Booster Club Called on For More Support…
The major fundraiser for a group dedicated to helping finance athletics at Siuslaw High School and Middle School is set for tomorrow night at the Events Center. The Siuslaw Athletic Booster Club raises about $25-thousand each year through their annual dinner and auction. That’s their goal again for tomorrow night’s event. But that won’t be enough. Club members say they estimate they’ll need to raise about $40-thousand to meet the needs this year.
And, says Siuslaw Cross Country and Track and Field Coach Chris Johnson, it’s more important than ever to provide athletic opportunities to today’s students.
Chris Johnson – “There’s so many values that they pick up, teamwork and cooperation and goal setting and ethics and sportsmanship.”
Johnson says he’s seen it during his teaching career, and even before.
Chris Johnson – “I went to school with people who told me they wouldn’t even have made it through high school had it not been for sports and they ended up with college degrees. It’s a catalyst for a whole lot of… in terms of character.”
Tomorrow’s dinner and auction is at the Florence Events Center at 5:30. Tickets are $40 but space may be tight by then… organizers say you’ll want to get your ticket today at All About Olives, The Blue Heron Gallery or Coastal Fitness.
Shrinking Planning Commission
A vacancy on the Florence Planning Commission last month prompted a conversation on the part of the city council as to whether or not they should consider making changes to the size and makeup of the panel. That conversation centered around possibly shrinking the commission from seven to five members. At the same time, a provision that allows no more than two members to come from outside the city would be trimmed to just one… and that person would be required to live within the Urban Growth Boundary. One other provision was discussed by the council in July… that was a possible requirement that the chair of the Planning Commission be a “taxpayer” from within the city of Florence. City Staff is seeking additional clarification from councilors on that matter. The Council meets Monday evening, seven pm at City Hall.
He’s not heavy, he’s my dock…
The salvage team disposing of a Japanese dock that washed up on an Oregon beach after last year’s tsunami has managed to finish the first cut through the boxcar-sized hunk of concrete. But Oregon Parks Department spokesman Chris Havel said Thursday evening the severed section turned out to be too heavy for a flatbed trailer. So it will stay on Agate Beach north of Newport until a bigger trailer can be brought in to haul it off. That was expected to have happened some time this morning. The crew is cutting the dock into five sections so they can be hauled to a Portland suburb for disposal. Havel says biologists looked at the bottom of the severed section and found some invasive species of barnacle on it, but they were all dead.
Having a heat wave…
National Weather Service forecasters are predicting the hot weather that has spared the Pacific Northwest so far this summer will be evident this weekend. A combination of high pressure and offshore flow will push temperatures into the 80s and 90s… even into the 100s in some areas. An “excessive heat watch” is posted for western Oregon, including the Willamette Valley tomorrow and Sunday. Temperatures along the coastal strip are expected to be in the high 70s or low 80s tomorrow before marine air begins moving inland.
