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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 8, 2020)
2020 RS SIUSLAW NEWS: A LOOK B ACK AT 130 Y EARS EA SIU E AT I N G 1 3 S CEL SN BR SATURDAY EDITION | AUGUST 8, 2020 | $1.00 THESIUSLAWNEWS.COM W 1890 AW NE L S 0 Y INSIDE — A7 Siuslaw News Editorial: Learning from the mistakes that got us here W hat follows is a departure from what would traditionally be in this space above the fold. I’m referring to the decision to speak to you directly for the first time ever on the front page of this newspaper. We did not arrive at this decision lightly and realize there will be those who may criticize this as intentional- ly blurring the line between news and opinion — something I, too, have been critical of in re- gard to national broadcast journalism. Howev- er, though it is extremely rare for a newspaper to run a front-page editorial, it is not unprece- dented when the subject is deemed important enough. We feel this is one of those rare times. For the past year, the Siuslaw News has been examining the growing influence of politics and partisanship within our community — through social media, local activism, political groups, special interests and others — in order to under- stand how we have arrived where we are today as discussion was happening over a proposed outlet a community struggling with a political divide. mall at Highway 101 and Munsel Lake Road: “An atmosphere of civility prevailed at Mon- day Night’s city council meeting to consider alternative sites for a proposed outlet mall. Ned Hickson There was never any doubt about how either the councilors or more than 200 members of In addition, we deemed it equally important to the audience felt about the issue … which encom- examine ourselves, and the role we have played passes not just growth, but all the elements and as a newspaper in contributing to that growing emotion relating to community development. We partisanship and political divisions sown within as a community have been down this road before our community and its local government. To be during the bloodletting process to consider [a casi- sure, we have made mistakes. Despite our best no] in Florence. That process helped us prepare for intentions, we have struggled against a steep the current issue by reassuring us that community learning curve, trying to find equilibrium in a debate is healthy.” time of unprecedented political fracturing that That kind of “community debate” is a stark primarily began in 2017 and continues today. contrast to what we have been experiencing over In January 1997 in the Siuslaw News, then-edi- the past few years, and has become anything but tor Robert Serra wrote the following in an edito- “healthy.” rial about a Florence City Council meeting where See EDITORIAL page 5A NEWS & VIEWS THAT DEFINE OUR COMMUNITY From the Editor’s Desk OSAA rules on school sports for 2020-21 VOL. 130, NO. 63 F LORENCE , O REGON WEATHER Sunny and windy with a high of 69 and a low tonight of 50. Full forecast on A3 COMMUNITY Sports seasons shift under new schedule By Jared Anderson Siuslaw News Air Academy cautiously lifts off Participants in the Boys & Girls Clubs of Western Lane County’s 2020 Florence Air Academy keep physically dis- tant as they pose with Aero Legends’ Stearman Model 75 biplane at the Florence Municipal Airport this week. are being conducted under strin- gent guidelines which have been taken directly from the Oregon Health Authority, with additional input from Siuslaw School District. Trent has been in communi- cation with both groups and has gone to extreme lengths to protect the young people under his and Tomeny’s care. He also wanted to point out the need to continue social interac- tions that are essential to the devel- opment of all young people. “Since the beginning of this crisis, nonprofits that provide ‘out-of-school’ programming like Boys and Girls Clubs and YMCAs See FLIGHT page 6A Local woman gains back health INSIDE — B RECORDS Obituaries & emergency response logs Inside — A2 SIDE SHOW Activities and comics every Saturday Inside — B4 Summer music education in motion 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 Y L O P O - E On Sale C N E R (Local only. Out of area, please call for pricing.) ͘͘͘ Siuslaw News • 148 Maple Street • Old Town Florence or call 541-997-3441 each ͕ Only $12.62 24. 