Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (June 24, 2020)
e n of th d editio an 27th card e June your bingo ay. th June pick up up the 27th edition of the r pl fo pick to s how card and w New for on bingo Siuslaw your NERS! Siusla News ctions instru instructions on how to EE play. KLY WIN PR ESS SIU H W ES WIT WIN FUN PRIZES N PRIZ WITH WEEKLY WINNERS! WIN FU Pick up Saturday’s edition of the Siuslaw News to get your BINGO card. Win Fun Prizes with Weekly Winners and a $100 Grand Prize! R OG AT I N G 1 30 Y Florence FOODIES BINGO Siuslaw School District discusses possible plans for reopening By Jared Anderson Siuslaw News NEWS & VIEWS THAT DEFINE OUR COMMUNITY VOL. 130, NO. 50 F LORENCE , O REGON WEATHER Camp Florence learns ‘heavy metal’ x x COMMUNITY C O M PHOTOS BY MARK BRENNAN/SIUSLAW NEWS (From left) Kyle Wrigglesworth, Dylan Weich- brodt and Edson Cruz, students from Camp Flor- ence, are finishing a new course in heavy machinery operations by practicing maneuvers on this Caterpil- lar 312E Hydraulic Excavator. The young men are working with City of Florence, local educators and the technical training firm Baker Technical Institute to provide real world training in skills that are in demand. T he young men spending time at the Camp Florence Youth Transitional Facility, located on South Jetty Road, are in the area By Mark Brennan as part of a compre- Siuslaw News hensive program designed to improve their life skills and return them to the world and workforce better prepared to suc- ceed. Camp Florence is run by the Ore- gon Youth Authority, (OYA), which oversees nine facilities in the state, “providing both secure and tran- sitional environments that ensure public safety and provide account- ability and reformation opportuni- ties to youth who represent an unac- ceptable risk in the community.” Most of the youth on site in Flor- ence have been sent here as an al- ternative to more traditional incar- ceration. Their offenses are usually of a juvenile nature, but not always. The youth are assigned a personal counselor and, in most cases, an additional coordinator will monitor the overall progress made during their time at camp. The focus of much of the work done by Camp Florence staff and residents is on preparing them for future meaningful employment and teaching them the requisite skills in a chosen field. One of the careers that some of the young men are currently learning is heavy equipment operation — a skill that is in high demand and pays well. The training to eventually be- come a certified Heavy Equipment Operator is being provided by Bak- er Technical Institute (BTI), based in Baker City, Ore., in conjunction with OYA and local schools. BTI Program Coordinator San- dy Mitchell said, “BTI is pleased to be partnering with Multnomah Educational Services District and OYA to provide heavy equipment operator training for its students in Florence.” In April, BTI provided approx- imately 80 hours of introductory operator training at the Florence youth facility using its virtual reali- ty CAT simulators. See TRAINING page 6A Coast Guard teams up with City of Florence holds special meeting to Christmas in June Program distributes $46,000 to community consider grant members impacted by COVID-19 By Mark Brennan Siuslaw News The new community support ef- fort known as “Christmas in June” has distributed more than $46,000 to nearly 100 residents of Florence. The program was the brainchild of retir- ee Sam Spayd, a pilot and local vet- erans advocate who was concerned with the negative financial impact of COVID-19 closings and lay-offs, which had hurt many residents of Florence. Spayd started out with $10,000 and has enlisted a small group of volunteers to staff donation kettles at local stores. Money is now being distributed in the form of a grant through the local program, with no repayment required. “Our goal is to help more than 100 people,” said Spayd. “Criteria for receiving funds is that a recipient must prove Florence residency and must have lost their job as a result of COVID-19.” There is an interview process to qualify for a grant, with those who qualify receiving a check for $500 on the