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Siuslaw News
VOL. 129, NO. 31
NEWS &
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Suicide among Oregon vets is twice national average
Latest study shows that older veterans are at highest risk among state’s veteran population
Editor’s note: This is the
third in a four-part special col-
laboration between the Cottage
Grove Sentinel, The Creswell
Chronicle, Siuslaw News and
Newport News-Times focusing
on the rising suicide rate in
Oregon. Each Wednesday
through April, the four news-
papers in this collaboration will
each be contributing a part to
the series and will be publish-
ing them together. The hope is
that, by sharing our resources
and readerships, we can begin
establishing a dialogue within
each of our communities about
this important subject.
By Mark Brennan
Siuslaw News
S
“I think about killing myself every day, I just haven’t decided that
today is the day.” — Anonymous Florence veteran
Region
readies for
Earth Day
uicide committed by veterans is
a major problem across America
and in Oregon, and it is a prob-
lem that, according to recent sta-
tistics, is getting worse rather than better.
Because of this, suicide deaths among
soldiers was a topic of conversation last
week among Florence-area veterans,
spurred primarily by the visit of the
traveling replica of the Vietnam Veter-
ans Memorial Wall, known as “The Wall
That Heals.”
Sadly, underscoring the memorial’s
visit was the unexpected death of local
See VETERANS page 8A
Healthcare
Town Hall
By Jared Anderson
Siuslaw News
The Siuslaw region is celebrating Earth
Day in a big way this year, as multiple lo-
cal and state organizations will be holding
celebrations, work parties and films in
honor of the world’s largest environmen-
tal event.
The main event will be held on Saturday,
April 20, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. as the Siu-
slaw Climate Alliance hosts “Earth Day on
the Boardwalk,” which will feature dozens
of booths and activities in an all ages event.
“There’s just so much going on,”
said climate alliance co-chair Maureen
Miltenberger. “People are just so enthusi-
astic and are wanting to share the knowl-
edge they have on how we can help our
own little part of the world.”
The event, which will be held on the
Port of Siuslaw Boardwalk in Historic Old
Town Florence, will be larger than the in-
augural event last year, with more than 20
organizations participating. The theme
for the year is “Protect our Species.”
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TH
See Celebration page 9A
Story & Photo
By Mark Brennan
Siuslaw News
U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio answers questions from the audience about prescription costs during his town
hall at Siuslaw Public Library on April 16.
DeFazio discusses access to affordable health care, ‘Medicare for All’
U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio hosted a
Healthcare Town Hall in the Brom-
ley Room at the Siuslaw Public Li-
brary on Tuesday. PeaceHealth Peace
Harbor Chief Administrative Officer
Jason Hawkins appeared with the
congressman and provided perspec-
tive from his role as a leader in the
local medical community.
DeFazio, Chairman of the House
Committee on Transportation and
Infrastructure, represents the 4th
District of Oregon and convened
the meeting to provide constituents
with an update on a variety of health
care related subjects. In February, he
co-sponsored “The Medicare for All
Act,” H.R. 1384, which is intended to
address issues that have arisen from
the series of changes made to the
Affordable Care Act (ACA) by Presi-
dent Donald Trump’s administration
over the past two years.
The legislation is currently work-
ing its way through multiple com-
mittees to determine the impact the
bill would have on the areas the com-
mittees are tasked with overseeing.
“Although the ACA dramatically
reduced the number of uninsured
individuals, it has been in great need
of improvement since day one,” De-
Fazio said. “In my opinion, a gov-
ernment-run, not-for-profit health
See HEALTH page 9A
‘A DIFFERENT KIND OF POLICING’
S IUSLAW N EWS
2 S ECTIONS | 20 P AGES
C OPYRIGHT 2019
Brandon Bailey gave the Siu-
slaw School District Board
of Directors a report on the
School Resource Officer (SRO)
position at the school district.
According to board chair
Suzanne Mann-Heintz, the
board invited Bailey to speak
after hearing about improved
attendance rates in the schools.
“The board was hoping to
get an update on your sense
of our effectiveness,” Mann-
Heintz said to the SRO, who
has served in the position since
January 2018. “We’d like to
By Chantelle Meyer
know a little more from your
Siuslaw News
perspective about the services
you’ve been able to provide
ast week, Florence Po- and the effectiveness in terms
lice Commander John of our students.”
Siuslaw School District and
Pitcher and Officer
School Resource
Officer gives
update on
2nd year of
partnership
between
Florence Police,
Siuslaw schools
L
the Florence Police Depart-
ment initiated the SRO pro-
gram in the 2017-18 school
year by using grant funds and
school resources. Now in the
middle of its second year, the
program has helped to im-
prove school safety by hav-
ing an increased presence in
school facilities, to detect and
apprehend students who miss
school and to assist in traf-
fic enforcement and safety
around the Siuslaw schools on
Oak Street.
Pitcher said, “We’re in year
two, and the program is evolv-
ing. We’re learning what works
for the administrators, works
for the officer and works best
for the kids.”
Bailey agreed.
“It’s been a learning curve
and process for me on how to
work with the administration
here and my role in the school.
We’ve just kind of been going
along and seeing what works
and what doesn’t,” he said. “I
wouldn’t lie and say everything
has worked so far — it hasn’t.
I’ve made mistakes and I’ve
learned from things.”
According to Bailey, the
schools haven’t had an SRO in
nine years.
“As a relatively new police
officer to Florence, I didn’t
know what type of job this was
going to be. I don’t think any-
body really did, unless you’ve
done the school resource po-
sition. It’s definitely a different
kind of policing,” he said. “You
go from the streets and dealing
with adults and then going and
working with children.”
Now that Bailey has some
time at the schools under his
belt, he hopes to transition
into a more proactive form of
policing.
“Unfortunately, this year has
been really reactive for me,” he
said. “We’ve really had a lot
going on at the schools, not
to put anybody on blast, but
we’ve really not had a lot going
on at the elementary school, it’s
been more at the high school
and middle school. We’ve had
a lot of minor in possessions
recently. We’ve had a lot of the
vape pens and things like that.”
See SRO Program page 10A
Interior and Exterior
House Painting
Florence, OR CCB#195304
• Deck and Railing Staining
• General Repairs
• Pressure Washing
• Mossy Roof Treatment
• Gutter Cleaning