AT THE SI D\ P +LJKZ WUKXQWHUFR ZZZ ͕ ƐĂ ƚ sŝƐ ŝƚƵ $3 U 4 S . L 9 AW 9 NEWS ͘͘͘ AVAIL A ͘͘͘ƚŽ ĚŝƐĐ ŚŽ ŽǀĞƌ ŵĞ ǀ ŝŶƚĞ ŝŶƚĂ ƌŝŽ ŐĞĐů ƌƐ͕Ă Žƚ ŶĚ ŚŝŶŐ ĐŽ ͕Ă ŽŬ ŶƟ ŝĞƐ͊ ƋƵ ĞƐ RS EA NOW BLE ibrary.or iuslawL www.S 97-31 32 541-9 AT I N G 1 30 Y OLY -OP E C N E R O FL OUT CHECK S.) (WE EVEN GAME BOARD g E BR 2020 SATURDAY EDITION | MAY 2, 2020 | $1.00 rd aboa g Climb readin ad! the real railro CEL SN S SIU THESIUSLAWNEWS.COM W 1890 AW NE L S T IPS Quality Custom TO STAY HEALTHY Framing es Fram ence of Flor • Mirrors s • Needlework • Watercolors Shadowboxe • Photography Oils 43 97-20 G 541-9 101, Suite Hwy. WHILE STAYING HOME 2285 OR 97439 Florence, I NSIDE — A7 Siuslaw News NEWS & VIEWS THAT DEFINE OUR COMMUNITY VOL. 130, NO. 35 F LORENCE , O REGON WEATHER Caravan of care Rain all day with a high of 55 and a low tonight of 44. Full forecast on A3 M COMMUNITY apleton School District Superintendent Jodi O’Mara. Stories & Photos held a “We Miss You Cars with phrases such as “Hang By Jared Anderson Caravan” Thursday after- in there” and “We honor the class Siuslaw News noon, as teachers, administrators of 2020” followed the bus as it and staff decorated a school bus wound its way through the upriv- with pom poms and well wishes. er communities, passing through “The caravan gave us a way to say ‘hi’ to our Swisshome, Deadwood and Brickerville. families and our students and let them know we “We had such a great time getting out into the missed them. Although I’m not sure if the stu- community, saying hi to our families, and letting dents enjoyed it more or the staff,” said Mapleton them know we are still here,” O’Mara said. ‘The coast has been relatively unscathed…’ County, Peace Harbor look at current state of COVID-19 and the Siuslaw Region By Jared Anderson Siuslaw News On April 28 on his public Face- book page, Western Lane County Commissioner Jay Bozievich post- ed, “25 of 36 counties have had zero deaths. The two deaths and 48 of 50 cases in Lane County were in the Eugene-Springfield metro area. Just two cases were located outside in the rest of Lane County and therefore the chances are that zero cases were ‘confirmed’ in coastal Lane County but testing is so limited that there are probably unconfirmed cases all over. It does seem that the coast has been relatively unscathed and that reopening should begin as the damage to people from the closure is now starting to outweigh the dam- age from the virus.” Oregon has lost 360,000 jobs due to the pandemic, equaling 18 percent of all jobs in the state. The state predicts massive losses in tax revenue that will affect the state long-term, while nationally there are signs the U.S. has already en- tered into a recession. Locally, the shutdown has already cut deep as businesses have shuttered and major local economic events, such as the 113th Rhododendron Festival, have been cancelled. However, the commissioner did not recommend reopening without restrictions. “It should be done thoughtfully, like allowing campgrounds to host fully contained RV campers but not tent and car campers that need to share bathroom facilities,” Boziev- ich wrote. “Maybe allowing a rural single-chair hair salon to re-open with precautions like both staff and customers wearing masks and san- itizing the station, equipment and hands between customers.” Finally, he stressed that local input on reopening is crucial. “I think maximizing local con- trol of the reopening is important as each locality understands their community’s risks better than high- er levels of government,” the post said. “I also believe business owners and their customers can be the best judges of personal risk.” The importance of getting the community behind reopening is crucial to the health of businesses that take the financial risk of reopen- ing; they could face the possibility of reclosing if clientele do not feel safe enough despite easing restrictions. Port tears down blue barns INSIDE — A3 LIFESTYLE Farmers Market prepares to reopen INSIDE — B See COAST page 6A RECORDS Utility outage, United Way of Lane County’s COVID fund benefits repair info remains community organizations, four local groups By Mark Brennan The organization, in addition to ing those most financially at-risk unconfirmed by Siuslaw News the hundreds of thousands of dol- due to the pandemic. lars already distributed this year, United Way of Lane County an- CenturyLink The widespread nature of the has recognized the unprecedented nounced at the end of April it had By Mark Brennan Siuslaw News level of need at this time and estab- lished the United Way COVID- 19 Community Response Fund. Noreen Dunnells, president and CEO of United Way of Lane Coun- ty, said that the scale and scope of the pandemic required quick ac- tion. “Several weeks ago, as the pan- demic expanded to our area, Unit- ed Way of Lane County developed a survey for nonprofit health and human service agencies in the county to hear about their imme- diate needs and concern,” Dunnells wrote in an email to Siuslaw News. “Simultaneously, we established the COVID-19 response fund and hosted weekly virtual meetings for continuous communication to learn about emerging needs.” The fund was established with the specific goal of directly assist- distributed almost $100,000 from the newly established fund, with four Siuslaw area organizations chosen among those to receive these grants. “What we know is that basic needs of food, general rental assis- tance, technology equipment for communication, and general fi- nancial assistance are the most per- vasive needs here in Lane County, as they are in other parts of the U.S.,” Dunnells said. “We also know that this pandemic has dispropor- tionately impacted people in pov- erty or those previously struggling to make ends meet, including im- migrant families and our unhoused communities.” Siuslaw Outreach Services (SOS), a primary emergency sup- port agency in the Florence area, See FUND page 5A 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 S IUSLAW N EWS 2 S ECTIONS | 16 P AGES C OPYRIGHT 2020 Many Florence CenturyLink cus- tomers are experiencing an ongoing lack of services related to a major re- pair project on Maple Street. The out- age was first reported to the Siuslaw News on April 23, by a CenturyLink customer who continues to be im- pacted by the extended outage. Since then, several others have reached out looking for answers. “Mine has been out since Wednes- day (April 22). When I called in by cell to report the outage, and after going through voicemail hell to reach a real person, I was informed a repair guy would come by Thursday and would call my cell before arriving,” said Florence resident Larry Bacon. “No call, no repair guy.” See UTILITY page 5A novel coronavirus COVID-10 has closed businesses of all types across America, throwing the lives of families from every walk of life into turmoil. More Americans are out of work now than at any time since the Great Depression of the 1930s, when 25 percent of the work force was idle. As a result, the inability to provide for basic necessities has had repercussions for not only families and individ- uals, but for organizations depen- dent on the financial support of the community to provide needed services. Fortunately for many of these groups, which are often organized as nonprofits, there is monetary support available from one of the region’s most effective philanthrop- ic organizations, the United Way of Lane County. Obituaries & emergency response logs Inside — A2 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