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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2014
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NB gets increase in sewer rate
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$1
Coast Guard delays closure
Average bill in town will go up $4.75 to $30 ■
Temporary stay given by Coast Guard, but it only delays it by two weeks to Dec. 15 ■
BY KURTIS HAIR The World
NORTH BEND — North Bend residents can expect a higher water bill. The North Bend City Council on Tuesday voted unanimously to increase the sewer rate for the city. The city council passed a resolution that will increase the sewer rate $4.75 a month for residential housing. North Bend residents were paying, on average, $25.25, and now will have to pay $30. City public works director Bob Dillard gave a presentation to the council at the meeting, and said increasing the sewer rate will generate money to upgrade the wastewater treatment facility. Increasing the sewer rate is expected to generate about $250,000 a year for the sewer fund. The upgrades will happen over the next five years, Dillard said. The facility has not had a major upgrade since 1991, and some of the pump stations have been in service for 60 years. Dillard said the pipes running underneath the city are also a cause for concern. approximately have “We 250,000 feet of sewer line,” Dillard said. “We have 32,000 feet of pipe older than 70 years, and portions of the concrete pipe built in the 1950s are already starting to fail.” Dillard said though there is a lot of work to be done to the facility, the city is still in good shape. The upgrade it had in 1991 helped the city out a lot, he said. Before the resolution came to a vote, the council held a public hearing, and only one North Bend resident spoke. Susanna Noordhoff, a civil engineer and North Bend resident, said she was impressed with how public works is trying to better the city. Noordhoff said though the rate is increasing, North Bend residents are better off than surrounding communities. “Thirty dollars is nothing,” Noordhoff said. “For the property I own in Gardiner, it’s $60 a month. I know Reedsport has been about $60 at least.”
NEWPORT — The U.S. Coast Guard will delay closing its air facility in Newport. On Tuesday, U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, along with U.S. Rep. Kurt Schrader, met with Admiral Paul Zukunft, the commandant of the Coast Guard, and he assured them that he will delay the closure until Dec. 15. The Coast Guard recently announced it had plans to close its air facilities in Newport on Dec. 1 and consolidate all of its aviation resources on the Oregon Coast to Astoria and North Bend.The majority of calls would go to North Bend. Newport is one of the busiest ports in Oregon, and it would take about an hour to get there from North Bend if there was an emergency. Since the decision, many fishermen, relatives of fishermen and Oregon lawmakers questioned the safety of those on the ocean and in the steep forest and vehemently opposed the closure. The Newport Fishermen’s Wives, a nonprofit organization, started a petition to keep the facility open. It currently has more than 18,000 signatures. The Coast Guard agreed with the lawmakers that delaying the closure would give more time to assess the possible risks if the closure happens. During the meeting, the Oregon delegation told the admiral it would use every possible advocacy path to keep the Newport air facility open, and that thousands of lives are at stake. Reporter Kurtis Hair can be reached at 541-269-1222, ext. 240, or by email at kurtis.hair@theworldlink.com. Follow him on Twitter: @KurtisHair.
Educators, volunteers take part in a simulation to see the obstacles many people face ■
BY CARLY MAYBERRY The World
MYRTLE POINT — About 150 educators from area school districts learned a little more about surviving and maneuvering life at the poverty level during a simulation experience last Friday sponsored by the South Coast Education Service District. Teachers from the Port Orford, Coquille, Myrtle Point and North Bend school districts participated along with volunteers playing community roles in the fourth annual fall regionwide professional development workshop put on by the nonprofit CoActive Connections. The Salem-based organization works to train and collaborate with educators to understand and better cope with the realities of poverty in the classroom and beyond. At Friday’s workshop, partici-
By Lou Sennick, The World
The Perez family looks over materials and have to choose from several items they can pawn or sell to help pay bills in the simulation. pants gathered in Myrtle Crest Elementary School’s gymnasium seated in groups of three- or four-member mock “families,” given the task to navigate various economic challenges as a lowincome family trying to survive
month to month. Some family units were newly unemployed or homeless, while others were recently deserted by the breadwinner. SEE POVERTY | A8
Flores hopes to join CB council as a write-in
BY KURTIS HAIR
BY DEVAN PATEL
The World
The World
Comics . . . . . . . . . . A6 Puzzles . . . . . . . . . . A6 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . B1 Classifieds . . . . . . . B5
DEATHS
This November, three council seats are up for election, and North Bend voters will get to choose among three incumbents and Goll. Goll NORTH BEND — A lifelong North announced last July that he will run Bend resident wants to bring new for one of the seats. blood to the city council. Goll will be a new face on the balPat Goll, a manager for Ocean lot. He faces incumbents Barry Terminals Company, sits confidently Hayes, Larry Garboden and Bill on his couch in the living room of his Pat Goll Richardson, all of whom have served home in North Bend. He’s ready for on the council for at least eight years. Nov. 4. “I feel like, you know, being a longtime Garboden has been a council member since North Bend family, and thinking that every- 1998. Although Goll is running against the counone kind of knows I’m for the good of North Bend,” Goll said. “I’m sure I’ve got a lot of cil members, he’s been happy with how they longtime North Bend support. I’m sure I got that or I’d like to think I do.” SEE GOLL | A8
INSIDE
The World
Finding out what the poverty line feels like
New name on the North Bend city council ballot
Police reports . . . . A2 What’s Up . . A3South Coast. . . . . . . . . . . . A3 Opinion. . . . . . . . . . A4
BY KURTIS HAIR
Photos by Lou Sennick, The World
The “Perez” family look over their packet of materials, including play money available to them for their monthly living expenses, Friday at a poverty simulation held at Myrtle Crest Elementary School. From left, the family is Pablo, Jake Van Dam; Penelope, Bruce Morganti; and Patricia, Georgia Weinblatt. Participants were learning to understand the realities of poverty through a simulated program.
Dortha Hughes, Newberg Paul Bassett, Coos Bay Maryjane Glover, Kingman, Ariz. Dorothy Wilson, Coos Bay William Duval, North Bend
COOS BAY — As a longtime executive team member of Southwestern Oregon Community College, Katherine Flores was used to adapting to changes and jumping through hoops to get things done. Now retired after serving as the college’s executive director of Integrated Technology Services, Flores is looking to bring her experience and skills to Coos Bay as its next city councilor.She is running as a write-in candidate for a currently uncontested seat. Having survived three different administrations and served 12 years on the
president’s council and executive team while at SWOCC, it’s that adaptability and ability to work through obstacles that makes her former colleagues believe she can make a difference at the political level. “Typically at a lot of colleges, new administration will bring in their own people so there are lot of changes in the top management, deans and executive directors,” said friend and former colleague Brenda Brecke. “Katherine was there through three different college presidents, and she was the only one who survived all three presidents, which says a lot of her ability to see the big picture. To
SEE FLORES | A8
Quentin Church, Coos Bay Mark Fortune, Florence Sherry Frost, Coos Bay Clarissa Coffey, Coquille Bill Carvello, Lakeside Rose Kwiatek, Coos Bay
Norma Warrick, North Bend Forrest Mulkins, North Bend Dawn Wicklander, Gold Beach
Obituaries | A5
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