Viking Appeal Not Likely
Siuslaw Athletic Director, Chris Johnson said it was a long shot, but that they had to make their appeal for moving down to a 3A ranking for the next school year, but he says that it comes down to meeting the criteria and no school has ever moved down without meeting all four of them. Johnson says that it was ultimately the winning percentage of team athletics across the board that kept Siuslaw in the 4A division.
“We felt like we had a compelling argument just because so many of the wins that we had and a lot of the losses too were against schools from lower classifications.”
Johnson says the ruling states that a school has to have a 25% losing percentage 40 percent of the time, and Siuslaw was at 56%. He says it is also difficult when a school brings 3 buses for a football game with over 60 players dressed to play and Siuslaw can only dress 22.
“You have to raise your level to your level of competition. So I guess that’s what we’ll try to do, that’s what I am going to try to do as a coach.”
Johnson says that one benefit from the lateral move in the division is that it will mean better travel for teams and fans that go to and from the games.
Sheriff’s Release Decedents Name
Lane County Sheriff’s department has released the name of the person who died at Peace Harbor Hospital after being taken into police custody. 47 year old Melissa Gallauher could not be revived after detained by police for unruly behavior last Friday evening. An autopsy was performed and the medical examiner determined that there was no sign of excessive force or no evidence that her death was in any way involved with police efforts to restrain or calm her. They have yet, however, to determine the cause of Gallauher’s death. According to a press release Investigators with the Sheriff’s Office and the Oregon State Medical Examiner’s Office have interviewed all of the known witnesses to this event, and have reviewed other evidence while conducting this investigation all evidence indicates the involved officers were extremely patient and only used enough force to detain Gallauher, who was being uncooperative and was refusing to leave the location. The medical examiner will continue its investigation into the cause of Gallauher’s death.
County Poised to Strike
County employees may be on the picket line later today. The County and AFSCME representatives worked late into the night to try to solve some of the differences in the contract employees want and the offer that is on the table. According to negotiators from the union the differences is about a 21million dollar one. The county commissioners voted 3-1 to move forward with their contract. County administrator, Steve Mokrohisky said the employees “deserve the best compensation we can afford to provide” but commissioners Bozevich, Williams and Leiken said that meeting the demands of the union would likely end up with service cuts and layoffs in order to be able to do it. The contract the county is offering will cost the county an additional 7.8 million dollars over the next 3 years and includes about 1 million dollars in raises for about 150 lower wage employees. The unions offer will cost about 32.6 million over the same three years. The union says they will continue to negotiate even if they strike.