Bond discussion to continue this week
Officials at the Siuslaw School District are waiting to see if they won the lottery. They have applied for a capital construction grant from the State Department of Education that could provide $4-million. Because of demand for the state money, officials have placed many of the grant requests into a lottery. If Siuslaw is successful, the only way to get that money would be if voters approved a capital levy to either build a new high school or do some serious renovations to the existing one.
Siuslaw High School opened for classes in the fall of 1970… 45 ½ years ago and it has been showing its age for some time.
School board members have one estimate of up to $35-million to replace the school.
They are still exploring their options and will continue to do that Wednesday evening during a special meeting at the district office on Oak Street.
At the same time they will finalize the timeline and qualifications for replacing Superintendent Ethel Angal. She is retiring at the end of this school year.
Man walks away from care center; subject of search
An 85-year old man described as being “medically fragile” and suffering from mild dementia is the subject of a search in the 21st street area of Florence this morning.
Authorities at Regency Florence Rehabilitation Center told police that Doug E. Schug (shoog) broke a screen and left their facility at around one this morning.
They searched the area immediately around Regency, but could not locate the man. They’re very concerned about his condition.
Schug is described as being about 5’6”, 170 pounds with brown eyes and balding gray hair. He was last seen wearing blue flannel pajamas and black shoes.
Anyone who may have seen him this morning should call Florence police.
Rhody Royalty announced
Members of three royalty courts that will preside over the 109th Rhododendron Festival in May have been announced. The Senior Court will return to being a female only entity. It will consist of three students from Siuslaw High School… Juniors Taylor Coolidge and Hanna Anderson, along with senior Lyndsey Keppol (kepple).
This year there will be two junior courts… the traditional girls court consists of 1st grader Rhealeigh (RAY-lee) Dascher; 2nd grader Riley Selig, 4th grader Kristin Wall, and Sunshine Armer from the 5th grade. Those four are from Siuslaw; Lexis Flandsberg is from Mapleton where she’s in the 3rd grade.
A new boys’ junior court will join the festival this year. All are from Siuslaw, they are 1st grader Tony Garcia Galvan; Roman Meadows is in the 2nd grade; Chance Jones is a 3rd grader; Cort Waggoner is in the 4th; and Kenji Tanikawa is in the 5th grade.
The 109th Rhododendron Festival is May 20th through the 22nd.
Kiwanis offering sweetheart deals on See’s Candy
The Florence Kiwanis annual Valentine See’s Candy Sale gets underway today. They’ll be set up at Sears in Florence Monday through Saturday from 9 to 6, then Sunday from noon and three. They’ll be open again next week from 9-to-6 until Valentine’s Day or they run out.
Jean Murphey says they will offer several valentine specialties in addition to one and two pound boxes left over from Christmas. It’s still fresh, but will be – quote – “heavily discounted”.
The See’s Candy Fundraiser for Florence Kiwanis helps support several community programs.
Class Act preparing to add small theater space
Another venue for performing arts will be opening in Florence early in the spring. David Lauria, along with his wife Rose Mary, have been renovating and expanding the former Christian Science Reading Room at the corner of Rhododendron Drive and Kingwood Street.
David Lauria – “We saw the need for a small, intimate space, where people could enjoy live theater in a little more intimate environment.”
It’s called the “Class Act Theater”. But don’t let the name fool you…
David Lauria – “This is going to be a mixed-use space, so it’s not just going to be our productions in there. The space is going to be available for a number of uses eventually. If somebody wanted to have a wedding or a celebration of life, it can be used for that as well.”
Lauria said other theater groups will be able to use the facility and there may be writing and acting classes.
They’ll open with a reprise performance of “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” March 26.
