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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 24, 2019)
SIUSLAW NEWS | SATURDAY, AUGUST 24, 2019 | 7A SUMMIT from page 1A conference room at Three Rivers Casino Resort; U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden was the main speaker on Thursday at the Florence Events Center. Both of these lunchtime discussions were held to full rooms of interested and en- gaged attendees. Questions from the audience and other speakers were posed by mem- bers of the OCC to Wyden and DeFazio, with responses that ranged from humorous to controversial. Noticeably, the messages shared by the state’s senior elected leaders were mainly positive, only occasionally touching on the wide divide between many of President Trump’s policies and their own. This year’s conference was entitled; “Infrastructure In- vestment — A Collabora- tive Approach” and featured a wide array of panels and speakers. There were panels that targeted a specific sector of the economy, such as wine- making, fishing and farming, to discussions centered on emergency preparedness and the issue of improving broad- band infrastructure needs for rural coastal communities. These topics were just some of the many different aspects of the economic par- adigm which were examined and discussed with the ulti- mate goal of improving future economic prospects for all Oregonians. The Coastal Caucus Eco- nomic Summit was present- ed in partnership with the Confederate Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians, Three Rivers Casino Resort and the City of Flor- ence. The conference opened with an Invocation offered by Warren Brainard, Chief of the Confederated Tribes. The invocation was followed by a panel presentation which in- cluded members of the Coast- al Caucus who discussed the history of the group and the unique work they have done in a positive, collaborative fashion. One of the driving forces of the conference over the past few years has been Roblan, the Oregon state senator for District 5. He was involved in a number of panels. Roblan moderated the Thursday dis- cussion with Wyden, which was focused on the ways in which legislators from both parties are attempting to find common ground in the face of an increasingly polarized political landscape. There was some cause for optimism, according to Wyden, who has risen to a po- sition of significant influence as the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee and as the ranking Democrat on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Wyden is also known for holding town hall meetings in each of the districts he Florence Food Share Ask us about volunteer opportunities. 2190 Spruce Street • P.O.Box 2514 Florence, Oregon 97439 (541) 997-9110 info@florencefoodshare.org Florence Senior Center Needs VOLUNTEERS For Kitchen Helpers Tues. & Thur. 10:30 am to 12:20 pm A fun way to meet new people and help assist the Florence area seniors. Please inquire at the Florence Senior Center 1570 Kingwood St., 541-997-8844 Florenceseniorcenter.org Habitat for Humanity Construction Volunteers needed for each stage of the building process. Experience is a plus, but not required. Help us build a new home For information call 541-902-9227 Volunteer Get involved Donate Do your part and volunteer today to help support these local non-proft organizations in our community! represents on a regular ba- sis, with more than 900 such meetings to date. Overall, the tone of Wyden’s remarks were positive, with a clear intent to highlight the bipartisan na- ture of recent legislative vic- tories. Wyden began his discus- sion with Roblan by recog- nizing and applauding the efforts made by the members of the OCC — and all of the participants at the summit — on their attendance, as well as their desire to work through differences by collaborating with the goal of finding solu- tions to problems based on a shared vision for the future. Two of the issues specifical- ly mentioned by Wyden will have an immediate impact on the Florence community: Pre- scription drug pricing and fire prevention/suppression costs. “The centerpiece of my agenda is basically that same kind of collaboration. A few weeks ago, defying the odds, (Idaho) Sen. Chuck Grassley and I got out of the finance committee a bipartisan pre- scription bill to finally stop the price gouging that is tak- ing place across Oregon and across the country,” Wyden said. “And in 40 days, just over a month, the Forest Ser- vice will fully implement the bill that (Idaho) Republican Sen. Mike Crapo and I have been working on for six years to end fire borrowing. We will get that into fire prevention. I don’t have to tell