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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 29, 2020)
SIUSLAW NEWS | SATURDAY, AUGUST 29, 2020 | 7A PARTISAN from page 6A However, the liberal side has done the same — with both sides reposting various skewed articles. While one group posts about protests to attend, the other side posts how protesters are ter- rorists; one side posts about climate change policies, the other posts that climate change is a hoax. While this investigation will go deeper into online communications later in the series, for the school dis- trict, it was clear the rising partisanship would make any school bond difficult to pass. What they needed was vocal support from commu- nity leaders like Henry and the City of Florence to back any new bond proposal. They needed partnerships. But upcoming changes in the membership of city committees suggested that establishing those partner- ships was going to get hard- er rather than easier. “We did it” In 2017, EMAC was look- ing at a pair of previous proposals regarding a Styro- foam ban and a plastic bag ban. Both issues had been reviewed before Milten- berger and others came on the committee, and city staff stated there was no political party involvement with the proposals. In fact, staff members who spoke to Siuslaw News didn’t recall any direct involvement with political parties in the final decision at all. However, a different story was being told online. Local environmental ad- vocate Mike Allen, who worked with the FADC, would advocate for FADC members to show up to the committee. “We need to impress upon the members of EMAC the importance of addressing climate change at the local level. Please attend to add your support,” he wrote on the FADC Facebook page. City records do show that FADC members were in attendance, but there is no evidence that the staff or former Councilor Susy Lac- er, who was EMAC’s ex-offi- cio at the time, worked with FADC at all. Instead, EMAC insisted on a community survey, which was made available online. In addition, Siuslaw News ran a short ar- ticle about it to assist the city in getting the word out and encourage wide participa- tion from the community. But when EMAC’s acting chair David Lloyd expressly asked FADC to participate in the survey, it created the appearance that political groups were controlling the committee. “Several FADC members have been attending the City of Florence EMAC meetings and have expressed interest in foam take-out food/bev- erage container policy that we’ve been discussing,” he wrote the group. “I want- ed to let you know that our online survey on this topic is now live, and can be ac- cessed through this link.” FADC posted this on their Facebook page, as did Florence ORganzies. Harvey’s Florence Liberty Alliance page did not post any links to the survey. All told, the survey only had 397 responses out of the city’s population of over 8,000. Of those respons- es, 73.8 percent identified themselves as residents, 10.1 percent as business owners and 16.1 percent as “other.” In total, 83.9 percent of respondents were in favor of the ban, while only 16.2 per- cent were not. When the city council met to discuss the ban, Flor- ence ORganizes members, the Siuslaw Climate Alliance and even Harvey posted on their political Facebook pages, asking for people to show up to the meeting. “We believe this is just the beginning and that plastic grocery bags are next, un- til environmental control can be used as a weapon in Florence — we have all seen what happened to logging and fishing in our state over the years,” Harvey wrote. The city council passed the ban, with even the may- or praising EMACs work. “I just wanted to thank you for the great job you did on the Styrofoam issue, that is something that will be very beneficial to our community in the long run,” Henry said. However, pressure from FADC on the city contin- ued, particularly from Al- len, who pressed Henry on joining a climate proclama- tion during an EMAC meet- ing. Throughout the year, We are open and ready to assist you! LEGACY PORTRAITURE Portraits that will show your innermost self. RODGER BENNETT PHOTOGRAPHY 2150 Hwy. 101 • Florence (541) 997-3475 • 1-800-348-3475 “Reengage” In January 2019, Harvey, Ashmead and other polit- ically connected friends were getting seats on city committees, including the CEDC, which Reynolds said would be looking at “reengaging” with commu- nity partners. While the selection pro- cess will be described in depth later in the series, throughout December 2018 Henry had been reviewing applications for open com- mittee seats. According to city code, the mayor has the right of final approval for all committee positions. But during the last days of the application process, with records obtained by Siuslaw News, a pattern emerged. Whenever a known liberal would submit an application — some of whom were di- rectly involved with groups like Florence ORganizes — a partisan conservative would then apply. Some of them were financial contributors to Prociw’s campaign. Many others were volunteers with- in her campaign. “I have attached a copy of an application that was handed to me and will bring the original next time I see you,” Henry told Reynolds in an email on Dec. 31, 2019, which was the dead- line for applications. “You should have also received a few other applications in the last couple of days.” Attached was an appli- cation from Jeff Ashmead, who applied for the CEDC. Henry’s final choices in- cluded multiple applicants involved in Prociw’s cam- paign. See APPOINTMENTS page 8A RS 2020 A look back at 130 years INSIDE EACH EDITION S IUSLAW N EWS THROUGH O CTOBER OF E EA CEL SN BR Since 1939 bury and Miltenberger in the race. Miltenberger lost and, just weeks after the elec- tion, liberal-leaning appli- cants for city committee seats were denied