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A return to the hardwood Get all the info you need for the upcoming Taft season Pages A9, A10

75 CENTS | VOL. 85 | NO. 48 | 2 SECTIONS YOUR WEEKLY COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER SINCE 1927

Angels among us

For the past 14 years, a group of Lincoln County residents and many volunteers have helped provide one-time financial assistance for families and others in need from Depoe Bay to Rose Lodge through the Angels Anonymous Ball and Fantasy of Trees project. “It was a collective thing to call it Angels Anonymous,” said Jim Davis, Angels Anonymous president and a co-founder of the project. “Seven of us knowing the need in the community got together and we dreamed this up in a four-hour meeting at a local motel.”

NOVEMBER 28, 2012 | WEDNESDAY

www.TheNewsGuard.com

LINCOLN CITY, OREGON

Man survives crashes, explosion, Mother Nature Jim Fossum The News Guard

Nearly 25,000 people were left without power last week when a wicked winter windstorm pounded the Oregon Coast. Retired 65-year-old area resident Richard Specht was left without a house. Specht’s lifelong run of misfortune reached new heights on Monday, Nov. 19, when wind and hurricane gale-force gusts nearing 100 mph immobilized traffic, shut down businesses and snapped telephone poles throughout the state. The violent wind and rainstorm garnered national attention

as it ushered in the start of the holiday season at the beginning of Thanksgiving week. Having already survived an electrical explosion that devoured his face and hands; a helicopter crash that left him with a compressed disc in his spine; and a plane crash that, fortunately, resulted in mere embarrassment, it’s little wonder Specht might have shrugged and asked himself “What’s a little weather?” Even after a towering pine tree crushed his motor home while he laid in bed sleeping. “I heard some crashing and saw the ceiling mov-

ing, so I rolled off the bed and that’s about how long it took,” he said as a mammoth tree he estimated at 150 feet tall and 5 feet wide at the base sent him sprawling to safety. “It landed right in the middle of my bed,” Specht said. “I could have been dead. There’s really no reason for me not to be dead.” The same might be said of three other potential catastrophes he escaped to tell about. First was an electrical explosion in the late 1960s that JIM FOSSUM/THE NEWS GUARD resulted in skin grafts and Six-year Lincoln City-area resident Richard Specht has surreconstruction of his face See VICTIM, Page A5

vived an electrical explosion, airplane and helicopter crashes and a tree landing on his house following the windstorm that hit the Oregon Coast on Monday, Nov. 19.

See Page B1

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WEATHER GUIDE PRECIPITATION AMOUNTS

High Low Prec.

Tues., Nov. 20 55 50 1.2 Wed., Nov. 21 54 47 .6 Thurs., Nov. 22 55 41 .1 Fri., Nov. 23 55 42 .05 Sat., Nov. 24 53 50 2.5 Sun., Nov. 25 51 38 0 Mon., Nov. 26 56 38 0 Weekly Rainfall: 4.45 inches Yearly Rainfall: 85.69 inches

WEEKLY OUTLOOK If you did not get your outside Christmas lights up during the dry spell, you will need to wait awhile. Looks like a series of wet and windy storms will be with us through the weekend into next week. Weather data provided by Roads End Weather Watcher Sheridan Jones

Holiday light display benefits firefighters Jim Fossum The News Guard

H

e might be retired, but that doesn’t mean Lincoln City resident Steve Prewitt has a whole lot of time on his hands, especially around Christmas, when he plays Santa Claus of sorts by graciously practicing a unique form of gift giving that helps the entire community get into the holiday spirit. Prewitt, who resides at 2642 N.E. Holmes Road off West Devils Lake Road, has plugged in the extension cords that power 10,000 lights in a brilliant display he shares with whoever cares to view his dazzling showcase glorifying Christ’s birth. “It’s the 10th anniversary year of doing this for the community, for

the kids, so it’s 10,000 bulbs and it’s different this and every year,” Prewitt, a 13-year Lincoln City resident, said. Generated by 800 amps of power with 32 20-amp breakers and three computers, Prewitt welcomes one and all throughout the area and beyond to tour the massive light show that opened the day after Thanksgiving and will run through New Year’s Day. At a cost of more than $1,000 to operate the exhibit for six weeks during the holidays, Prewitt accepts donations big and small to benefit local charity. For the past four years, the Lincoln County Animal Shelter has been the benefactor of the proceeds, which reached $2,400 in food and money last year.

Other charitable organizations such as Angels Anonymous have benefitted in years past. This year, North Lincoln Fire & Rescue District #1’s Volunteer Firefighters Association will be the benefactor. “This means equipment and tools that aren’t in the normal budget that we probably would not be able to fix or afford we’ll be able to replace,” third-year volunteer fireman Marc McPherson said. As many as 2,000 cars will navigate a circular driveway in front of the house shared by Prewitt, his wife, two Rottweilers and a German Sheppard and, hopefully, contribute to local firefighting and rescue efforts. See LIGHTS, Page A2

Bijou meets online goal; $20,00 still needed Jeremy C. Ruark The News Guard

A $40,000 online fundraising drive to keep Lincoln City’s Bijou Theatre open has reached its goal before the Nov. 30 deadline. “I feel amazed, warm and fuzzy and I am so glad I live in such a friendly giving community,” said Betsy Altomore after learning Nov. 23 that the Kickstarter.com project had been successful. The total goal of $60,000 must still be met to allow Betsy and her husband Keith to add a new projection system and screen, do some maintenance work and repaint portions of the theatre located at 1624 Northeast Highway 101 in Lincoln City. The money is needed to switch from the 35-millimeter film projection system to a digital system to be able to play the films now being produced using less expensive computer systems. The Altomore’s have owned the Bijou for the past 16 years and launched their fundraising project Nov. 1 using the Kickstarter.com Internet project which allows people to make pledges online. “We are by no means done with the fundraising,” said Betsy. “We need the rest of the money and will gladly take any donations that people would like to drop by. We want to make this a much more comfortable theatre for people to enjoy.” The Altomore’s hope donations and grants will help complete the fundraising drive. See BIJOU, Page A3

Development of transportation plan begins Cost for improvements yet to be determined

Jeremy C. Ruark The News Guard

It is designed to be a comprehensive and complete look at Lincoln City’s transportation system today and what it could offer in the next 20 years. City and state planners said the Lincoln City Transportation System Plan or TSP is critical to the future and livability of the city. “There are many reasons this plan is important,” said

Open 8a-7p Mon-Fri, 8a-6p Sat

John Bosket, DKS Extensions, a Portland-based transportation planning and consulting firm working with Lincoln City and the Oregon Department of Transportation to develop the TSP. He said cities in Oregon must be competitive to qualify for state and federal funding. “The TSP also helps you take a comprehensive look at your transportation systems now and into the future,” said Bosket. “We will

identify the types of projects that people in the community want to see happen, a transportation system they want to live with and determine how much money they actually have to build that system. So they will have that reality check.” Bosket said “the sticker shock” has been the challenge for each city that has developed its TSP. JEREMY C. RUARLK

See TRANSPORT, Page A3 Highway 101 that cuts through Lincoln City will be a main topic as a new city transportation plan is developed.

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