Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 30, 2020)
THESIUSLAWNEWS.COM WEDNESDAY EDITION | DECEMBER 30, 2020 | $1.00 Yachats annual Peace Hike goes virtual The 11th annual Peace Hike along Amanda’s Trail begins Friday Community & Lifestyle ODFW REGIONAL FISHING REPORT www.dfw.state.or.us/RR Local Lakes and Ponds: North Coast lakes are done with trout stocking until next spring, but many lakes have holdover trout from earlier sea- son’s stockings. Warmwater fish- ing should be over for the year as water temperatures are too cold to keep those species active. Mid-coast lakes will receive trout stockings the first couple weeks of February. These lakes include: Cleawox, Munsel, Alder and Dune lakes. Wild coho fish- eries in Siltcoos and Tahkenitch lakes are open and provide a unique opportunity to catch a coho in a coastal lake. SIUSLAW RIVER: Winter steelhead Winter steehead fishing on the Siuslaw has been blown out with the recent high water. Expect the first good push of fish to be around when the river drops back into shape this weekend and next week. The Whitaker Creek area is the best place to target returning hatchery fish. Hatchery fish are also planted in Lake Creek and are released into Green Creek. These returning See Each year, the Yachats Trails Committee conducts its Annual New Year’s Day Peace Hike. The hike traditionally hon- ors the memory of a blind Native American woman known as “Amanda,” who was forced to leave her young daughter and march barefoot through rocky terrain to the Alsea Sub-Agency intern- ment camp in Yachats in 1864. The hike, which general- ly follows the Amanda Trail from the Yachats Commons to the Amanda Statue south of town has grown steadily in attendance and importance over time. This year however, there will be no traditional large- group hike as in the past, due to the Coronavirus pandem- ic and the Trails Committee’s focus on participant safety. Instead, people can experi- ence the Amanda story vir- tually, starting on New Year’s Day, by viewing a video of COURTESY PHOTO A sign points the way to the Amanda Trail in Yachats, which is the location of the annual Peace Hike. Miluk Coos Tribal member Patricia Whereat Phillips, linguist, Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians (CT- CLUSI) narrating the Aman- da story on line. Participants can view the video from the City of Yach- ats (www.yachatsoregon.org) Yachats Chamber of Com- merce (www.yachats.org) and View the Future (www. viewthefuture.org) Websites. Following that, communi- ty members are encouraged to explore their own goals and rituals for manifesting peace in their hearts and in the world. Feeding a community need FISHING 3B Tide Tables Entrance Siuslaw River High Tide Low Tide Dec. 30 12:40am / 6.4 11:30pm / 8.2 5:45am / 3.6 6:40pm / -0.8 PHOTOS BY MARK BRENNAN/SIUSLAW NEWS Dec. 31 1:19am / 6.5 12:08pm / 8.1 6:25am / 3.6 7:17pm / -0.9 Jan. 1 1:59am / 6.5 12:46pm / 8.0 7:05am / 3.6 7:56pm / -0.8 O nce again this year, Florence Elks Lodge #1858 offered a free Christmas Day Community Appreciation Dinner on Friday, Dec. 25, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Adapting the model used earlier this year by the Kiwanis Club of Florence and its Thanksgiving Dinner at the lodge, the Florence Elks prepared to serve 800 people who drove — or walked — in line to receive packaged dinners at the lodge. The Elks’ pre- cooked dinners include turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, mixed vegetables, a roll, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie — packaged into aluminum containers which can then be put in an oven to reheat. In addition, special guest Santa Claus was there to hand out candy canes. Every child also received a stuffed animal from the Elks. Twelve people pre- pared 30 turkeys — or 650 pounds — for the Christmas Day event. Jan. 2 2:39am / 6.5 1:29pm / 7.7 7:51am / 3.5 8:36pm / -0.6 Jan. 3 3:19am / 6.7 2:18pm / 7.3 8:43am / 3.3 9:17pm / -0.2 Jan. 4 4:01am / 6.8 3:14pm / 6.7 9:44am / 3.1 10:01pm / 0.4 Jan. 5 4:46am / 7.1 4:23pm / 6.0 10:52am / 2.7 10:48pm / 1.1 For those who want to in- corporate them, Cedar sprigs will be available in outdoor areas near the Yachats Com- mons. Anyone who has used this opportunity to watch the Amanda video (from any- where) is invited to stop by the Yachats City Visitor Cen- ter or the Yachats Chamber to pick up a commemorative button. Alternatively they can send an email request to yachatstrails@gmail.com. If requesting by email, be sure to include your name and mailing address with your request. This year’s button was created by Morgan Gaines Quuiich (Lower Umpqua) Tribal Member, CTCLUSI. The Yachats Trails team wishes the community a happy new year to come and hopefully the return of the Annual Peace hike — and See HIKE 2B SOS statistics reflect sobering increase in local hardships In comparing statistics to the full 12 months of 2019, Siuslaw Outreach Services (SOS) has seen, as of Dec. 1, a 47 percent increase in num- ber of individuals experienc- ing domestic violence (325 in 2019 to 478 in 2020), a 100 percent increase in number of sexual assaults (19 in 2019 to 40 in 2020), a 100 percent in- crease in number of individu- als being trafficked (5 in 2020 to 10 in 2020), and an 80 per- cent increase in the number of households receiving rent assistance (64 in 2019 to 115 in 2020). “This is such a sad indict- ment on humanity and dis- heartening representation of what is going on behind closed doors in our commu- nity, yet it magnifies the need for, and success of, SOS,” said Bob Teter, executive director of Siuslaw Outreach Services (SOS), the local nonprof- it dedicated to serving local victims of domestic violence, sexual abuse, sex trafficking, and unplanned homelessness. “We still have a month to go. December has been trag- ically busy,” he added. “The stress of the holi- days boosts these kinds of numbers, especially in the COVID-19 age,” Teter ex- plained. “We estimate that the stress of the pandemic and government restrictions on activity have been a major contributor to the upswing in numbers in the Siuslaw re- gion. We are hearing that oth- er agencies in Oregon are ex- periencing similar increases.” Teter said it is tough to esti- mate the exact severity of the area’s need right now because of the constantly changing challenges due to COVID-19. “Caring for our clientele, es- pecially with this year’s grow- ing numbers and the expected growth into next year, comes with an increasing cost.” So far, SOS has provided nearly $600,000 in direct aid in 2020 — a record for the See SOS 2B Happy New Year 2021! Looking back,it was quite the year and something I don’t want to repeat world wide. It was something we have never experienced and seemingly don’t know how to handle. I just hope it is soon that Florence will get vaccines, although it looks like Spring before that will occur, but we can only hope. Weirdly enough, it was a great year for real estate. We’ve had almost a record year for sales, and if inventory hadn’t been so low, it would have been out of this world. Interest rates are the lowest we’ve had in years which helped. Looking forward I’m not sure there’s a prediction out there that tells us what the New Year will bring. Let’s just look for the positive. I just hope everyone continues to wear a mask and stay safe and let’s put this in the rear view mirror! 100 Hwy. 101, Florence, OR • 541.997.7777 Lynnette Wikstrom Broker “We’re next to the Bridge.” lynnette@cbcoast.com · Cell: 541.999.0786 COAST REAL ESTATE