AIR BAG CONTROVERSY
WINNING AT HOME
Takata: Not enough evidence for recall, A7
SWOCC men, women top New Hope, B1
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2014
Serving Oregon’s South Coast Since 1878
theworldlink.com
$1
Coos Bay approves boardwalk flag proposal DEVAN PATEL The World
COOS BAY — After delaying the boardwalk flag decision to gather more public input, the Coos Bay City Council unanimously voted to include more culturally significant flags along the boardwalk and Bayshore Drive. With public opinion still evenly divided, the city council elected to follow the suggestions of the Council Flag committee, which proposed adding the flags of local and tribal entities in addition to domestic
and international trade partners. “I think that it seems pretty split and the committee has come up with a compromise,” council member Jennifer Groth said. As part of its selection criteria, the flag committee, consisting of council members Mike Vaughan and Thomas Leahy, Mayor Crystal Shoji and City Manager Rodger Craddock, identified flags of entities influential to the region’s past and present. Following its established criteria, the committee suggested the state flags of Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Hawaii and California, and the country flags of Canada,
Mexico, Japan, China, South Korea, Philippines and Australia. In addition to the state and international flags, the committee also suggested the flags of Coos Bay, North Bend, the Coquille Tribe, the Confederated Tribes of the Coos and Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians as well as the Tall Ship Port of Oregon flag. “We’ve chosen a theme to be inclusive,” Vaughan said. “There’s a lot of ways we can acknowledge trade partners, cultural origins and a sense of patriotism we feel.” While the flagpoles along the boardwalk will no longer display only the American
flag, that sense of patriotism will be prevalent as the flagpoles running along Central Avenue toward City Hall will continue to solely hoist the American flag. Although the flag committee’s proposal is similar to the original flag display, which raised the flags of 34 different countries from 1991-2009, the solicitation of public input has garnered some dissenting opinions, including those from retired military personnel. With some locals having lost family in See BOARDWALK, A8
CRAB SEASON
UO STRIKE
First pull brings smiles
Early commercial Dungeness crab is proving to be big, at least in quality TIM NOVOTNY The World
CHARLESTON — The commercial Dungeness crab season started in a downpour of rain at 9 a.m. Monday. By mid-day on Tuesday, the rain was gone and the smiles were out along the docks at Charleston Marina. Matt LeDoux, owner of the Fishermen’s Wharf seafood market, on MORE D-Dock in the Charleston Marina, ONLINE: was showing off some of the first Watch the crab to hit the docks this season, video at while explaining why consumers are theworldthe early winners. link.com. For one, he said, they will have fresh Dungeness crab on their plates for Christmas and New Year’s celebrations. But, it is the kind of Dungeness that really tips the scales in their favor. Literally. “This is a pretty normal season, as far as the
Lou Sennick, The World
Dan Thomas, left, takes a photo of the group of graduate and undergrad students gathered on Bastendorff Beach on Tuesday showing they are on strike with the University of Oregon. The group is from the university’s Oregon Institute of Marine Biology in Charleston who, along with the Eugene graduate instructors, are on strike after failing to reach a contract agreement.
OIMB grad students join Univ. of Oregon strike CHELSEA DAVIS The World
CHARLESTON — The University of Oregon graduate student teacher strike has extended to the South Coast. Oregon Institute of Marine Biology grad student teachers protested on Bastendorff Beach on Tuesday, joined by union representatives from the Eugene campus and OIMB supporters. The union is calling on UO to finalize the Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation’s union contract, which has been in negotiations since November 2013. The parties went into mediation this summer. “This is bigger than Eugene,” said Dan Thomas, GTFF steward for UO’s Department of Biology in Eugene. The union is asking for cost-ofliving wage increases and two weeks each of paid medical and parental leave. On Monday, UO administration offered to instead develop a Graduate Student Assistance Fund, to which grad student teachers could apply for financial help. “Right now the sticking point is the paid medical and parental leave,” said Marie Hunt, OIMB
graduate student teacher and GTFF steward. “It seems like the fund could be workable, but ... right now it’s just a promise, not a contractual obligation.” Thomas said the union would l i ke so m e fo r m o f administrative control over that fund as it has with its health care plan. The GTFF Health and Welfare MORE Trust is comprised ONLINE: of UO administration Watch the and union representavideo at tives. theworld“Unless we have a link.com. role in administering the funds, it’s often very difficult to deal with administration,” Thomas said. Hunt said OIMB undergrads won’t be directly impacted by the strike during their final days of fall term this week, but the GTFs in Charleston wanted to support the rest of their union in Eugene. “We don’t want to be on strike,” she said. “We’d rather be back at work.” OIMB’s place in this strike is unique. Since the cost of living is lower in Coos Bay than in Eugene, GTFs are in turn paid less.
See CRAB, A8
RELATED STORY: Graduate teaching assistants head to the picket line one week before finals. Page A5
“OIMB GTFs are locally paid very close to the university’s minimum salary level,” Hunt said. “We’re the lowest-paid members in the biology department. “This will have a direct impact on us and our lives.” In an announcement declaring its intent to strike Monday night, the union said it plans to file an unfair labor practice claim with Oregon’s E mployment Relations Board, claiming UO administration violated collective bargaining laws: Supervisors asking GTFs to comp lete extra work or early work in preparation of a strike Supervisors directly asking GTFs about their intents to strike Administrators instituting new workplace rules in anticipation of a strike T he university said mediation will resume Thursday.
Tim Novotny, The World
Experts say this year’s Dungeness crab, like this one at Fishermen’s Wharf in Charleston, are bigger and better than ever.
Councilor voices concerns about Waterfront revenue DEVAN PATEL The World
COOS BAY — As part of the next step in developing a Community Enhancement Plan for revenue generated by the Jordan Cove Energy Project, the Bay Area Enterprise Zone’s Waterfront Development Partnership subcommittee submitted its recommendations to the Coos Bay City Council in search of feedback Tuesday night. While most of the council largely agreed with the subcommittee’s recommendations and refrained from making comments, councilor Mark Daily voiced his concerns about allocation of revenue. G iven the city’s mounting infrastructure needs in addition to the increased tax burden
Reporter Chelsea Davis can be reached at 541-269-1222, ext. 239, or by email at chelsea.davis@ theworldlink.com. Follow her on Twitter: @ChelseaLeeDavis.
Melody Gray, St. Helens Margaret Ricks, Coos Bay Margaret ‘Ila’ Strong, Coos Bay Milber Ingram, North Bend Lorna Walker, Coos Bay
Obituaries | A5
Need to sell something?
ONE, TWO, THREE ... Oregon Counties begin recounting ballots for GMO labeling measure.
A5
FORECAST
Sports . . . . . . . . . . .B1 Puzzles. . . . . . . . . . A6 Comics . . . . . . . . . . A6 Classifieds . . . . . . . B5
STATE
Meetings . . . . . . . . A2 What’s Up . . . . . . . A3 South Coast . . . . . A3 Opinion . . . . . . . . . A4
DEATHS
INSIDE
See WATERFRONT, A8
Rain likely 56/51 Weather | A8
WE CAN DELIVER YOUR MESSAGE OVER 100,000 TIMES!
Call Kirk Today! 541-267-6278