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“I can just see how important education is, and I will tell you that when you educate a woman, you educate a family.” Vicki Ericson, pageant executive director
BY JONATHAN J. COOPER The Associated Press
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Local races to watch tonight BY CHELSEA DAVIS The World
SOUTH COAST — Coos County’s two races — county commissioner and the Home Rule Charter ballot measure — have become the biggest local battles this year.
Coos County commissioner
By Lou Sennick, The World
Parker Stocker, left, shows some inexpensive costume ideas for contestants in the Miss Coos County’s Outstanding Teen Pageant. Offering tips is Miss Coos County Quinlyn Deming on the right. They were helping out at the Outstanding Teen Boot Camp.
From ‘boot camp’ to high heels But hopefuls learn there is a lot more to pageants than just dressing up ■
BY CARLY MAYBERRY The World
NORTH BEND — Young women from across Coos County gathered at a special daylong boot camp last weekend to learn what it takes to enter and compete in the pageant world — specifically the upcoming Miss Coos County Teen Pageant this spring. At Saturday’s event, which took place at North Bend High School’s Hall of Champions, everything from job interviewing skills and leading a healthy lifestyle to stage presentation and the intricacies of being a pageant contestant were broached. The goal was to prepare and provide information to the young women, many of whom were in attendance with their moms, who decide to participate in the pageant Feb. 7 at Southwestern Oregon
Community College’s Hales Performing Arts Center. “We’re trying to get girls at a very young age interested in earning scholarships and doing community service,” said Vicki Ericson, the pageant’s executive director. “We’ve always had a strong program for older girls, but we want those from age 13 to 17 to start thinking about career plans and how to pay for college.” Ericson has been on the pageant’s board for the last 26 years and is newly retired from her 19 years as an educational assistant in North Bend High School’s special education department. She said the best thing about Saturday’s workshop was that all the presenters were previous program participants. That included Ericson’s daughter Katie, who spoke about leading a healthy lifestyle. Katie, whose platform centered around hunger in the community when she competed in 2005, has herself dealt with health challenges and weight-loss issues. At one point Katie met the challenge to lose
Incumbent Commissioner John Sweet is hoping to snag a second term, while challenger Don Gurney is giving him a run for his money — literally. Sweet has spent nearly $35,000 on promotional materials this election, while Gurney has only spent about $9,900. The pair nearly tied in the May primary: Sweet got 41 percent of the vote and Results Gurney got 42 percent. Watch At town halls this fall, they theworldlink.com/elecshowed their differences in a tions as the numbers few key issues: flood in starting at 8 p.m. ■ Gurney is strongly We’ll update with numopposed to the proposed bers and stories as the Community Enhancement night unfolds. Plan,while Sweet has thrown You can also follow the his full support behind it, hashtag #coosvote on including serving on the CEP Twitter. We’ll push out work group and South Coast numbers as we get them. Community Foundation board. ■ Both want to boost Coos County’s revenue, but they have different plans to achieve that goal: Gurney’s sole focus is on separating the O&C and Coos Bay Wagon Road lands, putting more federal dollars in county coffers. Sweet wants to increase the county’s tax base through economic development. ■ In turn, Sweet said incentives like enterprise zones entice companies to the area. Gurney says there isn’t proof an enterprise zone has ever been a factor in a business moving to Coos County; he wants to get rid of all enterprise zones if elected.
Home rule Home rule is back on the ballot this fall. The initiative, “Voice of the Voters,” is led again by Fairview residents Ronnie Herne and Jaye Bell, who want to completely overhaul Coos County government. Their efforts failed in 2012, with 75 percent voting it down. The charter would expand the board of commissioners from three to five, the human resources director would become an elected position, a county administrator would be prohibited and public votes would be required on most county matters, including any public contract or capital program involving $165,000 or more. Opponents say it would bring county government to a halt and bankrupt the county with more frequent — and expensive — elections.
Bandon, Reedsport ballot measures The Bandon City Council put Measure 6-150 on the ballot as a referral for Bandon voters to decide whether the city charter should be amended to give the council limited authority to set utility rates. Councilors say the measure needs to pass to generate enough funds to operate and maintain the city’s utility systems.
