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S ECIAL S ECTION I NSIDE
Local, state vote approves old, new faces and measures
Siuslaw News
NEWS &
VIEWS THAT
DEFINE OUR
COMMUNITY
Mayor Joe Henry wins another term, Sally Wantz and Bill Meyer join city council
By Ned Hickson &
Mark Brennan
Siuslaw News
After the final votes were tabulat-
ed and made official by Lane County
Elections, Florence voters had cho-
sen Joe Henry (2,819 votes/50.89
percent) for another term as may-
or, with Henry narrowly defeating
Florence business woman Jo Beau-
dreau (2,694 votes/48.64 percent)
by a narrow 125-vote margin.
When the new city council is
sworn in this January,
and making Florence a
“The close race bears out the fact that our plan
Henry will be joined
better place to live for every-
by budget committee
city is divided and I will work diligently to one.”
member Sally Wantz,
Henry added that he was
help bridge that divide.”
who was the top vote
particularly grateful for “the
getter with 31.96 per-
loving support of Pamela, my
— Florence Mayor Joe Henry
cent (2,737 votes), and
wife, and for all those who sup-
port commissioner and
ported my limited campaign in
placed their trust in me by electing
FURA
Chairperson
many ways.”
Bill Meyer (2,652 votes), who was a me Mayor for another two years,”
Henry said he chose not to spend
close second with 30.97 percent of Henry said in an email to Siuslaw any money campaigning, feeling
News. “I will do my best to continue that his record of accomplishments
the vote.
“I am honored that the citizens to guide the efforts of the city coun-
See ELECTION 6B
of the City of Florence have again cil, remaining focused on our work
VOL. 130, NO. 89
F LORENCE , O REGON
WEATHER
Clouds and rain with
a high of 52 and a
low tonight of 39.
Full forecast on A3
Florence PD
begins use of
new body cams
B Y M ARK B RENNAN
Siuslaw News
POLICE 8B
MARK BRENNAN/SIUSLAW NEWS
Siuslaw Middle School sixth-grader Dakota Aaron with his second-place wood shop flower box.
Teen Giving Tree
INSIDE — B1
Hands-on learning
B Y M ARK B RENNAN
Siuslaw News
The Siuslaw School District
has been trying to keep students
involved with their education in
new ways since the onset of thee
COVID-19 pandemic. Many
classes are now online, and the
parents of students have been
acting as part-time substitute
teachers since school reconvened
in September. One of the chal-
lenges to this plan has been that
not all classes are easily trans-
ferred to a digital learning plat-
form.
The introduction of a dis-
tance-based educational experi-
ence has made learning new
skills and techniques that nor-
mally require a literal “hands on”
approach extremely difficult.
To that end, one of the most
popular programs, woodwork-
ing, has been reimagined to
RECORDS
allow students to work on proj-
ects designed by instructors but
that can be completed at the
student’s home.
Siuslaw Middle School
Woodshop teacher TJ Wilson
and his students have been
working on a simple but useful
project during the last few weeks
— designing, painting and con-
structing a planter box.
See
Obituaries &
emergency
response logs
Inside — A2
SIDE SHOW
Activities and
comics every
Saturday
Inside — B4
CLASSIFIEDS
BOXES 5B
50 years of Florence’s (in)famous ‘whale tale’
Listings and public
notices
Inside — B5 & B7
FOLLOW US FOR THE
LATEST NEWS :
Nov. 12 marks the 50th anniversary of the globabally recognized ‘Exploding Whale’
Fun for the whole family!
Only $12.62
Siuslaw News • 148 Maple Street • Old Town Florence or call 541-997-3441
(Local only. Out of area, please call for pricing.)
.
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Now off ering
shipping
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Modeled after the world famous board game, Florence-Opoly is customized to our great city.
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On Sale
C
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F L O
$
24 99
ŝƚƵ
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WHALE 7B
T HE S IUSLAW N EWS . COM
sŝƐ
See
@S IUSLAW N EWS
ibrary.or
iuslawL
www.S 97-313 2
541-9
ton just before the whale demoli-
tion.
“Well I’m confident that it will
work,” Thornton said. “The only
thing is we’re not sure just exactly
how much explosives it’ll take to
disintegrate this.”
“Is there any chance it might be
more than a one-day job?” Lin-
nman asked.
“If there’s any large chunks left,”
S IUSLAW N EWS
2 S ECTIONS | 18 P AGES
C OPYRIGHT 2020
The legend began on Nov. 12,
1970, when an 8-ton sperm whale,
45-feet in length, washed up on
shore just south of Florence. It
was a curiosity for residents and
beachcombers at the time, but soon
became a bit of a problem as the
stench of rotting whale began to
overtake the dunes.
the Oregon Encyclopedia, Assistant
District Highway Engineer George
Thornton consulted with a U.S.
Navy munitions expert about the
issue and decided to treat the car-
cass as a boulder, using half-a-ton of
dynamite to blast it to smithereens.
Scavengers such as seagulls, crabs
and “whatnot” would gulp up the
remainders.
KATU television news reporter
Paul Linnman showed up to cover
the event and interviewed Thorn-
OUT
CHECK S.)
(WE EVEN GAME
BOARD
g
Siuslaw News
Since Oregon beaches are a pub-
lic right of way (the speed limit is
25 mph, with pedestrians having
the right-of-way), the Oregon State
Highway Division (now the Oregon
Department of Transportation) was
tasked with cleaning it up.
The idea of burying the whale was
floated but turned down: The ocean
tides would surely uncover the
beached beast. It could have been
cut up to pieces, but who would
want to do that? So, according to
rd
aboa
g
Climb
readin
ad!
the real
railro
B Y S IUSLAW N EWS S TAFF
/S IUSLAW N EWS
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ŶĚ ŚŝŶŐ
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See
LIFESTYLE
͘͘͘ƚŽ
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The Florence Police Department
(FPD) began the use of new body
cams by all on-duty, uniformed offi-
cers last Monday, Nov. 2. The Flor-
ence City Council approved the use
of the new video equipment at the
Aug. 17 council meeting and entered
into a five-year contract with the po-
lice support company Axon.
Axon produces an array of camer-
as, software and tasers to assist law
enforcement agencies nationwide
through the increased use of non-le-
thal technologies and will handle
technical support and data storage
during the length of the contract.
Florence Police Department Com-
mander John Pitcher said he believes
the expanded capabilities of the
bodycams add to the positive rela-
tionship his department has with the
residents and leaders of the Florence
community.
Additionally, the FPD and the city
believe the technology allows for in-
creased transparency of police pro-
cedures and can improve the quality
of communication between officers
and the public.
Prior to the council’s approval to
purchase Axon’s equipment and sup-
port services, FPD activity had been
recorded — when possible — from
vehicle-based video systems which
had inherent limitations to full
Due to the
Veterans Day
holiday
next week’s
Wednesday edition
of Siuslaw News
will be published
Tuesday, Nov. 10.
Framing
es
Fram ence
Quality
Custom
of Flor
• Mirrors
s • Needlework
• Watercolors
Shadowboxe
Photography
Oils •
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97-20 G
541-9
101, Suite
Hwy.
2285
OR 97439
Florence,
*Off er expires December 23, 2020