Help Coming From FEMA
Congressman Peter DeFazio says It has been a long time coming, but Oregon and other states that battle wildfires will soon get some relief in paying for forest maintenance. A bill that goes into effect in October will require the Federal Emergency Management Agency to pick up the tab after annual funds are depleted in the forestry budget. Prior to this new law, money was allocated from areas like the department parks and recreation which limited services for national parks. Defazio says that another deficit comes from funds taken from forest maintenance.
“So we get further and further and further behind in doing fuel reduction and reducing the severity and, or the incidents of future fire.”
Defazio says this year has seen a reduction in major fires from last year and he hopes that it continues on that path for the rest of the summer. The new law finally puts forest fires in the same category as earthquakes, hurricanes, and floods when it comes to emergency funding even though, he admits, a good portion of fires are human caused.
School Bus Safety
With school just around the corner the Siuslaw school district is concerned that drivers on the road will not remember driver protocol for approaching buses that are picking up students. Last year bus drivers reported that 294 vehicles failed to stop for buses that had red flashing lights. This is a dangerous and illegal practice according to Siuslaw School transportation supervisor Tammy Trenholm. Drivers are required to slow when a bus engages its yellow lights in preparation for a stop and all vehicles in both directions are required to stop when the red lights are flashing and the Stop arm is out.
Planning Commission Meeting Cancelled
The Florence planning commission meeting for Tuesday has been cancelled. The commission’s next planned meeting is on Tuesday, September 10th at 5:30 pm.
Radio Auction
Beginning at 9:15 tomorrow morning Coast Radio will begin its annual Hot 100 Auction. The daylong event will give listeners the chance to score deals on a variety of items from shopping certificates, to dining out, to household items and gifts from local businesses. The auction is a private auction and is a barter between the station and its advertisers with the listener being the beneficiary. Often times items will go at less than 50% of their value giving the winning bidder great savings on items that would normally cost a lot more. Coast radio suspends its normal programming on both KCST and KCFM for the duration of the auction which usually concludes in the 3 o’clock hour.
