Siuslaw School Board Candidates for May Election:
All three positions on the Siuslaw School District Board of Directors up for election next month feature contested races. Long-time director John Barnett, in position 2, has drawn a challenger, Adrian Pullut. Maureen Miltenberger, position 4, is also seeking reelection. She is challenged by former Siuslaw teacher and board member Dennis King. Kady Sneddon was elected to position 4 in 2020. She had already announced that she would not be seeking reelection following the sudden death in November of her husband. Two candidates have filed for her position: Maygun Hiatt and Tom Posegate. Voters will have at least two opportunities to hear what the candidates have to say in the coming weeks. On Wednesday, April 30th, the Greentrees homeowners’ association invited all six candidates to a candidate’s forum at the community’s rec hall. It will begin at 4:00. Organizer Leslie Shaw said it will be open to the public, and the gate will be left open. So far, she says, five of the six candidates have said they will be there. Dennis King has not responded, according to Shaw. The Rec Hall is at 1600 North Rhododendron Drive, on the east side of Rhody. You’ll come directly to the right spot if you go straight through the gate. We’ll have more school board election news after the break.
| Our Town to feature candidates
Coast Radio News Director George Henry will feature school board candidates on the next edition of Our Town. Henry intends to feature two candidates each in separate segments on the monthly program that will air on KCST Wednesday, May 7th from four to six pm, then again the next day, Thursday, May 8th from ten AM to Noon.
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| School Board Member Steps Down
Kady Sneddon, the director in position 6, announced Wednesday that she was stepping down from the post immediately. Her husband, Ethan Dougherty, passed away suddenly in November of last year and Sneddon had been attending meetings remotely through Zoom. She said May is a very busy month for school board activities and she found it difficult to make all of them and didn’t feel right missing them. She said she had hoped to stay on the board at least until the June 6th graduation, but instead opted to step down immediately. The remaining board members have several options available to them for dealing with the vacancy. They could opt to appoint someone now or wait until after the May 20th election results. Or a third option would be to leave it empty until July 1st when the election winner would take over.
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| Driver arrested following Coos County double fatality
A Coos Bay man, hospitalized after a Friday night crash that resulted in the death of a college softball coach and one of the players on her team, was release Monday from RiverBend hospital in Springfield. 32-year-old Jonathon James Dowdy was arrested and transferred to the Coos County Jail where he faces two manslaughter charges, driving under the influence of intoxicants, and several other charges related to the 18th crash that killed 46-year-old Jami Lea Strinz of Roseburg and 19-year-old Kiley Nevaeh Jones of Nampa Idaho. Strinz, who coached softball at Umpqua Community College, was driving the Chevrolet Express bus carrying Jones and 8 other members of the team. They were headed back to Roseburg after a Friday afternoon game against Southwest Oregon Community College. |
Local Church observing two milestones
Members of the Florence Seventh Day Adventist Church are hosting an Anniversary Homecoming this weekend to commemorate two milestones. Church members are celebrating 40 years at their current location, 4445 Highway 101 in Florence. Before that, in addition to Sabbath Day Services they also operated a school at what is now the Methodist Church on Kingwood Street. They moved both functions to the church just south of Fred Meyer in 1985. Seventh Day Adventists first began celebrating the Sabbath in Glenada, just south of Florence, in 1949, giving them occasion to also celebrate 75 years in the area. Sabbath service is Saturday, May 3rd at ten AM followed by a fellowship meal and plenty of memories immediately following.
