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Public Safety Log

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$1 | VOL. 86 | NO. 23 | 2 SECTIONS YOUR WEEKLY COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER SINCE 1927

NEWS ONLINE including E-Edition TheNewsGuard.com

JUNE 12, 2013 | WEDNESDAY LINCOLN CITY, OREGON

Deep sand causes concern at beach entrance Police and area residents continue to warn motorists about the dangers of getting stuck in the sand at the bottom of the 15th Street beach entrance hill. On June 7, while on a water rescue call to the beach just off the 15th Street entrance, North Lincoln Fire & Rescue District #1 water rescue crews had to maneuver their emergency vehicles past a vehicle stuck in the sand at the bottom of the hill.

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DAILY LINCOLN CITY

Summer fun for kids

- Gretchen Wynne, 15th Street resident The crews were able to quickly get around the vehicle and to the person who had encountered difficulty in the ocean. That person was able to get out of the

water before the rescue team arrived. It appeared that the person was alright. Gretchen Wynne lives on 15th Street and is so concerned about vehicles becoming stuck in the sand; she placed a cardboard sign at the hill entrance that reads, “Caution Deep Sand.” JEREMY C. RUARK/THE NEWS GUARD “The sand is usually pretty compact right at the A local resident has placed a sign on top of the 15th Street bottom of the hill,” said beach access hill warning of deep sand that could trap vehi-

cles. A North Lincoln Fire & Rescue District #1 crew is coming

See SAND DANGER, Page A7 up the hill after responding to a call on the beach.

Officials warn of early fire season

A WALK INTO THE PAST Page B1 INSERTS Bi-Mart; Safeway; Rite Aide; Sears; Walgreens; JoAnne Fabrics; Price N Pride; Chinook Winds; Charter Cable.

JEREMY C. RUARK The News Guard

Two small grass fires last week in the Lincoln City area are a reminder of an early fire season and the danger looming this summer along the Oregon Coast, according to fire officials. Both fires occurred June 5. The first fire charred about an acre of grass 500 feet from Highway 101 along Three Roads Road northeast of Lincoln City. The cause of the blaze is undetermined, as is the second blaze that

WEATHER GUIDE PRECIPITATION AMOUNTS

High Low Prec.

Tues., June 4 Wed., June 5 Thurs., June 6 Fri., June 7 Sat., June 8 Sun., June 9 Mon., June 10

67 62 60 61 60 60 59

48 48 50 50 49 50 50

0 0 0 0 0 0 0

See FIRE SEASON, Page A7 JEREMY C. RUARK/THE NEWS GUARD

Taft Elementary School student Erika Ariss, 8, holds up the flag she made for students at Crestline School in Vancouver, Wash.

Taft third-graders mount book drive after fire

Weekly Rainfall: 0 inches Yearly Rainfall: 30 inches

Effort follows fire that destroyed school

WEEKLY OUTLOOK So far, June has had 10 straight days with no precipitation. Are we entering a drought period? Let’s hope the a.m. cloud forecast gives us a few sprinkles. Saturday should be sunny with clouds on Sunday.

JEREMY C. RUARK The News Guard

Even though Crestline Elementary School is hundreds of miles away in Vancouver, Wash., a Feb. 3 fire that

Weather data provided by Roads End Weather Watcher Sheridan Jones

In undoubtedly the most documented, publicized and controversial police case in Lincoln City history, corpses were abused and left unidentified when several unembalmed, decomposing bodies were eerily discovered in a local mortician’s chapel in the fall of 1984. But who were the real victims? Perhaps they were the friends and family of the bodies then-34-year-old Dale Patrick Omsberg was paid to cremate at Pacific View Memorial Chapel at 560 S.W. Fleet St., where The Eventuary now stands. Many cite severe financial woes as the reason behind Omsberg’s grisly crimes of nearly three decades ago, but the man who oversaw the case, retired Lincoln City

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See BOOK DRIVE, Page A8

police chief Mike Holden, isn’t buying that. “Something,” he said, “was amiss with the man.” Omsberg’s death at age 63 last month from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in Myrtle Beach, S.C., following an alleged sexual assault seems to confirm suspicions that the man who served just 23 days of a 30-day sentence with time off for good behavior struggled with demons no one can possibly explain. Ironically, a psychiatric evaluation of Omsberg, which then-District Attorney Ulys Stapleton said factored into his negotiations with Omsberg attorney Stephen Lovejoy, indicated the defendant “would probably commit suicide if sentenced to the penitentiary.” Omsberg’s defense argued their client’s “negligent management” in accepting nominal fees for those in need failed to generate enough

SPECIAL REPORT income to overcome his debt at the mortuary. In a written statement read by Lovejoy to reporters after his client’s sentencing, Omsberg said, “How does one apologize for such a terrible thing that has happened,

At the time, the only state regulations on crematories were Department of Environmental Quality standards for air pollution. The Legislature has since required that bodies be diligently tracked through paperwork and a stainlesssteel tag. Other states followed suit, but efforts of the locally led “Missing in America” campaign brought about a measure of closure for the victims of the gut-wrenching tragedy that left their loved ones’ whereabouts unknown. The repercussions led to a demand to alter what was perceived as an indifferent bureaucracy and reshaped the justice system as it pertains to the funeral industry. Omsberg pleaded guilty to 60 misdemeanor charges of theft, attempted theft and abuse of a corpse and was

except to say that I am truly sorry. I didn’t want it to happen and make no excuses. I hope and pray that you will forgive me.” Many did, including Diane Bassett, whose husband’s body was found Oct. 19, 1984, under a sheet on a table in the mortuary’s garage. “I pray for him and that he’ll be able to put his life back together again and that his wife and two little boys can do the same,” she said following the sentencing. “But it is almost as though you have to live the death again. I think some of us will never get over it.” Bassett was a leading member among a group of people who wouldn’t let the case die like their relatives had. She successfully helped lead a movement to get the Oregon Legislature to pass more stringent rules on crematoria in its 1985 session.

See OMSBERG, Page A8

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School District project SEAL (Students Engaged in Authentic Learning), Taft teachers selected a project that was of interest and brainstormed ideas for solutions to the problem. “As teachers, our task was to engage students in the project using innovative strategies,” Taft third-grade teacher Micky Willoughby said. “When Crestline

Mortician’s victims paid deeply for losses JIM FOSSUM The News Guard

2008 AUDI

destroyed the school has promoted Taft Elementary School third-graders to lend a few helping hands. Taft student Kahliah Moroyoqua, 9, said the students took action when they learned about the Crestline School fire. “We felt bad that the school burnt down,” said Moroyoqua. “We wanted the kids at that school to feel better, so we got them books to read.” As a part of the Lincoln County

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