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THESIUSLAWNEWS.COM | WEDNESDAY EDITION | DECEMBER 22, 2021 | $1.00
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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 :
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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