6A | WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2021 | SIUSLAW NEWS
EDITOR from page 1A
on nearly seven years of ex-
perience with the paper.
“It is a big deal,” she said.
“I’m very excited about it
and I acknowledge the huge
responsibility behind it.”
Finding Florence
Meyer has lived in Lane
County for most of her life in
small communities like Ve-
neta and Fall Creek.
Bitten early by a drive to
pen her thoughts, she ma-
jored in English and mi-
nored in communications
at Concordia University in
Portland, then went on to
earn a Master of Fine Arts
degree in children’s literature
at Hollins University in Roa-
noke, Va.
One day, family friend
Cindy Wobbe mentioned
Florence’s local paper was in
need of a writer.
At this time, Meyer was
still looking for “her life’s
purpose,” she said. “My big
goal was that I wanted a job
where I could write.”
Meyer had worked with
both her high school and
college newspapers, so was
already versed in skills such
as page layout, photography
and article writing, so had a
sense of what a community
paper might require.
Six to eight weeks of
newspaper experience also
seemed a good way to get the
ball rolling on her writing
career.
In May 2014, Meyer start-
ed as an intern at the Siuslaw
News, writing a story or two
here and there while helping
put the paper together each
week.
On the last day of her in-
ternship, the Siuslaw Public
Library was holding its an-
nual summer reading finale
event. Because all other re-
porters were busy, the editor
at the time, Theresa Baer,
asked Meyer if she could
cover the story.
“I was thinking, ‘Well,
technically, I’m done at
noon, but I can go,’” Meyer
recalled.
Meyer grabbed her cam-
era and set out to cover the
event.
“And it was really my first
on-the-ground experience,”
she said. “Anytime some-
body comes into the office
and says, ‘Hey, I have a story
for you. Come with me now,’
journalists just hop up and
do it. So that was that mo-
ment for me.”
Despite it being her last
day in town, Meyer found
herself connecting with the
people at the event as she
caught moments of children
enjoying face painting, water
slides and free books. That
day, Meyer typed up the sto-
ry, handed it in and left Flor-
ence.
Back in eastern Lane
County, she was staying with
her family as her grand-
mother had been diagnosed
with a terminal illness.
Around this time, Baer let
Meyer know she was retir-
ing from the editor position
and the paper would soon
be needing another reporter.
Meyer was at the top of the
list.
However, Meyer declined
in order to support her fam-
ily and care for her grand-
mother. Shortly after, her
grandmother passed.
In January, the newspaper
contacted Meyer again, let-
ting her know that she was
still the top pick for the pa-
per’s new reporter.
This time, Meyer felt she
was ready.
“Nothing was holding me
back from walking through,
so I took this step,” she said.
“So, my first and only career
after completing my gradu-
ate degree has been working
at the paper.”
A Reporter in Motion
Meyer’s new chapter start-
ed just as the City of Flor-
ence, too, was in transition.
One of her first assignments
was on the city beat, covering
the changes to the little mu-
nicipality.
The same week Meyer
started in 2015, Joe Henry
was sworn in as mayor; at
her first city council meeting,
a new city manager (which
would end up being Erin
Reynolds) was proposed
to be hired; and Florence’s
now-familiar “A City in Mo-
tion” slogan was launched.
Movement and growth
were thematic to the time,
Meyer recalled.
“We were all starting at the
beginning of 2015 around
the same time, so it was a
really fun energy in Florence
at the time, just a really fun
forward momentum,” she
said. “And I got to be part of
that and write about it — to
the point that they referred
to me as the ‘good news re-
porter.’”
Looking back, Meyer attri-
butes the positive response
to her reporting partially to
being a fresh arrival on the
scene.
“There was zero outside
knowledge — just what you
are observing as a journalist,”
she said.
Gradually, as she covered
more issues, Meyer found
that she could even touch on
the contentious topics with
finesse and tact.
“It became a very big deal
to be sure that our cover-
age was neutral and politics
weren’t part of it. It’s just
reporting on the facts,” she
explained. “Journalistic in-
tegrity is huge. You’ve got
to have that and the ethics
behind it.”
Per her creative writing
background, Meyer was nat-
urally drawn to feature writ-
ing, though.
Once a month, the Siu-
slaw News puts out a special
section such as its Midcoast
Wave Visitors’ Guide, Busi-
ness Profile, School Zone or
senior guide.
The editor at the time,
Ryan Cronk, was responsi-
ble for much of the special
section output, but Meyer
gradually began taking over
these tasks.
“So even though I was
a reporter, I started do-
ing more and more of the
special sections,” she said.
“That’s when you get to do
the fun page layout, the cool
font or get to do a feature
story, which is different than
our feature sections.”
Building Bridges,
Cultivating Community
In 2016, Cronk stepped
away from the Siuslaw News
and Ned Hickson, who had
been the sports editor for the
past 18 years, stepped up to
take over as editor. But he
came in with a different plan
for the newsroom — part of
which was promoting Meyer
to features editor and a reli-
able second-in-command,
allowing Hickson to focus
more on the newsroom and
expand its reporting.
The arrangement played
off of each of their strengths,
with Meyer managing final
proofing and page layout
while getting to focus on her
love for feature writing.
See FUTURE page 7A
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Safe Shelter for Siuslaw Students and
Safe Families for Children brings you...
Dear Florence Community,
May 15th is United States Armed Forces day. Next Saturday! As a 20
year resident of Florentine HOA, I have always flown my Air Force flag
as a token of respect and remembrance. Recently, residents of Floren-
tine Estates received notification through our monthly newsletter stat-
ing that the State of Oregon Flag and all other flags including Armed
Services flags, are banned from being displayed and flown. The noti-
fication also stated that Residents in violation will be cited, and fined!
Resident protest letters, and emails remain unanswered, contributing
to much frustration!
This position taken by the board seems ludicrous since Florentine
is chartered under Oregon law. In addition, Florence is a Coast Guard
City!
And during this covid laden year we read numerous accounts of
United States Navy,Army,Marines contributions of help to numerous
communities. Too numerous to count! The Florence Community and
Paper have always supported our Military in many ways.
The American Flag Act of 2005 Assures that we can fly Old Glory in
her present and past forms without intrusion! The purpose of my letter
is asking that the Florence Community request Oregon State Lawmak-
ers to pass similar legislation assuring that Oregon Citizens can display
and fly the State of Oregon flags as well as Federal Military flags as
deemed fit. Florida, which is lush in HOAs has already done so!
I would welcome suggestions and especially!!!!!!!, help from any and
all that have the same positive regard for our military branches and
their flags of honor and identity! Please feel free to contact me.
Delmer(Del)Neeley
850 Munsel Creek Loop
Florence, OR 97439 Phone 541-991-0415 dasn7@msn.com
Questions? Call Suzanne at (541) 590-0779