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Coquille schools in overhaul overdrive BY CHELSEA DAVIS The World

By Alysha Beck, The World

A demolition crew from Benny Hempstead Excavating Inc. guts the inside of the former Lincoln Elementary School building in Coquille on Monday. The Coquille School District is planning to build a playground on the site next to Coquille Valley Elementary School, which will house grades 1-6.

COQUILLE — Coquille’s three schools are getting spiffed up as the district and families prepare for new grade configurations this fall. By the time it’s done, the Coquille School District will have undergone a $3.5 million makeover. The largest chunk of that, $2.18 million, will reroof all three schools. On Thursday, the smell of tar wafted through Lincoln School of Early Learning’s hallways as crews repaired its roof. Coquille JuniorSenior High and Coquille Valley Elementary’s roofs will be repaired next summer. This expensive overhaul is thanks to a Qualified Zone Academy Bond that will fund everything except for $150,000 to replace 26-year-old buses (the district will pull funds from maintenance to cover the bill). The district will get 70 percent reimbursement from the state, said

Superintendent Tim Sweeney. Acquiring the bond was a relief, he said, since its low interest rate means the district will have to pay back less than $400,000 in interest over the bond’s life. In comparison, when the district went out for a $3.5 million bond 14 years ago, interest would have totaled $2.4 million. There will be several repairs districtwide: ■ All three parking lots will be repaved ($300,000). ■ New textbooks ($60,000). ■ Fencing upgrades ($48,000). ■ New student furniture ($30,000). ■ New signage ($20,000). “We’re scrambling,” Sweeney said, “but the vast majority will be ready to go by the time school starts (Sept. 2).”

Lincoln School of Early Learning

and 20 Head Start kids will walk through Lincoln’s doors this fall. Head Start is moving in to the building’s basement. It requires several updates, but they’re footing the bill: creating a bathroom out of a former custodial closet, expanding the kitchen and turning the library into a classroom. The upstairs hallway will house a combined computer lab and library room, three kindergarten rooms, one preschool room, two early intervention rooms, and two Head Start rooms. Walking out Lincoln’s doors, Sweeney points toward the baseball field, where fences are bowing and the backstop is in shambles. A new $5,000 backstop is on its way, and the field’s fences will be replaced. “They’re a tetanus shot and a lawsuit waiting to happen,” he said. The playground will be fenced in (a Head Start requirement) and

Sweeney expects 60 full-day kindergartners, 40 preschoolers

SEE COQUILLE | A10

Shakespeare, Mayhem and Russians are coming!

Let the fun begin

The 2014 Oregon Coast Music Festival puts an eclectic touch on classical music ■

BY TIM NOVOTNY The World

SEE MEDAL | A10

SEE MUSIC | A10

By Lou Sennick, The World

McKenzie Clayburn, with the Wild Hogs 4-H Club in Coquille, rests with her two pigs at the Coos County Fairgrounds on Monday. The two animals were calm at the fairgrounds, Clayburn said it was not the case at first when she got the animals six months ago. Animals arrived for the start of the fair Tuesday morning in Myrtle Point. See the photo page on Page A3. More online: See the first Coos County Fair photo gallery of the season at theworldlink.com.

Vet who fought wounded is honored

INSIDE

WASHINGTON — Bleeding from both legs and his arm, Ryan Pitts kept firing at about 200 Taliban fighters, even holding onto his grenades an extra moment to ensure the enemy couldn’t heave them back. On Monday, President Barack Obama draped the Medal of Honor around his neck, in a somber White House ceremony that also

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paid tribute to his nine platoon comrades who died that summer day in Afghanistan. Pitts, a 28-year-old former Army staff sergeant from Nashua, New Hampshire, is the ninth living veteran of America’s wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to receive the nation’s highest decoration for battlefield valor. Obama praised Pitts for holding the line as his comrades fell in one of the bloodiest battles of the Afghan war.

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“It is remarkable that we have young men and women serving in our military who, day in and day out, perform with so much integrity, so much humility and so much courage,” the president said. “Ryan represents the very best of that tradition.” Pitts’ mission that day in June 2008 was supposed to be his last before returning home from his second tour of Afghanistan. After all, Pitts and his team had been in the

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The Associated Press

DEATHS

BY JOSH LEDERMAN

FORECAST

country for 14 months, the Army said, battling frequently with enemy forces. The goal was to move troops and equipment out of Combat Outpost Bella, a remote post roughly 10 miles from the nearest base, to a new site nearby. Accessible only by helicopter Outpost Bella was slated to be closed. At 4 a.m., Pitts was manning his observation post. On

COOS BAY — The three points that make up the crown jewel of the annual Oregon Coast Music Festival are set to shine this week in Coos Bay. The 36th edition of the festival winds down with classical music concerts at Marshfield on Tuesday and Saturday night, and a Pops concert Thursday. Ron Metzger, an Oregon Coast Music Association board member, says it is a remarkable week that showcases world class musicians creating beautiful music in a brief amount of time together. The musicians get three days to rehearse for each of the orchestra nights, and just one day for the Pops concert. “We’ve got our 80-piece professional orchestra, (with members) coming from 13 or 14 states, as well as a Canadian province,” Metzger said. “These musicians come to town and they perform only in Coos County. It’s a one-shot thing. You can’t go over to Eugene, go over to Seattle, San Francisco — if you want to see it, you’ve got to see it here. And Pops always amazes me, they do one rehearsal and then put it on the stage Thursday night and they are always amazing.” They come to play for two world-class conductors, James Paul and Jason Klein, but also for the opportunity to perform in a very unique setting. Marshfield Auditorium, site of all three concerts, is known to many musicians around the world. Really. Metzger says he has been told by some musicians that they rank Marshfield as one of the 10 best concert halls in the country. “As far as the sound goes, it just is an amazing acoustic place,” he said. Tuesday’s concert, with Paul conducting, kicks the week off with a bow to the Bard. “Salute to Shakespeare” features ‘A London Symphony’ by Ralph Vaughan Williams, described as “one of the most characteristically British of all classical composers.” The concert, as with the other two, starts at 7:30 p.m. “Murder, Mayhem and Mystery” is the title of this year’s Pops concert, conducted by Klein. It includes the Lemony Snicket offering, ‘The Composer is Dead.’ The Festival wraps-up with Paul conducting an evening titled “The Russians Are Coming,” with


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