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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
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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!