Learn to Pump
Concern over the new law that allows individuals to pump their own gas means that there are some people that may not know how. The 72 year tradition came to an end on Friday and some stations are working out the kinks of having either all self-serve or at least half of their pumps available. Teri Eaton who is the Human Resources assistant manager at the local Fred Meyer store says they will continue to have the same amount of attendants on hand to teach customers how to work the pumps. They currently have half of their pumps available for self-serve. When Oregon enacted the law that prohibited individuals pumping their own gas in 1951 it was over concerns of safety including slipping on slick services in Oregon’s rainy season. The law recently relaxed allowing some stations to the east to provide self service at night and during the pandemic it relaxed even more with staff shortages.
Road Affected By Water Issues
Water issues continue to plague Mapleton. Yesterday highway 126 at milepost 14 had to be closed to one lane after an unspecified issue was reported. Flaggers were in place to direct traffic. After several hours it was determined that the road had to be closed overnight and into the morning hours on Tuesday due to a sinkhole that was created. It is possible that the eastbound lane of 126 could be closed for several days.
Sheriff’s Office Experiences Phone Trouble
For a brief period mid-day yesterday the Lane County Sheriff’s Office reported an outage to its phone system. The outage was to its non-emergency number and lasted for about two hours. It was resolved at about 2 pm yesterday.
Disincorporation Discussion
Dunes City Councilors will begin a discussion Wednesday evening about the possibility of asking voters whether or not the city should disincorporate. Mayor Sheldon Meyer said it stems from a meeting in late June when Councilor Rich Olson brought it up.
“I know he has mentioned it and just feels like it’s time to have a discussion about whether we want to stay a city.”
Meyer said if the council acted quickly, voters could be asked their opinions as early as in November. But Meyer says it’s a serious issue.
”There’s two or three of us that are thinking that maybe this is something that we shouldn’t rush right into. We should maybe explore it a little bit about what are the benefits or the ramifications; what are we going to gain, what are we going to lose.”
Meyer said Wednesday’s meeting will be primarily for he and the council to discuss it and he’s not planning on accepting public comment. The meeting begins at six pm at City Hall. It will also air live online. A link to that is at Dunes City Hall dot com; it’s on the calendar entry for August 9th.
