Sky High Gas Prices
Over the past week gas prices have increased monumentally with the average price of a gallon of regular gas in Florence nearing $5.20 a gallon, that’s about .86 cents more than last week. Marie Dodds with AAA Oregon says it has been the perfect storm with supplies tight and production down.
“If we have one issue, for example a refinery outage or a pipeline outage that could be enough to send our prices skyrocketing.”
She says there are currently 5 west coast refineries that are either performing scheduled or unscheduled maintenance. And that while the storm in the east does not affect west coast production it has added about a 5 cent increase to an already exacerbated situation here. Dodds says hold on, it will likely get worse before we see some relief.
“The situation should be resolved in a couple of weeks as these problems are addressed, but in the meantime hang on because it is going to continue to be a bumpy ride for drivers as you fill up.”
Dodds says historically the west coast only produces enough gas to meet supply so any interruption can be devastating.
New Classrooms In Use
New classrooms at Siuslaw High School give breathing room to students and teachers. Four new classrooms, at Siuslaw High School were opened up earlier this week. High School Vice-Principal Bev Scott said they are located in a pair of new modular buildings and the new space is a welcome addition.
“It provides some much needed breathing room. We had multiple teachers having to share and bounce around.”
The school board approved the approximately $640-thousand project in May. Crews worked quickly over the summer to get them installed in time for a “larger than expected” freshman class. Completion missed the first day of school which meant overcrowding for the past few weeks. But, says Scott, math classes were able to begin in the new space Monday (the 26th).
“This has allowed our students and staff to have classrooms to fit the needs of the students and the subjects that they’re taking.”
An additional modular is still in the installation process. It will house administrative offices, ultimately freeing up additional new class space.
Help Needed To Identify Remains
The Florence Police Department is looking for help in identifying a body that was discovered behind the dunes across from Fred Meyer on Highway 101. The Remains were found on September 21st and after an investigation by the Lane County Medical Examiners Office they can now focus the search for the identity of the person. Chief John Pitcher hopes that releasing some of the information regarding the deceased may help in determining who it is. The medical examiner determined that the remains were a few years old and likely from a Caucasian male. The victim had a medical condition known as Mandubular Tori which caused overgrown bone in the lower jaw. Police also recovered a chevy key fob, black athletic style pants with a white stripe down the legs, a black hoodie sweater, large brown rubber boots and black sun glasses. If any of these items, or the medical condition are familiar, Florence Police ask you to contact Detective Bailey at the Justice center 541-997-3515
Monies For New School Programs
Governor Kate Brown has allocated 3.3 million dollars to help schools to implement safety enhancements and bullying/violence prevention strategies. Siuslaw School District as well as Mapleton School district will benefit directly from these funds. According to
Siuslaw School superintendent, Andy Grzeskowiak, Lane Education Service District will employ a specialist in the county to oversee the projects.
