Power Crews Making Progress But Still Have Plenty of Work to Do.
An estimated 500 residences between Lincoln and Coos Counties on the Central Coast are still without power today, that’s far fewer than the several thousand left in the dark after Monday night’s snow storm.
Chris Chandler– “It’s been a pretty wild week, as we all know from the weather, and unfortunately we’ve had folks without power since Tuesday and we’re doing everything we can.”
Chris Chandler with Central Lincoln PUD says line crews have faced a daunting task.
Chris Chandler – “Extensive doesn’t even cover it properly, but huge trees falling on power lines, snapping power poles, bringing down lines.”
Many of those 500 customers district-wide are in the Florence area. Most of them in ‘pockets’ of heavy damage scattered throughout the region.
Chris Chandler – “If you get up in the morning and you’re still without power, call the outage line. If it gets to five o’clock and you still haven’t gotten power call the outage line. And again, we are terribly sorry it’s taken this long, really, we are working morning noon and night. And, our crews are getting a little weary but they’ve got great attitudes and they are knocking them down one by one.”
The number to call… 866-484-3783.
Emergency Shelter Still Offered
Western Lane Emergency Operations Officials say even though nobody has taken them up on their offer of an emergency shelter, it still stands. The shelter is set up at the Florence Church of the Nazarene and is in conjunction with the Red Cross. It will remain available as long as the need… and the power outages… persist. For information you can call Western Lane Ambulance District.
Adventists Proposing New School
The first Adventist Christian School in the Florence area started at a logging camp in Mapleton in 1925. For the next 71 years the Florence Seventh Day Adventist Church offered an alternative to the public school system that was based on biblical principals and excellence. The local congregation is working towards reestablishing that school. Pastor Andy Wittenberg says the Sonshine Christian Elementary will offer a “highly-favorable student/teacher ratio” along with a ‘well rounded academic program’. Classes are anticipated to begin in the fall, but organizers will hold an open house next Thursday, 6:30 PM at the Florence Seventh Day Adventist Church to offer enrollment information.
St. Patrick’s Spaghetti
Siuslaw Valley Firefighters will be serving their traditional St. Patrick’s Day meal of Spaghetti, meatballs and salad tomorrow afternoon at the main station from four to seven pm. Dinner is $8 for adults, $4 for children 12 and under. Firefighters say don’t worry though, the Spaghetti will not be green.
Rhody Details Sought
Royalty has been selected; the Grand Marshalls and Theme have been announced. Now all that’s left is the planning and execution of the dozens of events that typically take place over the third weekend in May. The 106th annual Rhododendron Festival is nine weeks away and Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Cal Applebee says he’s working on gathering information on all of those events.
Cal Applebee – “I’ve already gotten calls from a couple of different organizations who’ve said, well you haven’t been putting this in your blast about our upcoming Rhody event. My response is, that’s because I didn’t know it was coming up. Even though I know it was last year, that doesn’t mean it may be going on this year.”
He’s asking all organizations that are putting together Rhody Events… even well established ones… to give him a call.
Cal Applebee – “We need to make sure that they contact the Chamber office, myself specifically, to let us know time, event, contact information so that we can make sure and get it described accurately in our promotion material, and on the website.”
Each year the Chamber puts together an itinerary of events and, while the publication deadline is still a few weeks away, Applebee wants to get an early start.