CIVIL WAR
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Bulldogs’ offense keeps rolling, B1
Local Rotarians sending medical supplies, A6
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2014
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Natural causes or homicide? Court documents reveal the extent of an 87-year-old woman’s horrible wounds ■
BY TIM NOVOTNY The World
By Lou Sennick, The World
The McCullough Bridge is still closed after two unrelated accidents the evening before. Oregon State Police say Mark Fortune of Florence died when he apparently drove off the causeway under the bridge and died. At about the same time, the temporary structure being set up for the renovation project shifted in the wind. The highway remains closed till it can be determined that the structure would not fall and damage the bridge itself.
McCullough Bridge still closed BY KURTIS HAIR NORTH BEND — Saturday morning, and the bridge is still closed. Commuters are still having to drive the long way around the lifeline that connects to the heart of North Bend and Coos Bay, the McCullough Bridge. On Wednesday afternoon, high winds broke loose a temporary work enclosure from the bolts that held it down. The enclosure didn’t have proper bracing and the enclosure skewed, with the top moving about 60 feet one way and the bottom moving about 30 feet the other way. That caused the structure’s sides to bow outward. When state highway officials arrived on the scene, they closed the bridge and traffic immediately backed up from the south edge of the bridge all the way to Mom’s Kitchen in North Bend. Drivers who’d crossed the bridge immediately before the closure reported pieces of metal in the roadway. Now, drivers are still having to take the detour onto East Bay Drive around the bay. On a perfect day, the detour will take about 25 minutes, but with the rainy conditions, drivers can expect a 30-
SEE BOREN | A9
Coquille pastor, wife convicted of tax fraud By Lou Sennick, The World
INSIDE
SEE FRAUD | A8
Police reports . . . . A2 What’s Up . . . . . . . Go! South Coast. . . . . . A3 Opinion. . . . . . . . . . A4
Detoured traffic, along with normal local traffic, moves both ways on the Isthmus Slough Bridge Friday afternoon. It is calm now, but in the mornings and evenings, traffic can be backed up for miles.
The World
NORTH BEND — The traffic delays and closure of McCullough Bridge have resulted in a mixed economic bag for businesses in Coos County, with small business, trucking and timber industries and businesses in the proximity of the bridge seeing a more profound impact. Although the bridge may open Saturday, these businesses and industries have
Sports . . . . . . . . . . . B1 Comics . . . . . . . . . . C5 Puzzles . . . . . . . . . . C5 Classifieds . . . . . . . C6
NORTH BEND — The Coos Bay Bridge opened in June 1936. It retired the ferry Oregon, which had made regular quarter-hour trips across the bay. It was renamed the Conde B. McCullough Memorial Bridge in 1947, the year after McCullough died. He was the engineer who designed the bridge. According to a registration form for the National Register of Historic Places the bridge has required only routine maintenance, such as painting and cleaning pier soundings and minor repairs. Many vehicle accidents have closed the bridge for periods of time, including one on Aug. 26. Three people were injured when a semi-truck caused a chain reaction of
Florence man remembered as selfless and a hard worker
already experienced larger monetary losses as a result of increased delivery and transit times and a decline in consumer traffic. Candy Reeder, manager of Ashworth’s Market, a small business in the vicinity of the McCullough Bridge, said her business has been hit especially hard. “I’m concerned already because any kind of closure is vital to our business, and
The World
NORTH BEND — Mark Fortune was a hard-working, selfless human being who had a gift for fixing anything that needed repair. That’s how Rich Wanke, the president and CEO of Great Western construction who Mark Fortune company, employed Fortune for the last seven years, and
SEE ECONOMY | A8
Helen Fitzgerald, Reedsport Dixie Aryanfard, Myrtle Point Pattie Hopper, North Bend Rhet Peterson, Florida Wilbert Selders, Coos Bay Rosalie Moore, Madras
The World
SEE HISTORY | A8
BY CARLY MAYBERRY BY DEVAN PATEL
BY STEVE LINDSLEY
SEE BRIDGE | A8
Some businesses in the area hit hard by closure
DEATHS
EUGENE (AP) — An Oregon pastor and his wife have been convicted of conspiracy to defraud the government after declining to pay taxes for many years. A federal jury returned the verdict Thursday against Ronald and Dorothea Joling of Coquille, who prosecutors say owe the government more than $1 million in back taxes and penalties.They are scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 11. Ronald Joling, 71, testified during the six-day trial that he stopped paying income taxes in the early 1990s after years of study led him to conclude that tax laws do not apply to him. He and his wife at one point tried to revoke their U.S. citizenship and have been associated with the “sovereign citizen” movement. Joling’s attorney told the jury his client did not willingly break the law but instead acted in “good faith” when he stopped filing tax returns. Dorothea Joling’s defense was
Bridge has suffered few closures
The World
James Parsons, Bandon Clarissa Coffey, Coquille Paul Bassett, Coos Bay Bill Carvello, Lakeside
Obituaries | A5
FORECAST
COQUILLE — A 10-page request for a search warrant, written by a seasoned homicide detective in the Coos County Sheriff’s Office, paints an ugly picture of Willa Faye Boren’s last days. Originally reported on March 9 as a death due to natural causes, it began to raise suspicions one day later. Vana Boren, 54, initially reported that her mother, whom she lived with in the Allegany area of Coos Bay, had been in declining health in recent weeks. However, Chief Deputy Medical Examiner Kris Karcher began to question that report the very next day. According to Detective Sgt. Dan Looney, Karcher learned that Willa Boren had not been to the doctor for about two years and, when she went to the funeral home to view the body, could still smell a strong odor of urine. She also noticed that the deceased was extremely underweight and had extensive bedsores covering a large portion of her body. Karcher, a seasoned medical examiner, told investigators they were the worst bedsores she had seen on a person who was under the care of another at the time of death. It was the start of what would then become a six-month investigation, leading to a grand jury indictment of Vana Boren earlier this month. An autopsy performed on March 13 highlighted the horrors of the bedsores. In some cases, they were so severe that the victim’s skin had basically become
Fortune’s fellow colleagues remember him. Fortune, 52, died late Wednesday afternoon after his truck careened off a work platform under the McCullough Bridge into the Coos Bay. Wanke, who was also close friends with Fortune, said he was one of the handiest guys he’d ever employed and he’ll be greatly missed. “It’s going to take three or four guys to get done what he got done,” Wanke said. “It’s just a major loss SEE FORTUNE | A8
Rain 61/53 Weather | A8
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