Museum Turns 2; Committee Looks to Future; Deadly Shooting Update

Military Museum Anniversary

This weekend the Oregon Coast Military Museum celebrates its 2nd anniversary.  Cal Applebee is on the board and he says there is a lot planned.  Raffles, giveaways, door prizes will all be part of the festivities.  And a reminder that they rely on the good nature of the citizens of Florence to keep the operations going.

“The reason it’s really important for folks to come out, not just to celebrate our success, but we also still need support financially. You know folks don’t realize it costs us over $44,000 on an annual basis just to keep the doors open.”

Applebee says that does not include bringing in or creating new displays.  A couple of which are almost ready for the public to view.

“Our Merchant Marine display is almost finished, the 4 foot model of the star of Oregon, the first liberty ship built by the Kaiser shipyard of Portland is on its way to us now that will finish that up.”

The Oregon Coast Military Museum’s anniversary coincides with the annual Wings and Wheels event.  The Museum is located on Kingwood near the airport.  Festivities are this Saturday.

Committee Sets Sights on Future

A new committee is set to take a look at the next 20 plus years in Florence to see what areas of need might arise in planning and developing of housing.  The HEOP committee, which stands for Housing, Economics, and Opportunities Project, is charged with working with a consultant and city staff and the greater community through surveys to determine housing and commercial needs.  City Manager, Erin Reynolds

“This data and this work that this group is doing will help form and update chapters in the comprehensive plan and will ultimately trickle down into code updates.”

The goal is to establish more modern and denser housing opportunities in Florence.   Reynolds says the creation of this group has been about a year in the making.

Agency Still Investigating

The Lane County Interagency Deadly Force Investigation Team is still piecing together information regarding the high speed chase and gun battle that ended in the suspects death on Saturday evening.  Lane County Public Information Officer, Sgt. Carrie Carver, issued a release yesterday afternoon saying that the goal is to ensure that all of the facts are presented before releasing information to the public.  Her release added that the deputies that were injured were doing fine and that the outpouring of support for them was appreciated.  Coast Radio News will continue to update the story as information becomes available.