Commissioner Contends Lack of Integrity
Current Lane County commissioner Jay Bozievich is steadfast in his accusation that Lane County Budget Committee Member and current candidate for Lane County commissioner Dawn Lesley lied when asked about voting to raise commissioners salaries. When asked at a recent forum in Mapleton whether or not she voted Lesley replied:
“…and not a single person even moved to consider to raise the commissioner’s salaries, so that’s not true.”
However there was a motion made to recommend a 2% cost of living adjustment for the commissioners which Bozievich says in fact constitutes a raise.
“Dawn Lesley was chairing that meeting at the time and voted in favor of that motion so there is no disputing the fact that there was a motion made to increase the commissioner’s salaries and that she voted in favor.”
Lesley denies that she was lying or trying to mislead any constituents regarding raises. She says she based her answer on her understanding of the question at the time.
“They were recommending that we pass a 27% increase and that was what I thought her question was. I didn’t sit there and do math on the numbers that she put in front of me.”
Voters will have to make up their minds on May 17th as to whom they trust to take West Lane County forward. There were originally 4 candidates for the 4 year term. Dawn Lesley, Ryan Ceniga, Misty Fox, and Local Businessman Terry Duman but a fifth candidate has thrown his hat into the ring Rod Graves. Graves is a former EMT and has served on the Santa Clara Fire District and Santa Clara Water District boards. Graves filed on March 8th.
Another Booster Possible
Moderna and Pfizer have asked the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to authorize a second COVID-19 booster dose for adults. Dr. Paul Cieslak, medical director for communicable diseases and immunizations at Oregon Health Authority says as of now there is not general recommendation for everyone to get a second round of boosters, but that the option could be in the near future. The first ones likely to be approved are adults over the age of 50.
Volunteers Needed
Oregon State Parks is celebrating 100 years with volunteer projects in 2022. 20 volunteers are being sought to work with park rangers at Honeyman State Park on Earth Day, April 20th. The goal is to help remove invasive plants such as ivy, blackberry and scotch broom from trail areas at the park. Allison Watson, the Statewide Volunteer Programs Coordinator says volunteers must preregister online by April 10th. As of Monday afternoon only 17 volunteer slots were remaining. The Earth Day Project is part of Oregon Parks and Recreation’s 100 Volunteer Projects for 100 years centennial event. Another volunteer project will be available the following day at Shore Acres State Park in Coos County. Volunteers can sign up online at the same website:
https://store.oregonstateparks.org/index.cfm?do=&itemTypeId=2
COVID-19 Update
Weekend totals for COVID-19 were reported at 541 according to the Oregon Health Authority. There were 39 new deaths reported for the 3 day period from Friday to Monday. Hospitalizations were down to 118 which was 15 fewer than the previous report. Lane County added 62 cases over the weekend with no new cases for the Florence area code.
