DETAINEES RELEASED
FAST FINISH
North Korea frees Oregon man, A5
After slow start, Ducks pound Utah, B4
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2014
Serving Oregon’s South Coast Since 1878
theworldlink.com
■
$1
Adios, downtown Wi-Fi City says connectivity problems, disruptions not worth it BY DEVAN PATEL The World
By Lou Sennick, The World
The Visitor Information Center in downtown Coos Bay is one of six access points for the city’s Wi-Fi connections. The city is shutting down the system because it has connection and other problems that would cost too much to upgrade.
COOS BAY — After years of struggling to provide the downtown area with Internet access, the Coos Bay City Council last week unanimously voted to scrap its Wi-Fi system. With a high level of interference from other devices disrupting coverage and the current equipment unable to handle the bandwidth demands of Internet users, the council decided it
would not be economically efficient to continue operating the system at a cost of $4,700 per year if the same problems would still persist. As part of the city’s inquiry into the connectivity problems, the city underwent two analyses on the current network infrastructure and solicited recommendations from ORCA Communications, Frontier and Comspan, Coos Bay Finance Director Susanne Baker said. Outside of pockets around the six
access points — at Fire Station No. 1, City Hall, Sause Bros., the Visitor Information Center, the Hub Building and the BNT Building — the analyses showed little to no connectivity. The service began in 2006 with the intent of attracting more foot traffic into the downtown area. With users favoring smartphones, tablets and applications requiring higher data usage for media services SEE WI-FI | A8
Community shows support for BLM’s Estella Morgan
Commissioners step in
BY KURTIS HAIR The World
COOS BAY — The outpouring of love and grief has been tremendous after a cherished Coos Bay woman who had done much for her community died in a tragic accident last week. At about 11 a.m. Nov. 4, 55-yearold Estella Morgan lost her life when a tree that had just been cut down fell on the vehicle she was driving. Morgan, an employee of the Bureau of Land Management, was conducting field work in the Blue Ridge area of Coos Bay. News of the tragic accident shocked the community of Coos Bay. Morgan was an important person to many people. “She was such a huge part of my life for 55 years,” said Merton Brown, Morgan’s older brother. “It’s very painful. It’s women like her that make the world go around.” Morgan was born Sept. 10, 1959 in Coos Bay, and was the secondyoungest of six. She grew up in Eastside and quickly fell in love with the outdoors.
“We would go on Sunday drives every weekend,” Brown said. “We would just go all over the county and in the woods. Estella, you know, I guess that’s why she got into forestry.” In 1981, Morgan married Randy Jameson, and they moved to Clinton, Okla., where they had a child, Lindsey. They moved back to Oregon a year later to make a life on the coast. Morgan lost her husband in a commercial fishing accident in Alaska in 1984. A year Estella Morgan later, she met Morgan. Lance The two married in 1986 and had twin daughters, Adrienne and Amber. Morgan got her associate degree in forestry at Southwestern Oregon Community College and became an employee of BLM, working for the agency for 30 years. SEE MORGAN | A8
By Amanda Loman, The World
Tom Eichhorn, left, of Elmira, and Ray Austin of Junction City compete in the Tenmile Bass Club tournament at Tenmile Lake on Saturday afternoon. "We've caught a lot of fish, but they aren't very big," said Austin of the pair's progress.
Lakeside to get water district on May ballot
Police reports . . . . A2 What’s Up. . . . . . . . A3 South Coast. . . . . . A3 Opinion. . . . . . . . . . A4
Comics . . . . . . . . . . A6 Puzzles . . . . . . . . . . A6 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . B1 Classifieds . . . . . . . B5
appropriately fix the problem came to a head. The area has long been a popular area for summer homes and recreational uses by not only residents but people from nearby counties. As the relatively shallow lake matures, it continues to fill in and become shallower with non-native weeds that rot and clog the lake, and silt that moves down the streams from timber lands and ranches nearby. There has also been widespread concern that the cabins around the lake — many of which are older — may have inadequate septic systems that potentially leak phosphates and cause the algae to grow. Just as figuring out the issues surrounding the lakes’ toxicity isn’t exactly cut and dry, getting the issue on the ballot hasn’t been simple either. It can be done SEE LAKESIDE | A8
By Amanda Loman, The World
Sarah Recken, a volunteer at the Coos Bay Boat Building Center, takes seventhgraders from Sunset Middle School on a tour of the facilities. The school is pairing with the center to complete a boatbuilding project in conjunction with NOAA.
Sunset sets sail Coos Bay students to build boat, track its voyage in Pacific Ocean ■
BY CHELSEA DAVIS The World
COOS BAY — An exercise in boatbuilding is giving a group of Coos Bay seventh-graders a lesson in engineering, design, oceanography and more. Sunset Middle School received a
Tumbling down Herbert Bosselman, Coos Bay
Obituaries | A5
Sunday marked the 25th anniversary of the travel restrictions between East and West Berlin being lifted, uniting Germany. Page A7
Need to sell your vehicle?
FORECAST
INSIDE
COQUILLE — The Coos County commissioners have agreed to start the process to pass a motion that would put the Water Lakes Tenmile Improvement District on the May ballot. The decision came at the county commission meeting last Tuesday after a lengthy discussion about how to proceed with the Tenmile Lakes blue-green algae infestation problem. Until now, the commissioners have been reluctant to move forward on the issue because residents weren’t united in how to solve the problem. One group has been focused more on bringing failed septic systems up to code, while the other wants to look at the septic issue along with weed and other
sedimentation causes. The latter is proposing the formation of the district. “Both sides have good logic but need to get together and figure out what they’re going to do,” said Commissioner John Sweet. “We said we’ll pass the motion to start the process, but you all need to decide just what you want done and think in terms of, ‘Are we going to do a shotgun approach or do we concentrate our efforts on one problem?’” The item was urgent because if the commissioners hadn’t acted in one way or another by Nov. 7, it would have been delayed until May 2016. For years there has been debate as to how to best clean up the water but the squabbling peaked last spring when discord between the area’s residents over what exactly causes the bluegreen algae outbreaks and how to
WORLD
The World
DEATHS
BY CARLY MAYBERRY
5-foot, unmanned sailboat to assemble, decorate, name and track once it’s launched. Sunset fifth grade teacher Nick Krissie originally requested the boat from the Oregon Coast STEM Hub, one of six regional hubs statewide that focuses on the STEM fields: science, technology, engineering and math. Seventh grade teacher Andrew Giniger knew it would be a perfect fit for his survey class. “We’ve designed cars, rockets, SEE SUNSET | A8
Partly cloudy 56/43 Weather | A8
WE CAN DELIVER YOUR MESSAGE OVER 71,000 TIMES!
Call Kirk Today! 541-267-6278