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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2014
Serving Oregon’s South Coast Since 1878
Bandon Water Resource Committee resigns BY AMY MOSS STRONG The World
BANDON — All seven members of the city’s Water Resource Committee have resigned after being told they could not campaign for a measure they urged the City Council to put on the ballot. Members had prepared material for an upcoming forum on Ballot Measure 6-150, which would give rate-setting authority back to the council, and were told by deputy City Attorney Shala Kudlac at their meeting
last Tuesday that their material wasn’t neutral enough. Kudlac told the committee, which re-formed in July to study water issues facing Bandon, that state law prohibits public employees from advocating for or against candidates, measures or petitions during work time. According to Oregon Revised Statue 260.432, Oregon election law allows elected officials to communicate with their constituents about election issues SEE BANDON | A8
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Candidates face off in CB BY CHELSEA DAVIS The World
COOS BAY — Four area candidates squared off Monday night as the race for the Coos County commission and state representative seat heat up. The public got a chance to hear from Coos County commissioner John Sweet and his challenger Don Gurney and House District 9 Rep. Caddy McKeown, D-Coos Bay, and her opponent, Casey Runyan, RReedsport, Monday night at the Coquille Indian Tribe community center. Both Gurney and Sweet cited their long history in Coos County as reasons for why they’re running.
Sweet said he’s “well-versed in the things that make Coos County run,” referencing his work at Sause Bros., banking positions, farming and forestry. Gurney said he wants to be “everyone’s commissioner.” Sweet defended the commissioners’ decision to hire a timber lobbyist in Washington, D.C., against Phil Thompson questioning why the county didn’t instead turn to Gurney. “We realized No. 1 that our interest in the Coos Bay Wagon Road lands ... was unique,” Sweet said. “We couldn’t keep track of what was going on in Washington, D.C. without having someone right there on the spot, reporting back to us what was going on with timber
legislation.” But the O&C lands legislation has stalled, Gurney said. Nothing has changed. “I feel I could do the job the lobbyist did,” Gurney said. “I understand the frustration of not knowing what’s going on, but nothing went on, so the lobbyist didn’t really accomplish anything because we’re still in the situation where no bill has been passed or changed.” Sweet and Gurney further differed on their views on job creation. “I don’t think the county can make jobs. Private industry makes SEE CANDIDATES | A8
Great day for a walk
By Lou Sennick, The World
A woman strolls near the waterline at Bastendorff Beach. it was cooler on the beach Monday afternoon as unseasonably warm weather has been heating the region lately. Things should cool down a bit, with drizzle and showers expected late in the week, according to the National Weather Service.
NB police Marijuana grows endanger animal gets new K-9 officer BY JEFF BARNARD The Associated Press
INSIDE
NORTH BEND — The North Bend Police Department will have a new set of eyes and four legs on patrol at the end of year. Last September, the North Bend City Council awarded the purchase of a $9,000 detection police K-9 to the department following the retirement of the previous officer. The animal was purchased from a Police K-9 provider in Dorris, Calif., and with the price of the animal, shipping and training, the total cost is about $12,000. The department’s K-9 fund recently had anonymous donations that covered the total costs. For about seven years the department had Bruno, a German Shepherd patrol K9 that assisted officers in tracking down missing persons and detaining suspects. Bruno was stricken with cancer and was forced to retire last June. Bruno died the following month. “It’s a difficult thing,” said Chief Robert Kappelman. “These dogs are just as capable and trained as our officers, and for the handler of the animal who is constantly with him, it’s especially hard.” Kappelman said that since loosing Bruno, the department has had to rely on other police departments for a K-9 unit. Although the other departments, especially Coos Bay, have helped with the workload, the purchase of the new K-9 will help tremendously, he said. For Kappelman, Bruno’s main job was tracking and detaining while the new K-9 will be specifically for drug detection. Kappelman said that a drug detection K9 will be the best compliment for the community and law enforcement. The training for the K-9 should be completed at the end of this month. “We expect it to hit the streets at the end of the year,” Kappelman said.
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The Associated Press
The fisher, a larger cousin of the weasel that federal biologists have proposed protecting as a threatened species. much the poisons are affecting the northern spotted owl. Erin Williams, who oversaw the analysis for Fish and Wildlife, said the poisons are regulated, but the rules have done little to stop misuse on pot farms in forests where fishers live.
