23 May 2013
Memorial Day Options…
There will be two opportunities in Florence this weekend to honor and remember those who have fallen in service to our country.
Monday is Memorial Day. The American Legion has organized their 67th annual observance of that occasion in Florence. It begins at 11 AM at Veteran’s Memorial Park on the west end of Bay Street. The ceremony will include presentations by former Army Chaplain Mark Guilderhus who served in Iraq; Bob Jackson will talk about his recent “Honor Flight” to the World War II memorial in Washington D.C. and Harley Youngblood will present a special Memorial Day message.
The ceremony will conclude with the decades old tradition of the U.S. Coast Guard laying wreathes on the water.
Later that afternoon, the Oregon Coast Military Heritage Museum will offer hot dogs and ice cream… as well as a tour of the unfinished facility on Kingwood Street… Museum President Tim Sapp says visitors will be able to see the progress that has been made and just what work remains to complete the building phase.
That gets underway at one pm.
Levy Approval Won’t Solve All Problems
Voters in the Siuslaw School District approved the extension of a five-year, $5-million special operating tax levy by about 600 votes this week…. 2,616 yes to 2,022 no. School Board member Michelle Rose, one of the principal backers of the measure was pleased with the outcome.
Michelle Rose – “I just think it’s fantastic, I think that, um, huge support. I think that when there’s a great need like we have the community came through once again and showed their support and I’m very excited.”
The levy is not a panacea for administrators though. They’re still working on finding a solution to a more than $700-thousand shortfall in the coming year.
The Budget Committee has heard several variations on how to deal with that using a combination of furlough days; staff reductions and other spending cutbacks.
Gas Prices On the Rise
Drivers headed out on the road for Memorial Day weekend will be paying about 35-cents a gallon more in Oregon than they did at the end of April. Over the past four weeks the average price for a gallon of regular gas in the state, as measured by Triple-A, has jumped from $3.63 to $3.98 a gallon.
The group says the national average price has only risen by 7 cents a gallon in that same time period… it’s at $3.65 this week.
In Florence the price has spiked by 40-cents a gallon in the same time period. This week’s average posted price in town is $3.90 a gallon.
Even with the recent increases, prices are considerably less than a year ago when the local average on Memorial Day Weekend was $4.18 a gallon.