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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 15, 2021)
SIUSLAW NEWS | WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2021 | 5A BASKETS from page 1A recent supply chain is- sues, COVID, and other factors that augment the challenge of obtaining food beyond its typical (very high) level of diffi- culty. Community members regularly give money and other donations to help the Soroptimists. One of those groups this year was the Rotary Club of Florence. Local Rotarians were able to raise $5,200 to purchase the turkey and chickens for this year’s Christmas Baskets. “Our community is facing rising food costs and greater needs this year, but the Rotary Club stepped up to the task,” the club wrote in a release. This year, the Soropti- mist boxes being distrib- uted will include either a turkey or chicken, apples, stuffing, carrots, “cuties” mandarins, butter, pota- toes, dinner rolls, canned green beans, canned corn, applesauce, fruit cocktail, graham crackers, saltines, peanut butter, jam, eggs, milk and oatmeal. Soroptimist of Florence is still collecting dona- tions for the Community Christmas Basket Project. Money can be sent to So- roptimist International of Florence, PO Box 1209, Florence, OR 97439. For additional informa- tion, contact Carol Ben- nett at 541-991-3455 and dumplady@hotmail.com or Megan Messmer at 503-871-6643 and sorop- timist.florence@gmail. com. Ferris Haukom is a sophomore at Stanford Online High School who is an intern for the Siuslaw News and an associate ed- itor at the OHS Observer. Aside from journalism, he is interested in quantum physics, programming, en- trepreneurship and music, specifically violin, viola, orchestral conducting and classical composition. Haukom and his family reside in the Florence area, and he often travels as a member of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Composer Fellowship Program. Your guide to great locally owned restaurants. nosh eatery Preorder your Christmas Dinner today 541-997-5899 Lobster Alfredo Braised Short Ribs Salmon Wellington Mushroom Risotto Dinners are fully cooked with reheating instructions for a fuss free Holiday. Lobster Rolls - every Friday Wed-Sat 11am-9pm www.nosheateryfl orence.com 541-997-5899 • 1269 Bay Street Old Town Florence SIUSLAW from page 1A Next, another high schooler, SHS Student Body President Winnie Zhen, gave her monthly update on the happenings at the high school. Zhen talked about the excitement surrounding the football team’s cham- pionship and the start of the winter sports seasons. She also reported that the student body planned to decorate the school for the holidays. Next, Zhen discussed the school leadership class and how the district is work- ing on creating a pantry for students in need that includes snacks, clothes, blankets and other necessi- ties students may need but not have available at home. The next order of busi- ness was the swearing in of two new board members, Armendariz and Lacou- ture. Both directors stated, “I do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitu- tion of the United States, the Constitution and the laws of the state of Ore- gon, and the policies of the Siuslaw School District. During my term, I will faithfully and impartially discharge the responsibili- ties of the office to the best of my ability.” Next was the public comment portion of the meeting. Two members of the public spoke. First was Donna Dob- son, who was concerned about policy and some- thing she had heard the about the school district. “It has been brought to my attention that there is a district policy that par- ents and citizens such as myself would not have ac- cess to view any of the lit- erature books in the school library,” Dobson said. “I don’t understand that pol- icy completely. I’d like to know why that policy is there and especially why the parents would be shut out of that. It seems they would have an interest in what their children would be directed to in the school library.” Chair Sneddon cleared up the misconception. Though, for semantic reasons, the public cannot “check out” books from school libraries, the district will provide any concerned citizens with a complete list of all books available at the school’s libraries, he said. He mentioned all the books available in the district’s libraries are also available in the public do- main. Dobson also congratu- lated the football team on their championship. The next speaker was area resident Kathleen Wenzel. She voiced her concern about previous meetings’ public speakers and those speakers’ oppo- sition to district employees supporting LGBTQ stu- dents. “I am a Christian wom- an. I’ve been married for 30 plus years, my one and only marriage being to my husband. We have lived in Florence for about half of that time. I’ve watched several of your meetings on YouTube and attend- ed last month’s meeting. There have been individu- als who have come forward with demands that appear, in my opinion, to ask