99 Ăƚ Summer Fun for the whole family! $ ŝƚƵ Ɛ Modeled after the world famous board game, Florence-Opoly is customized to our great city. Now off ering shipping sŝƐ FLO D\ P +LJKZ WUKXQWHUFR ZZZ Wood and Moore both have exten- Florence around 10 years ago from sive backgrounds in both music and Southern California — music education. Wood moved to See MUSIC page 5A ibrary.or iuslawL www.S 97-313 2 541-9 Florence musicians and educators Jason Wood and Sheena Moore as seen via webcam during lesson one of their online summer music and performance camp “Music in Motion.” OUT CHECK S.) (WE EVEN GAME BOARD g PHOTO COURTESY OF SHEENA MOORE S IUSLAW N EWS 2 S ECTIONS | 16 P AGES C OPYRIGHT 2020 It’s been a summer unlike any seen before. Due to concerns surrounding COVID-19, many typical activities and summer recreation opportu- nities have all but disappeared in order to ensure community safety. Children in particular have had little chance to safely recreate and engage with their peers, leading to a season of relative inactivity and isolation. On Monday, Aug. 3, Flor- ence-based musicians Jason Wood and Sheena Moore began trying to change that as their “Music in Mo- tion” online summer camp kicked off its inaugural year. “Music in Motion” is a camp geared towards children age 5-8, running from Aug. 3-27, that pro- vides campers with a weekly in- structional video every Monday, followed by an online group session every Thursday where Wood and Moore can interact with the chil- dren, see what they’ve learned and give them a forum to interact with one another. The focus of the camp is on the relationship between music and the body, performance, and a basic understanding of things like beat, rhythm, pitch and general musical literacy. “We do hope that they walk away with base knowledge of concepts like pulse and how to tell a story with their body,” Moore said, “but we also hope that they walk away with this sparked interest in learning more. Music is a rabbit hole and it’s a really wonderful rabbit hole.” Based out of Florence, Ore., rd aboa g Climb readin ad! the real railro By Nick Snyder For the Siuslaw News ŝƐĐ ŚŽ ŽǀĞƌ ŵĞ ǀ ŝŶƚĞ ŝŶƚĂ ƌŝŽ ŐĞĐů ƌƐ͕Ă Žƚ ŶĚ ŚŝŶŐ ĐŽ ͕Ă ŽŬ ŶƟ ŝĞƐ͊ ƋƵ ĞƐ Story & Photo By Mark Brennan Siuslaw News The fourth annual class attend- ing the Florence Air Academy, a joint effort between the Boys and Girls Clubs of Western Lane Coun- ty and the local aviation company Aero Legends, is now underway at the Florence Municipal Airport. The local Boys and Girls Club Executive Director Chuck Trent and his organization have been the beneficiary of the generosity and mentorship of Terry Tomeny and his wife Winette, owners of Aero Legends. Together they have financed and coordinated the Air Academy curriculum for the past three summers since they began the program in 2017. This year, there was a major dis- cussion concerning the question of whether to hold the summer avi- ation classes at all. However, after close communication with state, county and local health authorities, the decision was made to move for- ward. Trent and Tomeny wanted to as- sure the community that the classes LIFESTYLE ͘͘͘ƚŽ Ě Boys & Girls Club program makes changes among COVID concerns This week, the Oregon School Activities Association (OSAA) re- leased a roadmap for school districts on when sports programs can begin in the 2020-21 school year. While practices could possibly be allowed throughout 2020, actual contests will not begin until January, starting with the traditional winter sports of bas- ketball, wrestling and swimming. From there, shortened seasons for all remaining sports will be spread out throughout 2021, ending in June with traditional spring contests. “We’re compressing our sports from an eight-month calendar year into a sixth-month year, so we have fewer con- test dates,” said Siuslaw Athletic Direc- tor Chris Johnson. “There’s never been a season like this. It’s unprecedented.” And it’s also not set in stone. Dis- tricts throughout the state have had multiple reopening plans altered due to changing state protocols involving COVID-19 rates. See SPORTS page 6A Tour Yachats River Valley Farms INSIDE — A3 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, *Off er expires August 30, 2020