Port Commissioner Terry Duman Seeks County Commissioner Seat; High Winds; COVID-19 Numbers; Flu Rates Drop; Wreck on Sunday Closes 126

Port Commissioner Terry Duman Seeks County Commissioner Seat

Local businessman and current Port of Siuslaw commissioner Terry Duman is one of four candidates seeking the West Lane County Commissioner seat that will come open upon the completion of current commissioner Jay Bozievich’s term.  Duman, a life-long Florence resident says he would like to see the Climate Action Plan be adjusted to fit all of Lane County and the differences Rural areas experience.

“My personal opinion on the CAP plan, I know it’s going to be key in this election is that it doesn’t fit West Lane County.  West Lane County has a lot of rural areas, that’s what I am running to represent, that doesn’t fit all of Lane County.”

Duman says there are things about the CAP plan that are good, but that it should be looked at more closely.  Duman hopes to represent Lane County.  Primary elections will be on May 17th.  Terry Duman will be a guest on Our Town this week.

High Winds

So far there are no major power outages to report as a result of the high winds sweeping through the central coast area.  Wind gusts in excess of 50 miles per hour began in the early morning hours this morning and are expected to continue throughout the day with the potential of trees and debris falling.  Central Lincoln PUD reported just 3 outages early this morning for the Florence area.  Winds along the beaches and headlands are expected to be the highest with forecasts of up to 60 mph.  The national weather service has the high wind warning through 4 pm, but expects the winds to lessen as we move through the day.  Winds overnight are expected to be steady with gusts at or above 30 miles per hour.

COVID-19 Numbers

Covid-19 cases continue to drop across the county and state with 4 more cases reported on Friday in the 97439 zip code.  Lane County reported 94 cases and the Oregon Health Authority reported 981 new cases and 4 new deaths on Friday.  The OHA is also reporting that it is monitoring a subvariant of the omicron virus called BA 2.  A small percentage of cases are tested for sequencing and among those cases fewer than 1% are variants.  At this time the OHA is not overly concerned considering the small amount of cases, but continue to monitor.

Flu Rates Drop

For the 6th week in a row the flu virus has been declining across the state according to the OHA’s weekly report.  Test results from southern Oregon and the Columbia Gorge and the Willamette are the highest with 47 total cases across the state.  While numbers are low the OHA is reporting an increase in the percentages of positive tests in individuals but that number is still below 2% of individuals tested.

Wreck on Sunday Closes 126

A head on collision on highway 126 last night had the highway shut down for several hours as the lane fire authority, lane county sheriff’s department and the Oregon State Police responded.  It is believed that there was a fatality in the crash but more details are not currently available.  Accident occurred at about milepost 28, west of Walton at around 6 pm.