PTA Fitness Fair promotes healthy learning

Coast Radio News
Local News
20 November 2015

Booster club fun run precedes event

The theme tomorrow at Siuslaw Middle School will be health and fitness. The PTA and Siuslaw Athletic Booster Club are teaming up for a pair of events.

First up at nine: the Boosters “Civil War Fitness Challenge” three-K walk and five-K run. Just prior to that are a couple of shorter “dashes” aimed at younger kids.

Inside the middle school, the Florence Community PTA will hold its annual Fall Fitness Fair from ten to two.

Diane McCalmont says research shows a healthy child can achieve and learn more. Several different groups have come together to encourage exercise, be healthy and stay safe.

Admission is free and McCalmont says there will be information on healthy living, fun activities and even an inflatable obstacle course.

The Florence Community PTA includes parents, teachers and other members of the community, working together to improve education, health, safety and well-being of children.

Ocean Warming not a new phenomenon

A recent study published in the journal “Nature” shows a link between abrupt ocean warming at the end of the last ice age, and the sudden onset of low-oxygen, or hypoxic conditions, that led to vast marine dead zones.

Evidence of two different large-scale warming events thousands of years ago show they occurred rapidly. Both times the so-called “blob” of low oxygen water lasted up to a thousand years according to former Oregon State University researcher Summer Praetorius. She completed the study as part of her doctoral program at OSU.

Praetorius says the effects of those warming trends appear to resemble current conditions where warmer water supports the growth of microscopic organisms called diatoms. They wind up consuming most of the nutrients in the upper levels of the ocean, then use up available oxygen as they sink to the ocean floor.

Praetorius’ research also indicates hypoxic conditions rely on specific levels of other nutrients in the water.   That means the current warming ocean conditions may or may not be similar to those that happened nearly 15-thousand years ago.

Port Commission steps back on manager search

Port of Siuslaw Commissioners are not able to reach an agreement on who should take over as manager of the district. They met last night in a private session to talk about the five finalists they interviewed earlier this week. Commission President Ron Caputo says they’re going to start over.

Ron Caputo – “You know there’s five of us and we all had different ideas of what we wanted. Kind of ended up a stalemate so we decided we maybe would look at some more applicants and maybe we can find that magic person that will please all five of us.”

The Commission decided to reopen the application process for the job of overseeing all district operations, including the sport and commercial moorages, the campground and economic development efforts. During the delay, interim manager Dina McClure will continue.

Ron Caputo – “She’s our temporary manager and doing a great job and I’m so happy to have her there.”

The extended application deadline means a new permanent manager won’t be on board until after the first of the year.

Cold weather shelter gearing up for the season

Night time temperatures have ventured into the upper 30s a couple times already this late fall. If you have shelter, that’s not much of a problem. But, for the homeless, it can be quite uncomfortable and even dangerous.

That’s why the Florence Emergency Cold Weather Shelter was organized last year. The shelter, located in the Masonic Lodge two miles south of Florence, only opens when temperatures drop below freezing. That means they only had to open a few nights last year, but it did make a difference according to Bob DuBose.

The emergency shelter is preparing for this winter. Volunteers with the group will be meeting tomorrow from nine to noon at Lane Community College in Florence. Anyone interested in finding out more about how to help can attend.