SIUSLAW NEWS | WEDNESDAY, MARCH 10, 2021 | 5A
ELECTION from page 1A
Local Candidate
Filings:
• Mapleton School
District-#32 — three
positions
• Siuslaw School
District- #97J — three
positions
• Mapleton Fire
Department — three
positions
• Siuslaw Valley Fire
and Rescue — two
positions
• Mapleton Water Dis-
trict — two positions
• Swisshome-Dead-
wood RFPD — three
positions
• Siuslaw Public
Library District — three
positions
• Port of Siuslaw —
four positions
• Western Lane Am-
bulance District — three
positions
Go to lanecounty.org/
elections for more infor-
mation.
COURTESY PHOTO
RISK from page 1A
On March 12, this will
mean:
• Eating and drinking es-
tablishments: indoor din-
ing is allowed with 50 per-
cent capacity; indoor tables
can have a maximum of six
people; outdoor dining can
have a maximum of eight
people
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• Entertainment estab-
lishments: indoor capacity
can have 50 percent capaci-
ty up to 100 people
• Indoor recreation and
fitness: indoor capacity can
have 50 percent capacity
up to 100 people; indoor
full-contact sports still pro-
hibited
• Outdoor recreation and
fitness: outdoor full-con-
tact sports can resume
• Retail stores: up to 70
percent capacity, though
curbside pick-up is still rec-
ommended
Lane County Economic
Development Management
Analyst Jenna Cusimano
sent out the updated guide-
lines Tuesday morning to
area businesses and entre-
preneurs.
“While the downward
trend in cases and the roll-
out of vaccines in Oregon
are encouraging signs, it
will take time to reach the
level of community immu-
nity we need to fully return
to normal life,” she said.
“Until vaccines are widely
available with high par-
ticipation rates, the sur-
est way to move towards
reopening our businesses
is to continue practicing
health and safety mea-
sures. Thank you to each
of you who have worked
so diligently to keep your
staff and customers safe
and healthy.”
Additionally, the gover-
nor introduced a new cau-
tion period for counties
shifting back to higher risk
levels.
Beginning this week
and continuing until fur-
ther notice, counties that
reduced their COVID-19
spread enough to move
down in risk level in the
previous two-week period,
but see their numbers go
back up in the next two-
week period, will be given
a two-week caution period
to bring COVID-19 case
rates back down again. In
this cycle, this includes
Jackson and Malheur
counties.
The caution period will
allow counties to re-focus
efforts to drive back down
creeping case numbers,
and give local business-
es additional certainty on
their plans for operating.
If, at the end of the caution
period, case rate data still
puts the county at a higher
risk level, the county will
move to that level.
“We still have more work
to do before we reach the
level of community-wide
protection we need in or-
der to return to a sense
of normalcy,” Brown cau-
tioned. “I encourage all
Oregonians to keep it up
and to get your vaccine
when it’s available to you.”
The Oregon Health Au-
thority examines and pub-
lishes county data weekly,
with county risk levels re-
assigned every two weeks.
The first week’s data will
provide a “warning week”
to prepare counties for
potential risk level chang-
es. The next assignment
of risk levels will be an-
nounced March 23 and
take effect March 26.
Updates to Warning
Week data and county risk
levels will be posted to
coronavirus.oregon.gov.
FINE from page 1A
there were 22 Oregonians
who stayed at Le Chateau
Inn who were identified
by ODJ as victims of the
offense, and they will be
receiving restitution in the
amount of $2,188.
In response to the ODJ
charges, Bhupen Khalasi,
who identified himself as
the owner of Le Chateau,
made a brief but impas-
sioned statement to the
Siuslaw News.
“My comments are sim-
ple: the government is try-
ing to screw me. This is un-
fair, and I will say it again,
the government is trying
to screw me,” Khalasi said.
“We did nothing wrong
here. This is the way we
always do business. It is a
seasonal business. We ad-
just our prices depending
on demand, just like every
other hotel or motel.”
However, the comments
made by ODJ regarding the
duty of the office to pursue
allegations of misconduct
in this area were clear.
“These fires were tragic
and our state really suf-
fered. Through this settle-
ment, my hope is that we
are able to provide at least
a little comfort for these
families who have already
been through so much,”
Rosenblum said. “We are
also trying our best to
make it clear that Oregon
businesses shouldn’t try to
take advantage of people
during difficult times. Our
laws protect against this
type of conduct and my
office intends to enforce
them.”
Anyone with more infor-
mation or who thinks they
may have fallen victim to
a similar fraud or a scam
is asked to contact the Or-
egon Department of Jus-
tice online at www.oregon
consumer.gov or call the
state consumer hotline at
877-877-9392.
The ODJ also shared
pricing information from
the businesses, which ODJ
personnel said indicated
an intentional effort to take
advantage of the situation.
According to ODJ, Le
Chateau Inn typically
charged between $89 to
$125 per night for one
room. ODJ’s investigation
found at least 18 rooms for
which the hotel raised the
price more than 15 per-
cent. This is in direct vi-
olation of Brown’s special
order.
During the wildfires,
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lic recently from the FCC’s
Rural Digital Opportunity
Fund, or the RDOF, a pro-
gram to help encourage the
development of high-speed
internet to rural parts of
America. Local technology
services and fiber internet
provider Hyak was award-
ed $1.6M to serve areas of
the Siuslaw region outside
of Florence and Mapleton,
such as North Fork Road,
Indian Creek, Swisshome,
Brickerville and Sweet
ere
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esse
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generally served by satellite
only today or limited DSL
that no longer meets the
definition of broadband.
According to Hyak COO
Neil Ecker, “This represents
a significant investment in
the outlying areas of Flor-
ence and Mapleton that
we’re excited to make. Fed-
eral support of these high-
cost areas means we’re now
able to deliver our gigabit
fiber internet to some of
the most rural portions of
western Lane County.”
Of the 386 qualified bid-
ders in the program, 180
entities were successful
in their bids. “The RDOF
program is a great solution
community to create op-
portunities for families that
live in our outlying areas,”
said Robbie Wright, CEO
of Hyak. “Access to quality
internet has become even
more important with dis-
tance learning and remote
work as the current pan-
demic continues to shape
how our rural communi-
ties can operate. We want
to help build a community
where our kids can choose
to live and work here. We
can’t do that without nu-
merous factors, including
affordable housing and
quality internet.”
While the RDOF pro-
gram counts 554 locations
Hyak, it is estimated rough-
ly 1,200 homes could have
the option to connect to
fiber as the project contin-
ues.
“We have quite a bit of
work in front of us,” Wright
added. “We’re looking at
more than 80 miles of fi-
ber to be deployed with re-
quirements to be built out
to 40 percent within three
years and 100 percent in
six years. While we’d like
to expedite those timelines,
some of these areas are
pretty remote with some
challenging aspects of their
build.”
For more info, visit
https://hyak.co/rdof.