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Siuslaw News
WEDNESDAY EDITION | FEBRUARY 13, 2019 | $1.00
THESIUSLAWNEWS.COM
TH
Happy Valentine’s Day — Thursday, Feb. 14
Community
VOICES
I NSIDE — A5
Crash claims life of Mapleton woman New bill seeks
VOL. 129, NO. 13
SERVING
WESTERN
LANE COUNTY
SINCE 1890
F LORENCE , O REGON
Weekend’s icy conditions cause fatality, severe injuries
By Jared Anderson
Siuslaw News
On Saturday, 52-year-old Jamie
Jones of Mapleton died due to in-
juries sustained in a car accident,
a result of a collision located just
north of Honeyman State Park on
Highway 101 at milepost 193 at ap-
proximately 11:07 a.m.
The accident occurred during
a particularly severe bout of snow
and ice that hit the region over the
weekend.
“The road was absolutely slick
from Rhododendron all the way
up,” said Siuslaw Valley Fire and
Rescue Interim Chief Director
Steve Able. “It just went from a little
mist of rain to hail.”
According to investigators, the
green 1999 Ford Explorer driven by
Jones was northbound on Highway
101 when the vehicle lost control on
the snow and ice-covered roadway,
crossing into the southbound lane of
the highway. Jones’ Explorer collided
with a white 2015 Isuzu delivery truck
for American Mattress, operated by
25-year-old Daniel Crump of Reed-
sport, which had been southbound on
Highway 101.
“The crews were actually out at that
end of the district training when the
call came in, so the crews respond-
ed immediately,” Able said about the
response, which found two units re-
sponding. “The first unit arrived on
WEATHER
Rain and clouds with
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low tonight of 38.
Full forecast on A3
ANNIVERSARY
Celebrating love
with Leo and Shirley
Stapleton
INSIDE — A2
SPORTS
By Mark Brennan
Siuslaw News
COURTESY PHOTOS
scene and saw that we had two vehi-
cles, one blocking, one in the ditch,
and people trapped in both vehicles.”
Crews first administered attention
to Jones, who was unconscious. Her
companion dog, Loki, was found de-
ceased at the scene.
See accident page 9A
On the morning of Feb. 9,
Jamie Jones of Mapleton
was driving north on
Highway 101 toward
Florence when slick road
conditions after the day’s
rain, hail and snow caused
her vehicle to cross into
the southbound lane. Her
Ford Explorer collided with
an American Mattress
delivery truck, occupied by
Daniel Crump and Nicholas
Housego. The two men
“remain in stable but seri-
ous condition,” according to
Western Lane Ambulance
Chief of Operations Matt
House.
‘A small picture of homelessness’
The difficulties in serving the region’s homeless community
on the streets.”
Is the homeless population in the
Siuslaw decreasing? The fact is, no
one really knows. The search for
the answer to this pressing ques-
tion brings up a whole host of issues
when it comes to helping the home-
less — The difficulty of tracking the
population, federal versus local laws,
difficulties with promoting services,
in rural and urban areas.
The county has just finished the
2019 count and is still working on
“Last year we would pick up a
the data — set to be released in
dozen people or more with the van,”
May — but staff was able to provide
Pastor Greg Wood said. “The four
2018’s numbers for the Siuslaw re-
nights we’ve been open this year, I
gion: one sheltered homeless and 22
think we’ve picked up two people.
unsheltered.
Three people is about the biggest
“But I will caution you that it is all
night.”
volunteer-based, as far as how many
It was Monday,
surveys we get back,”
Feb. 4, at 5:30 p.m. It
said Human Services
was 36 degrees at the
“It matters what they’re doing. If it’s a matter of Supervisor Alexan-
moment and would city ordinance, then they get citations. If it’s a crim- dria Dreher at Lane
dip to 30 by mid-
inal offense, then they could get arrested or give ci- County Health and
night. Wood, who
Human
Services.
is the president of tations. It matters what the situation is. If it’s some- “The Point in Time
the Florence Emer- thing we can handle and not have to take them to count is a snapshot,
gency Cold Weather jail and it won’t happen again, then we’re not going and the best snap-
Shelter, was driving
shot we can get. It’s
to take them to jail.”
