
A pile of presents from the community greets the 39 teens and their families who participated in this year’s Twin Lakes Giving Tree.
Twin Lakes Store’s
annual Giving
Tree fulfills
Christmas lists
for rural teens
I
t was 5:30 p.m. at the Siuslaw
Valley Fire and Rescue’s Sutton
Lake Fire Station, and it was sur-
prisingly calm. By 6 p.m., it would
be a madhouse, filled with frenetic
teenagers ripping open presents
for the annual Twin Lakes Giving
Tree program.
It’s utter pandemonium.
“The decibel level goes from
zero to 100,” one organizer said.
But just a few minutes before
the kids started arriving, last min-
ute preparations were being made:
Setting out the chips and snacks,
opening the pizza boxes.
“All the names are on the stock-
ings,” Vicki Ambrosio explained as
she showed off what her and her
crew had set up.
Almost 40 socks — actual socks,
not the usual stockings — over-
stuffed with treats and toys were
hung on hooks where firefighter
jackets usually rested. Just above,
where the helmets were once lo-
cated, were a long line of gift bags
filled with donated food.
See CHRISTMAS LISTS page 8A
Teacher increases equity in computer science
Siuslaw High School offers a new computer science course for all
Special to the
Siuslaw News
Students in the Exploring
Computer Science class learn
binary the fun way, with finger
lights representing electrical
impulses of on and off, or ones
and zeros, which are binary
numbers. Then, students role-
play as “robots” that must build
a sandwich. They are learning
that in order for a computer to
solve a problem, it must be
divided into a sequential set of
precise, executable instructions.
INSIDE
At Siuslaw High School, Ed-
ward Mielke teaches a new class
called Exploring Computer Science
(ECS). It’s designed to help increase
equity and create opportunities for
students who may have had no pri-
or exposure to computers.
“Students have looked at re-
al-world problems, like how to
make cornrows, fast vs. slow ways
of searching and sorting, and fi-
nally, efficient road-construc-
tion. It was upon this last lesson,
“Muddy City,” that a student, Will,
commented that this was the ‘fun-
nest class in school.’ Of course, I
thought this was because I had just
handed out Skittles candies to help
them keep track of their road con-
struction,” Mielke said. “It was the
same student, however, that first
made a connection that when the
Classifieds. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Community. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Kid Scoop . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Library Tidings . . . . . . . . . . .
B6
A3
B5
A5
dents used Skittles as moving piec-
es to solve a sophisticated yet fun
algorithm puzzle to figure out the
least number of paving stones to
COURTESY PHOTOS
connect every house in the mud-
real-world problems become dy city; it’s an example of how ECS
numbers, we can then use bina- teaches a classic computer science
ry code to represent the prob- algorithm that is used in network
lem itself.”
routing protocols.
In Muddy City, the visual
problem-solving exercise, stu-
See SCIENCE page 5A
Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Community Voices . . . . . . .
Weather Data . . . . . . . . . . .
A4
A2
A6
A2
THIS WEEK ’ S
Full Forecast, A3
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WEATHER
HEARING
of Florence
TODAY
A letter writing campaign to bring atten-
tion to the need to address plastic recycling
issues will be held on Wednesday, Jan. 2. The
community is invited.
Members of Florence Precious Plastics
(FPP), an offshoot of the activist group
Florence ORganizes (FOR), will be discuss-
ing the many issues surrounding the plastic
paradigm and writing letters to designat-
ed companies and their public relations
spokespersons. The meeting will meet in the
Bromley Room at the Siuslaw Public Library,
1460 Ninth St., from 5 to 8 p.m.
FPP members hope to increase the dia-
logue between consumers of plastic materials
and the producers of those materials.
Eileen Angilletta, the spokesperson for
both FOR and FPP, said, “The purpose of
this event is to get people involved with
solving the plastic dilemma here in Florence.
… Precious Plastics hasn't had a gener-
al meeting in over six months since the
core team members have been working on
getting equipment, raising money through
donations, and looking for a location for a
repurposing plant here in Florence.”
In that time, FPP also completed the
requirements to become a recognized non-
profit.
The big problem that faces many compa-
nies involved with plastic is the adaptabil-
ity and cost of plastic. Plastic can be used
in many applications and can be shaped
and molded into almost any form for any
purpose. It is also remarkably affordable.
However, many plastics are used for a single,
short period of time or, worse yet, is simply
removed from the items it surrounds and
tossed in the trash.
FPP is one of the groups formed under
FOR last year. Several of FOR’s subgroups
are focused on education, social justice and
the environment. Each committee is tasked
with assessing issues and crafting actions to
stop or modify situations that they consider
untenable.
Angilletta and her fellow FPP members
have decided that the issue of recycling can no
longer be ignored. The letter writing work-
shop is one way to participate in crafting a
solution, especially since there hasn’t been a
change in the recycling rules or opportunities
in Florence since recent global issues reduced
the types of plastic still recyclable in the area.
“We have participated in other events such
as the Master Recyclers' plastic round-up,
Power of Florence, and others. It is time now
to get the education piece together,” Angilletta
said.
See PLASTICS page 7A
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2 S ECTIONS | 16 P AGES
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