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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 28, 2019)
SATURDAY EDITION | DECEMBER 28, 2019 | $1.00 LY OPO - E C N E R FLO ibrary.or iuslawL www.S 97-313 2 541-9 OUT CHECK S.) (WE EVEN GAME BOARD g rd aboa g Climb readin ad! the real railro Siuslaw News sŝƐ ŝƚƵ ƐĂ ƚ ͘͘͘ D\ P +LJKZ WUKXQWHUFR ZZZ AVAILABLE NOW see ad on page7A for details. ͘͘͘ƚŽ ĚŝƐĐ ŚŽ ŽǀĞƌ ŵĞ ǀ ŝŶƚĞ ŝŶƚĂ ƌŝŽ ŐĞĐů ƌƐ͕Ă Žƚ ŶĚ ŚŝŶŐ ĐŽ ͕Ă ŽŬ ŶƟ ŝĞƐ͊ ƋƵ ĞƐ͕ SN THESIUSLAWNEWS.COM TH C ALENDAR I NSIDE — A6 Framing es Fram ence Quality Custom of Flor • Mirrors s • Needlework • Watercolors Shadowboxe Photography Oils • 43 97-20 G 541-9 101, Suite Hwy. 2285 OR 97439 Florence, Postal Customer Florence, Ore. 97439 Comfort from the cold VOL. 129, NO. 104 NEWS & VIEWS THAT DEFINE OUR COMMUNITY F LORENCE , O REGON Emergency shelter offers two nights of service WEATHER By Jared Anderson Siuslaw News Mostly cloudy with a high of 50 and a low tonight of 43. Full forecast on A3 COMMUNITY Story & Photos By Mark Brennan Siuslaw News The most wonderful time of the year New art goes on display at OPB INSIDE — A3 SPORTS Viks land top spots INSIDE — SPORTS RECORDS Obituaries & emergency response logs Inside — A2 SIDE SHOW Activities and comics every Saturday Inside — B4 CLASSIFIEDS Listings and public notices Inside — B5 FOLLOW US FOR THE LATEST NEWS : /S IUSLAW N EWS @S IUSLAW N EWS T HE S IUSLAW N EWS . COM Florence Elks host annual free Christmas Dinner D ozens of members of Flor- ence Elks Lodge #1858 spent their Christmas Day cook- ing and preparing food for hundreds of their neighbors. Lodge members cooked the traditional fare of turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, yams, green beans and apple pie for the many families and individuals that have incorporated the free community meal into their holiday celebrations. Peggy Mason has been attending the Christmas dinner for the past six years and has come to regard some of the people she has met over the years at the Christmas dinner as friends. “Everyone here is really nice and the food is as good as any restau- rant,” she said. “I can bring my kids and my mom, who is handicapped, here and she gets to say hi to old friends and to some new friends she has made over the past few years. It also means I can spend a little extra money on presents for the kids and still have a really good Christmas dinner for my family.” Florence Elks Lodge offers the free Christmas Dinner annually, as well as hosting a free Christmas Party for area youth earlier in De- cember. “I really want to thank all of the people that help to make this such a special day for our community,” Mason said. MORE PHOTOS on page 10A The Florence Emergency Cold Weather Shelter opened its doors on Christmas Day for the first time. “They care about each other,” shelter board member Brenda Gilm- er said about the guests who came to the Presbyterian Church of the Siuslaw on Wednesday and Thurs- day nights. “Knowing that makes it worthwhile to open the shelter, apart from saving people’s lives.” Opening on Christmas and get- ting people inside was difficult for the shelter, as the Cold Weather Shelter’s normal modes of commu- nication were closed for the holiday. “We usually rely on organizations like SOS, Helping Hands, the library and other groups in town help us get the word out that we will be open,” said Pastor Greg Wood, president of the program. “But none of those groups were open on Christmas Day.” Because of that, only a handful of people showed up on the holiday. “My hope is that they found fellow homeless friends and celebrated it together,” Gilmer said. This year, the shelter opened its doors early so guests who were fin- ishing up dinner at the Florence Elks Lodge’s annual free Christmas dinner could have a place to stay, as almost everywhere else in town had closed. “In the afternoon, we relaxed while having coffee, cider and snacks,” Gilmer