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U.S. stocks are holding at near record levels NEW YORK (AP) — The stock market held close to record levels on Monday as a report showed that manufacturing remains on sound footing in the U.S. even as other parts of the global economy struggle. Falling oil prices weighed on energy stocks. The U.S. manufacturing sector rebounded last month, matching a three-year high, according to The Institute for Supply Management, a
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PORTLAND — After tens of millions of dollars spent, thousands of television commercials and an untold number of phone calls and handshakes, Oregon’s election is now in the hands of voters. Voters have just one last day — Tuesday — to help decide who will be the state’s next governor and U.S. senator, whether Oregon should legalize marijuana, and if it should require labels for genetically engineered foods. Control of the state Legislature is up for grabs, along with a host of local races around the state. Republicans Dennis Richardson and Monica Wehby made a final pitch to voters Monday, hoping to secure improbable wins in their campaigns for governor and U.S. Senate, respectively. Voters have until 8 p.m. to get their ballots into a collection bin. A list of all drop boxes around the state at is available www.OregonVotes.gov. Despite being the underdog against Democratic Gov. John Kitzhaber, Richardson sounded an optimistic tone. “I feel like I’ve done everything I can to show the difference between what Kitzhaber has failed to do and what I will do,” Richardson said after signing his ballot and depositing it in an official Multnomah County drop box in downtown Portland. Kitzhaber, battered by the failure of the Cover Oregon health insurance website and ethical questions about his fiancee’s role in his administration, was nowhere to be found Monday. His campaign staff did not respond to calls asking about his plans for the campaign’s final hours. Richardson has hammered Kitzhaber over Cover Oregon and accused him of corruption because of work Kitzhaber’s fiancee, Cylvia Hayes, did for advocacy groups that had an interest in state policy. Kitzhaber has said she took care to avoid conflicts. The governor faced yet another controversy Monday, when a former senior aide to Kitzhaber wrote an op-ed published in the Oregonian alleging staff in the governor’s office kept a blurry line between campaign and public business, though she did not offer specific examples. Nkenge Harmon Johnson was Kitzhaber’s communications director for six months before she abruptly departed in July. She told The Associated Press she was fired after she made comments about Hayes’ role in the office and said the governor’s policy advisors should be keeping abreast of what Hayes was saying in meetings on policy issues. “The first lady felt my comments were condescending, because she’d been doing this work a long time, and she didn’t need anyone to advise her and look over her shoulder while she was doing so,” Harmon Johnson said. “Shortly after that, a day or so after that, I was gone.” Kitzhaber’s office disputed her account, saying Harmon Johnson’s superiors had already
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trade group of purchasing managers. The report was preceded by downbeat manufacturing readings from China and Europe, feeding concern that growth in these regions could slide. The sluggishness overseas “put a little damper on the U.S. data,” said Brad Sorensen, director of market and sector analysis at the Schwab Center for Financial Research. “Really where the concern lies, at
James Bailey, Coos Bay Edward Kiste, North Bend Elayne Newell, North Bend Joel Fildes, Crescent City, Calif. Fred Weekly, Powers Carla Mayse, Myrtle Point
this point, is overseas.” Stocks are trading near record levels after strong company earnings helped the stock market recover from an early October slump. The market closed at an all-time high on Friday after the Bank of Japan surprised investors by announcing it would increase its bond and asset purchases in an effort to stave off deflation. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index
Shirley Burkholder, North Bend Peggy Lock, Bandon Micky Simones, Coos Bay Rodney Gill, Reedsport Jay Brophy, Lakeside Christie Parker, Coquille
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fell 0.24 points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 2,017.81. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 24.28 points, or 0.1 percent, to 17,366.24. The Nasdaq composite gained 8.17 points, or 0.2 percent, to 4,638.91. Falling energy stocks also weighed on the stock market on Monday, as the price of U.S. benchmark oil fell to its lowest level in more than two years. Benchmark U.S. oil dropped $1.76 to close at $78.78 a barrel.
Richard Alley, Coos Bay Enos Nichols, North Bend Shelvey Prow, North Bend
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