you that Or- egon has 2 million acres that are shovel-ready for collab- orative efforts to go in there and clean out the debris to prevent future forest fires. And that, too, is another bi- partisan bill.” Locally, Siuslaw Valley Fire and Rescue has assisted in a number of major fire suppres- sion efforts in the past few years, particularly in Califor- nia, and the process for paying smaller fire department mem- bers for their work on these joint efforts has been difficult to navigate at times. The result of the current payment reim- bursement system has meant delays and financial concerns for both Siuslaw Valley and other departments. Another major subject of discussion during the Economic Summit was the growing importance of the recreational sector to coastal economies. There were panels which included winemakers from King Estate Vineyards and other major producers of Oregon wines, even though there are few coastal vine- yards. The thoughts in this re- gard being the potential sales associated with the burgeon- ing coastal recreational sector. “The latest numbers on the recreational economy are about $11 billion annually, and this is a huge economic multiplier — whether it’s kay- akers or craft breweries, the list goes on and on,” Wyden said. “Recently, with two of the Congress’s most conservative representatives, I introduced a bill that we call the R&R Bill. Recreation, not Red tape. And the point of these bills — both are in the House and the Sen- ate — is to end some of the bureaucratic water torture that people go through when they try to get permits. I think there is a lot of support, particularly in the Energy and Natural Re- sources Committee, in a major recreation bill. And I think we all know, for Oregon, this is lit- erally an economic boon from one corner of the state to the other.” DeFazio, unlike his Wash- ington-based colleague, was less circumspect in his ap- praisal of the policies of the Trump administration, di- rectly challenging the intent and uninformed nature of the president’s opinions. There was some progress Helping Hands Coalition We are in need of volunteers on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays. We need volunteers to serve food, set up for meals and also prepare meals beginning at 11:00 am and finishing at 2:00pm. New Location: Community Baptist Church, 4590 Hwy. 101, Florence (Across from Fred Meyer) Senior Services Advisory Council Needs New Members Are you a senior? Have a passion for working with seniors? If yes, please consider applying for the Senior & Disability Services (S&DS) Senior Services Advisory Council. S&DS serves all of Lane County with a wide range of publicly funded services for older adults and persons with disabilities. The council advises S&DS on services and advocates on senior topics. Contact us at: sdsadvisorycouncil@lcog.org or download an application from: http://www.lcog.org/827/SSAC-Council-Membership Application deadline: April 26, 2019. Meals on Wheels and Cafe 60 Meals on Wheels are available to people over the age of 60 who cannot get out much due to illness or advanced age and who are not eating properly, regardless of income. Cafe 60 is available for those who prefer to make new friends in a dining room setting. 1570 Kingwood, PO Box 2313, Florence 541-997-5673 laneseniormeals.org Estate Sale 8/23, 8/24 & 8/25 9am-5pm 4800 Rhododendron Loop 541-997-9714. Multi-Family Garage Sale Sat., Aug. 24 8am-3pm 1765 W Park Drive Fri.-Sat. 8/23-8/24 9am-2pm 1993 Willow Street Household, Lots of misc. Too much to list. No Early Birds! Fri.-Sat. 8/23-8/24 9am-4pm 65 Park Village Drive Camping gear, shop tool, Jeep parts. Large Sale Fri.-Sat., 8/23-8/24 8am-3pm 5720 Canary Road Tools, DVD’s, CD’s, gas grill & misc. Fri.-Sat., 8/23-8/24 9am-3pm 5732 Martin Road Munsel Lake Rd. to Nordahl, Nordahl to Stop sign, left on Martin Rd. Kitchenware, dishes, his/her bikes, 5’ safe, solid oak 5’ desk w/attached oak computer desk, tools, yarn, knitting/ crochet books, crab cookers, Christmas items, clothes. Sat.-Sun. 9am-2pm 5573 Woahink Dr. (off Huckleberry) Dunes City Automotive Shop, Construction/ Woodworking equipment giant sale. Many home, tools & outdoor items. Oregon Coast Humane Society relies heavily on volunteers. There 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 Thrift Shop on Bay Street. www.oregoncoasthumanesociety.org/volunteer/ Peace Harbor Volunteers Join the Peace Harbor Hospital Volunteers, you will find an area of interest in a caring organization. 400 9th Street, Florence 541-997-8412 ext. 2218 Us Too Florence Saving men one PSA test at a time. “Someone to talk to...who understands!” 