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AT I N G 1 30 Y
SIUSLAW NEWS:
A LOOK B ACK AT
130 Y EARS
INSIDE — A7
Regional fire crews battle 500-acre fire near Mapleton
Siuslaw News
NEWS &
VIEWS THAT
DEFINE OUR
COMMUNITY
VOL. 130, NO. 70
F LORENCE , O REGON
WEATHER
Story & Photos
By Ned Hickson
Siuslaw News
Sunny with a high
of 74 and a low
tonight of 53.
Full forecast on A3
COMMUNITY
Sweet Creek fire blazes on for fourth day; cause still under investigation
T
his past Sunday (Aug. 30) af-
ternoon, Oregon Department
of Forestry (ODF) firefighters,
along with Lane County Sher-
iff ’s Office (LCSO), Western Lane
Ambulance and firefighters from
Mapleton, Swisshome/Deadwood
and Siuslaw Valley Fire and Res-
cue, responded to reports of mul-
tiple wildfires along a three-mile
stretch of Sweet Creek Road near
LRAPA rates
Florence’s air
quality as ‘good’
County levels remain
healthy despite
Sweet Creek Fire
By Chantelle Meyer
Siuslaw News
Level 3 (Go immediately) evacua-
tion for residents of Hadsell Creek
Road, and a Level 2 (Get Set – Be
ready to leave) evacuation orders
for other Sweet Creek Road resi-
dents. By evening, several homes
in the Hadsell Creek area had been
evacuated, displacing a number of
families. Temporary housing was
made available by the Red Cross.
By Monday evening, A Level 1
evacuation notice had also been
issued for Bernhardt Creek Road
and Duncan Island Road due to
the fire danger.
As of Tuesday morning, the fire
remained 0 percent contained but
fire crews providing structural
protection to the 138 homes in the
area had reported no losses.
Weekend art show
benefits First Step
INSIDE — A3
LIFESTYLE
See FIRE page 6A
Boys & Girls Club seeks to help kids keep ‘PACE’
Club adds new all-day program to help with distance learning
PACE,” Trent said “PACE is an all-
day program that will allow our staff
to help children with their distance
The Boys and Girls clubs of West-
learning activities in the morning
ern Lane County (BGC) is stepping
while engaging in traditional club
up to fill part of the void left by
activities in the afternoon.”
shortened class hours and limited
According to Trent, the club has
class sizes at the
a very limited
Siuslaw
School
number of spaces
District.
“We strongly encourage families to contact both state available for inter-
BGC Executive and federal elected officials to help garner support for re- ested families and
Director Chuck
encourages those
lief funding. Your voice needs to be heard loud and strong.” wanting to enroll
Trent said he and
— Boys and Girls clubs of Western Lane County Executive their children to
his staff want to
Director Chuck Trent call and check
support the dis-
trict’s
distance
on availability as
learning plan and
soon as possible.
are set to begin on-site learning that es a challenge for working families.
“We will prioritize families that
incorporates guidelines and cur- In collaboration with the distance need five days a week of care,” said
riculum from the Siuslaw School learning plans that the Siuslaw Trent. “A family that may not need
District. There are minimal fees re- School District is implementing, we all five days is welcome to sign up,
quired for student attendance.
have created the Prepare Kids for but the club will not discount the
The first day of school is sched- Academic Success Through Col- weekly rate.”
uled for Monday, Sept. 14, with the laboration and Enrichment — or
See CLUB page 7A
By Mark Brennan
Siuslaw News
week of Sept. 8 to 11 focusing on
technology orientation, training
and distribution for school district
students and teachers. BGC’s pro-
gram will begin that same day.
“We know that schools starting
the year with distance learning pos-
Candidates file for November General Election
By Mark Brennan
Siuslaw News
The deadline for filing to run in
the Nov. 3, 2020, General Election
or drop from the election officially
ended Aug. 29. Lane County Elec-
tions and the Oregon Secretary of
State have begun listing candidates
and measures that will be included
in the election.
As of Sept. 1, the individuals run-
ning in the Nov. 3 Election in Flor-
ence are as follows:
• City of Florence Mayor: two-
year term.
— Joe Henry, incumbent
— Jo Beaudreau
• City of Florence Councilor:
There are two open positions for
four-year terms, with voters being
asked to select two candidates for
the positions.
— Maggie Bagon
— Bill Meyer
— Sally Wantz
* NOTE: Candidate Dan Lofy
withdrew his candidacy as of Aug.
25.
In addition, there is also cur-
rently an opening on the Florence
City Council following the Aug.
17 resignation of former Council-
or Geraldine Prociw. The process
for filling that open position will
not be part of the Nov. 3 election.
Instead, the Florence City Council
and city staff are currently consid-
ering how to fill the empty seat on
the five-person council.
• Dunes City
Dunes City Council has several
terms ending, including the mayor
and three councilors. The Dunes
See ELECTION page 6A
10th annual
Siuslaw Open
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
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C OPYRIGHT 2020
Area residents left their homes
Tuesday morning to the smell of
smoke and hazy skies as smoke from
the 500-acre Sweet Creek Fire near
Mapleton traveled downriver to
Florence.
According to Lane Regional Air
Protection Agency (LRAPA), which
monitors air quality across the coun-
ty, Florence’s air quality remains in
the “good” range.
On Tuesday, LRAPA Public Af-
fairs Manager Travis Knudsen said,
“Right now, air quality across all of
Lane County, and even out farther
to the west getting into the Florence
area, is still good. … It’s been there
fairly consistently over the last cou-
ple of days, which is fortunate con-
sidering the proximity to the Sweet
Creek Fire and some of the smoke
that has kind of started to pick up in
the air.”
He said that although the smoke
is smellable in the air, air quality has
not degraded.
LRAPA reports air quality
through its Oregon 24-Hour Air
Quality Index Map on www.lrapa.
org. Current air quality is displayed
See SMOKE page 6A
Mapleton. As of today, fire crews
remain engaged with what has
been named the Sweet Creek Mile-
post 2 Fire.
Initially reported as a number
of separate fires, the blaze merged
into a single 500-acre wildfire near
Hadsell Creek Road, prompting
multiple levels of evacuation no-
tices for area residents.
Sunday evening, LCSO issued a
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