School safety and security forum this evening
Administrators at Siuslaw schools will host a special safety and security forum this evening. Siuslaw Elementary Principal Mike Harkelrode says it’s presented by the Florence Community PTA.
Mike Harkelrode – “The major focus of the questions is what is specific to each school and what is uniform across the district in regards to emergency preparedness.”
Harkelrode, along with middle school principal Andy Marohl (muh-ROLL) and high school vice principal Corky Franklin will outline the steps they plan on taking in the event of a variety of different emergencies. But, he added, some details will be kept private.
Mike Harkelrode – “Some of the items I’m a little worried about are in terms of how we conduct ourselves in certain emergency situations that we may not be able to answer with full disclosure in order to maintain the integrity of the plan. But most of them look like we’ll be able to give people exactly what they’re looking for in terms of some assurances that we are prepared for emergencies to the best of our abilities.”
The PTA Safety Forum starts at six this evening at the middle school commons.
Snowy Plover recovery effort update
The “plight of the plover” will be explored Wednesday evening in Florence. The Siuslaw Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation will host U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist Dan Elbert for a special presentation about the more than two-decades-long efforts to protect the threatened shore bird.
Coastal populations of the Western Snowy Plover were listed as “threatened” under the federal Endangered Species Act in March of 1993. Since then concerted efforts have been made to provide nesting areas for the small, sparrow sized, wader.
Recovery efforts have been up and down over the years, but the bird is showing resurgence.
The plover presentation will be at the Confederated Tribal office Wednesday, 6:30 pm. That’s at 3757 Highway 101 in Florence.
Lane County seeking members for parks planning task force
The deadline for application to represent Western Lane County on a special task force charged with helping to update the Lane County Parks Master Plan has been extended through Friday.
Lane County officials are looking to update the plan that will guide the “long-term vision” for the more than 70 parks and open spaces owned or operated by the County.
A draft master plan was released in September 2015, generating a great deal of concern on the part of some Florence area residents about the future of some properties in this end of the county.
The task force will include between 15 and 22 members from a wide variety of groups and areas of expertise. As many as ten members will come from six separate geographical areas. Officials have applicants from the coastal region, but are still looking for someone from the upriver Siuslaw area around Mapleton.
Application forms are available at the Lane County Parks website.
Weather Service examines forecast inaccuracy
Why did winds over the weekend not reach the levels that we were warned about? The National Weather Service routinely looks into how their forecasts match up with actual events; especially when the warnings were as dire as they were last week.
Officials had forecast the possibility of hurricane force winds along the Oregon Coast; winds that didn’t quite materialize.
Meteorologists said the impacts of the storm were significant… and accurate… for inland areas, but the coastal impact was not as much as feared.
One reason was because the low pressure system at the heart of the storm was not as powerful as originally thought. That was primarily because instead of a single “center of wind circulation” in the low pressure system, there were actually two centers.
That wound up spreading the energy of the storm, preventing the winds from being as intense as initially feared.
National Guard prepping for emergency
A special convoy of the Oregon National Guard will be travelling the Oregon Coast later this week. The primary goals of the convoy are to observe potential route obstructions that might come from a catastrophic earthquake, along with building relationships with local communities. Those relationships will be valuable in building a rapport between the guard and those communities that will help smooth out emergency operations.
The convoy, under the command of Captain Matt Owen, will be in Florence Sunday between 11 and one. Their equipment will be at the Florence Events Center for the two hour period. While there, Owen will brief area residents about every half hour on the steps they can take to be better prepared.
City of Florence spokesperson Megan Messmer said the exercise will also give the Guard a chance to practice setting up an emergency field kitchen and feeding a large number of people… she said anyone who comes out will get a hamburger or hot dog lunch.
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