BIG BULLDOG WIN
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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2013
Serving Oregon’s South Coast Since 1878
“(The drama lab) becomes a community space instead of this little auto shop at the bottom of the hill that no one wants to look at.” Allison Bassett, Marshfield High performing arts teacher
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Flu season could arrive early this year BY EMILY THORNTON The World
By Alysha Beck, The World
Allison Bassett sorts through props with her drama class students at Marshfield High School on Thursday. Bassett is leading the effort to restore the school’s black box theater.
Oh, the drama BY CHELSEA DAVIS The World
COOS BAY — Marshfield High drama students and their teacher are breathing life into the run-down Drama Lab, and into the drama department itself. Allison Bassett, Marshfield High’s new performing arts teacher, is spearheading efforts to restore the school’s black box theater — known as the Drama Lab — a simple, nofrills room that allows the audience to focus solely on the actors and their performance. Bassett graduated from Marshfield in 2005 and was active in the school’s choir and drama programs. “When I was here, it looked the same as it does now, just minus the accumulation of stuff,” she said. “It was overwhelming for each teacher to tackle the project of clearing it out — it was just too much.” Marshfield senior Quentin Kirk has spent his entire high school career in choirs and plays. He’s a member of
First semester events 7 p.m. Oct. 23: Fall choir concert 7 p.m. Nov. 4: Middle school honor choir concert 4 p.m. Dec. 15: Winter choir concert Nov. 20-23: "The Seussification of Romeo and Juliet," by Peter Bloedel
concert choir, New Horizons and the Beachcombers quartet and played the Cowardly Lion in last year’s production of “The Wizard of Oz.” This year, he’ll play Lord Capulet in “The Seussification of Romeo and Juliet.” “It ... had the sense that there was a lot of unkemptness with it,” Kirk said of the Drama Lab. “There would be classes of students going through there for years, that if you left something there it would never actually be moved by another class. It just kept adding and adding and adding. There were bigger piles and things written on the walls and more and more layers of paint. Nothing was ever renovated.” Now that Bassett, her students and fellow teachers have started clearing out the lab and shop and organizing the room crammed full of costumes, the district needs to look at replacing the electric system, seats and equip-
ment. Bassett, who also has an interior design degree, has planned out the space and developed preliminary renderings of what the lab could look like. The goal is to reserve the auditorium for large productions, while the Drama Lab could be used for “smaller, more intimate shows.” “We don’t want to lose the building because we keep neglecting it,” she said. “I’m hoping it becomes a space for soloists to hold recitals instead of in the choir room or auditorium. It could be used for jazz band concerts. You could open it up and have concessions outside. It could be used as an art gallery. I also want to team up with the community and rent it out for events. “It becomes a community space instead of this little auto shop at the bottom of the hill that no one wants to look at.” What’s amazing, said Marshfield Principal Doug Holland, is how the entire school has rallied around the project. Teachers and students have donated time and labor to gut the Drama Lab and begin fixing it up. Holland said the project’s pace is surpassing everyone’s expectations.
Bills didn’t clear committee until nearly midnight BY JONATHAN J. COOPER
Crater Lake entrances barricaded
The Associated Press
BY JEFF BARNARD The Associated Press
The Associated Press
Tourists take in the view at Crater Lake National Park in 2006. Nearly 300 people are being laid off at the park —employees of the park and the concessionaire —as a result of the federal government shutdown.Park Superintendent Craig Ackerman said guests at Crater Lake Lodge and campgrounds were given 48 hours to leave. “I told our staff this morning,” he said. “Someone asked, ‘When could we expect to be called back?’ I said it could be hours, days or weeks.” Other National Park Service properties — such as Oregon Caves, John Day Fossil Beds and the Lewis and Clark National Historical Park— were also shut down. Hunters looking forward to the
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DEATHS
INSIDE
Oregon’s special session keeps limping along ■
SEE DRAMA | A8
Government Shutdown
GRANTS PASS — Nearly 300 people are being laid off at Crater Lake National Park — employees of the park and the concessionaire — as a result of the federal government shutdown. Park Superintendent Craig Ackerman said Tuesday that 10 park employees were still working: two snowplow drivers, law enforcement and emergency medical personnel, operators of the water treatment and sewage treatment plants, and a human resources staffer to oversee the layoffs. Otherwise the entrances to the park were barricaded, and guests at Crater Lake Lodge and campgrounds were given until Thursday to leave, he said. Film crews for a commercial and the movie “The Wild,” based on a memoir of hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, were also shut out of the park.