that support for LGBTQ stu- dents be eliminated,” said Wenzel. “There seems to be an undercurrent that somehow including such support, can in effect, in- doctrinate students into a gay or alternate lifestyle. I will tell you more about my life. My mother was a teacher beginning in the 1950s. She was a lesbian. I enjoyed the loving rela- tionship she had with her partner Phoebe, another schoolteacher who I called my auntie. If anyone was to become homosexual, due to the influences of the teachings of homosexuals, and the example set before them, I would proudly tell you I am homosexual, but this is not the case.” She also brought up the process the Siuslaw School Board used to select the two new members, who were both appointed to fill vacancies. “I would also like to take a moment to urge the dis- trict board members to take a close look at your voting practices,” said Wenzel. “As demonstrat- ed last month, the system 12/31/2021 5PM – 9PM Reservations recommended CALL BETWEEN 3PM – 8PM: 541-997-8263 E XT 4 Drift wood Shores Resort 88416 1st Avenue, Florence Florence's ONLY doctors of audiology Call today to schedule an appointment. HEARING ASSOCIATES of Florence Scott C. Anderson, Au.D. Steven G. Anderson, Au.D. 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First was Armendariz, who said, “My parents were educators. My dad was a superintendent, so I got dragged along to all types of public meetings and school board meet- ings, PTA meetings, you name it. This is familiar ground. Secondly, and I mean this sincerely and deeply, I just want to wish everybody; students, the entire staff, all my fellow board members and all the citizens that are here, and everyone watching at home, happy holidays and a merry Christmas.” Lacouture went next, speaking about the admin- istrator reports included in the board packets. “Something really stood out to me — maybe be- cause the data was on pie charts and pie is good — … those attendance num- bers, they kind of shocked me,” he said. “It kind of surprised me when you have excellent attendance at only 22% and then sat- isfactory at only 18%. So that’s only 40% with sat- isfactory and above atten- dance. If we see students that aren’t in school, we need to try to see what we can do to get them in there. I understand some of those would be COVID related, but none of the efforts of teachers, administrators and coaches work if stu- dents aren’t in school. If the kids aren’t there, it just doesn’t work. We as a com- munity, need to get those kids into school.” The December meeting can be viewed, in full, at https://youtu.be/Vj1cycW- Zb-I. The Siuslaw School Dis- trict Board of Directors meets the second Wednes- day of each month, with the next meeting planned for Jan. 12. The meetings are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. with a work session. For more information, visit siuslaw.k12.or.us. Getting rid of 'Huh?' for over 20 years 541.991.4475 Surfside Restaurant at Drift wood Shores Resort PRIME RIB SPECIAL that was used was hard to understand at best and suspicious at worst. Voting procedures should be set in advance of the vote and the public should be made aware of the rules.” (Note: The process that was used and the vote that was cast to fill the two vacancies on the board was discussed in the Nov. 13 edition of the Siuslaw News.) After the public com- ment portion of the meet- ing, Florence City Council- or Woody Woodbury, City Manager Erin Reynolds and Senior Economic De- velopment Analyst Sarah Moerke gave a presentation about a program called the Multi-Unit Property Tax Exemption Program (MUPTE). This is a state-enabled program designed to be an incentive to the building or redevelopment of residen- tial properties. MUPTE allows new multi-unit properties to be exempted from prop- erty taxes on the assessed value of new residential construction for up to 10 years. Property taxes con- tinue to be due and paid on the assessed value of the land and any commercial portions of the structures. The intent is to lower op- erating costs in the early years in development so that building becomes fi- nancially feasible. The Siuslaw School Board voted unanimously to support the plan. Each month, the board reviews policies. This time, the board looked at several policies, including Policy JOC — “Legal Names of Students.” The directors discussed creating a database for transgender students that request a name change. The database would be a cross-referencing system between the name the dis- trict initially had on file and the name the student wished to use moving for- ward. The policy was approved unanimously. The meeting ended with the board member acknowledgements/com- munications portion of the meeting. All previous COVID Special 10% Off Johnston Motor Company Whole-House Air & Dryer Vent System Cleaning With Sanitation Free Estimate Call or contact us online today for details and scheduling. Ask us about other services we do also. 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