No measurable lead in Siuslaw school water.
There is no danger from lead in drinking water at any of the Siuslaw schools. Superintendent Andy Grzeskowiak said test results from water samples came back this week with positive results.
Andy Grzeskowiak – “Especially with five of the ten samples coming back with non-detectable levels and the other ones being trace levels. For me, that’s not a problem at all.”
Grzeskowiak said they followed the suggested guidelines for taking the samples.
Andy Grzeskowiak – “We ran the samples in the morning after the water lines had a time to sit. If you’re going to get a concentrated burst, it’s going to be after it’s had a chance to sit and leach. We took the samples at the time of the day that you would get the highest potential readings.”
Lead is considered to be a neurotoxin and can lead to developmental problems and learning disabilities, especially in younger children. The results are good news for Grzeskowiak.
Kitten cuddlers needed
The Oregon Coast Humane Society is in – quote – “desperate need” of volunteers who love to cuddle kittens.
Those same volunteers will also be asked to help change litter boxes… but that comes with the feline territory.
The Humane Society also recently lost one of their key surgery assistants because a health problem. That means they really need someone to help out with the weekly spay and neuter clinic held every Wednesday at the shelter.
Alison Taplin with the group says kitten season is “in full swing” and they are severely short staffed. Kitten cuddling, she says, really is a volunteer position and with 120 cats and more on the way, they can use all the help they can get.
Potential volunteers can stop by the shelter just off Rhododendron Drive near the waste transfer site…
Museum story time to feature love lost
A story of love lost… and the attempt to find it again will be told at the Siuslaw Pioneer Museum later this month.
The monthly “Story Time” at the museum July 29th will feature author Verla Shirley-Chaddick. The former North Fork Siuslaw resident will talk about her recent book, A Matter of Honor, about her 75-year old uncle, George Esgate, who returned to Belgium, Germany and France in 1999 to find the girl he fell in love with in 1945. After World War II Esgate came home to the Florence area, but he promised 18-year old Renee Durieux that he would come back and marry her.
That was a promise he was never able to keep, and Shirley-Chaddick said it haunted Esgate.
She travelled with him through western Europe in 1999 in search of Renee and the book that came out of the journey tells that story, as well as the outcome of the search.
July Story Time at the Siuslaw Museum will be 7 p.m., Friday, July 29th at the Museum on Maple Street in Old Town.
Planning aided trailer recovery
It didn’t take three tries to remove an 80-thousand pound loaded chip trailer from its resting place off Highway 101 north of Florence this week. It only took once, but that was because the crew from Mast Brothers Towing did plenty of planning. They pulled the semi-tractor back onto the roadway Monday afternoon and then wanted to have the chips unloaded from the trailer Tuesday in order to lighten the load. But the contractor that would have done it wasn’t available.
Wednesday morning the crew closed the highway for about 15 minutes and used a pair of trucks to move the trailer into position. Later that morning, they closed the highway once again to hoist it out. Ron Mast said the highway was closed about 45 minutes the second time and half of that time was used to clean up after the effort.
No official word has been released on the condition of the driver, but Mast said emergency responders on the scene Monday morning said it took as many as three hours to free him from the truck. It was reported that the driver was not seriously injured.
