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WEDNESDAY EDITION | AUGUST 28, 2019 | $1.00
Postal Customer
Florence, Ore. 97439
See pagE a12 for
game schedule
Y ACHATS L ADIES S ERVE P IE
I NSIDE — A11
Siuslaw News
VOL. 129, NO. 69
Mapleton’s new
teachers seek to
create educational
building blocks
NEWS &
VIEWS THAT
DEFINE OUR
COMMUNITY
F LORENCE , O REGON
WEATHER
By Jared Anderson
Siuslaw News
M
apleton School District is
welcoming six new educa-
tors for the 2019-2020 school year
in a variety of new positions, in-
cluding staff for the district’s new
preschool and a new school coun-
selor.
Sunny with some
clouds with a high of
70 and a low of 58.
Full forecast on A3
COMMUNITY
Preschool teacher Amber Tuck-
er is in the process of preparing the
area’s first community preschool
program, which will offer a full-
day program meant to serve all
children form the Mapleton com-
munity, age 36 months to school
JARED ANDERSON/SIUSLAW NEWS
Mapleton’s new staff for the 2019-20 school year includes Amber
age.
Tucker, Dana Silvani, Nathan Westerby, Brittany Anderson,
See MAPLETON page 7A Natalie Ross and Rachel Claric.
Show goes on for Florence Playhouse Student success
Literary Salon joins
2nd Saturday Gallery
Tour in September
INSIDE — A5
SPORTS
Editor’s Note: Florence Play-
house, 208 Laurel St., has a long
and varied history. From its
inception as an Assemblies of God
Church, to the transition to retail
space and onward to its current
iteration as a venue for plays and
events, this iconic building has
touched many lives in Florence
and the surrounding areas.
at heart of new
education act
A chronicle of the
historic building
in Old Town
Florence
Coastal Caucus
discusses education
plans, options at
last week’s summit
By Donna Mathews
Special to the Siuslaw News
I
Florence Softball
Association wraps up
summer season
INSIDE — SPORTS
RECORDS
Obituaries &
emergency
response logs
Inside — A2 & A3
KID SCOOP
Activities and
comics every
Wednesday
Inside — B5
CLASSIFIEDS
Listings and public
notices
Inside — B6
magine being a boy growing
up in the middle of New York
City before the start of World
War II, where Irish-Catholics re-
settled together in and around
the Harlem neighborhood and
mostly attended Ascension Cath-
olic School. These hard-working
immigrants were struggling to get
ahead and everyone pitched in.
Among them was John Fla-
herty, who as a youngster contrib-
uted by working as a news boy. He
would carry stacks of newspapers
over his shoulder throughout his
assigned territory of 42nd Street
from Seventh to Eighth Avenues
— the heart of New York City’s
legendary Theatre District.
It was here in the midst of this
world of lights, glamour and en-
tertainment that the young Fla-
herty was moved and inspired to
one day be a part of it all. Because
pursuing a career in this world
was not supported by his fami-
ly and the community in which
he lived, he would have to wait
and take some detours before he
dared to make the move.
Earlier, on the West Coast,
Henry Rose was born in Wash-
By Mark Brennan
Siuslaw News
Highway 126.
The subject matter chosen for
the large colorful mural, and the
methodology used to select and
pay for the piece, have been a
source of contention for many in
the community as well as on the
city council, particularly in the fi-
nal months leading up to the mu-
ral’s installation.
As the new school year ap-
proaches, a major change to the
manner in which Oregon school
districts will be funded in 2020,
and beyond, has been signed into
law.
On Aug. 26, Oregon Gov. Kate
Brown symbolically signed The
Student Success Act, House Bill
3427, at Medford High School.
The new law is expected to add $1
billion of revenue, each year, to the
pool of money distributed by the
Oregon Department of Education
to school districts statewide for
teaching K-12 students.
In her remarks at the signing
Brown emphasized the broad-
based goals of the act and her hope
of its impact in the future.
“Giving our children the oppor-
tunity to thrive is at the core of the
Student Success Act,” said Brown.
“I want to make sure that every
single student is empowered and
able to overcome any challenge
and dream big for themselves and
their community. These targeted
investments will ensure that all our
kids can graduate high school with
a plan for their future and the tools
to compete in a global economy.”
The Oregon Coastal Caucus
Economic Summit (OCCES) high-
lighted the act during an education
panel discussion at the conference,
held Aug. 21 and 22 at the Florence
Events Center and Three Rivers
Casino Resort.
The importance of K-12 edu-
cation, and the ways in which the
Student Success Act will add to the
well-being of future generations
of Oregonians, was discussed in-
depth at an OCCES workshop,
See PAC page 9A
See ACT page 9A
CHANTELLE MEYER/SIUSLAW NEWS
COURTESY IMAGE
Florence Playhouse, at the
corner of First and Laurel
streets in Historic Old Town
Florence, returns to en-
tertainment in September
with It’s About Time Pro-
ductions’ “The Red Velvet
Cake War.”
ington state in 1911. Two years sued employment as a saw filer
later, his parents filed a home- and trapper.
stead claim on Beaver Creek near
Mapleton, where his father pur-
See PLAYHOUSE page 8A
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Public Art Committee meets for rewrite of mission
New rules will determine future of Florence committee
By Mark Brennan
Siuslaw News
S IUSLAW N EWS
2 S ECTIONS | 18 P AGES
C OPYRIGHT 2019
The City of Florence Public Art
Committee (PAC) met at Florence
City Hall Monday morning to con-
tinue working on a new set of by-
laws and guidelines under which
the committee, if allowed to contin-
ue, will operate.
The committee has been tasked
to rewrite the rules governing its
operations in the face of repeated at-
tempts by Florence Mayor Joe Hen-
ry, along with other members of the
Florence City Council, to limit — or
completely eliminate — PAC.
The PAC created a communi-
ty-wide controversy last year with
the approval, and subsequent in-
stallation, of a mural on two exte-
rior walls of the Central Lincoln
Public Utility District building on
the corner of Quince Street and
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