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Siuslaw News
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THESIUSLAWNEWS.COM | SATURDAY EDITION | AUGUST 14, 2021 | $1.00
Siuslaw National Forest initiates campfire ban
With fire danger continuing
to increase, Siuslaw National
Forest officials are enacting a
ban on all campfires across the
national forest, including in all
campgrounds and sand camps,
as of Friday, Aug. 13. This ban
serves to reduce the risk of hu-
man-caused wildfires, which are
the vast majority of fires in the
Coast Range and coast, at a time
when natural fuels are very dry
and resources to fight new fires
are stretched thin.
“It has been an extremely
dry and busy fire year already
in Oregon,” said Kevin Larkin,
acting forest supervisor. “With
so many fires burning in oth-
er parts of the region, resourc-
es to quickly address new fires
are becoming difficult to find.
With fire danger across the Siu-
slaw right now starting to look
like it did last Labor Day, when
the catastrophic Echo Mountain
fire took off in Lincoln County,
we’re asking for everyone’s help
to prevent new fires from getting
started.”
Lanterns and cooking stoves
that use liquid or bottled gas
fuel can still be used during the
Big shoes to fill
SPORTS
CALENDAR
With more than 55 years as an
athlete, coach, parent and spec-
tator, Lloyd Little shares what
he’s learned about sports from
his multiple points of view.
They Change the Rules
— Part II
Tide Tables
Low Tide
High Tide
Siuslaw’s boys and girls cross country teams, led by Coach Chris Johnson (far right),
hope to repeat their April 2021 wins at state this fall.
Siuslaw’s cross country team works to return to state
By Zeahna Young
Siuslaw News
August 14
5:38 a.m. / 5.0
11:39 a.m. / 1.0
6:01 p.m. / 6.4
August 15
12:55 a.m. / 0.5
6:52 a.m. / 4.5
12:29 p.m. / 1.6
6:51 p.m. / 6.5
August 16
2:06 a.m. / 0.3
8:18 a.m. / 4.3
1:30 p.m. / 2.2
7:50 p.m. / 6.5
August 17
3:19 a.m. / -0.1
9:48 a.m. / 4.4
2:46 p.m. / 2.6
8:55 p.m. / 6.6
August 18
4:27 a.m. / -0.4
11:05 a.m. / 4.7
4:04 p.m. / 2.6
10:01 p.m. / 6.7
After winning both state
titles for the 4A division in
cross country this past April,
Athletic Director and Coach
Chris Johnson hopes to con-
tinue his teams’ success this
season.
“I’d be lying if I didn’t tell
you that our goal is to go back
to the state championship
and win both again,” Johnson
said. “Obviously, we have a
couple of key losses. We lost
Brea Blankenship and Gra-
cie Freudenthal on the girls’
side, and we lost Jaxson Jen-
sen and Ryan Jennings on the
boys’ side. Ryan couldn’t run
at state [last April] because he
was injured, but he still had
a big impact on our team, so
those are all big shoes to fill.”
Fortunately for Johnson,
last year’s teams both had a
number of relatively young
runners who will bring that
experience to the fold this
year.
“Generally, with the second
year in a training cycle from
freshman year to sophomore
year, kids generally make
pretty big gains,” he said.
“Our younger kids were pret-
ty competitive last year.”
The boys’ team has several
strong and, as a result of last
year, seasoned athletes re-
turning this season.
“Dylan Jensen and Brayden
Linton had great state meets
for us, and Talan Ross is
coming on, and they’re all go-
ing to be sophomores,” said
Johnson. “Jacob Blankenship,
who’s a junior, was hurt a lit-
tle bit last year, and he’s look-
ing healthy now. Then we
have Chad and Kyle Hughes
and Sam Ulrich, and they are
all kids that could be in the
top 10.”
Hughes and Ulrich finished
eighth and ninth respectively
last April at State.
“So, we know nothing’s
ever easy, and there are pro-
grams around the state who
I’m sure are hungry, and the
last thing they want to see
is us to win again,” Johnson
said. “But we’re going to put
our best foot forward to try to
make that happen.”
Siuslaw’s girls’ team is also
looking promising despite
graduating two key members
this summer.
“On the girls’ side, Addison
and Macy McNeill are twin
sisters who are super talented
See PREVIEW page B2
5:27 a.m. / -0.8
12:04 p.m. / 5.0
SHS announces new coaches
5:14 p.m. / 2.4
11:03 p.m. / 6.9
Football, cross country get help from familiar figures
August 19
August 20
6:20 a.m. / -1.0
12:52 p.m. / 5.4
6:13 p.m. / 2.1
August 21
12:00 a.m. / 7.0
7:07 a.m. / -1.2
1:33 p.m. / 5.7
7:05 p.m. / 1.7
August 22
12:51 a.m. / 7.0
7:49 a.m. / -1.1
2:11 p.m. / 5.9
7:52 p.m. / 1.4
August 23
1:39 a.m. / 6.9
8:29 a.m. / -0.9
2:47 p.m. / 6.0
8:38 p.m. / 1.1
August 24
2:24 a.m. / 6.6
9:05 a.m. / -0.6
3:20 p.m. / 6.1
9:21 p.m. / 1.0
August 25
3:08 a.m. / 6.2
9:40 a.m. / -0.1
3:53 p.m. / 6.1
10:05 p.m. / 0.9
August 26
3:53 a.m. / 5.7
10:14 a.m. / 0.5
4:26 p.m. / 6.0
10:50 p.m. / 0.9
August 27
4:40 a.m. / 5.2
10:48 a.m. / 1.1
4:59 p.m. / 5.9
11:38 p.m. / 0.9
Time
Out
By Lloyd Little
Retired teacher, coach and
game official
To add your
activity’s summer
sports schedule,
email Sports
Reporter Zeahna
Young at zyoung@
thesiuslawnews.com
Entrance Siuslaw River
campfire ban; open flames with
no on/off switch, such as tiki
torches and candles, are not per-
mitted while the ban is in effect.
