BEATING THE BIG BOYS
WEATHER WOES
Portland knocks of Oklahoma City, B1
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2013
Serving Oregon’s South Coast Since 1878
Snow expected on the coast
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Man dies in Jeep stolen in Empire BY EMILY THORNTON The World
PORTLAND (AP) — The western cold snap has brought lower-than-usual temperatures and some icy conditions to Oregon, and it will likely get worse later this week. Nighttime temperatures have been dropping below freezing in much of the state. Freeze and hard freeze warnings were out for the South Coast, often the state’s balmy spot. The cold is expected to be followed by more hazardous weather in some areas as the week wears on. In Southern Oregon, snow is expected Thursday night and Friday morning, accumulating to 3 to 6 inches above 1,000 feet, less at lower elevations. The weather service said roads, including Interstate 5, will be slippery. In central Oregon, significant snowfall can be expected on the eastern slopes of the Cascades beginning Thursday into early next week. The Weather Service said conditions aren’t likely to be so severe farther east in the state. In northwest Oregon, the Weather Service said dry, cold weather conditions would be followed by wetter conditions, including snow on the coast by the end of the workweek.
Megaload trip delayed again, A5
COOS BAY — In the wee hours of Thanksgiving morning, a man crept into a house in Empire and grabbed the keys of a Jeep Patriot off the counter. They didn’t belong to him, but it didn’t matter. Police said Ryan Brown, 24, may have stolen Robert Eagle’s vehicle. He was found dead from injuries sustained in a crash in it off Seven Devils Road the next day. The Jeep was totaled. “Part of me felt sorry for the guy, but part of me thought, that’s karma for you,” Eagle said. “I would’ve wished something bad
Disabled Vietnam veteran left door open for caregiver would happen to him, just not like it did.” Eagle, a 76-year-old disabled Vietnam veteran, had just purchased a $400 wheelchair lift for the vehicle with his savings. Inside he kept some quarters, his portable oxygen tank and a scarf he’d received from a dear friend. He didn’t know who stole his Jeep, but suspected it was a homeless, jobless young
man — someone he named, but wasn’t Brown — who was known for dealing methamphetamine, heroin and using stolen items to support his drug habit. Brown’s circumstances were unknown. A month ago, Eagle’s tools and fishing poles were stolen from his garage, but he wasn’t sure who did it. This time it was different. “What really bothered me was he came into the house,” Eagle said. Stealing items to sell for drugs does happen, but that didn’t seem to be the case here, according to Capt. Chris Chapanar, operations supervisor for the Coos Bay SEE VETERAN | A8
Preserving Pirate pride
Cranberry season sweet for some, tart for others BY AMY MOSS STRONG The World
INSIDE
SEE CRANBERRY | A8
Police reports . . . . A2 What’s Up. . . . . . . . A3 South Coast. . . . . . A3 Opinion. . . . . . . . . . A4
BY CHELSEA DAVIS The World
COOS BAY — A Marshfield High room already brimming with memories will soon be revamped with physical representations of Pirate stories. Heritage Hall, the room on the north end of Pirate Palace, has had many uses in the past: wrestling room, obstacle course, a room for golfing and batting cages and at one point, pole vaulting. “There’s a spot in the floor that (former coach) Stan Solomon cut in the floor with a chainsaw one day to plant the pole in the floor,” said assistant high school principal Bryan Trendell. The room will soon be a space to honor current and former students and their successes, both in school and after they graduated. Trendell teamed up with previous coathletic directors Mike George and Boyd Geneieve James, Marshfield Class of 1958, signs the wall for her family which included husband Bob, also Bjorkquist a couple of years ago to start a a grad, along with their three kids and grandkids who attended the school. project honoring current and former Pirates. other high school’s gyms to see how the signed section of the outermost wall On Wednesday, donors, volunteers and Marshfield High’s could be improved. The during winter break. Now, they’re waiting alumni filled the room. They even got the current gym was built in 1951 and is on permits from the city. chance to leave their mark — each was able designed after Grants Pass High’s gym. Coos Bay residents and Marshfield to sign a section of the wall that will be “More importantly we’re