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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2014
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Damage total mounts in Port Orford BY CARLY MAYBERRY The World
PORT ORFORD — Damages from the storm that hammered the port at Port Orford on Saturday are beginning to be calculated, with estimates already in the $1 million range. On Monday, Kate Groth, representative for the Army Corps of Engineers, joined Senior Port Commissioner Brett Webb and other Port Orford officials to assess the devastation. While the port has not yet released an official monetary assessment of its losses, Webb estimated the cost of the destruction at approximately $474,000 and likely to rise — a figure that just applies to the damage incurred by the port’s tenants. On Saturday, the first big storm of the season pounded the port as
Submitted photo by Melissa Campbell
The weekend storm in Port Orford damaged a 60-foot section of the jetty. Damage totals are expected to exceed $1 million. winds up to 90 mph drove heavy waves over the dock, destroying small buildings and forcing an evacuation. Well-known seafood restaurant Griffs on the Dock suf-
fered damage upward of $350,000, while the Hallmark Fisheries building was washed away. Webb said damages to two fish buyers’ facilities, the restaurant
and lost fishing opportunities amount to nearly $500,000, and damages to port facilities are likely to bring it up to $1 million. The port’s two fish buyers were operat-
BY DEVAN PATEL The World
Frozen outlook
Police reports . . . . A2 What’s Up. . . . . . . . A3 South Coast. . . . . . A3 Opinion. . . . . . . . . . A4
Fruit who at times struggled to meet the 15- to 30-day shipping deadline imposed by the certificate. McKenzie, who has shipped cranberries to China for several years, dealt with the fact that at any time a container of fruit could be seized and quarantined by Chinese customs, which in turn would hold up the process and potentially cost him thousands of dollars. And like so many other independent harvesters, McKenzie has been forced to compete with international corporations like Ocean Spray, which has the advantage of shipping its Canadian product to China through Canada, a
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DEATHS
INSIDE
COOS BAY — Thanks to a collaborative effort between a Curry County cranberry harvester and government officials at the county, state and national levels, farmers of cranberries, blueberries and strawberries in Curry and Coos counties now have a chance to make greater profits when exporting their product to China. That’s because of a regulatory change approved by the United States Department of Agriculture, which now allows the federal agency to issue the phytosanitary certificate that’s required when shipping frozen fruit to the Asian country. Previously, the USDA would issue the clean plant certificate for fresh produce but not for frozen, which posed considerable problems for cranberry farmers like Curry County’s Robert McKenzie of Wild Rivers
Area growers are now allowed to ship frozen berries to China
country whose government had no qualms issuing the certificate. “It really irritated me because the rest of the world was shipping product but the USDA wouldn’t cooperate,” McKenzie said. “There’s a country sitting across the pond with a billion and a half people. It would be nice to ship them some cranberries.” Fueled by years of exasperation, McKenzie got the ball rolling by reaching out to elected officials, but it was Curry County Commissioners David Itzen and David Brock Smith, along with Dennis Hannapel of the Oregon Department of Agriculture and others at the ODA and the USDA, who worked together steadfastly to change the policy. The change affects more than the little sour red berries, it extends to blueberries and strawberries. What’s more, producers in both Idaho and Washington also now benefit from the regulatory shift. SEE BERRIES | A8
Dorothy Guerin, Langlois Forrest Mulkins, North Bend William Aasen, Beaverton Philip Clausen, Coquille John Kauffman, Coos Bay
NORTH BEND — Despite the bridge closure and traffic delays whittling down attendance, the leading forest and fishery minds gathered for the West Coast Salmon Summit to discuss the state of current salmon populations. The final day of the second annual summit, held this year at The Mill Casino, highlighted the importance of collaboration, with experts in recovery, restoration, legislation and the economy sharing ideas for how they can assist one another to combat declines in salmon. With salmon populations being reduced because they have to compete with other plants and animal species for water in streams, a greater emphasis was placed on how climate change has exacerbated the problem.
Pat Rutten, field supervisor for the National Oceanic and Administration Atmospheric restoration center, pointed to the severe drought conditions in California and the proposed $7 billion water bond project as an example of legislation not addressing the bigger picture. “California tends to want to build its way out of problems,” Rutten said. “They just don’t seem to understand there’s a big problem.” While the water bond would provide temporary relief to farmers who have seen their crop numbers dwindle, the initiative is not costeffective and does not address how to combat problems in the future. Although some have hypothesized El Nino providing relief for the drought conditions, the extreme weather event was never going to be a game-changer, SEE SALMON | A8
Volunteers are something special More than a few good men, women needed in a county with a high rate of child abuse and neglect ■
BY TIM NOVOTNY The World
COOS BAY — When children are abused or neglected and enter the legal system, their best interests can sometimes slip through the cracks. But a small, determined, group of volunteers in Coos County wants to make sure that doesn’t happen. The Court Appointed Special Advocates are trained to work to represent children who have been removed from their homes due to
Sherry Frost, Coos Bay Irene Jackson, Coos Bay
Obituaries | A5
FORECAST
By Lou Sennick, The World
Cranberries just harvested from a bog at the Tobiska Family Farm near Bandon are loaded into the back of a truck Monday morning. The annual harvest is in full swing along the South Coast.
The World
SEE DAMAGE | A8
Salmon Summit looks at issues facing fishing
New market potential
BY CARLY MAYBERRY
ing Monday, however. There is no estimate on repairing a breach in the port breakwater, which protects the port channel and makes year-round port operations possible. The devastation prompted Curry County Commissioner David Brock Smith to call for a declaration of state of emergency in the county and from Gov. John Kitzhaber. Webb said the Port of Port Orford will be addressing the county commission at Tuesday’s meeting with its own request for emergency funding. The Corps of Engineers has committed to surveying the harbor Wednesday and to seek further emergency actions. “Our biggest fear and most expensive is concerning sand inundation in the harbor,” Webb said.
neglect and abuse. As wards of the state, these children can face several different adults, including DHS workers, foster home families, lawyers, judges and their parents — all of whom likely have the “best interest” of the child in mind, but may be at odds with each other or may not follow the child’s case to its end. Officials say an advocate, or CASA, is a constant in the child’s life until he or she is placed in a safe and permanent home. Unfortunately, the CASA ranks need to be boosted to truly be able to help all of the children in Coos County who find themselves going through the system. Locally, CASA is a program of SEE CASA | A8
Rain 62/55 Weather | A8
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