8A | SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 2019 | SIUSLAW NEWS MAPS from page 1A one of Florence’s main streets, to go online and check the county’s newly posted Flood Plain Maps. “Property owners along Bay Street will want to have a look, as they are impact- ed most by this map update. Please visit the (county link) for the background on how and why FEMA created new flood maps for Florence and Dunes City and Lane County. At the bottom of the webpage the proposed map panels for Florence are available,” she said. “The Lane County Floodplain comparison map- ping tool link is handy for seeing the before and after, 1999 to 2018.” Ratte reinforced FarleyC- ampbell’s observations and agreed with her suggestions to residents. “Some property owners will find that the updated flood hazard areas now include their property. If they have federally backed mortgag- es, lenders may now require that they carry flood insur- ance. But even if properties are not in the FEMA-mapped high-risk flood zones, lenders could require owners to pur- chase flood insurance,” Ratte said. He added that some prop- erties may have been shifted SERIES from page 6A As word got out that we were interviewing people, accusations came out of the woodwork. In the space of one week, dozens of tips came in about problems with both campaigns. People who were for Miltenberger agreed to talk to us, but with grave reservations because we “weren’t a ‘liberal’ newspa- per.” Lucio supporters talked to us on a whole host of issues, but often refused to be on record, stating that we were “too liberal,” or out to de- stroy the conservative candi- dacy. There were also veiled threats to sue us from both sides if we got information incorrect — something made difficult because, in many cases, we couldn’t use their comments on record. Lawsuits were not the only threats we received on “Cha- os.” Before anything was published, Hickson received anonymous phone messages and notes stating we better be careful with our report- ing, “or else.” Hickson said it was one of the few times in his career when he actually felt concerned for himself or his reporters’ safety. News was evolving rap- idly, even up to deadlines. As one reporter was writing Part I the night before dead- line, another reporter was at a public city council meet- ing, where Lucio supporters called for Lacer and Greene’s resignation. Just over half of Part II was written in a three-hour peri- od before deadline because campaign volunteer Terry Tomeny, who had initially asked Lucio to run, talked to us that morning, shedding light on issues we had been previously unable to verify. He said he talked to us be- cause he was afraid for Lu- cio’s safety. This one was a hard piece for the news staff, who live, work and play in the Flor- ence area like many of you. We like everyone who was involved. We’ve dined at their houses, hung out with them at social events and, for those of us with hair at least, have gone to their bar- ber shop. These were not only our neighbors and lead- ers, but in some cases our friends. In all honesty, when the facts first started coming out, some of the reporters re- fused to believe it. We had long discussions about every time we dined with them, gave them a friendly hug. Was that the right thing to do? If all this “chaos” was going on, why out of the flood hazard boundar- ies. He suggested that these property owners still consid- er carrying a flood insurance policy — “given that numer- ous flood claims apply to properties FEMA has worked to update the located outside of area’s floodplain maps. They are the FEMA-mapped available to view at ci.florence. high-risk flood or.us and msc.fema.gov. zones.” The use of en- “Hopefully, this update pro- hanced data gath- ering software, primarily vides residents of Florence, from satellites using Lidar, a Dunes City and coastal Lane mix of light and radar, pro- County with more informa- vides significant new infor- tion on flood risks so that mation for not only home- they can make informed de- owners but for FEMA and cisions on protecting their in- private insurance companies. terests and collaborating with These detailed, high-resolu- each other and local, state tion images will be used to and federal entities to reduce provide insurance companies potential damages from fu- and property owners with the ture flooding events.” The release of these new- most up to date and techni- cally advanced geographic ly created maps by FEMA is information available on the the most recent step in a pro- Lane County coastal flood- cess that was designed to not only improve the mapping of plain. This process will result coastal areas, but to also clar- in changes to what can be ify what actions will need to built, insured and used com- be taken from an insurance mercially or residentially, on perspective, due to changes many pieces of property in in the flood designation of a plot of land. the coastal areas of Oregon. According to FarleyCamp- “Overall, the updates show reduction in exposure of bell, if property owners have properties to areas of high- questions or a dispute with risk flooding,” Ratte said. the updated designations, didn’t we see it? Much like in the film “The Post,” we asked ourselves “Are we too close?” Today, locked away in the office is information we didn’t include and a list of questions that went unan- swered regarding the events surrounding our “Chaos” series. Some of the ques- tions we openly asked in the series, others are based on “off the record” comments we couldn’t divulge. There’s only one copy of the docu- ment. All the reporters cov- ering city events have read it so that they can keep those questions in mind moving forward. In the end, one question we should keep in mind as a community is this: To what degree — if any — should partisanship play a role in our local elections? Is what happened merely a symptom of the current national po- litical climate, or something else entirely? We learned an important lesson with the “Chaos” se- ries about political writing. People will be okay with get- ting hit, as long as you hit the other side as well. We want the community to know our Chaos series was never about “going af- ter” someone or some group: it was simply to say, “This is what we currently know about the election, and it is a mess.” In the two months since the November elections, we have heard from councilors that they will work to put partisanship and the election behind them. The city can’t afford it. And at the Decem- ber city council meeting, it was as if the chaos surround- ing the election was nothing more than an interesting — though disappointing — his- torical footnote. The coun- cilors got along, they worked together, they joked around. Perhaps the ugliness of the election was just about that: The election, and nothing more. We can only hope. Future series While the above articles received the most pageviews online, there were a num- ber of 2018 series that we were proud of. “In their own words: Latinos in the Siu- slaw” was a unique and inti- mate look at a minority that is often politicized, but sel- dom understood. “Plight of the Pollinators” was a fun and popular two- part series on how honey is made and the ramifications of a world without bees and other pollinators, and “The business of Marilyn” showed a side of the art exhibition world that never gets talked about, even in the national press. “Intolerance” was an op- portunity to explore an ex- white supremacist and how racism can be instilled into youth through punk rock music. We had actually planned to turn that into a longer series covering multi- ple aspects of intolerance, but two of the subjects we had planned to cover dropped due to possible controver- sies. Just as we were about to regroup, “Chaos” hit. There were also series that never materialized, such as an ambitious, five-part series on mental health in the Siu- slaw region. We had a frank and eye-opening discus- sion with Peace Harbor staff about difficulties in getting treatment and had begun work on studying the reasons for — and effects of — sui- cide in the region. As we head into 2019, we’ve begun to reevaluate the place of special series writ- ing. While they have certain- ly made for some interesting conversations, some readers have voiced that they are too long and unwieldy to digest. Why the series are so lengthy can be best de- scribed by a conversation we had with a reader, who said, “God, they can be hard to get through. But, by the end, I feel I really understand the subject.” A series is our chance to truly examine all of what we know about a broader issue and try to suss out what it all means. And when we’re deal- ing with complex issues that can sometimes span years of information and multiple points of view, a 500-word article isn’t going to cut it. In fact, not including in- formation can sometimes make things worse. We continue to value your feedback as we begin our 129th year of the Siu- slaw News, and are grateful for the readers who stuck around for the series, as well as the readers who let us know they didn’t. Whether long or short, multi-part or 300-word report, we con- sider it an honor to write for this community. These series, among oth- ers, can be viewed online at TheSiuslawNews.com under the Special Series Archive page. The town-hall debate on guns can be viewed on our Facebook page under the video section. that they submit to commu- nity officials or directly to FEMA.” For more information on the updated Flood Plain maps for Lane County’s coastal region, visit www.lanecounty.org/ femamapupdate. DENTURE SERVICES INC. 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From customer service to furniture repair, we offer volunteer opportunities geared toward individual interests and skills.By giving your time, you help Florence Habitat ReStore do more to support building projects that benefi t families in our community. 2016 Hwy 101 or email volunteer@fl orencehabitat.org Store hours 9am – 5pm Monday- Saturday 541-997-5834 www.facebook.com/restorefl orence Donate Do your part and volunteer today relies heavily on volunteers. Th ere are many opportunities to volunteer and a variety of skills and talents are always in need. Volunteer interest forms may be found online, at the shelter and at our Th rift Shop on Bay Street. www.oregoncoasthumanesociety.org/volunteer/ to help support these local non-proft organizations in our community! Join the Peace Harbor Hospital Volunteers.