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201 BES 4 T MONDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2014
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Library offers lunch, lyrics Days of Culture will be celebrated all week, with music in the Coos Bay Public Library’s Myrtlewood Room ■
BY TIM NOVOTNY The World
Sunday, Sondra Warren holds and comforts a kitten, Sugar, in Mingus Park for the annual Blessing of Our Animal Friends.
Diane Tracey brought her dog Gabe to be blessed Sunday afternoon at the Blessing of Our Animal Friends. Doing the personal blessing is Dorothy Williams, a pastoral intern at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church.
COOS BAY — Oct. 8 is the anniversary of the establishment, in 2001, of the Oregon Cultural Trust. A few years back, it began to celebrate with a weeklong party called the Days of Culture. According to its website, culturaltrust.org, the celebration is traditionally presented by Oregon’s 1,300 cultural organizations, coalitions and tribes. In Coos Bay, the public library has been doing its part through an event called “A Little Lunch Music.” The performances highlight everything from fiddle playing and Celtic music to jazz and folk, with the Marshfield High School Vocal Ensemble featured during the event.
Blessed are the animals
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Supreme Court denies five gay marriage appeals BY MARK SHERMAN The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court cleared the way Monday for an immediate expansion of same-sex marriage by unexpectedly and tersely turning away appeals from five states seeking to prohibit gay and lesbian unions. The court’s order effectively makes gay marriage legal in 30 states. Without comment, the justices brought to an end delays in same-sex marriages in five states — Indiana, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin. Couples in six other states — Colorado, Kansas, North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia and Wyoming — should be able to get married in short order. Those states would be bound by the same appellate rulings that were put on hold pending the Supreme Court’s review No other state cases were currently pending with the high court, but the justices stopped short of resolving for now the question of same-sex marriage nationwide. Still,
Photos by Lou Sennick, The World
Many stayed in the shade with their dogs and cats as they gathered Sunday afternoon in Mingus Park for the annual Blessing of Our Animal Friends. There was a general blessing for the group gathered followed by personal blessings of the animals and their owners.
The Associated Press
INSIDE
PORTLAND — A generation of Oregonians has never lived under a Republican governor, and state Rep. Dennis Richardson would like to show them what it’s like. If Richardson is to topple Oregon’s longest serving governor, though, he’ll have to introduce himself to an electorate that doesn’t know him and overcome his party’s dismal reputation in Oregon. But his biggest hurdle is more fundamental — his conservative views on abortion and gay marriage, and the fiery language he’s used to express them. His staunch conservatism helped Richardson jumpstart his political career in southern Oregon, but it’s become a liability in the more liberal — and more populated — Willamette Valley. Richardson hasn’t changed his views, but he’s trying hard to change the subject.
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“The social issues have been determined,” Richardson said. “They’re not up for debate. It’s not an issue.” Despite his best efforts, however, they very much are an issue, in large part because Richardson’s critics have made sure of it with a $200,000 advertising campaign. Richardson says he’d enforce the laws, no matter how distasteful he finds them. As co-chairman of the Legislature’s budget committee, he points out, he helped oversee creation of an Oregon Health Plan budget that included funding for abortion. “Do I like the idea? Not particularly,” he said in a recent interview with The Associated Press. “But that wasn’t my job to enforce my own viewpoint. My job was to ensure that the best interests of the state were dealt with. And as governor, that’s what I will do.” Richardson’s critics aren’t comSEE RICHARDSON | A8
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BY STEVEN DUBOIS The Associated Press
PORTLAND — For the half-million Oregon voters who reject party labels, the May election ballot can be pretty boring. Shut out of the Republican and Democratic primaries, this growing bloc of voters is left with a handful of nonpartisan local races and a perplexing question: Is it necessary to vote for all these judges running unopposed? This November, Oregon voters decide whether to enliven their primary ballots. Under Measure 90, the state would abandon partisan primaries and adopt a top-two election system similar to what is used in neighboring
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Washington and California. Instead of only Democrats voting in the Democratic primary and only Republicans voting in the Republican primary, the measure would put all candidates on a single ballot and allow everyone — including nonaffiliated voters — the chance to vote. The top two vote-getters would advance to the general election in November, even if they are from the same party. Supporters contend the measure increases fairness by giving independent voters a voice. Their other selling point is that centrist candidates would have a better chance of going to Salem or Washington D.C., because
WASHINGTON (AP) — Ahead of a White House meeting on the Ebola outbreak, federal health officials said Monday the U.S. is weighing whether to institute extra screening at U.S. airports where travelers from Ebola-stricken African nations may be arriving. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said “all options are being looked at.” The question, Fauci told CNN, is whether “the extra level of screening is going to be worth the resources you need to put into it.” “There is clear-cut screening going on in the exit end,” Fauci said, referring to the screening of outbound passengers before they leave Ebola-affected countries. The current U.S. discussion, he said, centers on “what kind of screening you do on the entry end. That’s something that’s on the table now.” Officials are seeking a balance between “the
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Ancient cave
STATE
BY JONATHAN J. COOPER
Oregon voters get a second shot at ‘top-two’ primaries Ebola screening
A cave outside Paisley, with remains radiocarbon dated to 14,300 years ago, has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Page A5
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FORECAST
Richardson hopes voters will forgive social issues
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