City reorganizes building and planning - Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day - LCC Longhouse ready

City reorganizes building and planning…

A combination of dwindling finances and reduced workload has prompted the City of Florence to combine positions and shift office locations at City Hall. When the former City Recorder, Pat Heinze, gave her notice earlier this month, it created an opportunity to combine some job duties. Kelli Weese has been handling technical and mapping functions in the planning department for the past 2 ½ years. She’ll hang on to those responsibilities, plus add the title of City Recorder. Community Development Director Sandra Belson says building permit functions will move back to the ground floor at City Hall, allowing one person to handle those duties as well as pick up additional planning responsibilities. Belson said in an unrelated decision, after almost 16 years at City Hall, Lane County will be moving building and electrical inspection services to the county’s public works shop on 20th street. That means private residents outside the city needing electrical and building permits must now go to Eugene. Contractors can use an online system.

After more than four years and $1.6-million the new longhouse on Lane Community College main campus is set to open. Officials will conduct a grand opening ceremony Friday morning, and show off the 6,200 square foot building, dedicated for the use of Native American students and community members. It’s only the second Native American longhouse to open at a community college nationally. It’s built of fir and cedar log beams, hand-hewn cedar planking and plenty of skylights. The centerpiece of the hall is the ‘great room’… a large open space framed by rough-hewn logs. Next to that is the Hall of Honor, a small rotunda with a display case for each of the nine federally recognized tribes in Oregon.

Sunday, December 7th, 1941… President Franklin Roosevelt said it was a day that would live in infamy as he announced to a stunned nation that America was at war. Backers of the Oregon Coast Military Heritage Museum will put together a series of temporary displays depicting life in the United States as it likely was on December 7th and 8th as America was recovering from the Great Depression and preparing for war. It’s part of Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day this Sunday, December Fifth at Three Rivers Casino and Hotel. There’s no admission charge… the displays will be open from ten to five.

Expect delays on Highway 101 over the Siuslaw River today as crews attempt to wrap up work on leveling the draw spans in preparation for new lock assemblies. Final work had been scheduled for last week but snow and ice prompted delay. Delays of ten to 15 minutes are expected across the bridge today between one and five.

Here is the latest Oregon news from The Associated Press

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - The crash of a small homemade plane south
of Portland killed the pilot but authorities say the man's dog
survived. Clackamas County sheriff's spokesman Jim Strovink says
the plane crashed and burned Monday at a tree farm near Lenhardt
Airpark in a rural area. The pilot has been identified as
68-year-old William E.C. Kennedy III of Portland. A deputy and a
chaplain went to the Kennedy home to inform family members and
bring the dog home.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - The attorney for a Somali-born man accused
of plotting to bomb a crowded Christmas tree lighting ceremony in
Portland is suggesting that government agents had groomed the
teenager and timed his arrest for publicity. Mohamed Osman Mohamud
pleaded not guilty in federal court yesterday. A tentative trial
date is set for February.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - A Multnomah County Circuit Court jury in
Portland has convicted a former oxycodone dealer of two counts of
aggravated murder in the 2008 deaths of a man and a woman in their
suburban Gresham townhouse. The Oregonian says the same jury will
reconvene over the next two or three days to decide whether
37-year-old James Charles Tooley should get the death penalty.

SEATTLE (AP) - Several fishing and conservation groups are suing
the EPA for failing to limit the use of six agricultural pesticides
to protect salmon. A lawsuit filed in federal court in Seattle on
Monday alleges the EPA has not taken action on measures that NOAA
Fisheries Service called for in 2008 and 2009.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - A closed-door meeting of over 50 members
of Portland's Muslim community and city leaders focused on security
concerns after last week's foiled bomb plot. Mayor Sam Adams says
he urged Muslims to call police about any possible threats to their
community centers or mosques.

VIDA, Ore. (AP) - Lane County, Oregon, officials have received a
$2 million federal transportation grant to fix up one of the
state's best-known covered bridges.
The Register-Guard reports that the Goodpasture covered bridge
near Vida has been limited to vehicles of under 15 tons since
engineers discovered broken and deteriorated sections in its timber
trusses and substructure. The grant will pay to fix those problems,
allowing normal traffic of up to 40 tons.
The 165-foot bridge was built in 1938 across the McKenzie River.
With its architectural detail it's one of the most photographed of
Oregon's 50 covered bridges. Officials say repairs could begin by
2012 and be completed within a year.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

TAKING A LOOK INTO COAST RADIO SPORTS:

College Football:
ESPN’s “College Football GameDay” will be making its first appearance in Corvallis this Saturday for the 114th Football Civil War. The ESPN Crew will broadcast segments for SportsCenter, College Football Live and other ESPN shows from the set in the OSU Memorial Union Quad. Saturday’s show will begin airing at six am and runs three hours. Fans are encouraged to attend. University officials say the quad will be open at 4:30 Saturday morning. Three and a half hours after ESPN GameDay concludes its show, the Beavers will be looking to upset number one Oregon at 12:30. This will be fourth time the Beavers have been a part of GameDay, but the first time they will host it. GameDay has aired from Eugene four times.