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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 23, 2019)
SN THESIUSLAWNEWS.COM TH Siuslaw News VOL. 129, NO. 94 NEWS & VIEWS THAT DEFINE OUR COMMUNITY F LORENCE , O REGON WEATHER A NNUAL F ESTIVAL T REES ( A 6 ) City of Florence, RAIN celebrate success of entreprenurial program By Chantelle Meyer Siuslaw News (Editor’s Note: In the interest of full dis- closure, Siuslaw News was invited to partic- ipate in the panel portion of the Entrepre- neurial Activation Event reported on in this story.) O Partly cloudy with a high of 54 and a low tonight of 41. Full forecast on A3 OF SATURDAY EDITION | NOVEMBER 23, 2019 | $1.00 n Nov. 14, Oregon Regional Ac- celerator and Innovation Network (RAIN) held the Florence Entre- preneurial Activation Event at City Lights Cinemas. The event included speeches by Florence and RAIN representatives, an eight-person panel, updates from some of the area’s successful entrepreneurs and business pitches by brave residents. Florence City Manager Erin Reynolds summarized the City of Florence’s relation- ship with RAIN, which began four years ago and continues with additional city and grant funding. “We’ve been able to increase the num- ber of startups and living-wage jobs, and increased the level of awareness of the im- portance of entrepreneurs and innovators in our economic development strategy,” See PHOTO BY MITRA F. DUNN FOR OREGON RAIN RAIN 8A Panelists from Florence’s entrepreneurial ecosystem discuss their roles in local small business and the growing movement towards economic development. Algae levels still high in DC area lakes COMMUNITY New free app provides users with current algae level readings. Local Coast Guard holds inspection. INSIDE — A3 SPORTS Lady Viks basketball gets new coach. INSIDE — SPORTS MARK BRENNAN/SIUSLAW NEWS Harlen Springer, chair of the Public Art Committee, will join the board of the Oregon Art Commission. RECORDS Obituaries & Police logs Inside — A2 PAC C HAIR APPOINTED TO OAC BY G OVERNOR The upside to the tumult was a broader discussion on the subject of public art. The passion and divergent opinions shared by the dozens that went to Florence City Council meetings to speak, as well as those who attended the mural’s dedication ceremony, was a testa- ment to the power of art. As a result, the subject of public art remains high on the communi- B Y M ARK B RENNAN Siuslaw News SIDE SHOW Activities and comics every Saturday Inside — B4 CLASSIFIEDS Listings and public notices Inside — B5 FOLLOW US FOR THE LATEST NEWS : Art has been a topic of consid- erable interest to residents of Florence during this past year. The installation of a large mural on the corner of Highway 126 and Highway 101 caused an uproar that prompted public meetings and a city council confrontation. See ART 10A New recruits recognized at joint SVFR/WLAD meeting /S IUSLAW N EWS By Jared Anderson Siuslaw News @S IUSLAW N EWS T HE S IUSLAW N EWS . COM ty’s radar. The recently completed rewrite of the Florence Public Art Committee’s (PAC) workplan took considerable time and required several meetings and public forums before finalization and approval. One of the individuals at the center of the heightened interest in S IUSLAW N EWS 2 S ECTIONS | 18 P AGES C OPYRIGHT 2019 Four new volunteer firefighters received their badges during Thurs- day’s meeting of the Western Lane Fire and EMS Authority (WLFEA), Siuslaw Valley Fire and Rescue (SVFR) and Western Lane Ambu- lance District (WLAD), while the re- spective boards also heard progress on the regions two mobile health programs. “Today we have four individuals BRAND NEW CONST. who are going to graduate from the Fire Academy,” SVFR Recruitment and Retention Coordinator Pete Warren said in the ceremony intro- duction. “It was one of the most dif- ficult academies I’ve seen since I’ve been here, which is almost 13 years. And they all prevailed and made it through, so I think a round of ap- plause would be deserved.” Three of the volunteer firefighters will be serving with SVFR, including Andrew Jeffords, William Jones and Naomi Warren. The fourth graduate, MOVE-IN READY Jim Yeo, is serving the Deadwood/ Swisshome district. The Autumn Firefighter 1 Acade- my was smaller than normal, accord- ing to Warren; “However, numbers only count after seeing who’s still on the roster after one year. It’s not uncommon to lose half of those who graduated, after a year. We’re think- ing we have a small group who’ll stick it out and help their departments for many years.” 3 CAR GARAGE See SVFR 7A The Environmental Pro- tection Agency (EPA) CYAN mobile app is now available to Android owners, showing cy- anobacteria (blue green algae) counts on the surface of lakes. The app is available in the Google Play Store un- der CYAN EPA and is free to download. Once it has down- loaded, users can find a lake on the map and click on it. The app will then provide a blue green algae reading. Florence and Dunes City area residents are advised that, according to the app, the cur- rent reading is 346,736 cells per milliliter. Any reading over 100,000 is considered a concern when a whole column (from surface to lake floor) is considered. The number, however, ap- pears to have come down from 1,423,372 on Nov. 8. “I do not have any idea as to accuracy of the informa- tion contained in this app, but this is more than we have had available to us in the past,” said Jamie Mills, City Recorder for Dunes City, in an email state- ment. “Please make sure your septic systems are operating correctly and do not allow any silt or mud to enter the lake. Both of these actions have been shown to increase blue green algae growth.” Mills explained that it is suspected that decomposition of plant materials are also a cause. “We know for a fact that high water temperatures are a factor,” said Mills. “The fact that water levels are so low mean water temperatures are higher. We need rain and cool- er temperatures. 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