Focus could be on internal candidate
For the third time in four years, the Siuslaw School Board is looking for a new top administrator. Officials met in a brief special meeting Monday night to discuss their plans.
Tammy Butler – “We were looking at timelines for our superintendent search and looking at our qualifications for the last superintendent search and seeing if there were any additions or points that we want to eliminate.”
Board chair Tammy Butler said they also discussed just where they might be searching.
Tammy Butler – “We’re looking at whether or not we want to interview exclusively internally or open it up to an external candidate and at this point we’re looking internally and that decision will most likely be fortified at our February 3rd meeting.”
Ethel Angal announced last week she would be retiring at the end of this year after two years as Superintendent.
Coast Guard continues search off Coos Bay
Two crewmembers of a commercial fishing vessel that capsized near the entrance to Coos Bay yesterday are missing; one survived after making his way to shore; and the body of a fourth crewmember was recovered just after midnight.
Coast guard crews received a signal about nine pm yesterday from an emergency beacon. A helicopter from the North Bend air station was dispatched, along with a 47-foot motor lifeboat from Charleston.
Captain Michael Trimpert said the Coast Guard will use “multiple assets to saturate the search area” in an effort to locate the missing crewmembers. The name of the vessel has not been released.
Seas were reported to be running at eight to ten feet with 31 mile an hour winds at the time of the incident last night.
Plastic accepted for dumping garbage
If you haul your own garbage, you can now pay for dumping it using a credit or debit card. Lane County solid waste transfer stations in Florence and seven other locations began using them earlier this month.
Dan Hurley, the Waste Management Division manager said most people use credit or debit cards on a regular basis. By updating from a “cash-only” system, it will be more convenient.
Hurley said there are seven smaller rural stations without electricity that will continue to accept only cash or checks… four of those are in Western Lane County: Mapleton, Swisshome, Walton and Low Pass.
Siuslaw Awards tonight
Florence’s First and Future First Citizens for 2015; as well as the recipients of several business awards handed out by the Florence Area Chamber of Commerce, will be honored this evening at the Florence Events Center.
The Siuslaw Awards include the Stu Johnston Business of the Year. This year there are two nominees… Gary Foglio Trucking and Homegrown Pub.
Bill Craig, Geraldine Lucio, Janet Snow, and Gayle Waiss are the First Citizen Nominees and Hannah Bartlett, Holly Hicks, Mikaela Siegel and Alexis Scheer are the nominees for Future First Citizen.
The Siuslaw Awards Dinner is tonight at the Florence Events Center; as of late yesterday afternoon there were fewer than a handful of $35 tickets still remaining.
Prime Dinner chances sold
Former Senior Center chef Larry Osgood is coming out of retirement to prepare a gourmet prime rib dinner for ten people. It’s a fund raiser for the center where he used to prepare twice-weekly lunches.
Senior Center Board President Christine May said they are selling no more than 300 chances for the dinner, at ten dollars each. Proceeds from the drawing benefit the activities and operations at the Florence Senior Center which offers daily meals Monday through Friday, as well as a variety of classes and activities aimed at area seniors.
The drawing for the dinner will be March 17th… the winner can choose the date, as well as the guest list, for the meal.
Local gas average at two dollars
The average cash price for a gallon of regular gas in Florence hit the two-dollar mark this week. That’s the first time since January of last year that fuel prices have been this low.
It’s down 98-cents a gallon since August.
Marie Dodds with Triple-A says wholesale crude oil prices… which fell below $30 a barrel this week; that’s down from a high of $107 a barrel in June of 2014.
Oregon’s average posted price fell ten cents this week and is at $2.17. The national average price is $1.88.
