DeFazio featured on Our Town
He is currently Oregon’s longest ever serving legislator. Peter DeFazio has been representing the Fourth District since 1987. You would think he would naturally be opposed to term limits… and he is. He watched as Oregon voters mandated term limits for state legislators more than 20-years ago.
Peter DeFazio – “And what you saw was that the power moved to the bureaucracy and away from the legislative branch. That’s not a good thing.”
That mandate was later overturned by the Oregon Supreme Court. The Springfield Democrat says voters have the ultimate term limits… even though they sometimes elect people who he believes really have no business in the halls of Congress.
Peter DeFazio– “Because there are people who get elected, who the day after they’re sworn in shouldn’t be there in my opinion. They’re idiots. There are other people who have served a very long time and represent their districts well. I have to stand for election every two years, that’s a term limit.”
DeFazio was in Florence two weeks ago. He’ll be on this afternoon’s Our Town on KCST from four to six… the show airs again tomorrow morning at ten on KCFM.
Arrests made in dunes hit and run fatality
Douglas County Sheriff’s Deputies, with the assistance of Newport Police, arrested a man Monday evening in connection with the hit and run death of a Washington man on the dunes near Winchester Bay.
Police say 25-year old Walker Thomas Kellogg, of Winchester Bay, and his companion, 24-year old Danielle Elizabeth Gockel-Figge (fig) were taken into custody at the Newport Shilo Inn about nine-pm Monday.
Police say Kellog was at the wheel of an ATV that crashed head on with another unit Friday night, killing Benjamin Wohl, of Poulsbo, Washington. Wohl’s passenger, Breauna Ellison of Clackamas, suffered serious injuries in the crash.
Kellog is facing Felony hit and run charges, as well as manslaughter; Gockel-Figge faces charges of hindering prosecution.
Every Student Succeeds Act to be discussed in Florence
The federal law that replaced the No Child Left Behind Act last year will be the primary topic later this month when PTA leaders from around the region converge on Florence.
Diane McCalmont is the Florence PTA representative. She also serves as a regional director for the statewide organization.
McCalmont says a panel of educators and PTA members will talk about the Every Student Succeeds Act. It was enacted in December of last year and replaced No Child Left Behind as well as the 50-year old Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
The panel discussion, featuring Oregon PTA President Collin Robinson, along with representatives from the Oregon Department of Education and the Oregon Education Association, will be September 17th from one to 3:30 at Siuslaw Middle School. McCalmont says it’s open to anyone.
Adventist center aids thousands
Nearly nine-thousand people received assistance last year from the Lois Davidson Better Living Center. The center, operated by members of the Florence Seventh Day Adventist Church assisted 3,569 families made up of 8,783 individuals with free clothing and household items between July 2015 and June of this year.
Volunteers sort and clean donations, then provide them at no cost to families and individuals who are seeking assistance.
The Center was established in the 1980s through the bequest of a church member. Lois Davidson left her home and estate to the church with the intent of serving the poor and needy of Florence and the surrounding area. Located a mile and a half south of Florence at 85134 Highway 101, the center is open between ten a.m. and 5:30 p.m. each Wednesday.
Labor Day gas prices steady
The average cash price for a gallon of regular gas held steady in Florence this week. For the third week in a row it’s $2.31. The statewide average price, as measured by Triple-A also held steady… it’s at $2.46.
Those prices were the cheapest over the Labor Day weekend since 2004 according to Marie Dodds, the Public Affairs Director for Triple-A.
She said national average prices went down two cents this week to $2.20. That was after prices rose briefly in late August due to increasing crude oil prices and uncertainty about weather impacts on Gulf States’ refineries.
>>>