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S PECIAL M AGAZINE I NSIDE
Gov. Brown extends COVID-19 State of Emergency
Siuslaw News
NEWS &
VIEWS THAT
DEFINE OUR
COMMUNITY
On Friday, Governor Kate Brown extended the State of Emergency until May 2
SALEM — Oregon Gov. Kate
Brown extended her declaration of
a state of emergency for COVID-19
for 60 days, until May 2.
The declaration is the legal un-
derpinning for the governor’s
COVID-19 executive orders and the
Oregon Health Authority’s (OHA)
health and safety guidance. Ex-
tending the state of emergency also
helps ensure Oregon is able to fully
utilize available federal COVID-19
VOL. 131, NO. 17
F EBRUARY 27, 2021
F LORENCE , O REGON
WEATHER
relief and assistance, including as-
sistance with vaccine distribution.
“When I issued my first state of
emergency declaration last March,
there were 14 known cases of
COVID-19 in Oregon,” Brown said.
“Today, we have now seen more
than 150,000 cases across the state,
and, sadly, 2,194 deaths.”
The governor reviews and reeval-
uates each of her emergency orders
every 60 days. Oregon has been in
this state for almost a year due to
the global COVID-19 pandemic.
“Throughout the pandemic, Or-
egonians have made smart choices
that have protected our families and
loved ones, and saved thousands of
lives,” Brown said. “We helped our
doctors, nurses, and health care
workers from being overwhelmed
last spring, and again during the
winter surge. Our infection and
mortality rates have consistent-
ly remained some of the lowest in
the country. And, for the first time,
COVID-19 critical care units are
seeing fewer and fewer patients.”
Some of this is due to the vacci-
nation process now at work across
the state.
“As we vaccinate thousands
of Oregonians each day and re-
open more school buildings and
See
Two local eateries fined a combined $35,950
Cloudy and cold
with a high of 48
and a low of 37.
Full forecast on A3
Citing ‘willful violations, OSHA fines Little Brown Hen and Firehouse
COMMUNITY
EXTENSION 5A
Mapleton
schools continue
moving forward
to re-opening
By Chantelle Meyer
Siuslaw News
Local movie theater
prepares to re-open
INSIDE — A3
SPORTS
“Most employers are choosing to do the right thing ... As for those
relative few employers who are working against our shared project
to defeat this disease, we will continue our enforcement work in the
interest of accountability.”
— Oregon OSHA Administrator Michael Wood
indoor seating of up to 25 percent
of normal seating capacity became
allowable following Lane County’s
new lower “high-risk” designation,
wo Florence businesses, the
down from “extreme risk.”
Little Brown Hen and Fire-
The circumstances surrounding
house Restaurant, were fined the issuance of citations with such
a total of $35,950 this past week by
high fines is unusual. The Brown
the Oregon Office of Occupational Hen was fined $17,800 and Fire-
Safety and Health Administration
house was fined $18,150.
(OSHA) for violations of work-
According to officials, the man-
place standards designed to protect ner in which the violations was
employees from the coronavirus
handled by the business owners
disease.
was one of the critical factors in the
Oregon OSHA is a division of
assessment of the fines, as was the
the Department of Consumer and
“antagonistic” response to OSHA
Business Services and is tasked
inspectors.
with enforcing the state’s workplace
“Oregon OSHA fined The New
safety and health rules.
Blue Hen [Little Brown Hen]
Separate citations were issued to
$17,800 for willfully continuing
both restaurants, ironically just days to potentially expose workers to
prior to an easing of the restrictions the coronavirus disease. It did so
by state authorities on indoor din-
despite knowing it was violating
ing; beginning yesterday (Feb. 26),
a public health order limiting the
By Mark Brennan
Siuslaw News
Siuslaw, Mapleton
volleyball set to serve
T
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capacity for indoor dining to zero
in an ‘extreme risk’ county,” said
OSHA Public Information Officer
Aaron Corvin. “The fine was the
result of an inspection opened in re-
sponse to multiple complaints. The
inspection was carried out despite
several people — including one car-
rying a firearm — who blocked the
business’ entrance and threatened
compliance officers.”
Using his discretionary authority
under state law, Oregon OSHA Ad-
ministrator Michael Wood imposed
the $17,800 penalty — twice the
minimum penalty — due to what
OSHA deemed as the Brown Hen’s
“willful violation.”
Corvin also pointed to the need
to ensure a more appropriate de-
terrent where employers insist on
disregarding public health
See
Mapleton School District
Board of Directors met for
its regular session on Feb.
17, with the board meeting
over Zoom and the public
able to watch via YouTube.
There were several appear-
ances from district students
along with the agenda.
The big news for the dis-
trict is the return of students
to campus, with Mapleton
Elementary operating in a
hybrid mode of onsite learn-
ing and days at home. Next
week, Mapleton will begin
to bring back its middle and
high school students start-
ing Wednesday, with 11th
and 12th grade.
Mapleton School District
Superintendent said the dis-
trict can now begin to bring
in additional grade levels
due to the lowering met-
rics of COVID-19 cases in
Lane County. As of Friday,
the county shifted from “ex-
treme risk” to “high risk” for
the first time since the state
announced the new metric
system in November.
“The trend is down, and
Lane County Public Health
has indicated that they’re
hopeful that the trend
will continue to go down,”
O’Mara said. “That has
dropped us this week into
the onsite and hybrid mod-
el. That was our hope in the
beginning, when we set the
OSHA 8A
MAPLETON 6A
See
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Siuslaw News • 148 Maple Street • Old Town Florence or call 541-997-3441
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Resolutions PC 20 32 ANN 02
along with PC 20 33 ZC 03 were
then both introduced as discussion
topics as both dealt with the annex-
ation request and a zoning change
for the property.
City Senior Planner Roxanne
Johnston reviewed the timeline of
the project, along with additional
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three years.
Murphey opened the meeting
leading the group through the first
couple of agenda items before turn-
ing the meeting over to newly elect-
ed Chairperson, Phil Tarvin.
After Tarvin was confirmed,
Commissioner Sandy Young was
unanimously selected as the vice-
chair after a brief discussion among
commissioners.
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This was a busy week for City of
Florence staff and volunteers serv-
ing on committees, agencies and
as commission members, as there
were three meetings scheduled, in
addition to Monday’s City Council
session, which required member at-
tendance.
Chief among this week’s commit-
tee meetings was that of the Flor-
ence Planning Commission (PC),
which met on Tuesday with consid-
eration of the annexation of a sin-
gle residential property to consider,
along with housekeeping associated
with selecting a new Chairperson
and Vice-Chairperson as now for-
mer Chairperson John Murphey
has been serving in that position for
ibrary.or
iuslawL
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By Mark Brennan
Siuslaw News
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Planning Commission discusses annexation, appoints new chair
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