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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2014
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Officials receive 2 percent pay hike
Benefit of afterschool programs obvious, but many in Coos Bay lack access due to limited transportation
CARLY MAYBERRY The World
Amanda Loman photos, The World
Azul Garcia, 10, works on her drawing during the Advanced Middle School Fine Art projects program at the Art Center of the Boys & Girls Club of Southwestern Oregon on Thursday afternoon.
COOS BAY AFTER 3 P.M. CHELSEA DAVIS
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fterschool program leaders are at a loss when it comes to reaching out to those kids who are alone at home every day after school. The Afterschool Alliance recently named Oregon one of the top 10 states for afterschool programs. But the organization’s “America After 3PM” survey also showed demand exceeds supply: Around 3 million elementary and middle school students are alone and unsupervised See Afterschool, A8
Ayasha Campos, 8, right, and Nicole Lehto, 10, left, work on their art pieces during the Advanced Middle School Fine Art projects program at the Art Center of the Boys & Girls Club of Southwestern Oregon on Thursday afternoon.
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INSIDE
COOS BAY — The goals are steep, but that is because the need is great. The 13th Annual Rotary/KDock Bus Jam takes place from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Dec. 6, but the bulk of the collection process is already underway at sites around the South Coast. This year the target is 20,000 pounds of food, 2,000 new toys and gifts, and $3,500. Stephanie Kilmer has been at the helm since it began with just one bus and the mission to gather toys for children who otherwise
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may slip through the cracks. This year, Kilmer said, they will be jamming a total of six buses at three sites. Two at each Bi-Mart store in the Bay Area, and two more at US Cellular in Bandon. “The Jaycees, the Junior Chamber of Commerce that was here years ago, used to do a thing called the holiday shopping tour,” Kilmer said. “It was where we took kids of a certain age and matched them up with a couple of volunteers and they would go in and shop with their parents.” She was one of those volunteers and saw how important that effort was in the lives of families living on the edges.
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“We’ve helped over 5,300 kids, since this began, to have a merry Christmas. But, if you take the families, the parents, they are not getting a present, they are getting a gift. The gift of giving,” Kilmer said. “I’ve been a parent, struggling to figure out, ‘What am I going to do for my kids for the holidays?’ And it’s extremely stressful. This event helps take that stress off the families.” If you would like to help but you can’t make it to a site on Bus Jam day, she said there are currently 18 early donation sites located throughout Coos County. See Bus Jam, A8
Yvonne Marshall, Coos Bay Kirby Boyd, North Bend Kenneth Dunn, The Dalles Margaret Ricks, Coos Bay Margaret Strong, North Bend
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JOSH LEDERMAN Associated Press
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama appealed for calm and understanding in Ferguson on Monday after a grand jury decided not to indict in the death of Michael Brown, pleading with both residents and police officers to show restraint. “We are a nation built on the rule of law, so we need to accept that this decision was the grand jury’s to make,” Obama said. In a late-night statement from the White House, Obama said it
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Obama appeals for calm after Ferguson decision
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COQUILLE — Coos County commissioners on Monday approved a 2-percent cost of living adjustment increase for all county elected officials — including themselves. The increase, which had been budgeted for but not approved until Monday’s meeting, applies to all elected officials except for the district attorney, who is paid by the state. Those affected include the county clerk, assessor, surveyor, treasurer and, of course, the county commissioners. The increase will go into effect Jan. 1 for all elected officials with one exception, the sheriff. That position will receive a retroactive increase as of July 1, 2014. The increase has been a long time coming. Because elected officials do not enjoy contractual increases like union employees, several years have passed for them without a cost of living increase. While the raise was deemed appropriate as early as last year, the increase had not been approved until Monday’s meeting. While the commissioners noted their uneasiness approving the motion, they were also required to do so. According to ORS 204.112, each year the county compensation board is required to review the compensation of elected officials and submit a recommended compensation schedule. That statute has been in place since 1989. “You have a statute that requires that the county board of commissioners review the compensation of all county elected officials every year and you have a government ethics commission opinion suggesting that there may be a conflict of interest in doing so,” said county counsel Josh Soper.”The other wrinkle you have is that if everyone on the board has a conflict of interest, it’s impossible for the board to take action under normal procedure.” Under normal procedure, when there’s a conflict of interest, the person with the conflict doesn’t participate in the vote. But when the majority all have a conflict of interest, it changes the equation. They must vote but they can’t debate, Soper said.
was understandable that some Americans would be “deeply disappointed — even angered” that police officer Darren Wilson wasn’t indicted. Yet he echoed Brown’s parents in calling for any protests to be peaceful, saying that their wishes should be honored as they grieve their son. At the same time, Obama sought to dispel the notion that race relations have deteriorated, the protests in Ferguson notwithstanding. He called for Americans to turn their attention to ways to bring police and their communities closer together.
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