November 8, 2012
Making the move from the House to the Senate…
It wasn’t a landslide majority, but by modern standards, his 55-percent of the vote was a considerable victory in an area as diverse as Oregon’s Fifth Senate District. Arnie Roblan says he welcomes the switch from being in a high-profile position to that of a freshman state Senator. Over the past two years he’s shared Speaker of the House duties, but now steps back to a “rank-and-file” role.
Arnie Roblan – “As a co-speaker there’s a stretch, cause you have to look at the whole state a little more in depth as you work in that realm. Now I’m back to being the person that cares about the coast, which is the person that I went as a Representative. And, Florence is right in the middle now. You are dead center in my district.”
Roblan now has twice the area to represent as he has in the past six years. In addition to Coos, Western Douglas and Lane, he now covers Lincoln; parts of Polk, Benton, Tillamook and even Yamhill Counties. Once he gets acclimated though, don’t expect Roblan to sit back and relax.
Arnie Roblan – “To have a voice you need to work into leadership, that way they listen to you in ways that they might not otherwise. It worked, certainly well, in the House. I have a tendency to kind of want to work across the aisle so that I think I bring something different, a rural perspective, to the Democratic Caucus which I think they need to have.”
The former teacher, administrator and state representative defeated Coos County Republican Scott Roberts by a margin of 55 to 44 ½ percent.
Write In Tally Could Take Time
There were nearly 160-thousand ballots cast in Lane County in the general election… More than 34-thousand of those had write in votes for the seventh district Circuit Court Judgeship. There were no candidates on the ballot and at least five hopefuls threw their hats into the ring in hopes of garnering enough write ins. A similar situation is occurring in Florence, although on a much smaller scale. Three candidates expressed interest in having their names written in for a vacant city council spot. 515 ballots had names written in.
Don’t expect a quick answer on any of those and several other contested races in Lane County. Election workers are wrapping up details this week on normal ballots and aren’t expected to begin sorting, counting and otherwise attempting to determine the intent of voters who wrote names on their ballots until at least Monday. Florence City Recorder Kelli Weese has been in contact with the County Clerk’s office. She says they have until November 26th to determine a winner… but she hopes and expects it will be much sooner than that.
Pull Over
Western Lane Ambulance medics recently had to transport a heart patient from Mapleton directly to River Bend Hospital in Springfield. Because of the condition of the patient they decided to make the run “code-3” with lights and sirens. But, says medic Al Kreitz, the crew quickly became frustrated traveling on Highway 126 because motorists ahead of them repeatedly failed to pull aside. At least one simply came to a stop in front of the ambulance while another just sped up to stay ahead. Fortunately, says Kreitz, the patient stabilized during the transport and was not in danger.
But, that’s not always the case. He says driving code 3 with a patient can be a very dangerous situation because the medic isn’t wearing a seat belt and they’re usually hovering over the patient providing care. He and the other paramedics involved in that particular trip want to remind drivers of their responsibilities in the event they are overtaken by an emergency vehicle with flashing lights and sirens… That’s to pull to the right and stop. Immediately. The same is true if you meet an ambulance coming towards you. Kreitz says it is “simple, safe and critically important” to patients and paramedics.
