BRINK OF ELIMINATION
SEVERE WEATHER
Blazers fall in 3-0 hole to Spurs, B1
Snow in Colorado, twisters in Midwest, A7
MONDAY, MAY 12, 2014
Serving Oregon’s South Coast Since 1878
theworldlink.com
■
$1
Celebrate reading through music Oregon Coast Music Association offers free children’s event to celebrate North Bend library ■
BY TIM NOVOTNY The World
Photos by Alysha Beck, The World
Dee Lacey paints new siding Saturday for a modular home Coos Bay Area Habitat for Humanity is restoring in Empire. The mostly female team of volunteers worked on the home as part of National Women Build Day, sponsored by Lowe’s.
Women rehab home for Habitat Loa Fredrickson rips off siding Saturday on a modular home the Coos Bay Area Habitat for Humanity is restoring in Empire. The Coos Bay Area Habitat for Humanity also received a $5,000 gift card from Lowe’s as part of the event this year. The home is expected to be ready by July and will be sold on the market to a qualifying low-income family.
NORTH BEND — Known for keeping sounds to a minimum, a public library is the last place you expect to find a celebration of musical instruments. However, organizers of a children’s event at the North Bend Public Library say it makes perfect sense. Children in grades K-4, and their families, are invited to a book and music education event at the library at 1 p.m. Saturday, May 17. Library patrons don’t have to worry, the event will be in the large meeting room. This free family event is part of the North Bend Public Library’s 100th and the buildings 25th anniversary celebration week. OCMA Co-president Kathy Metzger says the combination of music and reading makes perfect sense. “There is a huge correlation between reading, music and doing well in school,” she said.“It’s been proven that school children who participate in music, in some form or other — lessons, band, choir — do better in the classroom. The two go hand in hand.” The May 17 event will feature Lemony Snicket’s modern classic “The Composer is Dead,” which teaches kids about the orchestra and its instruments while they investigate a humorous whodunit. Participants will listen to a lively reading of the book by NBPL children’s librarian Sara Simpkins, SEE LIBRARY | A8
Super PACs spend big in GOP Senate primary JONATHAN J. COOPER The Associated Press
Comics . . . . . . . . . . A6 Puzzles . . . . . . . . . . A6 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . B1 Classifieds . . . . . . . B5
you,’ or ‘We’ll check into it,’ but we don’t get it.” The Columbia River is better prepared than some Oregon waterways. Because barges have long moved petroleum products on the river, spill-containment caches are kept in strategic places by nonprofit cooperatives. Union Pacific keeps 15,000 feet of boom in Portland, but its rail lines run from Portland east to Idaho and south to California. In the event of an accident, Union Pacific could call on help from the Army Corps of Engineers, which stores boom equipment at its dams and reservoirs throughout the state, said Aaron Hunt, a company spokesman. But the Army Corps said it could not respond to an oil train accident unless it had been declared a federal emergency under the authority of Oregon’s governor, which takes time after a derailment.
Wave of attacks
WORLD
Police reports . . . . A2 What’s Up. . . . . . . . A3 South Coast. . . . . . A3 Opinion. . . . . . . . . . A4
caught fire near Lynchburg, Virginia, dumping 20,000 gallons of crude into the James River. After the accident, an oil sheen spread 12 miles downriver. Containment booms, floating plastic barriers used to corral spills, weren’t deployed for several hours, Virginia regulators said. Federal laws pre-empt state authority to regulate railroad companies’ planning for oil spills. But federal law doesn’t require them to plan for worst-case accidents. Railroads don’t have to share information with state officials who make sure Oregon is ready for an oil spill. Railroads have instead promised to volunteer information, then failed to do it. “It’d be better if we had a legal way to tell them to do it, but we don’t,” said Don Pettit, an emergency-response planner at the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. “A lot of it ends up being voluntary. Often we’re told, ‘We’ll get that to
DEATHS
INSIDE
PORTLAND (AP) — Trains moved almost 500 million gallons of crude oil alongside Oregon waterways last year, but no state law requires railroad companies to plan for oil spills or contribute to a regional database that tracks caches of emergency response equipment. The proliferation of oil trains in the Pacific Northwest has increased the risks of a catastrophic spill in the Columbia, Deschutes and Willamette rivers, as well as Upper Klamath Lake, but the state is not well-prepared to respond, the Oregonian reported. Planning for how to respond to spills is moving slowly, said Scott Knutson, a U.S. Coast Guard oil spill official. “There’s a lot of equipment,” Knutson said. “It may not yet all be in the right place for the changing transportation picture in the Northwest.” Last month, a CSX oil train derailed and
Allen Stark, Florence
Obituaries | A5
Taliban attacks Monday in Afghanistan kill at least 21 people, including nine policemen at a checkpoint. Page A7
SEE PRIMARY | A8
FORECAST
State not well-prepared for oil-train catastrophe
SALEM — Big donors are making their voices heard in Oregon’s Republican primary for U.S. Senate. Three super PACs and a traditional political action committee have reported spending at least $956,000 supporting or opposing the two leading candidates, state Rep. Jason Conger and Portland physician Monica Wehby, according to campaign finance records. A fourth super PAC has registered with the Federal Election Commission, but it has not yet reported raising or spending money. Enabled by U.S. Supreme Court opinions on campaign finance, super PACs can raise and spend unlimited sums on federal races. They must report their activities to the Federal Election Commission and are prohibited from coordinating with candidates or their campaign teams. The money in Oregon’s Senate race has bought advertisements on television, radio and the Internet, as well as mailers arriving along with ballots in Republicans’ mailboxes. Ballots must be returned by May 20, when
Sunny 67/51 Weather | A8
M A Y F L O W E R S B R I N G S P R I N G S A V I N G S! Flora Shores BAY APPLIANCE & TV
THE MATTRESS STORE 541.269.0898 253 S. Broadway, Coos Bay Next to the Egyptian Theatre CCB# 184579
Queen 2-pc Set
Plush Euro Pillow Top Whatever you do in bed
NOW up to 12* months I n t e re s t F R E E ! * s e e s t o re f o r d e t a i l s
supports it.™
FREE
D e l i v e r y, S e t - u p a n d re m o v a l *on qualified sets
SALE
$
599
10 Year Warranty!