Other restrictions, listed below
and put into place last month, are
intended to prevent accidental
fires; these restrictions continue
to be in place along with the new
campfire ban.
See CAMPFIRE page B3
By Zeahna Young
Siuslaw News
“Siuslaw High School is
excited to announce that we
have hired Nick Johnson as
an assistant football coach
and also hired Amy Flora as
an assistant cross country
coach,” said Athletic Director
(AD) and Coach Chris John-
son.
First, Nick Johnson will be
coming on staff to help head
coach Sam Johnson with the
football program.
According to Chris, “Nick
has been with the program
for the past few years as a vol-
unteer. He is also a Siuslaw
High School assistant basket-
ball coach. Nick played high
school and college football.”
Flora, who will be Siuslaw’s
new Elementary School Prin-
cipal this year, also happens
to be Chris’s wife. After years
of commuting between Flor-
ence and the Coquille School
District where she was previ-
ously working, Flora will be
able to fully immerse herself
in the Florence community
with this new administrative
position. In turn, she will add
a great deal of experience
to the cross country team’s
coaching staff.
“Flora has been a cross
country and track and field
coach in some capacity for
over 20 years,” Chris said.
“She was a five-time state
champion in high school, a
state record holder in the 800
and 1500 when she graduat-
ed from Myrtle Point in 1993
and she was also a two-time
Junior Olympic National
Champion in the 1500 while
in high school. After high
school, she went on to run at
the University of Washing-
ton.”
Flora is new on staff this
year to the Siuslaw School
District; however, she is a
native to Oregon and has
had Siuslaw on her radar for
some time as both an athlete
and a coach.
“I consider myself some-
what local, just because I
grew up on the south coast,”
said Flora.
When she was in high
school, she used to compete
against Siuslaw High School.
Afterwards, “I started my
teaching and coaching ca-
reer down in the Port Or-
ford-Langlois School Dis-
trict and I taught down there
for several years,” she said.
“Then, I went to Bandon and
was teaching and coaching
there as well.”
Flora’s experiences as a
volunteer and coach after
high school eventually led
her to her meeting Chris.
“I met Chris when he first
came to Siuslaw as a coach,
just through working at the
Steens Mountain Running
Camp,” said Flora. “I was a
camper at that when I was in
high school, and then I went
back as a coach, and in col-
lege I was a counselor there.
So, our paths crossed in the
coaching world a long time
ago.”
Flora coached multiple
sports at Bandon over the
years, including middle
school basketball and fast-
pitch softball at Bandon High
School.
“Cross country and track
were my main things,” she
added. “Once I decided to
become an administrator, I
spent one year as the Dean of
Students and the AD at Ban-
don High School as well.”
At the time, Flora was
commuting between Flor-
ence and Bandon, which
took away the time that
would have been required to
be a full-time coach.
“I didn’t coach when I
was the AD there, official-
ly, but my kids were com-
ing up through sports and I
volunteered as a parent,” she
said. “Once I became an ad-
ministrator, my capacity as a
coach always went to volun-
teer, just because I’ve com-
muted a lot.”
See COACH page B2
The people who invent a sports
game are very creative. They de-
vise the game to be interesting, fun
and competitive. They have tried
to envision a game that may last a
long time.
Today, we see sports played for
over decades that evolved to meet
the new athletes’ abilities. New
events were added to the Olym-
pics. New sports and games are be-
ing created each day. As technolo-
gy has increased productivity, the
time available for leisure activities
has also increased. The increase
of these competitive sports and
games can be seen on sports-only
television channels.
When my baseball playing days
began, there was no designated hit-
ter rule. This rule has altered the
strategies of baseball managers.
In fact, baseball has changed
very little through time. The play-
ers have become bigger, faster and
stronger, but the dimensions of
their field remain the same. Only
the outfield is different, as cities
built their parks with available
space.
One thing needs to be done in
Major League Baseball — all teams
need to play by the same rules. The
baseball purist might argue the re-
cords of teams with designated hit-
ters are offensively more productive,
See RULES page B3
Local salmon,
trout program
recognized
by ODFW
On Aug. 9, the Florence STEP
(Salmon Trout Enhancement Pro-
gram) group found out it had been
selected as the 2020 Dave Liscia
Award Recipient from the Oregon
Department of Fish and Wildlife
(ODFW).
The Annual Pride/Dave Liscia
Awards are normally presented
during the August ODFW Com-
mission meeting. This year, they
will be presented at the Sept. 17
commission meeting, which will
be held as a virtual meeting, using
Zoom as the platform.
ODFW Director Curt Melcher
will share a few key points about
each recipient during the presenta-
tions.
According to the ODFW Direc-
tor’s Office, the reason Florence
STEP was nominated for the Dave
Liscia Award was because:
• The magnitude of the work they
do and their contributions to the
department.
• The number of volunteers and
number of hours contributed.
• The wide range of activities
they participate in; collect/spawn
broodstock, organize work parties,
lead multiple angler education
events and much more.
• They represent ODFW very
well in their numerous interactions
with the public.
See STEP page B3