Oregon To Cut Non-Essential Budgets
Oregon is feeling the economic crunch of the coronavirus. Senator Arnie Roblan says that the Governor and the legislature are in agreement that in order to lessen the impact, there needs to be a moratorium on hiring for vacant positions as well as a cut in non-critical spending. He says they have also agreed not to reopen state parks and in fact there will be a more critical approach and disallow parking in parking lots and both out of state and in-state visitors. Oregon Parks and Recreation Department Director, Lisa Sumpton, says they would have preferred a more orderly shutdown of the system and even allow for daytime use with social distancing, but the situation with rural districts, such as Florence, with rural hospitals and limited health care resources made it necessary to move up plans for closings and even expand them. In Florence those who choose to ignore the closures and access the dunes for recreational vehicles are receiving fines starting at $100.00.
New Cases Of COVID-19
Over the weekend there were 207 new reported cases of COVID-19 in Oregon and 8 new deaths. Bringing the total number of known positives to 1528 and the death total to 52. There were 4 new cases reported in Lane County bringing the total to 38. The latest cases in the county are a woman in her 20’s from outside the Eugene/Springfield area, an person listed only as an individual who had access to the Good Samaritan Society in Eugene, an employee of a Eugene Memory Care facility, and a male in his 50’s from the Eugene/Springfield area. There have been a total of 29,758 tests conducted in Oregon with 28,231 negative results. According to the Lane County Heatlh at least 1335 tests have been conducted.
Parade Supports Student Morale
On Friday in Florence teachers and staff at Siuslaw Public Schools participated in a parade through the streets. It was in conjunction with a much larger national movement that reminded students that teachers were still fighting for them and was a show of appreciation to the students. The city approved the permit for event that rolled through several different neighborhoods. Siuslaw band teacher, Chris Rowbotham was asked about his participation.
“We miss school, we miss the kids we miss rhythms and routines. We’ll get caught up, we’ll get back to normal, I don’t know when, but we’ll get there.”
This past week Governor Brown closed school for the rest of the academic calendar and implemented a distance learning program that students will begin in full today, though some of the classes, according to Superintendent Andy Grzeskowiak, had begun last week.
Friends of FEC Rebranding
The Friends of the Florence Events Center is working on a rebranding campaign that includes finding a new name for the 501(c)3. There is a contest to choose the new name and the winner will receive a $100 prize and a brick in the walkway with their name on it. The contest will end on April 30th. submissions will go to the FFEC Vice president, Ken Janowski at 12kj34@gmail.com
