NUTRITION LABELS
RUN TO STATE
Highlights calories and sugar in food, A6
State tournament berths on the line, B1
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2014
Serving Oregon’s South Coast Since 1878
theworldlink.com
■
75¢
Commitment to community service
Good form
Myrtle Point students required to volunteer to graduate ■
BY CHELSEA DAVIS The World
MYRTLE POINT — When Myrtle Point High School seniors graduate, they do so having devoted hundreds of hours to their community through volunteer work. Each Myrtle Point high-schooler has to complete community service hours every year, all of which count toward a graduation requirement. Freshmen need 10 hours, sophomores need 15 hours, juniors need 20 hours and seniors have to finish their high school careers with 30 hours. Lacey Houston, Myrtle Point’s athletics and fiscal secretary and National Honor Society advisor, can’t remember when the requirement went into effect — “since the dawn of time,probably”— but she remembers logging hours when she was a Myrtle Point student. She helps students find volunteer opportunities: they can help out at sporting events, plant trees, participate in the school’s annual clean-up, help out at the harvest festival and more. Many also get their hours through church activities.
“I think it forces them to consider something outside of themselves, which is difficult for them cognitively,” said high school Principal Jennifer Sweeney. “It’s a small community and people need to work together.” In addition to the 75 hours of community service students have to complete from their freshman to senior year, the school also asks its seventhand eighth-graders to each do at least 5 hours of community service, even though it doesn’t count toward the requirement. Myrtle Point senior Carli Pride dove into the task. Nearly every summer she helps with counseling, lifeguarding, dish crew, sports and arts and crafts at Camp Fircroft, a Christian youth camp in the mountains above Langlois. During the school year she also volunteers with various sports. She’s helped coach the junior high volleyball team and has taken football and basketball stats. “It’s just really awesome to be involved in the community, to know who’s who and what they’re going through,” she said. She’s also helped out with the NHS blood drive. NHS students bring in adults from the community “we would not have known otherwise,” she said. “I feel good about the community SEE VOLUNTEER | A8
WWII vet finds outlet in the arts BY TIM NOVOTNY The World
MYRTLE POINT — Johnny Dayton has accumulated more than your usual lifetime full of stories in his 92 years. From his early days playing music in Huron, S.D., to his time flying a B-24 over Germany in World War II, Dayton has been relaying these stories to a growing group of friends at the Myrtle Point Coffee Shop for years. “Finally,” Dayton said, “(Owner) Jody McNeely said, ‘Johnny, you’ve got to write a book, we’ll never be able to tell the stories after your gone.’”
By Lou Sennick, The World
Robert Thurman, 10, gets a lesson in fly casting from world-renowned fresh water fisherman Frank Moore on Saturday at the Fly Fishing Expo in Reedsport, put on once again by the Lower Umpqua Flycasters. Flycasters from around the region came out to the one-day event to learn skills, see demonstrations and for chances to win prizes.
BY AMY MOSS STRONG The World
Sports . . . . . . . . . . . B1 Comics . . . . . . . . . . B5 Classifieds . . . . . . . B6 Puzzles . . . . . . . . . . B6
NEW YEAR. NEW APP.
BANDON — A former Long Beach hospital executive with Bandon ties has admitted to bribing state Sen. Ron Calderon, D-Montebello, in an effort to protect an insurance fraud scheme worth hundreds of millions of dollars — the biggest such fraud in California history, according to state officials. On Friday, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that Michael D. Drobot, 69, has pleaded guilty to running a sophisticated operation centered around spinal fusion surgery. Drobot has Bandon real estate
holdings that include several ranches on Randolph Road and Lower Four Mile Lane. Drobot also owns The Colony at Bandon Cove, a multi-million dollar condominium development on Beach Loop Drive, according to Coos County tax records. Ron Calderon and his brother, Tom Calderon, are accused of laundering thousands of dollars in bribes from Drobot to keep alive a law that enabled the scheme. Drobot was CEO of Pacific Hospital of Long Beach, which specialized in spinal fusion surgeries and benefited from a loophole in state law that allegedly allowed him to overcharge insurance companies, said André Birotte Jr., the
Rooting for the rooster Sharon Arrant, Centralia, Wash. Ronaldo Baker, Coquille
Obituaries | A5
STATE
Police reports . . . . A2 What’s Up. . . . . . . . A3 South Coast. . . . . . A3 Opinion. . . . . . . . . . A4
American Indian mascots. During the House debate, supOregon’s bill said porters encourages schools and tribes to develop their relationships. But several opponents cautioned it might be unintentionally racist and could have negative effects on Oregon schoolchildren. Under a rule approved by the state Board of Education in 2012, as many as 15 high schools in Oregon and an unknown number of elementary and middle schools would be required to retire their Native American symbols or nicknames by July 2017 or risk losing state funding.
DEATHS
INSIDE
SALEM (AP) — A bill expected to become law in Oregon would allow some of the state’s elementary, middle and high schools to continue using Native American mascots if local boards and tribes can agree to terms. The measure cleared the House on Wednesday, and was headed to the desk of Gov. John Kitzhaber, who has said he will sign it. Among the schools affected by this bill are Reedsport Community Charter School and Roseburg High School. The bill goes against a decadeslong movement away from
SEE VET | A8
Investor pleads guilty to fraud
Five-year-old Durfur girl takes to the Internet to gain support for keeping her new rooster.
Page A5
FORECAST
Mascot bill heads to governor for signature
Late in his life the soft-spoken gentleman, whose family moved to Coquille before the war, had already found one outlet for his creativity when he turned to painting at age 86. So he decided to give in and give writing a chance. That effort resulted in the collection of those tales called, “Better Put Your Boots On: A Story of My Life.” An engaging trip down memory lane, the book’s most compelling stories come from the recounting of his time serving in the 451st Bomb Group, 15th Air Force, stationed in Italy in
U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California. “Drobot bribed Ron Calerdon so that he would use his public office to preserve this law” that provide “rich profits” to his company, Birotte said. As part of his plea deal, Drobot faces up to 10 years in federal prison. He also agreed to cooperate with ongoing federal, state and local investigations. Prosecutors say Drobot is expected to surrender and be arraigned on March 31, in Santa Ana. A federal grand jury approved a 24-count indictment against Ron SEE FRAUD | A8
Rain likely 58/45 Weather | A8
Enter to
WIN
Amazon.com Gift Card
1. Download The World’s mobile news app 2. Open the app 3. Click on the contest to enter to win No purchase necessary. For official rules go to lee.net/contestrules. Void where prohibited.
THEWORLDLINK.COM/APPS