Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 2, 2021)
SN THESIUSLAWNEWS.COM | SATURDAY EDITION | OCTOBER 2, 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 NEWS & VIEWS THAT DEFINE OUR COMMUNITY Governor signs redistricting law VOL. 131, NO. 79 O CT . 2, 2021 F LORENCE , O REGON State gains 1 district after 2020 Census Siuslaw News WEATHER Partly sunny with a high of 66 and a low of 47. Full forecast on A3 COMMUNITY Mapleton holds Autumn Festival INSIDE — A3 SPORTS Soccer plays tough teams INSIDE — B Return of the ‘King’ slows traffic By Mark Brennan Siuslaw News On Sept. 27, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown signed into law the redis- tricting bills passed that day by the Oregon Legislature. Earlier in the month, Brown called for a special legislative session in order to adopt new congressional maps. These changes are constitutionally mandated to take place every 10 years after the completion of the Census. The 2020 Census showed an increase in Oregon’s population from 3,831,079 to 4,217,737, which necessitated the increase in state districts. State law requires that congres- sional and state legislative districts meet the following criteria: • Districts must be contiguous. • Districts must “utilize existing geographic or political boundaries.” • Districts should not “divide communities of common interest.” • Districts should “be connected by transportation links.” • Districts “must not be drawn for the purpose of favoring a political party, incumbent or other person.” The deadline for completing the re- districting was midnight on Sept. 27, See DISTRICT page 6A Burger King’s opening week affects driving, bus patterns PHOTOS BY MARK BRENNAN/SIUSLAW NEWS A required left turn into the new Burger King on 35th Street and Highway 101 has led to some traffic inter- ruption during its opening week. B urger King, the multination- al fast food chain, opened for business in Florence on Sept. 28. This marks the return of the restaurant to our area. A previous location, located where Florence Pharmacy now operates, closed in the early 2000s. While some sit-down style restaurants are struggling here in Florence, as indicated by the handful that went out of business in 2021, Burger King may not have the same problem, if the first few days since its opening are any in- dication. Since opening doors Tuesday afternoon, the restaurant’s lines have, at times, stretched out of the parking lot and on to 35th Street. This was an issue on opening night for some parents, whose Florence veterans board Honor Flight SIDE SHOW Activities and comics every Saturday Inside — B4 CLASSIFIEDS LATEST NEWS : /S IUSLAW N EWS @S IUSLAW N EWS T HE S IUSLAW N EWS . COM trons waiting in line, but wanted to let the community know they have plans in place to deal with situations just like this. “We had a few delays but when you have a new business open like that we expect it. Everyone wants a Whopper, right?” said a repre- sentative of the school district. “We just rerouted the buses. We do that if we have construction delays or areas we temporarily can’t access. To be clear, we aren’t complaining. See RESTAURANT page 6A Program offers an individual, ‘special’ education to students By Chantelle Meyer Siuslaw News Obituaries & emergency response logs Inside — A2 FOLLOW US FOR THE children’s bus ride home was delayed by excited Burger King customers’ line of cars. This required Siuslaw School District buses to be rerouted around the area. “It’s totally unacceptable that the school bus cannot get through, causing several children to wait even longer to get home because they are not doing some kind of traffic control on opening day,” said local resident Jenn Lukashev on Facebook. The Siuslaw School District did confirm that there were some issues with buses being slowed down by hungry Burger King pa- Siuslaw’s Special Education Department matches students with resources RECORDS Listings and public notices Inside — B5 By Zac Burtt Siuslaw News Florence veterans (from left) Joe Carbajal, Jim Hart, Jim Swant and Alan Knoblock prepare for a weekend excursion to Washington, D.C., as the latest members of the South Willamette Valley Honor Flight. The group will spend this weekend in the nation’s capital visiting war memorials, monuments and attending recognition ceremonies. By Mark Brennan Siuslaw News S IUSLAW N EWS 2 S ECTIONS | 20 P AGES C OPYRIGHT 2021 The Florence area has a large number of veterans who have served in all of our country’s mil- itary branches and during many of America’s conflicts since World War II. Most are aging and suffer- ing through the challenges of failing health, faded memories and the loss of friends. Many of these veterans belong to an informal group known as the “Band of Brothers” and others are members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3232 (VFW), American Legion Post 59 and Disabled Amer- ican Veterans (DAV). The one thing many of these individuals have in common is their dedication to their fellow veterans and to providing an example for younger generations to follow. Another thing they are all fo- cused on is the annual Honor Flight trips to Washington, D.C. See HONOR page 7A Now that it is October, students in Siuslaw School District’s Special Education Department have com- pleted nearly a month of the 2021- 22 school year. According to Special Services Di- rector Lisa Utz, there are about 192 kids who are on an Individualized Education Program (IEP) in the district, or about 14 to 15 percent of the student population. “With special education, we have programs at every building that provide full programming for a wide variety of student needs,” Utz said. “Everything from speech therapy, occupational therapy and physical therapy, all the way up to different levels of response to inter- vention for learning disabilities, for example, with regard to reading and math instruction. We also have a set of classrooms that predominantly serve students with more intensive needs, whether that be physical needs and/or cognitive needs.” Each of the district’s facilities has special education programs “We’re really proud of what we’re putting together. For a small dis- trict, it can be really hard to offer a wide variety of interventions. But we have some really, truly gifted teachers in place that can see all kinds of pathways to current best practice in special education,” Utz said. Siuslaw is considered an inclu- sive district, where “Students who experience disability do not need to be pulled out of general education classes to be given the support, re- sources and the special education that they need in order to increase their skills,” Utz said. While some students need ad- ditional support for learning and behavior, the district aims to keep students in the same classroom as their peers. “In fact, research shows that stu- dents who are included with general education, rather than being pulled out all the time, actually do much, much better,” Utz said. “Our goal is to just continue moving our pro- grams to the full inclusion model … and doing the best we can to try and get all of our students included in as many of the general education classes as possible, in as many dif- ferent ways that that can happen.” See PROGRAM page 6A C elebrating Over 30 Years in Real Estate LOCALLY OWNED AND OPERATED JIM HOBERG Broker/Owner 1870 Hwy. 126, Suite A • PO Box 3040, Florence, OR