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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 13, 2021)
SN THESIUSLAWNEWS.COM WEDNESDAY EDITION | JANUARY 13, 2021 | $1.00 Library Tidings Inside — A8 Siuslaw News Siuslaw News NEWS & VIEWS THAT DEFINE OUR COMMUNITY VOL. 131, NO. 4 F LORENCE , O REGON WEATHER Partly cloudy with a high of 54 and a low of 44. Full forecast on A3 COMMUNITY Florence selects Margaret Wisniewski for open council seat 3-1 vote secures city council appointment, scheduled for Jan. 25 By Mark Brennan Siuslaw News T he vacant seat on the Florence City Council was filled in less than 20 minutes on Monday, Jan. 11, in a 3-1 vote during a special meet- ing held virtually. During the meet- ing, which was scheduled specifical- ly to address the vacancy, Margaret Wisniewski was selected to fill the seat left open by the resignation of former councilor Geraldine Prociw last October. Six individuals applied for the opening to join re-elected Mayor Joe Henry, along with Councilor Woody Woodbury and newly elected coun- cilors Sally Wantz and Bill Meyer. Six candidates for the council seat were interviewed by the council prior to Monday’s meeting before selecting Wisniewski, who had been a write- in candidate for a council seat last November but had finished last with just 11 percent of the vote. The meeting began with a pre- liminary “paper” ballot done via messaging, with Henry and Wood- bury voting in favor of Wisniewski, while Wantz voted for the sec- ond-place finisher in the Florence mayoral race, Jo Beaudreau, and Meyer choosing Joel Marks to fill the council vacancy. See COUNCIL page 5A ‘The only way to get through this is by Scholarships participating in the effort that we know works’ help businesses Florence’s COVID-19 cases soar to 119 as Lane County Public Health confirms area’s first two fatalities prepare for pandemic Florence, LCC partner on course for hospitality/tourism By Chantelle Meyer Siuslaw News CROW adds board members INSIDE — A3 LIFESTYLE Take a hike on South Slough Trail INSIDE — B RECORDS Obituaries & response logs Inside — A2 TV GUIDE Inside — B3-B4 “We’ve got to make it so that people understand that, at the very base of what you’re doing — when you’re choosing not to mask, when you’re choosing to have gather- ings, when you’re choosing to not distance yourself — you’re taking someone else’s life in your hands,” stated Lane County Public Health (LCPH) Public Information Offi- cer Jason Davis. LCPH has been monitoring COVID-19 cases since the out- break reached Oregon in Febru- ary 2020. For a majority of that time, the Florence 97439 zip code reported few cases until a recent surge brought the number of peo- ple infected with the novel corona- virus up to 119, as reported Tues- day. Thirty-six of those cases were from the past two weeks. In addition, Florence has had its first deaths connected to COVID-19. “We are very concerned about Florence,” Davis said. “The Flor- ence area has been in some ways fortunate, in that you’re behind the By Jared Anderson Siuslaw News COURTESY PHOTO Lane County Public Health is located inside the Lane County Health & Human Services Building at 151 W 7th Ave. in Eugene, Ore. curve and haven’t had to battle a in November and continues, with large-scale outbreak up until very more than 250 cases reported in recently. But now — it’s starting to the county over the weekend. That led to Lane County enter- creep up there.” He compared the coast’s num- ing “surge protocol,” according to bers to where the rest of the coun- Davis. Under that, LCPH scaled ty was this past May, where so- back on the amount of questions cial connections began to make asked of people who have contract- COVID cases rise. At that time, ed the virus, which has made con- LCPH had enough staff to trace tact tracing even more difficult. “That makes it tough for com- people’s activities and present fur- munities like Florence that are just ther spread. “Unfortunately, we aren’t able to now seeing that influx of cases,” really drill down on the case level Davis said. “You have the ability to that we were able to back in April potentially stifle it or to slow it if and May,” Davis said. you get the right information in the Part of this is because of a larger hands of the people who are maybe outbreak in the Eugene/Springfield inadvertently spreading the virus.” metropolitan