Dancing with Sea Lions… and burning the mortgage at the FEC
The actual anniversary was in August, but officials and residents will formally celebrate the 20th year of operation at the Florence Events Center Saturday night. General Manager Kevin Rhodes… who has worked at the FEC since day 1, says they’ll start off with a mortgage burning.
Pictured behind Porter and Henry are members of the committee organizing the effort. (Siuslaw News Photo- Chantelle Meyer)
Kevin Rhodes – “Mayor Joe Henry is going to be striking the match so to speak and burn the mortgage, and kind of officially close that chapter.”
Following that, during a paid reception, there will be an auction of several of the “Porter Sea Lions” that have been decorated by local artists and placed around the community since last spring.
Kevin Rhodes – “We’ve got nine remaining. The other 11 were either sold through sponsorships or purchased by individual businesses.”
Rhodes said the money raised through the “dancing with sea lions” promotion actually goes to the Friends of the Events Center, but the volunteer group has already committed the funds to improvements.
Kevin Rhodes – “Earmarking it for technical enhancements and so we’ll be upgrading the theater sound system and the sound system on the flat floor.”
Admission for tomorrow’s Sea Lion Gala is $20 per person… the doors open at 5:30 and the event begins at six.
Care providers added at PeaceHealth
Three additional care providers have been added to the roster so far this year at PeaceHealth Medical Group… at
least two more are expected by the end of 2015.
Two of them… Elmer Paredes (puh-RAY-deez), a Certified Physician’s Assistant; and Certified Nurse Practitioner Sandra Jones joined the PeaceHealth Walk In Clinic in January.
Dr. Douglas Johnson joined the Family Medicine Department in June. He already has a full roster of patients.
The two additional care providers due later this year are expected to begin easing the shortage of physicians. One other is also set to arrive in June of 2017.
2 Weeks Ready
This week’s arrival of Hurricane Matthew along the southeast Atlantic Coast is an example of why local residents should be prepared to sustain themselves for up to two weeks in case of a natural disaster.
The Oregon Office of Emergency Management says everyone should have enough food, water, and other supplies to keep you and your family self-sufficient for two weeks.
Geologic Hazards Program Coordinator Althea Rizzo says that reduces the strain on emergency responders who will have limited resources to assist the injured and other “vulnerable populations” in the event of an earthquake, tsunami or large storm.
Rizzo said the previous standard was 72-hours… she said the more devastating disasters… like a Cascadia Subduction earthquake… would leave many transportation routes in ruins. That’s means Oregonians will have to keep themselves safe until relief can arrive.
End of fire season begins burning on national forest
The change in the weather is allowing firefighters on the Siuslaw National Forest to switch from suppressing fires to lighting them.
Piles of debris and limbs have been accumulating on national forest land throughout the year from timber sales and land management activities according to Nanci Curtis. She is the zone fire management officer for the Siuslaw National Forest.
She said piles can be ignited during wet conditions, making burning them on of the most effective way to remove what she called “non-merchantable” wood debris before it can become a hazardous fuel in the dry summer months.
She said residents and visitors to forest land may encounter smoke associated with the burns…
FEC Parking expansion coming
The Florence City Council approved the purchase this week of an acre of land abutting the northern end of the Florence Events Center.
The property has been used for overflow parking by the FEC for the past five years. Improvements will now be made to the parcel to make it align better with the existing parking. City Manager Erin Reynolds said they will also pursue the possibility of erecting some sort of storage.
Reynolds said they approached the owner, Larry Glickman of Portland, last year about purchasing the property, but he declined.
Then, last month, Glickman called City Hall and said he would go ahead with the transaction.
Scientists sifting scat in the sea
For the past several months a team of Oregon State University scientists have been following gray whales around the ocean off the Oregon Coast. Led by Marine Ecologist Leigh Torres, they’ve been scooping whale poop.
Torres says they are studying the impacts of ocean noise on the giant mammals and whether or not it causes physiological stress in the animals. They do it by collecting and studying the fecal matter.
Torres said they have to act quickly… they only have about 20 to 30 seconds to “swoop in” with a fine mesh net and collect some of the “prized” material before it sinks to the bottom.
Torres, the principal investigator with OSU’s Marine Mammal Institute, says it isn’t really all that bad. It doesn’t smell at all. She says the worst job is collecting DNA from a whale’s blow-hole… because – quote – “Their breath is horrendous.”
