Suspect Turns Himself In; Scooter Trek Culminates in Florence; Flyer Denounces The Siuslaw News; Coronavirus Numbers

Suspect Turns Himself In

One of the two remaining suspects at large in the weekend kidnapping and assault of two people in the Mapleton area has turned himself in to police.  Michael Lokey-Wilson turned himself in to the Oregon State Police yesterday and was charged with assault II and Kidnapping I.  Lokey-Wilson is suspected of having a role in the assault and kidnapping of a man and his girlfriend on Saturday evening.  One of the other suspects, Michael Wayne Light was taken into custody Sunday after he was found with the female victim still in his vehicle against her will.  The male victim was taken to Peace Harbor hospital for treatment of injuries that he received.  One suspect remains on the run.  Jonathan Dakota Appelt is a white male, 6 feet tall and weighing approximately 185 pound with short blonde hair and blue eyes and a tattoo on his neck.  He is believed to be armed and dangerous.  Community members are asked not to attempt to contact or apprehend him but should call the Oregon State Police if they see him or know of his whereabouts.

Scooter Trek Culminates in Florence

A group of three young men completed a coast to coast ride on Segway scooters.  The men left Yorktown, Virginia on June 25th and made the 4000 mile trek in 62 days.  Their journey ended in Florence on Tuesday.  Graham Pollard was the groups organizer who said after being stuck behind a desk at a bank for a year, he wanted to have an adventure before he was locked in to a career.

“I liked the job, but I realized that if I was going to be sitting at a desk for the rest of my life I wanted to do something pretty epic beforehand.”

Pollard says they reached out to several companies for a sponsorship, but it was Segway who gave them the electric scooters to make the trip.  Brandon Bedford and Christian Boyle made the trip with Pollard.  They averaged about 80 miles per day.  Segway provided 8 of their new Ninebot KickScooters’ for the project.  Pollard says each Ninebot has about a 25 mile range and they changed out the scooter several times during the day.  He said it was no glamour trip either, spending nights in the back of a Volkswagen bus or camping on the ground.

“The only hotel or Air BNB we got was in Denver when our van was in the shop, other than that no hotels at all.”

Pollard used the trip to raise money for a local camp in his home state of Massachusetts that was severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and forced to close for the summer.  The group will spend the rest of the week traveling down the Oregon and California coast before returning home.

Flyer Denounces The Siuslaw News

Some Homes around the area received a group mailing yesterday that asked them to Unsubscribe from the Siuslaw News.  The flyer claimed that the publication’s news was fake and unethical and seditious.  The Siuslaw News has recently begun a series cataloging the division between members of the City Council after a controversial mural was introduced and after a then candidate for city council, Geraldine Prociw was pressured by two councilors to consider withdrawing from the race.  The flyer was apparently targeted to registered republican voters.  Public support for the publication has already begun circulating on social media.  On a Facebook post local business woman Cindy Wobbe said she made a call to order her full year’s subscription, and was quickly supported by other members of the community.  No one has come forward to claim responsibility for the flyer.

Coronavirus Numbers

The coronavirus has claimed 6 more lives according to the Oregon Health Authority.  The death toll in the state is now at 433.  There were also 222 new confirmed cases in the state with 8 new cases for Lane County bringing the total to 667 cases.  2 more people have also been hospitalized in Lane County.  The case count for the Florence area remains at 18.