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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2014
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Pettit is a write-in for CB council
Bridge closure causes delays Fatal accident is one of two incidents
BY DEVAN PATEL The World
By Amanda Loman, The World
A truck went off the work platform under the McCullough Bridge on Wednesday night, resulting in the death of one man and the closure of the bridge.The North Bay Fire District and Lakeside diving team responded to the scene and recovered the vehicle with the help of Mast Bros.Towing. Top, Keith Johnson, a flagger with the Oregon Department of Transportation, directs traffic around the McCullough Bridge.
Work enclosure was damaged by high winds
One thousand and eighty-five miles from the ocean breeze and glistening sun of Foster City, Calif., sit the rolling Black Hills of South Dakota. Not exactly the idea of paradise or a destination that screams “life-altering,” but for Al Pettit, a trip to Sturgis, S. D., in 2000 would change his life forever. Then the acting vice president of corporate marketing for Citrix Systems, Pettit would witness the largest motorcycle rally to date. “You’d have motorcycle gangs mingling amongst doctors and lawyers, and outside of a few drunken brawls, everyone was civil toward one another,” Pettit said. “The only thing these 600,000 or so people had in common was an American-made Harley-Davidson, and it was quite the phenomenon.” As more and more time elapsed from the experience, the memory, already burned into his mind, would re-emerge. Just as he wore down from the grind of corporate America, a new fire ignited. “After I burned out from business and wanted to do something else, I’d always turn back to this,” Pettit said. “I told my wife this is what I wanted to Al Pettit do, and we went from there.” Ditching the corporate life he was accustomed to while working at Apple, Digital Island, SealedMedia and the aforementioned Citrix Systems, Pettit and his family moved to Coos Bay in the fall of 2006 and have owned and operated Highway 101 Harley-Davidson ever since, but not without their share of troubles. “I probably bought at the worst possible time, in 2006, because just after I did, the economy just tanked,” Pettit said. “We were able to ride out the rough spots and turn it around.” Being someone who has experienced firsthand how rough the business climate is, Pettit is determined to SEE PETTIT | A8
BY KURTIS HAIR The World
Family: Doctors don’t detect Ebola in nurse’s body
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release any information about the patient, hospital spokeswoman Holly Korschun said. Vinson helped care for a Liberian man with Ebola who died at a Dallas hospital. Another nurse there also became infected and is being treated outside Washington; her condition was upgraded from fair to good. Health officials say Vinson visited the Akron area Oct. 10-13 to prepare for her wedding and was diagnosed once she returned to Dallas.
Pet rent Laura Dalrymple, Coquille Lewis Frizell, Lakeside James Stackpole, North Bend
Obituaries | A5
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unclear how many tests Vinson has had. Vinson’s mother, Debra Berry, spoke to her Wednesday, and Vinson has been approved for transfer from isolation, the statement said. “We all know that further treatment will be necessary as Amber continues to regain strength, but these latest developments have truly answered prayers and bring our family one step closer to reuniting with her at home,” Berry said. Vinson, 29, remains in treatment at Emory, near Atlanta. Emory wouldn’t
DEATHS
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COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Doctors no longer detect Ebola in a Texas nurse who flew to Ohio and back before she was diagnosed with the virus, her family said Wednesday. Officials at Emory University Hospital and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention couldn’t detect Ebola in Amber Vinson as of Tuesday evening, her family said in a statement released through a media consultant. Doctors usually do two tests a day apart before saying they can’t detect the virus. It’s
Some apartments are now charging a monthly rent for pets to go along with the normal pet deposit. Page A5
8th Street gate to stay — for now BY DEVAN PATEL The World
COOS BAY — The North Eighth Street gate will remain in place for now after the Coos Bay City Council decided not to take any action regarding its removal. The gate, located near the 1800 block of Eighth Street, has been a point of contention after concerns were raised regarding its effect on the response time of emergency responders. In a report by Coos Bay Fire Chief Mark Anderson, he found there was some delay in responding to calls for assistance because a detour had to be taken. Complicating matters for the council, they had to determine if removing the gate would impose new public safety concerns on the area, which ironically caused residents to take action in the first place by installing the gate. With numerous residents in attendance, many offered impassioned pleas to the city to consider the dangers of removing the gate, including Lou and Kathie Leberti, who financed and installed the gate after getting approval from the city council in 2005. “We have a lot of children that play in the street, and I just worry what would happen if they open up the street,” Kathie Leberti said. “Think of the safety of the children.” Prior to the gate’s installation, the street had gone through two different periods of activity. Up until 1996, a berm occupied the area where the SEE GATE | A8
FORECAST
NORTH BEND — One man is dead after apparently accidentally driving his pickup truck off a work platform at the McCullough Bridge late Wednesday afternoon. And, apparently unrelated to that tragedy, the bridge remains closed Thursday morning after high winds damaged a construction enclosure, Submitted by Charles Mast causing workers to fear that pieces of it The truck is seen being towed out of the water near the McCullough Bridge by Mast Bros. might fall onto the bridge itself. Towing. Emergency responders received the report of the truck accident at 5:35 p.m. Exactly why his truck tumbled into enclosure they were building above the Wednesday. U.S. Coast Guard, the the water is still under investigation. bridge. Concern that parts of the encloNorth Bay Fire District and the Lakeside The identity of the victim had not sure might fall to the bridge surface Fire Department dive team responded been released Thursday morning. caused the closure, Wanke said. with rescue watercraft. The body of a Divers found a white Ford F-150 pick“If something were to happen to the deceased man was recovered near a up truck underwater they believe is enclosure, it could drop down into trafvehicle in the water below the bridge. associated with the victim. It took hours fic. That’s the only safety issue,” Wanke Rich Wanke, president and CEO of for Mast Bros. Towing to pull the truck said. “The bridge structurally is fine,” Great Western, the bridge contractor, out of the water. Its sides were caved in, State highway officials immediately said the victim was a mechanic who was the cab was smashed and the windshield closed the bridge, and traffic immediately backed up from the south edge of doing routine end-of-day equipment was spider-webbed. At about that same time, worked dis- the bridge all the way to Mom’s checks on the work platform below the bridge. It was his last duty before going covered that Wednesday’s high winds had compromised the integrity of an home for the day. SEE BRIDGE | A8
Rain 62/53 Weather | A8
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