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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 8, 2021)
SIUSLAW NEWS | WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2021 | 5A DISTRICT from page 1A that congressional repre- sentatives be apportioned to the states on the basis of population. There are 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. Each state is allotted a portion of these seats based on the size of its population relative to the other states. Consequently, a state may gain seats in the House if its population grows or lose seats if its population decreases, relative to pop- ulations in other states. In 1964, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Wesberry v. Sanders that the popu- lations of House districts must be equal “as nearly as practicable.” In Oregon, congressional and state legislative district lines are drawn by the state legislature. District lines are subject to veto by the gov- ernor. MEETING from page 1A Live at https://bit.ly/97JYou- TubeChannel. Sneddon said a commu- nity member came up with the idea of holding a meet- ing at the grandstands, and the board decided it could work. School district staff If the legislature fails to establish a redistricting plan for state legislative districts, it falls to the sec- retary of state to draw the boundaries. Oregon cur- rently has five Congressio- nal Districts, and all will be examined and potentially redrawn as a result of this process, while a sixth is go- ing to be added. U.S. Census Bureau fig- ures from 2021 show the state’s population increased by 10 percent over the past decade to more than 4.2 million, enough to give it an additional congressional district for the first time in 40 years. “It is exciting that we will gain an additional seat in Congress and Orego- nians’ voices will be better represented in Washing- ton D.C.,” said state Sen. Kathleen Taylor, a Portland Democrat who is the Senate Redistricting Chair. The addition of this seat would normally create an advantage for the state’s ruling party, but in this instance the Democrats reached an agreement to share the redistricting re- sponsibilities equally with Republicans in exchange for a commitment from Re- publican lawmakers to stop delaying Democratic legis- lative initiatives. That agreement allows for each party to have three members on the state’s re- districting committees and, if no agreement can be reached on U.S. Con- gressional boundaries, the redistricting boundaries would be determined by a panel of five judges, one from each of the state’s cur- rent districts. The members of the Redistricting Committee are co-chairs Rep. Shelly Boshart Davis and Rep. Andrea Salinas, along with representatives Daniel Bon- ham, Winsvey Campos, Khanh Pham and House Republican Leader Chris- tine Drazan. “Now that we have equal representation on the redis- tricting committee, our leg- islative and congressional districts will be drawn in a way that avoids political gerrymandering,” said Dra- zan, a Canby Republican. “Our current maps have favored one political party over another for the past 20 years, but Oregonians can be confident that this sixth congressional district will be drawn according to the rules to give people fair representation.” State law requires that congressional and state leg- islative districts meet the following criteria: • Districts must be con- tiguous. • Districts must “utilize existing geographic or po- litical boundaries.” • Districts should not “divide communities of common interest.” • Districts should “be connected by transporta- tion links.” • Districts “must not be drawn for the purpose of favoring a political party, incumbent or other per- son.” The initial proposal from Democrats to redraw the states districts focuses on counties which have higher rates of population growth, such as Washington Coun- ty and the Salem region of the state. Republicans were focused more on the sixth congres- sional district, with an eye towards reducing the area of districts currently represented by Earl Blu- menauer and Peter De- Fazio, increasing them to include more Repub- lican strongholds in ru- ral areas of the state. The proposed placement of the six congressional dis- trict was not discussed by the committee members, who met remotely by video on Sept. 3. A series of virtual public hearings about redrawing the districts will start today, Sept. 8. Under an order from the Oregon Supreme Court, lawmakers have until Sept. 27 to submit maps. If they cannot pass a plan, or a plan they do pass is vetoed by the governor, Secretary of State Shemia Fagan, a Democrat, will assume responsibility for draw- ing legislative districts. Congressional districts will be drawn by a judi- cial panel, under a process that lawmakers created in 2013. For more information, vis- it www.oregonlegislature. gov/redistricting. then coordinated how the meeting will go. “This is not a single-top- ic meeting,” Sneddon said. “We’re going to be listen- ing to what people have to say about anything. Some people were making the as- sumption that it’s all about masks, but it’s about any- thing anybody wants to talk to us about.” The agenda shows one main item: public input. “Patrons of the district are offered an opportunity to address the school board. The time limit for public comment at board meetings is 3 minutes; completion of a comment card either in person or by email is re- quired,” the agenda states. People can email com- ments to 97j@siuslaw.k12. or.us by 1 p.m. on Sept. 8 or fill out a comment card upon entry to the stadi- um. Submitted comments should include full name, address and phone number to be submitted to the board and become public record. “I just want to reiterate, our board policies are not to respond immediately to public input,” Sneddon said. “It’s going to be strict- ly a listening session, as I call