3 March 2015
City Looks to Expand and Improve Parks
Florence City Councilors reviewed the next step last night in seeking funding for improvements to local parks. The move signals a ‘sea-change’ of sorts for officials who began diverting financial resources away from parks during tough financial times seven years ago.
Erin Reynolds – “That was a financial policy decision that the council made in order to be conservative during the recession. And times are changing and so have the council’s focus and goals.”
City Manager Erin Reynolds and other staff members have been working with the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department to secure funds to make improvements at the city’s flagship park, and a small pocket park near 35th Street.
Erin Reynolds – “I’m really excited about improving not only the look of Miller Park, PepperOaks park, and also possibly exploring the option of doing a new river front park which would be a really great opportunity for the city.”
A third funding opportunity would be for a small riverside park near the city’s waste treatment plant. A fourth possibility is a bicycle and pedestrian wayside at the north end of the Siuslaw River Bridge.
19th Florence Home and Garden Show
A packed house of exhibitors, inside and out, will be featured this weekend during the 19th annual Florence Home and Garden Show.
The first show, in 1997 came with the “excitement” of opening a brand new community building in Florence… the Florence Events Center.
Every show since then has presented a wide variety of exhibitors, many from within the community, others from outside.
Show organizer and promoter Jon Thompson says this year will once again have an emphasis on landscaping… with Laurel Bay Gardens presenting the show’s centerpiece inside.
But, he adds, there will be a wide variety of other vendors that offer home heating, design, décor, housewares, cooking;even remodeling and RVs.
Thompson said they work very hard to eliminate duplications so visitors can visit all three dozen booths and not see the same thing twice.
Doors open on the show Friday afternoon. It runs through Sunday.
ODOT maps recovery routes for post-quake
New maps developed by Oregon State University and the Oregon Department of Geology will help transportation officials determine which coastal roads and bridges are most likely to be usable following a major earthquake expected in the Pacific Northwest.
Scientists say there’s a one-in-three chance that a major earthquake could strike in Oregon in the next 50 years.
The mapping is part of the ongoing effort by the Oregon Department of Transportation to preserve critical transportation routes in that event and help speed response and recovery.
The Coast Range is of special concern to officials because it will be the closest part of the state to the actual subduction zone earthquake centered offshore. It’s also prone to landslides.
Two routes that will be at comparatively lowest risk: Highway 36 between Junction City and Mapleton… as well as 38 between Reedsport and Interstate Five.
Our Town features Our Town and Rhody royalty
Five elementary students and 9 area high school students will be representing the Rhododendron Festival over the course of the next 2 ½ months.
The Junior and Senior Courts for the 108th annual Festival will introduce themselves to the community tomorrow afternoon during the monthly Our Town on KCST.
The audio news-magazine will also feature Florence Mayor Joe Henry and City Manager Erin Reynolds. The program will also feature an interview with the co-directors of the upcoming Last Resort Players presentation of the Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize winning play… Our Town.
Our Town, the radio program, airs on KCST from four to six pm Wednesday.
Felon faces life in prison following coastal arrest
The trial of a federal prison inmate accused of masterminding a series of burglaries on the Oregon Coast in 2011 began yesterday in Eugene.
50-year old Thomas W. Cornelius is facing a lifetime in prison if he’s convicted of any of the nine counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Cornelius was arrested near Reedsport four years ago. Police found stolen guns in his car; they were connected to a string of burglaries along Highway 101 between Port Orford and Florence.
Two of Cornelius’ alleged accomplices have already been tried and convicted in the case; his attorney maintains the pair lied and blamed the breakins on Cornelius in order to get lighter federal sentences.
This is Cornelius’ third trial in federal court in less than a year. He was convicted in April and July of attacking and injuring two other prisoners in the Sheridan Federal Correctional Facility in Yamhill County.
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