showing this alumni have rallied around the project, knocked out to make room for a deck that so the kids will understand it,” Trendell with about 120 making donations. The will span half the length of the room. said. “I’m not sure these kids really under- committee reached its goal of $150,000 last “This is the one time it’s OK to do a little stand what it’s all about.” month. Others have offered to donate graffiti!” Bjorkquist said. Mary Paczesniak, a 1968 Marshfield cranes, dump trucks, time and labor. Patty Borcher was the first person to graduate, serves on the Heritage Hall comThe entire project should take around sign: “Pirate roots run deep.” mittee. five months to complete, Trendell said, Borcher’s late husband, Bill Borcher, was “Marshfield had so many accomplished though it could take longer since much of a basketball coach in the late 1940s and graduates and in so many fields — not just the work has been volunteered. early 1950s who formed a championship- athletics, but Grammy and Tony winners, “It would be great to have it done by winning team. doctors, lawyers, authors,” she said. His team’s success packed the old gym, The committee is hoping to knock out leading him to travel the state looking at SEE PRIDE | A8
Comics . . . . . . . . . . A7 Puzzles . . . . . . . . . . A7 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . B1 Classifieds . . . . . . . C1
Jack Woodworth, North Bend Marlene Brown, Omaha, Neb. Louis Gallo-Camacho, Coos Bay Lois Olsen, Bandon
Obituaries | A5
Eugene police win in court Whistleblower who was transferred, told by appeals court that he can’t claim First Amendment protection.
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FORECAST
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Construction on Marshfield’s Heritage Hall approaching
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Photos by Lou Sennick, The World
Marshfield graduate Patty Borcher is the first to sign the white wall in Marshfield’s main gym Wednesday evening during a “groundbreaking” ceremony for the new Heritage Hall at the school. The room off the gym floor will become a mini-museum of students and alumni from the school. The wall they are autographing will be taken out for doors leading to a balcony.
DEATHS
BANDON — As the Coos and Curry county cranberry harvest season wraps up, it’s turned out to be a mixed bag for local growers. Some call it an average to good year, while others are left wondering if it’s worth it to continue in the business, making barely enough per barrel to cover the costs of maintaining the farm. Growers who are feeling hopeful this year include those who belong to the Ocean Spray coop. Others, who grow independently and deliver to local receiving plants for processing, have seen the price drop to a low they weren’t expecting this season. “The big story is a tale of two cities,” said Charlie Ruddell, an Ocean Spray grower whose family owns 54 acres of cranberry bogs on Randolph Road. Ruddell said the discrepancy in pricing between Ocean When you Spray and nonSpray operate at or Ocean growers is wide. below cost, it’s Ocean Spray growwho are divided not a favorable ers, into an “A” pool and a “B” pool, may get business as much as $50 a model. barrel for this year’s crop, Ruddell said. Charlie Ruddell Independent growCranberry grower ers might receive as much as $30 a barrel, or as low as $10-$12 per barrel. A barrel is 100 pounds of berries and the average cost to produce that product is $38, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service. “When you operate at or below cost, it’s not a favorable business model,” Ruddell said. Another change this year is the tremendous pricing pressure on the cranberry commodity market. While Ocean Spray takes its fruit from farm to retail, other growers sell to the commodity market, which is then sold to a third party and so forth, until it reaches the retail market. Often, the commodity market includes berries from the prior harvest, sold as frozen product. The low price this year convinced some growers locally to deliver fresh fruit, which requires a dry-pick method that is more labor intensive, but results in a higher payout. According to Don Kloft, Bandon Ocean Spray receiving plant manager and agricultural scientist, the crop yield for the 45 Coos and Curry county Ocean Spray growers was slightly lower than last year. The slight decline in production could be attributed to cold temperatures in July. A dry fall also presented challenges for some growers, who had to wait until it rained to start harvest.
Sunny 42/29 Weather | A8