said. Volunteers provided a host of food, including a birthday cake to celebrate the birth of Christ. In addition, Gilmer brought a TV antenna so the guest could fill the evening with live sports and warm conversation. “Everybody stayed for dinner, and most of the evening,” Gilmer said. See SHELTER page 9A Single-use shopping bags banned in 2020 By Damien Sherwood For the Siuslaw News S IUSLAW N EWS 2 S ECTIONS | 18 P AGES C OPYRIGHT 2019 Starting Jan. 1, Oregon consum- ers will see the Sustainable Shop- ping Initiative take effect at the cash registers of their local retailers and restaurants. The initiative, House Bill 2509, passed in the 2019 Oregon legis- lative session and prohibits retail stores and restaurants from provid- ing single-use checkout bags while placing restrictions on other types. The legislation was passed in a bid to reduce Oregon’s single-use bags, particularly plastic bags which cause contamination in the recycling stream and add to the growing amount of plastic debris in the ocean. “Plastic pollution is one of the most pressing issues facing Ore- gon’s rivers, oceans and wildlife,” said State Director of Environment Oregon Celeste Meiffren-Swango in a statement in response to the bill’s passing in June. “Single-use plastics inevitably end up in our waterways and on our beaches and this pollution is damaging our eco- systems and endangering public health.” The house bill defines checkout bags under four categories: reusable dles, are designed to be used multi- ple times and made of cloth or oth- er machine-washable fabric. Recycled paper bags must be made of at least 40 percent post-consumer recycled fiber. Single-use includes bags made of paper, plastic and other material which do not meet the definition of “Single-use plastics inevitably end up in our water- ways and on our beaches, and this pollution is damag- ing our ecosystems and endangering public health.” — Celeste Meiffren-Swango, State Director of Environment Oregon plastic, reusable fabric, recycled pa- per and single-use. Reusable plastic bags are defined as having handles, are designed to be used multiple times and are made of a durable plastic which is at least 4 mils thick (the equivalent of .1016 millimeters). Reusable fabric bags have han- the other three. Certain exceptions to the provi- sions exist, such as bags designed to hold bulk items, specialty garment bags and bags sold in a package used for purposes of food storage, garbage or pet waste. Customers with a WIC (Wom- en, Infants and Children) voucher or electronic benefits transfer card may also be eligible to receive recy- cled paper and reusable plastic bags for free. Several Oregon cities like Ash- land, Portland, Corvallis and Eu- gene have already instituted their own plastic bans. In 2017, the American Chemistry Council reported U.S. plastics gen- eration at 35.4 million tons with a recycling rate of 8.4 percent. A 2015 published study by Science report- ed that more than 8 million tons of plastic is dumped into oceans each year worldwide. In November, Environment Or- egon released a report using data from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) stat- ing that Oregon has been generat- ing more waste and recycling less of it, with the exception of containers covered by the state’s bottle bill. See INITIATIVE page 9A DIVERSIFIED EQUIPMENT SALES :HKDYHH[SDQGHGRXU3DFLƓF0HWDO6WRUDJH%XLOGLQJV%HWWHU%XLOW%DUQVDQG6KHGV PRYLQJKHOSHUVVHUYLFHDQGPRYLQJHTXLSPHQWUHQWDOV,URQ(DJOHDQG3UHPLHU3OXV7UDLOHU 6DOHV:HRIIHU)8//5(3$,56(59,&(RQWUXFNDXWRGLHVHODQGJDVWUDQVPLVVLRQVWUDLOHU UHSDLUKLWFKHVZHOGLQJDQGHOHFWULFDOSOXVGHWDLOLQJ:HDUH2))(5,1*81%($7$%/(SULFHV SD\PHQWVDQGWHUPVRQ86('&$56$/(6WRPHHW\RXUEXGJHWRUVXLW\RXUQHHGVHVSHFLDOO\ IRU9(7(5$16DQG5(7,5((6&KHFNRXWRXUFRQVLJQPHQWVDOHVRQ59ōVDQG$XWRōV<RXōOOEH JODG\RXGLGa-LP-RKQVWRQ diversifi edmarineandequipmentsales.com Veteran Owned & Operated • Jim & Bonnie Johnston, Owners 2350 Hwy. 101, Florence • 541-997-4505