SEE FLU | A8
opening of waterfowl season in Eastern Oregon this weekend will not be able to hunt on national wildlife refuges. They are closed to all visitors, whether hunters, bird-watchers or hikers. But national forests and U.S. Bureau of Land Management lands were open to deer, bear and
LeAnn Hayes, Charleston Marlo ‘John’ Schultz, North Bend Elvon Tams, Myrtle Point Laura Crabb, Coos Bay
SEE SHUTDOWN | A8
Betty Reed, Coos Bay Howard Warrick, Coos Bay
Obituaries | A5
SALEM — After a day of repeated delays, an Oregon committee legislative advanced a series of bills late Tuesday tackling changes to pensions, taxes and agricultural regulations. The final bill cleared the committee just after 11 p.m., setting the stage for votes in the full House and Senate on Wednesday, although more postponements are possible in a special session that’s been marked by delays. Gov. John Kitzhaber and senior legislators spent much of Monday and Tuesday ironing out details and lining up votes for a deal they say would deliver badly needed money for education and other services. The plan is projected to save millions of dollars in employee retirement costs for state and local governments and generate about $200 million in new revenue over the next two years. Most of the money would go to primary and secondary schools, but some would go
FORECAST
Marshfield teachers, students work to save Drama Lab ■
COOS BAY — Flu season could start this month, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Although the illness tends to peak in January or February, folks might want to get the shot now to protect themselves against getting sick. It takes two weeks for the body to build up antibodies to ward off sickness, said Lena Hawtin, clinical supervisor at the Coos County Public Health Department. She said people can’t get sick from the shot. “People get sick because they were already exposed to the flu virus,” said Hawtin. But, she said it might cause other issues. “It can cause achiness and soreness at the site.” Flu clinics The CDC said side effects were “mild and short-lastWalk-in clinics for the influenza ing, especially when comand whooping cough immunizapared to symptoms of tions: influenza infection.” ■ Coquille Juvenile/Health Possible side effects for Building (behind the courthouse), the flu shot are: soreness, Coquille, 8:30 a.m.-noon and 1 redness or swelling where the p.m.-4 p.m., Oct. 4. ■ Lakeside Lions Club, 890 shot was given, low grade Bowron Road, Lakeside, 1 p.m.-4 fever and aches. Side effects p.m., Oct. 18. for the nasal vaccination ■ Bring your insurance card so spray in children are: runny Medicare, Oregon Health Plan, nose, wheezing, headache, Blue Cross-Blue Shield of Oregon vomiting, muscle aches and and Pacific Source may be billed. fever. Side effects for the ■ For those without insurance, the spray in adults are: runny cost is $21.96 for whooping cough nose, headache, sore throat vaccine and $33.25 for those with and cough. private insurance. Hawtin said about 70 peo■ The discounted price for the flu ple have gotten flu shots so vaccine is $25 for those paying far at the health department. with cash or check. She said the department ■ For more information, call the hadn’t seen anyone with the Coos County Public Health virus, but advised everyone Department at 541-751-2400. over 6 months old to get be vaccinated. “It’s important for people to get the flu vaccination, especially for young children and infants,” Hawtin said. “People with medical conditions, asthma, or heart disease should get it, too.” In Coos County, about 66 percent of those age 65 and older got the vaccine in 2008, the latest available data. There wasn’t data on total number of people because it’s not a required
Rain likely 62/46 Weather | A8
to higher education, services for seniors and mental health care. K itzhaber reached an agreement with legislative leaders on Sept. 18 and called lawmakers into special session starting Monday. The governor had hoped to work out the kinks and line up votes ahead of time, but the quick time frame left several key sticking points needing to be bridged. In private meetings, Republicans and Democrats debated largely technical points, such as how to ensure that a tax break for small businesses doesn’t become too costly and how to define which businesses should qualify. Many lawmakers were reluctant to vote so quickly on some of the bills, particularly the complicated tax and pension measures. The proposed pension cuts would reduce the annual inflation increase in retirees’ checks, from 2 percent to 1.25 percent on the first $60,000 in income and to 0.15 percent on any additional income. Under the tax changes, higher income individuals and certain businesses would face a higher tax bill. SEE SESSION | A8