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Siuslaw NewsWednesday, February 26, 2025 Florence, Oregon

Number 9 • 134 years

Presidents Day protest in Florence By TONY REED The Siuslaw News

As with many towns and cities around the country, Feb. 17 was marked by demonstrations in front of City Hall. Crowds of people came out in the rain to stand on both sides of Highway 101 for just over an hour. While no speeches were given, signs carried by demonstrators denounced recent republican party actions, the appointment of Elon Musk without an election and opposition to oligarchy, while promoting peace and unity. Florence city councilors Jo Beaudreau and Sally Wantz were at the demonstration. “As a citizen, I’m excited to see the turnout of people here to talk and celebrate freedom of speech and freedom of religion,” Beaudreau said, over honking cars passing by, “and to point out that

Demonstrators stood in front of Florence City Hall in protest Feb 17. it’s important to stay contake part in democracy for Leonora Kent said she nected and be kind to each our kids, our neighbors and was feeling good about the other and that we all need to their futures.” demonstration overall.

Meyer enjoying his “Bill time”

See MEYER, Page A6

INSIDE

Obituaries — A2 Sports & Lifestyle — B1

JIM HOBERG Broker/Owner

“I’m feeling uplifted,” she said. “I’m feeling a sense of See PROTEST, Page A6

Berkner awaits pretrial SIUSLAW NEWS STAFF

“Because it was a kind of unique house in it’s layout, we did a lot of training without live fire,” he said, noting that the department brought in its smoke machine to fog the interior. “We did a bunch of search training, we did VEI (Vent-Enter-Isolate) and we did a lot of hose deployment. We did a lot of apparatus training because operators

A Feb. 27 pretrial conference is scheduled for Keith W. Berkner, 42, of Florence, in Lane County Circuit Court. Berkner was arrested Dec. 27, 2024, after receiving and investigating a report of possible sexual abuse of a juvenile. “From that investigationm, Keith Berkner was developed as a suspect in the case,” according to FPD. “On [Jan. 22] a search warrant was executed on Berkner’s residence, where Berkner was placed into custody and later transported to Lane County Adult Corrections.” Berkner remained in custody as of Feb. 19. A pretrial conference is a court hearing where prosecution and defense present information to determine if enough evidence exists to go to trial. Berkner is charged with Sodomy in the First Degree and Sexual Abuse in the First Degree, both felonies. If convicted, the maximum sentences for the two offenses are 70 months (25 years) and

See BURN, Page A3

See BERKNER, Page A6

By TONY REED The Siuslaw News

City Councilor Bill Meyer recently announced that after serving on public board continuously since 1981, that he will step down from the council but retain his seat as ViceChair of the Port of Siuslaw. “When you do an exit like this, you want to fist make sure everything is running strong in the City,” he said. “It wouldn’t be fair if there was a crisis going on or issues that hadn’t been dealt with, but that’s not the case. We have a strong council with the mayor and the members we have left and a tremendous City administrative staff, so I’m comfortable taking my exit so I can get a little more ‘Bill time.’” Saying his 83rd birthday is coming up, Meyer disclosed that he’s finally done building his dream workshop where he can spend

TONY REED PHOTO

PHOTOS SUBMITTED BY WLFEA

A house along Mercer Lake Road before and after firefighters conducted training.

WLFEA burns down house By TONY REED The Siuslaw News

Western Lane Fire and EMS Authority firefighters intentionally burned down a house off Mercer Lake Road Feb. 18, but not before using it to conduct some vital fire training. According to WLFEA Deputy Chief Rob Chance, the house became available to use for a

Opinion — A3 Classifieds — B6-7

training burn early this year and all hazardous materials were first removed. About 16 total fire personnel took part in the training. The single-story house was constructed atop a ground-level storage area, and raised up on pillars and metal channeling. The structure had several rooms, inside which firefighters conducted various training exercises.

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