area, which began See LCPH page 6A KIDS CORNER Activities for kids Inside — B7 CLASSIFIEDS Listings & notices Inside — B6 FOLLOW US FOR THE LATEST NEWS : /S IUSLAW N EWS @S IUSLAW N EWS T HE S IUSLAW N EWS . COM COURTESY PHOTO Margaret Wisniewski KXCR purchases building, takes over FCC licensing By Mark Brennan Siuslaw News S IUSLAW N EWS 2 S ECTIONS | 16 P AGES C OPYRIGHT 2021 KXCR, Florence’s nonprofit community radio station at 90.7 FM, has continued to inform, ed- ucate and even grow during the COVID-19 pandemic. The station, which received the approval to broadcast on the public airwaves from the FCC in 2014, op- erates on a shoe-string budget with volunteers filling positions that, at traditional radio stations, would be compensated employment. KXCR broadcasts 24 hours a day, seven days a week and recently be- came the holder of the FCC license for the station, which had officially been the responsibility of West- ern Lane Translator (WLT). It also streams online at kxcr.net. KXCR’s Board President Gigi Lassan said she is optimistic about the future of the station and the ways in which it may interact with the community moving forward. “The license transfer from WLT has just been finalized and ap- proved by the FCC. KXCR is also in the midst of purchasing the KXCR building on Ninth Street from one of the KXCR’s founders, Bill Durst, who has always been an incredible support to KXCR. We are closing escrow next week.” Lassan said. KXCR provides daily coastal tide reports, regional weather updates and links to local news outlets in addition to its program schedule. It offers a wide variety of musical and informational programming, some locally produced. “We are also starting a few new programs as well, like Medical Mon- days and a couple of meditation programs as well,” Lassan added. Michael J. Kello, vice president of KXCR’s board, admits challeng- es presented by the pandemic have been numerous and have led the station to explore other ways to complete their mission to “Edu- cate, Inform and Entertain.” One of the main reasons KXCR has been able to survive the COVID lockdowns is the fact that it has a small group of people who are able to work in group spaces when others are not present at the station. Coupled with the measures instituted to align KXCR with Or- egon Health Authority (OHA) COVID-19 guidelines, KXCR has so far been successful. See RADIO page 5A Lane Community College (LCC) and the City of Florence have teamed up to offer courses to help local private businesses learn the in- tricacies of cleaning in the pandemic age. The city is providing scholar- ships for two LCC courses, one of which is called the Tourism/Hospi- tality Quick-Course program, a six- hour course that focuses specifically on the customer service aspects of controlling the virus through clean- ing — though the reasons to take the course go well beyond COVID-19. “I think there will be a new normal,” said Russ Pierson, Dean of Lane Community College Florence Center. “I think folks will be much more sensitive to the possibility of infection. Businesses will want this understanding for years.” Back in April, LCC created the Environmental Service Aide certi- fication course, an 18-hour online class which provides students with entry level knowledge on reducing the spread of germs and diseases in healthcare facilities. “It really is oriented toward folks who want a career in healthcare,” Pierson said. “It would enable some- one to get the training they need to get a job at a long-term care facility or a hospital, which are in need of environmental service aides. They kind of look like custodians, but they have additional training with bloodborne pathogens and viruses, such as COVID.” Soon after offering the course, LCC began receiving requests for a shortened version of the course. “Something oriented toward our restaurants or small businesses that would train people how to do ev- erything right,” said Pierson. “That’s when we developed this quick course that takes out a lot of the medical terminology, while adding in information that applies specifi- cally to the hospitality sector, retail and small businesses.” See PROGRAM page 5A C elebrating Over 30 Years in Real Estate JIM HOBERG Broker/Owner 9 201 VOTED F BEST O E SIUSLAW NEWS READERS CHOICE WINNER Voted Best Realtor for 6 Years! F LO E N C R 1870 Hwy. 126, Suite A • PO Box 3040, Florence, OR
