Small storm packs a punch; Search suspended; PeaceHealth recruiting docs; and chocolate!

Scattered power outages still persist…

The winds came up suddenly late Saturday night, and peaked at around 60-miles an hour at the Siuslaw River Entrance… by the time they subsided a couple of hours later about one fourth of the Florence area was in the dark. Matt Boshaw with Central Lincoln PUD says the southern region of the utility was the hardest hit with three major feeder lines going down along with several other taplines. Boshaw called it a – quote – ‘strange storm’ from the standpoint that whole trees were coming down, mostly he said because of the rain-saturated soil. That made the process of making repairs and longer and more complicated process than usual. No major damage was reported from the brief storm and Boshaw said the majority of power customers had service restored by yesterday. He said only one outage remained by this morning and crews will work on that through the day.

The search for the two missing men who failed to return from a surf-fishing trip late Wednesday has been suspended. Petty Oficer Shawn Eggert with the U.S. Coast Guard said the aerial search was suspended just after five PM Thursday and the ground search, organized by the Lane County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue Team was called of Friday. The two men, 23-year old Nick Lutz of Florence and 62-year old Bill Bodewig are presumed to have fallen into the heavy surf while fishing. Lutz, a 2005 graduate of Siuslaw High School was a state wrestling champion at 189 pounds his senior year. Bodewig has owned and operated a tree trimming and landscaping business on the Central Coast for several years.

The effects of a national shortage of primary care physicians is felt nearly every day by staff-members and patients at Peace Health Medical Group in Florence. Peace Health has dedicated one full time position to the task of recruiting new doctors and so far they’ve been successful. They’ve recently added eleven new permanent doctors and enlisted the aid of ten more temporaries. Because of those efforts Peace Health Medical Group is able to offer not only routine primary, surgical and orthopedic care, but also offers Women’s Care, Same Day Care and Emergency care.

A popular holiday feature in the Florence area will be open to the public beginning next Week.
200 – “The See’s Candy is very popular and continues to be very popular.”

Clara Kuhn says the Florence Kiwanis Club, which oversees the twice annual sales, turns the love for chocolate into a support of many community events and activities.
201 – “We put that money back into the community with many different projects, primarily directed at young children.”

Just how much money does the annual Christmas candy sale generate?
202 -- “We expect to raise approximately 75-hundred and that is a lot of chocolate.”

This year’s Kiwanis Candy store will be located inside the Florence Sears Store. It’ll be open seven days a week beginning December First and running through the week before Christmas… or until they run out.

TAKING A LOOK INTO COAST RADIO SPORTS:

College Football:

For the first time ever the winner of the annual Civil War football game will be crowned the Pac-10 champion and earn the right to play in the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day. The epic battle was set up over the weekend by the Oregon Ducks’ exciting come from behind 44-41 overtime victory over the Arizona Wildcats. Oregon State wasn’t quite as dramatic in their victory as they romped over Washington State 42-10 in Pullman. Both wins set up a Civil War set for Thursday, December Third in Eugene with roses on the line for the winner.

College Basketball:

For the men… Oregon State failed in a comeback bid in Corvallis and fell to Sacramento State 65 – 63. Oregon fell to the Portland Pilots Saturday night, 88 – 81. The Oregon Women were victorious, 86 – 81 over Montana last night in Missoula. The Oregon State women also picked up a victory, 78 – 42 over Houston Baptist. One game on the college schedule tonight, the Oregon Men at home against Montana. That game on KCST at seven with a 6:30 airtime.

Youth Sports:

The Nike Bowerman A-C junior Olympics cross country team that includes four Florence runners took the team championship at the Region 13 finals Saturday in Spokane. Mitchell Butler won the individual honors with a time of 13:53.47. Matthew Campbell was fourth; Mack Marbas fifth and Seth Campbell 23rd. The team advances to the national championships December 12th.