541-997-6626 maribob@oregonfast.net www.ustooflorence.org To include your organization in this directory, please call us @ 541-997-3441 (Editor’s Note: In the next few editions of the Siuslaw News, we will be providing a more in-depth examination of the policy suggestions, fu- ture planning and other im- portant discussions that took place at this year’s Coastal Caucus that could directly affect our local community. These pieces will focus on education, increased funding needs for port and infrastruc- ture improvements, ways to increase the building of af- fordable housing for coastal communities and the upcom- ing change in pharmaceutical prices.) FRAA ART CENTER 120 Maple Street Phone: 541-997-4435 Hours Open: Mon 10am-2pm, Wed-Fri 11am-5pm, Sat 10am-5pm, Sun. 11am-5pm Memory Care Respite of Florence Come join the team! Memory Care Respite of Florence is looking for new volunteers to spend time socializing, playing games, listening to music, and having coffee and lunch with our participating senior citizens. Our program depends on volunteer power to stay afloat and time is running out! If you’re at all interested in socializing and relaxing with seniors while their loved one takes a break, please email us for more information. We need more volunteers like YOU to keep our program going. Contact us at memcarerespite@gmail.com reported by DeFazio regarding the recent loss of funding for the U.S. Coast Guard during January’s partial government shutdown. As an official Coast Guard City, residents of Flor- ence realized the difficulties being experienced by service members of Station Siuslaw River and collected nearly $50,000 in donations for un- paid Coast Guard members. DeFazio has attempted to transfer responsibility for paying Coast Guard mem- bers from Homeland Security, which is unfunded during a shutdown, to a military-based payment entity with no posi- tive results. DeFazio was clear that some members of the House do not realize the importance of the Coast Guard to communities on the Oregon Coast. “There are some people that haven’t served in this re- gion who don’t realize that our waters aren’t survivable for any length of time year- round because of how cold they are. … The Pacific is way different than the Atlantic, so I have been very protective of the fastest response possible,” DeFazio said. “We passed a good Coast Guard bill out of my committee, it actually in- creases funding for the Coast Guard, which is chronically underfunded, and the Coast Guard actually intercepts more (illegal) drugs than ev- ery other agency of the federal government and all other state agencies combined.” Perhaps the most upbeat comments of the two-day summit were made by Wyden as he continued pressing the idea that working together was possible. He suggested a role model for those in Wash- ington to look towards. “If I were to give you my top priority, it would be to take some of the Coastal Caucus sentiment for collab- oration and bipartisanship to the nation’s capital,” he said. “I think it is a wonderful mes- sage you all are sending and I am going to try and take it back to Washington.” Classes, Workshops & Events NEW! Express Yourself in Acrylic with Mike Wood 4 week class on Sundays, September 15, 22, 29 and October 6, 1 pm - 4 pm Mike will guide you through your masterpiece. Material list is available and supplies can be purchased at BeauxArts. Pre-registration req’d at FRAA. Painting with John Leasure Saturdays 9 am - 12 pm No painting experience required. Contact: jnleasure@hotmail.com or 541-991-2754 for details and fees. FRAA Art Supplies Garage Sale Friday, September 13th, 11 am - 5 pm In conjunction with the City Wide Garage Sale, FRAA will join in the fun selling art supplies. Please come browse through the offerings and maybe pick up something new to try! FRAA Artists on Display at the Chamber of Commerce in September Stop in and enjoy our show of “Coastal Critters” throughout the month of September. BRAND NEW CLASS and DATE! Writers on the River - Creative Writing Workshop w/ Catherine Rourke Writers’ Summer Boot Camp: Simple Steps for Better Writing Learn tips from the Amazon pros Sat., September 21, 2019 10 am - 12 noon All writing levels and genres, Contact: CJReditor@gmail.com , 541-708-2120 Big Wave Poetry 1st Tuesday Open Mic Tuesday, September 3, 2019 at 7:00 pm Admission is free and refreshments will be available. Poetry Workshop Small group meeting of poets to enhance their written word. Last Tuesday of each month, 6:30-8:30 pm Write fraaoregon@gmail.com if you are interested in joining. Writers Workshop Writers discuss their current works and get inputs from other writers. 2nd Tuesday, Monthly, 1-4 pm Write fraaoregon@gmail.com for more details.
