SN
SATURDAY EDITION | MAY 29, 2021 | $1.00
THESIUSLAWNEWS.COM
Memorial
Day
And when they do,
we’re here in Florence.
Monday, May 31
Siuslaw News joins other
Florence businesses in
honoring Memorial Day
by closing the office.
4480 Hwy 101, Suite G · 541.997.1251
Siuslaw News
Walk-ins welcome -or- schedule online at novahealth.com
Committee names Future First Citizen of Florence
Siuslaw News
NEWS &
VIEWS THAT
DEFINE OUR
COMMUNITY
By Chantelle Meyer
Siuslaw News
This year, six Siuslaw High School
seniors were nominated to be the
Future First Citizen of Florence. The
award, given annually by the Flor-
ence Area Chamber of Commerce,
recognizes a student based on their
academic leadership and success
as well as civic involvement and
contributions to the community. It
includes the Marteen Wick Future
First Citizen Scholarship for $2,500.
The chamber normally names
the winning student at the Siuslaw
Awards, which also honors business-
es, volunteers and the First Citizen of
Florence Award. This year, however,
Siuslaw School District announced
the nominees during the 2021 Siu-
slaw Regional Scholarship Awards
Ceremony held virtually on Friday,
VOL. 131, NO. 43
M AY 29, 2021
F LORENCE , O REGON
WEATHER
Partly sunny
with a high of 63
and a low of 47.
Full forecast on A3
COMMUNITY
gional Scholarship Awards for more
information on the Future First Cit-
izen nominees by going to www.
siuslaw.k12.or.us/o/siuslaw-high-
school.
Siuslaw High School senior
Jessica South earns Marteen Wick
Future First Citizen Scholarship
May 28.
The nominated students were
Brea Blankenship, Elijah Blanken-
ship, Jacob Foskett, Maxwell Klump,
Andrea Osbon and Jessica South.
“They are all wonderful. We know
that,” the selection committee said
of the nominated students. “They all
deserve to be chosen as Future First
Citizen.”
Siuslaw High School Counselor
Steve Moser echoed this.
“We had a pool of incredibly
strong candidates this year. Ulti-
mately, the winner is an excellent
choice in their own right,” he said.
The committee read the students’
applications and considered their
classwork, as well as their school ex-
periences, activities and community
service, as they came to a decision,
which they announced this morn-
ing.
The Future First Citizen winner is
Jessica South.
“Jessica has made Florence, the
high school and the Siuslaw School
District so proud,” Moser said. “This
is a huge, life-changing honor for
her as she is truly recognized for her
hard work and who she is.”
People can watch the Siuslaw Re-
Future First Citizen Jessica South
Jessica plans to attend Corban Uni-
versity to study secondary education.
“Every year I see amazing teachers
and each one has something special
they add to their work. … I see how
hard they work to help us thrive, and
it makes me want to give back. In a
way, I consider it continuing their
legacy,” she said.
Jessica’s interests and activities in-
clude art and pottery, cooking, bowl-
ing, family, church and volunteering,
especially through the Christian Mo-
torcycle Association, Interact, Key
Club and National Honors Society.
See NOMINEES page 5A
Boardwalk beautification
Teens receive
Care Kits
INSIDE — A3
Siuslaw News
Community
Voices
INSIDE — A8-A9
SPORTS
PHOTOS BY CHANTELLE/SIUSLAW NEWS
T
hanks to a grant from Travel Oregon, the Port of Siuslaw Boardwalk
now has six new picnic tables and additional recycling bins. The
$44,161 grant went to both the port and the City of Florence for addition-
al seating areas, trash receptacles and bike racks in Historic Old Town
Florence and along the Port of Siuslaw’s Boardwalk. The city encouraged
Old Town visitors to get their meals to go and enjoy the view of the docks
this Memorial Day weekend.
Lending color to the end of the
school year with the Color-A-Thon
Siuslaw News Editor receives award
for Excellence in Journalism
T HE S IUSLAW N EWS . COM
S IUSLAW N EWS
2 S ECTIONS | 18 P AGES
C OPYRIGHT 2021
Y
L
O
P
O
-
E
C
N
E
On Sale
FLOR
$
9
Modeled after the world famous board game, Florence-Opoly is customized to our great city.
Fun for the whole family!
Siuslaw News • 148 Maple Street • Old Town Florence or call 541-997-3441
24.
each
9
ay 101 m
Highw
1749 trhunter.co
www.
@S IUSLAW N EWS
Kingwood and 15th street and is
approximately 3.1 miles long.
At 8:15 a.m., DJ Al will start the
fun with pre-warm-up running
music. This is also where the colors
really start flying as people get the
chance to douse race participants
in clouds of powdered color.
The color dust is made of corn-
starch and dye and is safe, non-tox-
ic and completely washable. In fact,
Oregon’s rain often does most of
the cleanup along the race route.
See COLOR page 6A
...
/S IUSLAW N EWS
This competition is one of the
largest of its kind in the nation.
It honors journalists across SPJ
Region 10, which covers Alaska,
Washington, Idaho, Montana and
Oregon. Journalists sent in more
than 3,000 submissions to the con-
test.
Hickson has won awards sever-
al times in his past 23 years as a
journalist, but there is something
different about winning this time.
“The timing of this is special,”
he said. “I found out about this in
the last couple weeks before I head
out.”
See AWARD page 6A
s,
LATEST NEWS :
On May 19, the Oregon Chapter
of the Society of Professional Jour-
nalists (SPJ) announced its 2020
Northwest Excellence in Journal-
ism Contest winners. Among those
was a first-place win for Editor Ned
Hickson and a series of editorials
he wrote over the year.
The editorials were built around
the investigative series written by
Siuslaw News staff from August to
October. They won the small news-
room division’s editorial and com-
mentary writing.
In a Twitter post announcing
the winners, Greater Oregon SPJ
stated, “Congratulations Siuslaw
News for your winning entry in this
year’s SPJ Region 10 Excellence in
Journalism Contest!”
at
FOLLOW US FOR THE
Florence’s most colorful
event returns this year with
the Siuslaw School District’s
fourth annual Color-A-Thon
Community 5K Run/Walk
on Saturday, June 5.
“I am super, super excited. I
think this year more than in the
years past,” said event organizer
Crystal Osburn, Siuslaw Elementa-
ry School’s health aide.
The Color-A-Thon starts and
ends at the Siuslaw Middle School
parking lot, 2525 Oak St. The race
starts at 9 a.m., with $30 same-day
registration from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m.
This is when people can pick up
their T-shirts and color packets
while supplies last.
The route travels along 27th,
us
Listings and public
notices
Inside — B5
By Chantelle Meyer
Siuslaw News
Vis
it
By Chantelle Meyer
Siuslaw News
CLASSIFIEDS
disc
ho over
me vi
inte ntag
rio e clo
rs,
an thin
d co g,
ok an�q
ies! ue
Activities and
comics every
Saturday
Inside — B4
...to
SIDE SHOW
ibrary.or
iuslawL
www.S 97-31 32
541-9
Obituaries &
emergency
response logs
Inside — A2
OUT
CHECK S.)
(WE EVEN GAME
BOARD
g
RECORDS
rd
aboa
g
Climb
readin
ad!
the real
railro
Wrestlers take to the
mat
INSIDE — B
Framing
es
Fram ence
Quality
Custom
of Flor
• Mirrors
s • Needlework
• Watercolors
Shadowboxe
Photography
Oils •
43
97-20 G
541-9
101, Suite
Hwy.
2285
OR 97439
Florence,