LY O P O - E C FL OREN On Sale Perfect Gift for the $ 99 LE FAMILY ibrary.or iuslawL www.S 97-31 32 541-9 OUT CHECK S.) (WE EVEN GAME BOARD g rd aboa g Climb readin ad! the real railro ... each Vis it us Siuslaw News NEWS & VIEWS THAT DEFINE OUR COMMUNITY Tuesday, Dec. 21 ...to Now off ering shipping Only $12.62 Siuslaw News ay 101 m Highw 1749 trhunter.co www. 24. at WHO OR EMPLOYEES disc ho over me vi inte ntag rio e clo rs, an thin d co g, ok an�q ies! ue s, SN THESIUSLAWNEWS.COM | WEDNESDAY EDITION | DECEMBER 22, 2021 | $1.00 Framing es Fram ence Quality Custom of Flor • Mirrors s • Needlework • Watercolors Shadowboxe Photography Oils • 43 97-20 G 541-9 101, Suite Hwy. (Local only. Out of area, please call for pricing.) Heavy rains cause flooding, landslide on Highway 126 VOL. 131, NO. 102 D EC . 22, 2021 F LORENCE , O REGON 2285 OR 97439 Florence, Lit up for the holidays WEATHER Rain with a high of 51 and a low of 40. Full forecast on A3 COMMUNITY COURTESY PHOTO By Zac Burtt & Chantelle Meyer Siuslaw News Community donates to students INSIDE — A3 With over six inches of rain in Florence between Dec. 17 and 19, a landslide closed Highway 126 be- tween mileposts 9 and 10 the after- noon of Dec. 22. Oregon Department of Trans- portation closed the highway Mon- day night due to the estimated 300 yards of mud, rock and trees, with additional debris coming down overnight. ODOT hoped to reopen the highway by Tuesday afternoon. In addition, the heavy rains had the Siuslaw River at near flood levels Monday. That morning, water had risen onto Highway 126 in Cushman, but the road was still passable. See ROADS page 6A CHANTELLE MEYER/SIUSLAW NEWS H LIFESTYLE ZAC BURTT/SIUSLAW NEWS Elks host Hoop Shoot INSIDE — B RECORDS Obituaries & response logs Inside — A2 eceta Head Lightstation celebrated the 25th Victorian Christmas Open House over two weekends in December. The Heceta Lighthouse Bed & Breakfast enhanced the interior of the historic Lightkeeper’s Cottage with cheerful tradition- al decorations and lit up the exterior. Each night of the event featured local musicians and the chance to meet Santa Claus. In the distance, the lightstation cast beams of light across the clouds, sea and trees. Brave adventurers were encouraged to walk past the gift shop and up the mostly lit path to see the lighthouse at night. Learn more about future events at www. hecetalighthouse.com. 400 families get Christmas baskets of food from Florence Soroptimists By Mark Brennan Siuslaw News TV GUIDE Inside — B3-B4 KIDS CORNER Activities for kids Inside — B5 CLASSIFIEDS Listings & notices Inside — B6 FOLLOW US FOR THE LATEST NEWS : /S IUSLAW N EWS @S IUSLAW N EWS T HE S IUSLAW N EWS . COM S IUSLAW N EWS 2 S ECTIONS | 20 P AGES C OPYRIGHT 2021 On Saturday, the Soroptimist International of Florence distrib- uted hundreds of Christmas Food Baskets to area residents, free of charge. The group has coordinat- ed the giveaway for many years, since a Florence Soroptimist started keeping food and toy do- nations in her shop for people in need. “We are so proud to help our community this holiday season,” the Soroptimist of Florence Ore- gon posted on the Facebook page. Member Carol Bennett coor- dinated this year’s distribution. She said she was pleased with the giveaway and particularly with the turnout of the many volunteers needed to stage the event. “Without the help of all of our volunteers this would be impos- sible,” Bennett said. “We distrib- uted close to 400 boxes here and we would be unable to do any of this if we didn’t also have the sup- port of our community partners at Gov. encourages vaccine, booster to protect against Omicron Variant detected in Lane County MARK BRENNAN/SIUSLAW NEWS Soroptimist of Florence and area volunteers distributed hundreds of boxes of food to local families on Dec. 18 as part of the annual Christmas Baskets program. Fred Meyer, Safeway and Grocery nett said. “This is a generous com- Outlet.” munity.” Bennett was also appreciative of Each box of food contained ei- the donations from smaller busi- ther a turkey or chicken, apples, nesses like Big Dog Donuts, who stuffing, carrots, “cuties” manda- supplied dozens of donuts and rins, butter, potatoes, dinner rolls, coffee to the more than 100 peo- canned green beans, canned corn, ple who attended the event to load applesauce, fruit cocktail, graham and distribute the food boxes. “We get a lot of support,” Ben- See GIVE page 6A In a Dec. 17 press conference, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown provid- ed an update on the current state of COVID-19 in Oregon. She was joined by Oregon Health Authority Director Patrick Allen, State Epi- demiologist Dr. Dean Sidelinger, Chief Medical Officer at the Oregon Health & Science University Dr. Re- nee Edwards, and Lead Data Scien- tist at OHSU’s Business Intelligence Unit Dr. Peter Graven. “This week we identified the first cases of the Omicron variant in Or- egon. While we are all still learning about this new variant, it is clear from the experiences of the United Kingdom and other countries that we have only weeks to prepare be- fore Omicron hits our communi- ties and health care systems in full force,” said Brown. See OMICRON page 5A 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