Roseburg VA critics: Agency mangled our comments ROSEBURG (AP) — Veterans critical of the way the Veterans Affairs hospital in Roseburg has been run say their comments at a town hall meeting were not accurately passed on to officials in Washington, D.C. A comparison of the transcript of the meeting and the report submitted by hospital officials showed some comments praising whistleblowers and criticism of “top-heavy management” disappeared from the report, the Roseburg News-Review said. The agency has been rocked by criticism, and the VA’s new secretary, Robert McDonald, required hospitals to hold the meetings with veterans and others. Roseburg’s was Sept. 4.
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A spokesman for Roseburgarea critics says a summary of the comments didn’t adequately address the concerns of veterans, including what some said were delays in access, lack of mental health and women’s services, and high turnover of providers. “I don’t think it met what the VA secretary was asking for. He wanted the pure input from veterans, and he didn’t get it,” said Jim Little of the Douglas County Veterans Forum. The group sent a transcript last week to Washington, D.C., along with a letter of complaint. The summary was prepared using an agency template, and it was complete and accurate, said spokeswoman Carrie Boothe of
Steven Jackson, Coos Bay John Ambrosni, Coos Bay Thomas Sanders, Gardiner Christine White, North Bend Lois Lindsley, Coos Bay
the Roseburg Veterans Affairs Medical Center. “We are confident that our report is comprehensive and an accurate summation of the concerns raised,” Boothe said. “We did not submit an entire transcription of the two-hour meeting as the forum requested us to do, because our report was inclusive, comprehensive, and provided accurate documentation of the event.” The News-Review said one comment about keeping doctors in rural areas such as Douglas County was summarized as, “How come we can’t get and keep doctors here? Systems problems; square it away.” In the full comment, a veteran
Bill Webb, Coos Bay William Rugh, Coos Bay
Obituaries | A5
FORECAST
The World
DEATHS
BY KURTIS HAIR
GRANTS PASS — Citing a threat from rat poison used on illegal marijuana plantations, federal biologists on Monday proposed Endangered Species Act protection for West Coast populations of the fisher, a larger cousin of the weasel. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service published notice in the Federal Register that it wants to list the fisher as a threatened species in Oregon, California and Washington. The full proposal was expected Tuesday. Other reasons for the proposal include the loss of forest habitat to wildfire, logging and urban development, disease, being eaten by other predators, illegal fur trapping and climate change. The fisher is the second species in the West for which biologists have formally recognized a threat from marijuana cultivation. A recovery plan for coho salmon calls for reducing pollution from pesticides and fertilizers used on pot plantations; decreasing illegal water withdrawals from salmon streams; and easing clear-cut logging. Scientists are also working to see how
The full proposal notes that 84 percent of the 77 fisher carcasses found in California’s northwestern mountains and the southern Sierra Nevada tested positive for rat poison. A map shows that virtually all fisher habitat includes illegal marijuana growing sites. Six of the eight fishers tested on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington tested positive, said Mourad Gabriel, executive director of the Integral Ecology Research Center. Gabriel says fishers eat fish- and meat flavored poisons directly, or ingest prey that ate the poison used to kill rats that might eat young marijuana plants. “There are hundreds upon hundreds of grows still out there — old remnant grows,” Gabriel said. “When we visit those, we are still finding rodenticide packaged in plastic containers.” The fisher is a house-cat-sized predator that makes its home in cavities in large dead trees and is one of the few predators to prey on porcupines. It has been a candidate for protection since 2004. The current proposal to list it as a threatened species is the result of a lawsuit settlement involving conservation groups.
Mostly sunny 69/52 Weather | A8
said he had talked with doctors who arrived in Douglas County and loved the area, citing the outdoors and fishing. “There must be something screwed up with the system,” the transcript read. “There are plenty of doctors even young doctors who are willing to come here because they like the area so don’t tell us you can’t get good doctors to come here. Correct the system so we get decent doctors and decent health care.” The director of the Roseburg hospital, Carol Bogedain, had come under criticism by the group and said last week she would resign within days rather than waiting for a planned endof-the-year retirement.