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75 CENTS | VOL. 85 | NO. 36 | 2 SECTIONS YOUR WEEKLY COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER SINCE 1927
SEPTEMBER 5, 2012 | WEDNESDAY
www.TheNewsGuard.com
LINCOLN CITY, OREGON
County claims mistake on Zekan
Looking for
Clarity
Puzzled?
We have been too! Check out our new weekly game. See Page B7
Argues officials made best call on trespass order PATRICK ALEXANDER The News Guard
Opening game
Hired in late summer, first-year Taft football coach Perry Herbst had barely a month to familiarize himself with his new surroundings, formulate a starting lineup and unveil his squad to the public. That unveiling didn’t go well, after the Tigers fell to Estacada 21-0 in the season opener. See Page A10
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WEATHER GUIDE PRECIPITATION AMOUNTS High Low Prec.
Tues., Aug. 28 Wed., Aug. 29 Thurs., Aug. 30 Fri., Aug. 31 Sat., Sept. 1 Sun., Sept. 2 Mon., Sept. 3
62 65 64 63 63 65 64
52 0 51 0.02 53 0 53 0 52 0 50 0 51 0
Weekly Rainfall: 0.02 inches Yearly Rainfall: 56.19 inches
WEEKLY OUTLOOK If the mostly perfect weather has gotten monotonous, just wait. The weekly forecast calls for random clouds, patchy fog and partly sunny days. Clouds on the weekend could bring rain late Sunday.
PATRICK ALEXANDER/THE NEWS GUARD
Connie Shoemaker with a photograph of her husband, Donald, whose lung cancer went undetected for two months despite several scans at Samaritan North Lincoln Hospital.
Report raises concerns about department that serves as doctors’ eyes PATRICK ALEXANDER The News Guard
“
T
he decision by Samaritan North Lincoln Hospital to revamp its radiology services comes after an internal evaluation revealed the department had flaws across the board, including safety concerns, bad budgeting and a lack of leadership. Hospital managers received the internal report in December 2011, four months before deciding to outsource radiology services, which include X-rays, CAT scans and ultrasounds, to a group from Corvallis. Hospital CEO Marty Cahill said the change in provider is one of several steps Samaritan is taking to address the failings noted in the report.
W
hen he discovered this lump, it was really small … then it just kept getting bigger and we kept on getting pushed off and pushed off.
“
Chinook Winds; Bi-Mart; Les Schwab; Roby’s Furniture; Pro Build; Walgreens; Sears; Safeway; Rite Aid; Heart to Heart; Grocery Outlet
- Connie Shoemaker “There’s some quick fixes,” he said, “and then there’s some things that take time to fix.” Meanwhile, two local women have come forward, claiming that the Lincoln City radiology department failed to diagnose conditions that were spotted straight away by practitioners in the Valley.
Two stories
Connie Shoemaker said the department’s failure to catch signs of lung cancer in her husband, Donald, delayed treatment of his condition for two months. “I don’t think he would have been dead today if they had caught that,” she said, adding: “When he discovered this lump, it was really small … then it just kept
getting bigger and we kept on getting pushed off and pushed off.” Shoemaker said her 79-year-old husband sought help from his primary care doctor in early September 2010 for a pain in his side that was initially misdiagnosed as a hernia. Her husband’s medical records show that despite performing a CAT scan and two X Rays throughout September and October, radiologists at Samaritan North Lincoln Hospital failed to spot the tumor that was growing in his right lung. Shoemaker said that, as doctors struggled to determine the cause of her husband’s illness, his pain grew worse and worse, leading to a stay in the ER after a bad reaction to prescribed painkillers. See CLARITY, Page A9
Lincoln County has admitted that its decision to bar the son of a retired employee from County premises violated his Constitutional right to due process but has argued that the officials involved are shielded from liability due to their government positions. County commissioners barred Matthew Zekan from parts of the county courthouse after staff complained of feeling threatened by his poster campaign in support of his father, former County sanitarian Bill Zekan. Matthew Zekan, who felt the County had unfairly forced his father into retirement, had been hand-delivering humorous posters to staff involved in the issue after receiving a previous order to stop taping the posters to County buildings. The posters, 29 in all, carried slogans including “Stop the dog and pony show” and “Don’t can Zekan, Everyone’s a Grouch sometimes.” The County has also admitted that “some or all” of Zekan’s activities may have been protected under the Constitutional right to free speech but has argued that the County was within its rights to impose reasonable limits on the time, place and manner of that speech. The claims and counterclaims are spelled out in a federal lawsuit filed by Zekan in May and the County’s response, filed on Aug. 20. See ZEKAN, Page A8
School sees growth spurt JIM FOSSUM The News Guard
Weather data provided by Roads End Weather Watcher Sheridan Jones
Students at Oceanlake Elementary School learned something of interest last week, days before the opening bell marking the first day of school sounded: It’s going to take a while for them to find their way around. A 25,000-square-foot addition that nearly doubles the size of the 61-year-old building at 2420 N.E. 22nd St., was unveiled before a curious public with the reviews virtually unanimous that Lincoln County School District (LCSD) officials had achieved precisely what they were after. “It’s more than I thought it would be,” Oceanlake Principal Betsy Wilcox said. “If quality is meeting or exceeding customer expectations, this way exceeds mine.” The project is one of several to be paid for by passage of a $63 million LCSD general obligation bond sale approved by voters in May 2011. L10488 Power Ford 6x2 090512:Layout 1 8/31/12 2:38 “Fifteen months ago the
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How to survive a zombie pandemic is among the topics on offer at the emergency preparedness fair this Saturday. JIM FOSSUM/THE NEWS GUARD
Oceanlake Elementary Principal Betsy Wilcox cuts the ribbon marking the opening of a 25,000-square foot expansion to the school at 2420 N.E. 22nd St.
voters said go,” Ron Beck, chairman of the Lincoln County School District board of directors, said. “We made a lot of promises, and there’s been a lot of people make good on the promises PM
Page 1 See OCEANLAKE, Page A2
Residents invited to prepare for the worst JIM FOSSUM The News Guard
Encountering disaster is no one’s idea of fun, but preparing for it can be, safety officials say, when an emergency preparedness fair is staged Saturday, Sept. 8, in Lincoln City. North Lincoln Fire & Rescue District #1’s (NLFR) new training tower will be part of the festivities from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday when the
“Get Ready Lincoln County” disaster readiness fair is staged at the Taft Fire Station, 4520 S.E. Highway 101. “We know that the Oregon Coast has definitely seen some bad days with severe weather storms and, of course, the ever-threatening tsunami and earthquake that someday will happen, so we decided to have a fair,” NLFR Public Information Officer Jim Kusz said. In keeping with the
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month of September being preparedness month with a number of smaller events going on throughout Lincoln County and the Northwest, Kusz said NLFR has teamed with NW Natural to bring a meaningful learning experience regarding emergency readiness to the citizenry of Lincoln City. “Long story short is we decided to invite all our
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