Water Issue Fix in Progress
The head of the Mapleton Water District, Terry Saubert says that despite having to issue a boil water notice two months ago, the water tests have been consistently good at all of the testing stations. He says that does not mean he is recommending that residents drink the water without boiling. Boiling, he says, is still the recommended practice. Saubert has been under fire from residents and some media outlets for his handling of the situation, but he says that over the past few months there has been a lot of work to try to fix the problem. Mapleton’s water system is a fully pressurized system that has no gravity fed supply and when the system failed and was further damaged after the Sweet Creek milepost 2 fire it made repairs more difficult. Suabert says they are expecting a temporary skid that will supply pressure to the system and that should arrive in the next several days, but it will likely be another month before the system if fully operational. Money for the skid had to come through a grant process because of the districts very limited funding, and that process, Saubert says, has been long and involved. Despite several residents complaining of becoming sick, there have been no confirmed illnesses due to water contamination.
Accident May Have Been Medical Incident
Police believe that Sunday afternoons accident that left a Jeep wrangler at the bottom of the Siuslaw River could have been caused by a medical emergency. Witnesses say they saw 91 year old Parker Kendall of Florence heading southbound when the vehicle suddenly veered off Rhododendron Drive near the transfer station at about 3:10 on Sunday afternoon the vehicle plunged into the river and sank. Divers from the Lane County Sheriff’s department located the vehicle. Support was also received from the U.S. Coast Guard Siuslaw Station and Siuslaw Valley Fire and Rescue. The vehicle was removed from the river and Kendall was still in his seat belt. The Florence Police in their press release said evidence was found in the vehicle of a pre-existing medical condition.
2-Day Heat Wave
Temperatures in the Florence area reached the upper 80 yesterday and several locations hit 90 as hot air pushed in from the valley. Forecasters over the weekend predicted that there would be smoke also pushing in, but firefighters with the holiday farm fire were able to make progress in battling down the blaze. It is not clear if that alone eliminated the smoke, but the fire is currently over 55% contained. More warm weather is expected to be in the area today with highs continuing in the mid 80’s. temperatures are expected to stay in the 70’s the rest of the week. The Oregon Department of Forestry says fire will likely stir within the boundaries set over the next several days with east winds prevailing. But they believe the smoke will cause minimal threat to surrounding homes
Lane County Leads Numbers
The Oregon Health Authority listed 181 new confirmed COVID-19 cases yesterday. That included 26 for Lane County increasing that total to 1,239. There was a drop in current infections to 179 a decrease of 25 from the previous day’s total. Statewide the total has risen to 32,994, but there were no new deaths to report yesterday. Lane County was once again the leader in new coronavirus cases followed by Washington with 24 and Multnomah with 21.
Non-Profits Benefit From Relief Fund
The non-profit Friends of the Florence Events Center was the recipient of a grant fund to assist with monies lost during the coronavirus. The Coronavirus Relief Fund for Cultural Support gave the group $4952.00 to offset pandemic related expenses and lost income. The Friends of the Florence Events Center recently cancelled the annual Winter Music Festival due to restrictions in place governing group numbers for events. Other non-profits to receive funds from outside grants were the Rods-n-Rhodies, C.R.O.W., the Florence Regional Arts Alliance, and the City of Florence.