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SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2014
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“This is really a money laundering scheme. It stomps across about 15 different processes we have set up, one of them being the school funding formula.” Mike Lehman Airport board member
‘Flawed from inception’ Board member: Community Enhancement Plan ‘stomps across’ fundamental processes ■
BY CHELSEA DAVIS
By Lou Sennick, The World
Frank Murphy, second from right, works with his culinary students at North Bend High School late Wednesday morning. Classes on this day each week prepare food for the school’s booster club. Not only are they learning food skills, but they are also showing members of the community who attend the meetings each week what students are doing.
Breaking bad habits Teacher: home-cooked meals shouldn’t be a thing of the past BY CHELSEA DAVIS The World
NORTH BEND — “Who cooks at home?” Frank Murphy asks his class. Most students raise their hands. “Of those who cook at home, how many actually cook from scratch?” Most of those hands drop. What’s left is less than a quarter of his culinary arts class at North Bend High that gets a fresh, home-cooked meal at home every night. Murphy teaches nearly 100 students in his five culinary classes each day. He’s appalled at how few know how to cook. While many eat at home, the “disconnect” is that they’re not eating fresh food. More often, families nuke dinners in a microwave or get takeout, fast food or eat at a restaurant. His class is meant to prepare students for culinary school, but only a couple of kids make that leap. “Part of what I try to do here is show kids that it can be a lot of fun to cook, and break them of the habit of not cooking much at home,” he said. “You go back two, three generations Zach Harrington, left, gets some hints from Frank Murphy on Wednesday morning as the red
peppers are added to the mushroom with red pepper sauce for the pasta meal served at the SEE NUTRITION | A8 North Bend High School Booster Club lunch.
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NORTH BEND — “They’re clearly lacking clarity.” Southwest Oregon Regional Airport board member Jon Barton said the South Coast Community Foundation needs to solidify its processes before anyone can approve or condemn the Community Enhancement Plan. Coos Curry Douglas Business Development Corporation town halls continued this week, outlining the plan and possible community service fee distribution should the Jordan Cove Energy Project receive long-term enterprise zone tax exemption. Margaret Barber, CCD community development director for Coos and Curry counties, spoke to the airport board on Thursday. The plan would only go into effect following approval of the plan from the U.S. Department of Energy and approval of the long-term enterprise zone by the four sponsors (Coos County, International Port of Coos Bay, and the cities of Coos Bay and North Bend). “This is really a money laundering scheme,” said airport board member Mike Lehman. “It stomps across about 15 different processes we have set up, one of them being the school funding formula.” Community foundation members have said the endowment fund would support education infrastructure and technology — anything that falls outside the state school funding formula. “But the legislature can twist those dials anytime they want,” Lehman said. “They can sit down and say, ‘I don’t care if there’s a kill switch in your Coos Bay school district, you are losing dollars because you are in an enterprise zone that could generate dollars to your school district.’” If Jordan Cove receives the 20-year tax exemption, it would pay a community service fee in lieu of property taxes. That fee would start at $12 million annually the first four years of construction and ending at $26 million a year by 2034. You can call it whatever you want, Lehman said, but they’re still property tax dollars — and property tax dollars
SEE CEP | A8
‘Exclusion Day’ hits 37 students in Coos County
Coquille River cautionary tale
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Ann Leadon, Vancouver, Wash. Avona Noyes, Central Point Harriett Morgan, Coquille Wilma Smith, Coos Bay
Obituaries | A5
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COOS COUNTY — Thirty-seven Coos County students were turned away from school on Wednesday — “exclusion day” — because their immunization records were not up to date. Those included three from Bandon, six from Coos Bay, five from Coquille, 16 from Myrtle Point and seven from North Bend. This count doesn’t include daycares or preschools, all of which have to submit their reports by March 3. Two weeks ago, 461 Coos County kids had out-of-date immunization records. Coos County Public Health clinic supervisor Lena Hawtin said many were back at school on Thursday after getting their missing vaccinations. Last school year, only 29 Coos County students were excluded from school. SEE EXCLUSION | A8
California shooting An tribal eviction meeting leads to a shooting and stabbing incident, in which four people were killed and two were injured.
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COQUILLE — On Friday afternoon, the Coquille River was below flood stage throughout its Coos County run; but, that doesn’t mean people can let their guard down. Michael Murphy, program manager for Coos County Emergency Management, says it is the time of year where things can quickly change along the river. That can mean trouble for people who may venture out to boat on the river, or for motorists driving along nearby roads. “Moving water is very powerful,” he says, “less than a foot of water
will pick up and create tremendous velocity for the items it is carrying out to sea. “I’ve seen some of that stuff turn out to be a dead-head.” For the river novices, a dead-head is a large tree with a root structure still attached. “That can hit like a battering ram. When the flow is faster, the debris can hit fairly hard.” For more safety information, or questions about the current conditions, you can call the office of Coos County Emergency Management at 541-396-7790. Murphy also suggests monitoring a couple of weather-related websites: www.weather.gov/medford and www.wrh.noaa.gov/mfr.
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across a roadway can take a car right off the road.” When a motorist does come across a flooded road, he says the buzzphrase is “turn around, don’t drown.” People who have lived in the area for any period of time know this already but, he says, even they can fall victim to complacency. “Never try to cross a flooded road, as there can be any number of potential problems. For instance, you’ve got to see the road to know it is still there.” As for getting on the river in these conditions, Murphy would advise against it. It can be particularly treacherous at low tide, as the current
DEATHS
BY TIM NOVOTNY
BY CHELSEA DAVIS
Partly cloudy 57/40 Weather | A8