around
Florence,
only a small picture
— Commander John Pitcher, of homelessness.”
picking up homeless
Florence Police Department
guests from various
As to why the
locations to bring
count is not more
to the Presbyterian
robust, Dreher said,
Church of the Siuslaw for a warm perceived prejudices against the “Sometimes the people trust gov-
meal and the chance to spend the homeless community and the cur- ernment. If they’re homeless, and
night out of the bitter cold.
rent state of housing.
they’re in a crisis and not interested
But on Monday, Wood was having
While the conversation begins in completing a survey, or they don’t
difficulty finding people. The Fred with an inquiry surrounding num- trust the system, it’s not worth it to
Meyer pickup station, which usually bers, it ends with a debate on what give information.”
brings in people walking from the the future of homelessness in the re-
The county has only begun re-
north, was empty. So too were the gion will become.
porting region-specific numbers in
Siuslaw Public Library and Safeway
2018, so Dreher was unable to see
pickup locations.
By the numbers
if there was a downward trend in
Wood ended his drive without
One of the major problems fac- the Siuslaw’s homelessness by press
any takers.
ing those who work to alleviate the time.
“I just don’t think there’s as many issue of homelessness is finding
“But I do know that between
people living out there right now,” exact numbers, as demonstrated 2017 and 2018, all across Lane
he said. “I could be mistaken about by the Lane County Point in Time County we saw a seven percent
that. There just doesn’t seem to be Count, which looks to create a
the same number of people living count of unsheltered individuals
See Difficulties page 8A
By Jared Anderson
Siuslaw News
Viking wrestlers
advance to state
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major changes
to Oregon’s
gun laws
S IUSLAW N EWS
2 S ECTIONS | 18 P AGES
C OPYRIGHT 2019
The introduction into the Oregon
Legislature of a bill primarily crafted by
students in Lake Oswego has created
a firestorm of debate that is quickly
sweeping through the nation.
Senate Bill 501 was introduced in Jan-
uary by District 19 Democrat Sen. Rob
Wagner and has drawn the attention
and ire of gun rights groups in Oregon
and across the country. Cosponsored by
fellow Democrat from District 38, Rep.
Andrea Salinas, the bill would require
any individual that wished to purchase
a firearm to obtain a permit before
receiving a gun of any type.
However, most controversial about
the proposed law is that it would also
severely restrict the number of rounds
an individual could purchase each
month.
The legislation was written with input
from Ceasefire Oregon, a student-led
advocacy group that is working to
reduce gun violence. The group was
formed in 1994 and has re-emerged as
a national voice on the subject of gun
violence.
Of concern for gun owners is the
rollback of laws that have been in place
since Oregon adopted its constitution in
1857. The National Rifle Association’s
(NRA) Institute for Legislative Action
has targeted SB 501 as “the worst of the
laws introduced since the seating of leg-
islators elected in the 2018 mid-terms.”
According to the NRA’s online
analysis, “In Oregon, we see just how
extreme the anti-gun legislative agenda
has become, thanks to Sen. Wagner and
his proposal, which … seeks to enact
a number of draconian restrictions on
Oregon’s law-abiding gun owners. …
When you turn over the responsibility
of creating new laws to children, you
can expect some real doozies — and
SB 501 delivers in spades. This truly
extreme bill, should it become law,
would establish magazine capacity
limits and ammunition restrictions that
only a child with little knowledge of the
practical, lawful use of firearms could
envisage.”
One of the most contentious elements
of the legislation would require anyone
that wished to purchase a firearm to fill
out and submit an application, which
would then be investigated by a mem-
ber of the local sheriff ’s department.
The loose protocols and flexibility that
the legislation gives to the investigating
officer to reject an application is also
of particular concern to gun rights
supporters. If the investigation revealed
no cause for rejection, of which there
are many, then the applicant could buy
one hand gun.
This process seems to many gun
owners to be clearly unconstitutional,
as it restricts the right of citizens to arm
themselves as they see fit.
There are also major concerns with
sections of SB 501 that require valid
state identification to purchase am-
munition and limit legal purchases of
ammunition to 20 individual rounds
per month.
See Gun Laws page 6A
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