it.” After the meeting, the board will review all the comments, he said, and it is likely some of that dis- cussion will take place at the regular board meeting of the Siuslaw School Board on Wednesday, Sept. 15. In August, Sneddon was elected to be board chair for his second year. This will provide continuity for a school board that had some changeover with the recent election of new members and retirement from long- time members. In addition, Guy Rosin- baum, who served in Siu- slaw School Board Director Position 1, announced his resignation from the board last week. According to Sneddon, Rosinbaum will be missed “because he knows how the process works” with the school board. “Anyone that is willing to serve, when they don’t serve any longer, it’s a loss. It doesn’t matter if you agree with them on everything, because nobody agrees with everybody about ev- erything,” Sneddon said. At this point, Siuslaw School Board will plan to vote to accept the resigna- tion during the meeting on Sept. 15. Then, the board will have to declare the position vacant and out- line the process to appoint someone to complete Ros- inbaum’s term, which ex- pires Jun 30, 2023. The agenda for the Sept. 15 meeting will be posted before the meeting at www. siuslaw.k12.or.us/p age/ school-board. Prepare for unexpected power outages with a Generac home standby generator Your guide to great locally owned restaurants. REQUEST A FREE QUOTE! 877-557-1912 FREE 7-Year Extended Warranty* A $695 Value! Limited Time Off er - Call for Details Weekly Special: Special Financing Available Subject to Credit Approval *To qualify, consumers must request a quote, purchase, install and activate the generator with a participating dealer. Call for a full list of terms and conditions. Now serving cod, halibut & rockfi sh locally caught Grants available for war memorials and veterans by The Chelsea Rose, Newport, OR Friday: Lobster Rolls Wed-Sat 11am-9pm www.nosheateryfl orence.com 541-997-5899 • 1269 Bay Street Old Town Florence Surfside Restaurant at Drift wood Shores Resort Is Open for Dine-in & take out from 4pm - 8:30 pm Tuesday - Saturday Call 541-902-6447 Drift wood Shores Resort 88416 1st Avenue, Florence We are open for dine-in, take-out, sidewalk & patio seating We are doing everything we can to safely serve our community. We are open: Noon to 8pm every day 2020 VOTED F E BEST O F LO E N C R 1285 Bay Street, Old Town Florence (541) 902-8338 www.1285Restobar.com Big Fish Café & Dinner House 345 Riverfront Reedsport • 541-361-6331 Daily Fresh Seafood Specials Steaks • Salads Homemade Desserts Pastas • Vegetarian/Vegan Full Bar All Occasion Catering Private Parties Beautiful Riverview Open Tuesday - Saturday 4:00-8:00pm Reservations Suggested Living on Shaky Ground: Prepare-Survive-Recover A WLEOG Public Outreach Program Sponsored by West Lane Emergency Operations Group Web address: www.wleog.org NOW YOU CAN LEARN HOW TO PREPARE FOR EMERGENCIES AND DISASTERS - ON YOUR COMPUTER, PHONE OR TABLET! Go to WLEOG.ORG and click on PREPAREDNESS CLASSES for a menu of disaster prep subjects. Each has short videos on different topics that you can watch when it is convenient for you and your family. **SAFE WATER, SAFE SANITATION **EMERGENCY FOOD PLANNING AND PREPARATION **PET CARE PLANNING FOR DISASTERS **ARE YOU READY? **SENIOR CITIZEN PREPAREDNESS **DOCUMENTATION AND INSURANCE In addition to the classes, the WLEOG.ORG web- site has extremely useful information on NATURAL HAZARDS and EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS. Each of these has videos on various topics that explain the hazards the Pacifi c Northwest faces, and how to prepare for them. For more information, visit these websites: A MERICAN R ED C ROSS — WWW . REDCROSS . ORG C ITY OF F LORENCE — WWW . CI . FLORENCE . OR . US FEMA — WWW . READY . GOV L ANE C OUNTY — WWW . LANECOUNTY . ORG S IUSLAW V ALLEY F IRE AND R ESCUE — WWW . SVFR . ORG WLEOG — WWW . WLEOG . ORG Oregon Heritage of Or- egon Parks and Recreation Department is offering grants for the construction or restoration of veterans and war memorials. Local governments and federally recognized tribes are eligible to apply for work on monuments on public owned properties. New monuments should acknowledge veterans and wars not already recognized in the community. Grants for restoration may be used for broken monuments, missing elements of monu- ments or the related design elements of monuments for veterans or wars. Grants may also fund the addi- tion of elements to existing monuments. Projects must include the active participation of a vet- eran organization. A free, online workshop about the grant applications will be held on September 29 from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. Registration is required. The grant application dead- line is December 10, 2021. Past funded projects in- clude repair to the Dough- boy monument in Astoria, a women veteran monument in Springfield, a new mon- ument in Malin and addi- tions to the large memorial in Washington County. For more information about the Veterans and War Memorials grant and other grant programs, visit www. oregonheritage.org or con- tact Kuri Gill at Kuri.gill@ oregon.gov or 503-986- 0685. Prepare you own “Grab & Go” bag for use in the event of an emergency This is a small bag that contains a three day supply of food, water, medications, and change of clothing along with personal hygiene items. One critical item is a battery powered FM Radio to tune into 106.9 FM KCST the local emergency broadcast station for our area. Expect to be in a shelter where people must provide for themselves for these items. Sponsored by C ENTRAL L INCOLN PUD Florence • 541-997-3414 Mon - Fri 8am to 5pm S TREETS I NSURANCE 1234 Rhododendron Dr. Florence 541-997-8574 This message brought to you by the West Lane Emergency Operations Group www.wleog.org