Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (April 22, 2020)
E BR YOUR #1 LOCAL YARD, GARDEN, AND LANDSCAPE EXPERTS! WE’RE GLAD TO GET YOU GROWING! 31 st Anniversary RS 2020 WEDNESDAY EDITION | APRIL 22, 2020 | $1.00 EA CEL SN S SIU THESIUSLAWNEWS.COM W 1890 AW NE L S AT I N G 1 30 Y 88493 Hwy. 101 Florence Open 7 days a week Senior Discount Every Tuesday 997-5973 S PECIAL S ECTION I NSIDE Friday Night Lights Mapleton High School football stadium lights up each week for Class of 2020 Siuslaw News NEWS & VIEWS THAT DEFINE OUR COMMUNITY VOL. 130, NO. 32 F LORENCE , O REGON WEATHER Rain and wind with a high of 54 and a low tonight of 46. Full forecast on A3 COMMUNITY Story & Photo By Jared Anderson Siuslaw News O n Friday Night, Mapleton School District Superinten- dent Jodi O’Mara stood on the empty football field at Mapleton High School. With the help of Ath- letic Director Carrie Dean, teacher Molly Dooley and board member Marilyn Fox, O’Mara honored the Class of 2020 by turning on all of the football field lights. “Mapleton School District is honoring the 2020 seniors by light- ing up our football stadium as part of the ‘Be the Light’ campaign,” she Highway 36 car accident claims life of Florence woman seniors the best as they venture out into the world.” O’Mara then read a list of this year’s 10 graduating se- niors: Malana Celeste Dollman, Trinity Elizabeth Holmes, Quinn Hartman Lewis, Nathaniel Keith Neece, Bradley Hayz Opperud, Na t h a n Ad a m R o a n e , D y l a n Andrew Rogers, Theryn Dragon- reign Schwertfeger, Cody Michael Soverns and Justyce James Wierichs. “This is also Mapleton’s way of Gov. Brown’s ‘stay home’ measures reach one month tion among residents remains relatively low, the reopening will take time. On March 23, Oregon Gov. Kate “Now, as we see these efforts Brown issued Executive Order 20- are working to ‘flatten the curve,’ 12, “Stay Home, Save Lives.” At a we are analyzing how and when press conference last week, Brown to reopen each part of our society said there is no immediate end and our economy,” Brown said. to the order, and she could not “I want to work collaboratively provide a firm date for lifting the with Oregonians to do that, but social and economic restrictions we have to be careful. We all want currently in place. to get back to work and get back On the advice of the Ore- to normal as quickly as possible. gon Health But the truth Aut h or it y is, the best “We all want to get back to (OHA) in path forward work and get back to normal response to is a cau- as quickly as possible, but the tious one. the spread of C OVID-19 truth is, the best path forward A path that in Wash- is a cautious one. A path that p r o c e e d s ington and g r a d u a l l y, proceeds gradually, incremen- incremental- California, Brown di- tally and carefully. A path that ly and care- relies on science and facts to rected Or- fully. A path egonians to determine each step forward.” that relies on stay at home science and — Oregon Gov. Kate Brown and to only facts to de- venture out- termine each side for “essential” trips or other step forward.” unavoidable reasons. Brown stressed that any chang- That order is now one month es to the current status would old, and Brown told the public need to be the result of an in- during last Tuesday’s press con- depth analysis of accurate, scien- ference that her administration tific data which demonstrates a has a plan to reopen the state’s reduction in Oregon’s rate of in- shuttered businesses — but that fection, along with a significantly even though the levels of infec- See GOVERNOR page 6A By Mark Brennan Siuslaw News letting our community members, families and kindergarten through 11th grade students know that we haven’t forgotten them,” O’Mara said. “We miss them and can’t wait to get back to school in the fall and see their bright and shining faces.” The gesture is not a replacement for graduation — an actual com- mencement ceremony is still being worked out by the district, depend- ing on what social distancing regu- lations look like in June. See SENIORS page 5A Florence celebrates Arbor Day INSIDE — A3 SPORTS Council adopts new meeting guidelines under COVID-19 Staying safe at the beach INSIDE — SPORTS City approves FEMA map updates RECORDS The Florence City Council con- ducted its second virtual council meeting since the implementation of Oregon Gov. By Mark Brennan Kate Brown’s Siuslaw News Executive Order 20-12, “Stay Home, Save Lives.” The order from Brown temporarily suspended large public gatherings, including many public meetings conducted by municipal governments and other entities. All councilors attended remote- ly to consider a short list of action items, two of which would alter or update Florence City Code in mean- ingful ways. The first resolution, Resolution No. 7, Series 2020, was presented to councilors by City Recorder Kelli Weese and was related to the proce- dures used at official Florence public meetings. Weese cited a recent Executive Order, No. 20- 16, issued on April 15, in which the governor highlight- ed the risk to public health of allow- ing in-person attendance at public meetings, therefore authorizing lo- cal governments to take necessary See MEETING page 6A Obituaries & response logs Inside — A2 NEW: TV GUIDE Inside — B3-B4 KIDS CORNER Activities for kids Inside — B5 CLASSIFIEDS Listings and notices Inside — B6 FOLLOW US FOR THE LATEST NEWS : /S IUSLAW N EWS @S IUSLAW N EWS T HE S IUSLAW N EWS . COM S IUSLAW N EWS 2 S ECTIONS | 16 P AGES C OPYRIGHT 2020 A fatal car accident occurred on a Mapleton highway Friday night that claimed the life of Tara Ross, By Jared Anderson 34, of Flor- ence. Siuslaw News The ac- cident oc- curred at approximately 5:35 p.m. on Highway 36 near milepost 1, just north of Mapleton, according to Oregon State Police (OSP). A preliminary investigation re- vealed that a 17-year-old from Florence was traveling westbound on the highway when it crossed into the eastbound lane and struck Ross’ car. Ross sustained fatal inju- ries and was pronounced deceased at the scene. Two juveniles who were in the vehicle, including Ross’s daughter, were transported to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The 17-year-old was transported to the hospital with minor injuries and was later released. No citation was given to the driv- er, and the cause of the accident is still under investigation. Ross’ cousin, Steph Alberts, has started a memorial GoFundMe. See ACCIDENT page 5A said, recording the sight for the school’s Facebook page. “We want our seniors to know we support them and acknowledge they are missing out on many rites of pas- sage for seniors.” Every Friday night until gradua- tion on June 6, the district will turn the lights on at 8:20 p.m. “The lights will remain on for 23 minutes — 13 minutes for each year the seniors have been in school plus 10 minutes for the number of seniors,” O’Mara said. “We wish our Celebrating 30 Years in Real Estate SIUSLAW NEWS READERS CHOICE WINNER Voted Best Realtor for 5 Years! JIM HOBERG Broker/Owner 1870 Hwy. 126, Suite A • PO Box 3040, Florence, OR