entry. T HE W EST ❖ T HE S IUSLAW N EWS ❖ F LORENCE T IMES ❖ T HE S IUSLAW O AR ❖ T HE S IUSLAW N EWS ❖ S IUSLAW N EWS AW NE S 1890 SL W SIU 1234 Rhododendron Drive #7 | Florence, Oregon 97439 541-991-0777 | www.photobyrodger.com Johnston Motor Company tensions between Henry and the environmentalists grew, as did protests. In 2018, when Milten- berger ran for city council, Henry, along with Harvey, Ashmead and others instead supported Prociw to run in a race that also included Woodbury, who they also supported. The three candi- dates were running for only two open seats. “It would be really awe- some if we occupied both seats. Woody is running again trying to hold his seat. There is no telling what will happen but he has a massive support group behind him,” Prociw wrote Brittany Hor- nung in August 2018, in an undated Facebook message. Hornung, along with Bran- dy Bell, were two millenni- als who had filed to run for the city council. But Prociw attempted to dissuade Hornung from do- ing so. “And there is a lady Mau- reen that has lots of the democratic votes,” Prociw continued. “She is the Vice President of the Democratic Party here in town. I think it would just split the votes with a lot of the younger crowd that I attract. And would give Maureen more of a chance to actually win. Brandy Bell is also running and people are actually try- ing to talk her out of it. If this lady gets on board she could really turn this town in the wrong direction. I have a huge amount of sup- port and a lot of money be- ing donated to run my cam- paign. Competition will be tough.” Initially, Hornung re- mained in the running, but according to her, phone calls from Prociw contin- ued. While she refused to give specific details of the phone calls themselves, she stated that she felt “bul- lied” and dropped out of the race. Bell also dropped, leaving only Prociw, Wood- AT I N G 1 30 Y 1962 1963 Honeyman Park tops in state — The Siuslaw News April 5, 1962 Lighthouse goes automatic — The Siuslaw News July 25, 1963 The most popular state park in Oregon during the year 1961 was Honeyman State Park, located south of Florence, according to figures re- leased by the Oregon State Parks De- partment. Honeyman Park chalked up 94,913 registrations last year with only one other state park reaching the 94,000 bracket; Fort Stevens State Park near the mouth of the Columbia River. Fort Stevens State Park has a total of 379 camp or picnic sites as compared to Honeyman Park’s 333. Last year’s figure showed an increase of 10,739 above 1960 for Honeyman Park. Records show that Honeyman State Park has had a steady, and at times spectacular increase of pa- trons. In 1952, there were 4,887 reg- istrations, in 1953, 7,971 and in 1954 the figure was nearly doubled with 14,036. According to Ed Baughman, park superintendent at Honeyman, park registrations will continue to in- crease as long as they make room for more campers and picnickers. … Heceta Head Lighthouse will suc- cumb to automation the end of this month, and when it does, Oswald Al- lik, Heceta Head Lighthouse keeper, will retire. Heceta Head Light was first put in operation in 1894. It is a 56-foot white concrete tower, 205 feet above sea lev- el, and was named for the Spanish sea captain Bruno Heceta, who sailed by here in 1775. With the advent of the coast highway, the lighthouse has be- come one of the main tourist attrac- tions on the Oregon coast. With the switch over to automation, the 4.5 million candlepower beam will be controlled from an instrument pan- el at the Siuslaw River Lifeboat Station. The revolving beam sweeping 21 miles out to sea will be lighted by one of two 1,000 watt light bulbs, within the prism lens. In the event one should fall, the second 1,000 watt bulb will au- tomatically replace it. In the event nei- ther light bulb works, a red light will show at the Siuslaw River Lifeboat Sta- tion, signaling one of the men on duty there to correct the situation. Dunes City incorporated LY NCE-OPO ibrary.or iuslawL www.S 97-31 32 541-9 OUT CHECK S.) (WE EVEN GAME BOARD g ires r exp 0 *Off e er 4, 202 b m e Sept ͘͘͘ ĞƐ͕ ŝƚƵ ƐĂ ƚ sŝƐ 24. (Local only. Out of area, please call for pricing.) Modeled after the world famous board game, Florence-Opoly is customized to our great city. Summer Fun for the whole family! Siuslaw News • 148 Maple Street • Old Town Florence or call 541-997-3441 Scouting at Camp Cleawox and Camp Baker Coast Real Estate ŝƐĐ ŚŽ ŽǀĞƌ ŵĞ ǀ ŝŶƚĞ ŝŶƚĂ ƌŝŽ ŐĞĐů ƌƐ͕Ă Žƚ ŶĚ ŚŝŶŐ ĐŽ ͕Ă ŽŬ ŶƟ ŝĞƐ͊ ƋƵ Only 99 $12.62 each* ͘͘͘ƚŽ Ě $ On Sale Now off ering shipping Dunes City was formally orga- nized in August 1963. The town’s first meeting took place in the Woahink Lake home of Doctor E.S. Stong and in addi- tion to Dr. Stong, the first Council members present were Phil Himmel (first Mayor), Martin Christensen, Ray Riesenhuber and Clair Ham- mond. A rather challenging problem for this new council was the Oregon state law which required all cities to adopt a budget before any spending could take place. No revenues could be collected until the following July when liquor and gas taxes would become available, so residents ded- icated to the formation of Dunes City contributed the initial funds required for operations and this formed the basis for the city’s first budget. There were many challenges fac- ing this fledgling city. More detailed information is available about these issues in a special scrapbook, which was assembled by local historians and is maintained at the Siuslaw Pi- oneer Museum. 64 Years of Proven Business Leadership and Success. rd aboa g Climb readin ad! the real railro FLORE 1965 541-997-7777 “We’re next to the bridge” 100 Hwy. 101, Florence Off ering Th e Finest Properties On Th e Coast Waterfront • Acreage • Golf Course New Construction • Old Town • Commercial See all Florence’s listings at cbcoast.com
