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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 7, 2021)
SN THESIUSLAWNEWS.COM | SATURDAY EDITION | AUGUST 7, 2021 | $1.00 Now accepting new patients! Call today to schedule your appointment. 4480 Hwy 101, Suite G • Florence (541) 997-1251 • NovaHealth.com Siuslaw News Siuslaw News NEWS & VIEWS THAT DEFINE OUR COMMUNITY VOL. 131, NO. 63 A UGUST 7, 2021 F LORENCE , O REGON WEATHER Partly cloudy with a high of 67 and a low of 51. Full forecast on A3 Governor to require health care employees to verify vaccination status or submit to weekly COVID testing New health & safety rule intended to help prevent Delta variant spread SALEM—Oregon Gov. Kate Brown announced Aug. 4 that she has directed the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) to issue a rule outlining new, required health and safety measures for personnel in health care settings. The rule re- quires weekly COVID-19 testing for personnel in health care settings to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in health care settings, which can be waived with a proof of vaccination. The new rule will be issued this week and the requirement to be vaccinated or undergo weekly test- ing will apply starting Sept. 30. This “The more contagious Delta vari- and frontline health care workers. will give employers time to prepare ant has changed everything. This Protecting our frontline health care for implementation, and will give new safety measure is necessary to workers through vaccination will also enhance the safety of the pa- tients in their care,” said Brown. “Se- “This new safety measure is necessary to stop Del- vere illness from COVID-19 is now ta from causing severe illness among our first line of largely preventable, and vaccination is clearly our best defense. Vaccina- defense: our doctors, nurses, medical students and tion and weekly testing ensure Ore- frontline health care workers.” gonians can safely access health care — Oregon Gov. Kate Brown and employees can go to work in an environment that maximizes health currently unvaccinated health care stop Delta from causing severe illness and safety measures for COVID-19.” workers time to become fully vacci- among our first line of defense: our nated. doctors, nurses, medical students See COVID page 5A COMMUNITY Photos By Mark Brennan, Reina Harwood & Chantelle Meyer Siuslaw News Cat Rapper appears at OCHS today INSIDE — A3 SPORTS Together, again National Night Out brings together first responders, community O Kayak down the river INSIDE — B RECORDS Obituaries & emergency response logs Inside — A2 SIDE SHOW Activities and comics every Saturday Inside — B4 CLASSIFIEDS Listings and public notices Inside — B5 FOLLOW US FOR THE LATEST NEWS : /S IUSLAW N EWS @S IUSLAW N EWS T HE S IUSLAW N EWS . COM n Aug. 3, Florence Police Department hosted its third National Night Out at Miller Park, fol- By Chantelle Meyer lowing two suc- Siuslaw News cessful events in 2018 and 2019. National Night Out is a country-wide community-building campaign that pro- motes police-community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie. It is organized by the National Association of Town Watch. “It turned out great. We were pretty hap- py with it,” said Florence Police Command- er John Pitcher. More than 1,500 people attended, with the event serving more than 1,000 ham- burgers and hot dogs, along with chips, beverages, popcorn, cotton candy and BJ’s Ice Cream. The local event is planned each year by Florence Police Department Executive Ad- ministrative Assistant Jamie Gorder, who works with more than a dozen partner agen- cies to bring together the large-scale event. “Our community, city council and city management — everyone was waiting for the chance to come together, to be togeth- er again after the year that we’ve all had,” Gorder said. “To have the first opportuni- ty to bring that to the community was the big driving force for me. People wanted to do it. Once those mandates were lifted, our city council and city management, made it a big priority. ‘What can we do? What does the community want? How can we make this happen? What can we do to support the police department to make this hap- pen?’ It would not have happened without that support.” This year, the event came together in the six weeks since Oregon lifted many of the pandemic’s restrictions. “We didn’t have time to plan it the way that we have in the past,” Gorder said. “The city got behind it and people reached out to us. This was the first year that the Oregon Department of Forestry have reached out to us as first responders that wanted to be in- volved, so that was really neat.” See NIGHT OUT page 7A Council approves more annexations near Heceta Beach By Mark Brennan Siuslaw News S IUSLAW N EWS 2 S ECTIONS | 16 P AGES C OPYRIGHT 2021 The Florence City Council met on Aug. 7, with much of the ses- sion dedicated to planning related issues. In addition, the council bid farewell to departing City Recorder Kelli Weese. Weese’s service to the city was recognized at the beginning of the evening, with City Manag- er Erin Reynolds and Mayor Joe Henry presenting her a plaque and bouquet. Weese has been an employee of the City of Florence since 2008, when she started in the Planning Department. She has held various positions since, most recently as city recorder and economic devel- opment coordinator. Henry and Reynolds have both worked closely with Weese and spoke of her professionalism and dedication in their comments. “Personally, I’ve gotten to work with Kelli going on 10 years now, and she has always been a great ex- ample of the type of employee we want to represent our city,” Henry said. “She does a lot of things be- hind the scenes that she never gets any credit for, but it makes our city operate much more smoothly. She’s done a great job. … In terms of eco- nomic development, she has been very helpful in that area. I just want to say thank you very much.” Weese’s family members were in attendance and joined her at the dais as she thanked her colleagues and spoke of the opportunities af- forded her by the city. “I want to thank everyone. This is a wonderful place to grow and learn. I’ve worked at other com- munities where you are kind of pigeon-holed, but in Florence you really get to try and learn every- thing. That has been a wonderful experience for me,” she said. “To my co-workers, I just want to share a shout-out. I know how much you work and what sacrifices you make, See COUNCIL page 6A Save the heavy lifting for us! Atiyeh Bros. area rug cleaning and repair service to the Florence area will be August 25th , with return service September 8th and September 22nd for repair orders. We will pick up your rugs, deep clean them in our state of the art facility, repair if needed, and deliver to your home. Please call us at 541-342-3678 to schedule your pickup!