SN
Siuslaw News
VOL. 129, NO. 6
SERVING
WESTERN
LANE COUNTY
SINCE 1890
F LORENCE , O REGON
WEATHER
SATURDAY EDITION | JANUARY 19, 2019 | $1.00
THESIUSLAWNEWS.COM
TH
‘School Board
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M ARTIN L UTHER K ING , J R . D AY
J ANUARY 21, 2019
Siuslaw Valley,
Western Lane
receive yearly
audit reports
Top of their
field
PERS causes
concern for
WLAD
By Chantelle Meyer
Siuslaw News
Evening showers
with a high of 53 and
a low tonight of 42.
Full forecast on A3
COMMUNITY
Yachats holds annual
Agate Festival this
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At the Siuslaw School Dis-
trict Board meeting on Jan.
16, board members conducted
the meeting under a banner
reading “School Board Super
Heroes” — the theme for this
year’s Oregon School Boards
Association’s (OSBA) School
Board Appreciation Month.
Cut-out masks, comic book
style word effects and custom
art by Siuslaw students also
greeted the board.
Siuslaw Elementary Princi-
pal Michael Harklerode read
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown’s Jan-
uary 2019 School Board Rec-
ognition Month proclamation
on behalf of Superintendent
Andy Grzeskowiak, who was
absent for the meeting.
“Locally elected boards ful-
fill leadership roles and serve
as the conduit through which
teachers, parents, businesses
and communities demonstrate
the care, creativity and support
that lead to student achieve-
ment,”
Harklerode
read.
“Board members build the
framework that makes it possi-
ble for education organizations
to teach Oregon’s children.”
Brown’s proclamation re-
ported that Oregon has 197
school districts, 19 education
service districts and 17 com-
munity colleges.
See SCHOOLS page 8A
By Mark Brennan
Siuslaw News
“Now jump down!” Another joked as
everyone laughed.
But Bell had been trained well, com-
ing down methodically. He had a big
smile when he finally made it, taking off
his helmet and wiping away the sweat.
“I was cleaning limbs that were hang-
ing that could be a potential hazard and
kill people,” he explained. “That big one
you just saw was about 40 feet. It was
quite a bit heavy. We’ve been cutting
limbs between the trees, trying to make
sure it’s all cleared out to make sure that
when it is taken down, it won’t cause any
problems.”
Delimbing is one of the first steps in
taking down the tree, which had not
fused together, splitting about half way
up. The split was building pressure, and
could present a potential hazard in the
future, so it has to come down.
“It’s a dangerous job, and not for most
people,” Bell said. “But someone has to
do it, and I’m glad to be trained to do it
safely and efficiently.”
Audit reports dominated
January board meetings held
by Siuslaw Valley Fire and Res-
cue (SVFR) and Western Lane
Ambulance District (WLAD)
earlier this week. The required
yearly reports were present-
ed to directors at both board
meetings by Chris Mahr, CPA.
While there were similarities
in Mahr’s assessment of the
financial situations of the two
organizations, the reports were
marginally different in one
major regard — the ultimate
determination of state compli-
ance requirements.
The initial determination by
Mahr’s firm was an “unquali-
fied” approval of the SVFR fi-
nancials and a “qualified” des-
ignation for WLAD.
The terms qualified and un-
qualified, as used in the world
of auditors and CPAs, have a
different meaning than in oth-
er contexts.
According to the website
Investopedia, “An unqualified
audit refers to a complete au-
dit that has been performed
and researched so thoroughly
that the only possible remain-
ing discrepancies stem from
information that could not be
obtained by the auditor.”
See FORESTRY page 5A
See AUDIT page 7A
JARED ANDERSON/SIUSLAW NEWS
Youth in the Angell Job Corps learn trades like forestry, plumbing, carpentry
and automotive while getting the chance to earn their GED.
Angell Job Corps partners with Camp Baker
to remove trees, increase camp’s accessibility
By Jared Anderson
Siuslaw News
I
t was when Garrett Bell started to
descend the giant Sitka Spruce tree
that things started to go wrong.
The teenager had been sawing off
“widowmakers” for the past half hour —
long branches periodically falling to the
forest floor of Camp Baker, a Boy Scout
camp in Dunes City. He had just cut off
a long one. However, instead of falling
to the ground, the branch got caught in
the lower tree limbs.
As he looked down at the stuck
branch, his coworkers laughed.
“You can do it, Garrett,” one yelled as
Bell slowly worked his way down to the
problem area. The coworkers gathered
in a small group, shouting encourage-
ment at Bell as he worked on cutting the
branch loose. After around 10 minutes
of cutting, the big branch fell with a loud
thud that echoed throughout the camp’s
trees.
“Nice!” a worker yelled, and the sur-
rounding group clapped and hollered.
Collard Road sink hole expands after recent rains
County fails to see emergency as road access threatened by degradation
By Mark Brennan
Siuslaw News
S IUSLAW N EWS
2 S ECTIONS | 16 P AGES
C OPYRIGHT 2019
There is a really dangerous
curve ahead, if you live on Collard
Lake Road.
Residents of the area, locat-
ed north of Florence off Mercer
Lake Road, have worried for years
about the safety of a stretch of
Collard Lake Road that has dete-
riorated to the point where it is
clearly a significant safety hazard.
The road lies outside of city limits
and Lane County has responsibili-
ty for maintenance of the road.
A number of people who live
COURTESY PHOTO BY SKIP THOMSEN
or travel on the road have contacted
Collard
Lake Road resi-
city and county officials, on numer-
dents
have
noticed a
ous occasions, pointing out the need
marked
increase
in the
for some sort of repair of the large,
size
of
the
damaged
sec-
and still growing, hole in the asphalt
tion
of
road.
surface and substructure of a por-
tion of the road that twists and turns
Resident Alex Orobey
through forest and underbrush for
directly contacted County
miles.
Commissioner Jay Boziev-
The condition of Collard Lake matter of major concern to those us- ich regarding what he perceives as
Road has been and continues to be a ing the road.
a serious danger to his family and
neighbors.
“As a resident of Lane County, I
am writing to bring attention to a se-
rious concern to over 100 residents
of Lane County. Our roads Collard
Lake Road and Collard Lake Way
are in serious degradation to the
point now, it has become a safety
issue,” Orobey wrote in his email.
“In the last few days, Collard Lake
Road suffered a physical washout
next to a steep slope. With the rainy
season upon us soon, the road will
be impassable and may possibly fail,
resulting in serious injury or loss of
life. I understand a few years ago in
another rain storm the other road
washed out and someone was killed.”
Residents Skip and Camille Thom-
sen live in the neighborhood and have
noticed a marked increase in the size
of the damaged section of road since
the weather has become progressively
inclement.
“My wife and I walk by the spot sev-
eral times a week on our walks, so we
1956 to 2019 AND STILL GOING STRONG
See SINKHOLE page 5A
“We’re next to the Bridge”
100 Hwy. 101
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