spot. Their only “repayment” re- quirement is volunteering to ring the bell for 10 hours. Spayd and his volunteers have worked two-hour shifts six days a week, between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. at Florence collection locations since June 1. “That’s a total of 40 hours a day of volunteer time, or almost 750 hours so far — and we have about a week to go,” said Spayd. “Today (June 24), the men and women from Coast Guard Station Siuslaw River will man the locations all day. They want to repay the citizens of Florence who helped them with food and finances See TEAM UP page 9A >ĞĂƌŶŚŽǁƚŽĮŶĚƚŚĞďĞƐƚDĞĚŝĐĂƌĞƉůĂŶĨŽƌLJŽƵ͘ x Afternoon A Af t te e r n sun with a h high ig gh o of 68 and a low tonight of 53. to on Full F u ll f forecast on A3 'ĂŝŶ ĂŶƵŶĚĞƌƐƚĂŶĚŝŶŐŽĨŚŽǁDĞĚŝĐĂƌĞǁŽƌŬƐ͘ Learn ƚŚĞĚŝīĞƌĞŶĐĞďĞƚǁĞĞŶDĞĚŝĐĂƌĞĚǀĂŶƚĂŐĞĂŶĚDĞĚŝĐĂƌĞ^ƵƉƉůĞŵĞŶƚƉůĂŶƐ͘ ŝƐĐŽǀĞƌŚŽǁDĞĚŝĐĂƌĞWƌĞƐĐƌŝƉƟŽŶƌƵŐWůĂŶƐǁŽƌŬ͘ Business Oregon grant would facilitate training through LCC Celebrating a Marine’s birthday INSIDE — A3 LIFESTYLE Art at the Port of Siuslaw INSIDE — B RECORDS Obituaries & response logs Inside — A2 NEW: TV GUIDE Inside — B3-B4 KIDS CORNER Activities for kids Inside — B5 CLASSIFIEDS Listings and notices Inside — B6 By Mark Brennan Siuslaw News Florence City Council held two special meetings Monday eve- ning, primarily to consider the approval of Resolution No. 17, Series 2020, which authorized staff to apply for a Community Development Block Grant from Business Oregon in the amount of $50,000. The grant opportunity is for COVID-19 related assistance and is offered to municipalities by Business Oregon, which has $1,750,000 earmarked for commu- nities impacted by the pandemic. See GRANT page 7A 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 | 18 P AGES C OPYRIGHT 2020 During last week’s Siuslaw School District board meet- ing, administrators and board members discussed a range of possibilities regarding reopen- ing Siuslaw schools and giving insight into what schedules and school life could look like when classes begin in the fall. The discussion came days after the Oregon Department of Education (ODE), Oregon Health Authority (OHA) and other state agencies released requirements for reopening. Rules include six feet of physical distance between students at all times, daily health screenings and putting students into small cohorts to help prevent the spread of the disease. Schools are given three options to reopening: onsite, with all students back; hybrid, with some time on campus and some time offsite; and complete distance learning. “Full opening is our prefera- ble option, but with the way the current health regulations sit, this is probably unlikely,” said District Superintendent Andrew Grzeskowiak. “It would require more space than we have.” He stated that full distance learning was not preferable, as See SIUSLAW page 8A I NSIDE — A5 Siuslaw News Lane County Public Health to conduct free COVID-19 testing in the Siuslaw region Beginning on Saturday, June 27, Lane County Public Health (LCPH) will host three separate free testing options for people who want to be tested for the novel coronavirus COVID-19. The first opportunity for test- ing will be this Saturday, June 27, in Mapleton from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. LCPH will conduct testing at Mapleton Food Share, 10718 Highway 126 and testing is open to public. The second free testing for community members is also on June 27 and is reserved for peo- ple in the Latinx community. It will run from 2 to 4 p.m. at Florence First Baptist Church, 1935 25th St. The test is for Latinx people with or without COVID-19 symptoms. Bi-lin- gual staff will be available. See TESTING page 6A PR E EA RS G O B I I N N G O ESS P R RESS B R OG PR O • JUNE RESTAURANT BINGO • JUNE 27-JULY 31, 2020 NT BING RA RESTAU It’s Coming! RESS • 20 Y 31, 20 27-JUL OG 2020 DIES • FOO FOODIES e c • Florence • n e Flor OG S CEL SN BR WEDNESDAY EDITION | JUNE 24, 2020 | $1.00 THESIUSLAWNEWS.COM W 1890 AW NE L S ,ĞůƉŝŶŐKƌĞŐŽŶŝĂŶƐ^ŝŶĐĞϭϵϵϲ ϭϵϯϮWŝŶĞ^ƚ^ƵŝƚĞ-ϲ &ůŽƌĞŶĐĞ͕KZ͘ϵϳϰϯϵ ĂŶĂĂŶĞ/ŶƐƵƌĂŶĐĞŝƐŶŽƚĐŽŶŶĞĐƚĞĚǁŝƚŚŽƌĞŶĚŽƌƐĞĚďLJƚŚĞhŶŝƚĞĚ^ƚĂƚĞƐŐŽǀĞƌŶŵĞŶƚŽƌƚŚĞĨĞĚĞƌĂůDĞĚŝĐĂƌĞƉƌŽŐƌĂŵ͘