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If it ain’t broke (before), fix it It’s election day City of Coos Bay will ■
BY EMILY THORNTON The World
SOUTH COAST — It’s primary election day. Time for the 33,181 eligible voters on the South Coast to choose area leaders. Two of the three Coos County commissioners are up for re-election. John Sweet and Melissa Cribbins have posi-
tions 2 and 3, respectively. Sweet is up against Dale Pennie, Lee Byer and Don Gurney. Cribbins faces Matt Rowe and Kermit Gaston. Coos County Clerk Terri Turi and Coos County Sheriff Crag Zanni don’t have opposition, so automatically advance to the general election Nov. 4. SEE ELECTION | A10
discuss holding utilities responsible for the streets they disrupt BY TIM NOVOTNY The World
COOS BAY — As talks continue about how to pay for major infrastructure improvements, including fixing many Coos Bay roads, city
officials are considering a major policy shift when it comes to utilities doing work beneath those roads. On Tuesday night, at their City Council meeting, they will have a public hearing regarding asphalt restoration after projects are completed in area roadways. City Manager Rodger Craddock says the question is whether or not there should be consequences for utility installations. “We’re looking at that, and talking to the council about enacting
“Which do you treat first? Throwing gastric bypass on top of (depression, anxiety and post traumatic stress disorder) really complicated things.” Pamela Rangel, volunteer peer support coordinator
some policies that prevent that, so that we can save our streets even more,” Craddock said. He made those comments after a recent community meeting at the Coos Bay library which was dealing with how to pay for the needed infrastructure improvements. The city is currently facing a hefty price tag just to repair their damaged roads, possibly costing at least an estimated $50 million. SEE REPAIRS | A10
Book is pulled from NB class School officials, students disagree whether removal was due to procedural miscommunication or graphic material ■
BY CHELSEA DAVIS The World
By Alysha Beck, The World
Pamela Rangel leads a group discussion about how to change unwanted behaviors at SHAMA House, a non-profit in North Bend that offers peer support classes for adults with mental illness.
Putting the focus on issues of mental health
INSIDE
NORTH BEND — She said she lost her job because of an illness that millions of people battle every day. Pamela Rangel, a Navy veteran, said she was diagnosed with depression, anxiety and post traumatic stress disorder in 2002. She also was told she had bi-polar disorder in 2013. Dealing with her illnesses cost her job at North Bend School District, she said. “I don’t think they were used to working with someone with so many problems,” Rangel said. Adding to the complications, she had her gall bladder removed and gastric bypass surgery, due to her high risk of esophageal cancer. The procedures make it difficult for her to process food and medicine. “It’s a frustrating process,” Rangel said. Finding the right combination of drugs
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and counseling plagues many. It’s part of why many organizations, including Mental Health America and the National Alliance on Mental Health, declared May as Mental Health Month. They also want to break the stigma that may be attached to mental illness. After losing her job, Rangel had to apply for Social Security. Luckily, she said she had “excellent benefits” through NBSD. She eventually was referred to Shama House, a place for social services, where she began volunteering as a peer support coordinator. It’s a far cry from her five-year stint in the Navy and other jobs, but it works for now. “This has been my Godsend,” Rangel said. She’s not able to work eight-hour days because her “anxiety gets too high,” so she works part-time for now. She recently was chosen to be a representative at the Oregon supported employment peer collaborative in Astoria. She will go to other peer-run
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organizations to provide support for those who need it, she said. Rangel said doctors weren’t sure how to help her, even though it’d been years since her first diagnosis. “Which do you treat first?” she asked. “Throwing gastric bypass on top of it really complicated things.” She said her two kids, who were in junior high and high school when she was first diagnosed, were “not ones to ask a lot of questions,” so she didn’t have to explain herself to them at first. But, she said it still was difficult. “It was a really rough period. It was hard on everyone,” Rangel said. She said she talked herself into working. “I make myself go to work,” Rangel said. “I have to make myself do it.” Reporter Emily Thornton can be reached at 541-269-1222, ext. 249 or at emily.thornton@theworldlink.com or on Twitter: @EmilyK_Thornton.
Fredda Young, North Bend Bonnie Koreiva, Coos Bay William Wilder, Coos Bay Lee Harless, Coos Bay Mary Metcalf, Coquille Deborah Sanchez, Myrtle Point
Joel Lemon, Coos Bay Terry Rooke, Casa Grande, Ariz.
Obituaries | A5
FORECAST
The World
DEATHS
BY EMILY THORNTON
NORTH BEND — Students in a North Bend High AP history and literature class are frustrated and confused after school administrators pulled Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye” from their classroom last week. On May 9, Dustin Hood and Scott Peters’ American Connections class started learning about post-World War II America. The class pairs history with literature, following literary movements in different eras. Peters complemented the history lesson with an assignment in postmodern literature: Read the first 30 pages of “The Bluest Eye” over the weekend. “One of the trademarks of that literary movement is looking at the evils of humanity,” said Emily Midyette, a junior in the class. The book deals with racism, incest and child molestation — topics that have gotten it challenged and banned in classrooms nationwide for years. It was the 15th most challenged book of the 2000s, according to the American Library Association. Just last fall, a group of citizens in a Colorado school district started a petition to remove the book and its “developmentally inappropriate and graphic content” from classroom instruction. Peters prefaced the assignment by telling his class of 40 students about the controversial content. If they didn’t want to read it, they didn’t have to, he said. Six opted out and chose to read a different book. But the following Monday, Principal Bill Lucero came to the class with a box and asked the rest of the students to hand over their copies of “The Bluest Eye.” Lucero said the school district’s policy, “Studying Controversial Issues,” was not followed. It requires teachers to discuss studies in “an obviously controversial topic” with the principal before the class can begin. All texts must be reviewed and approved by school administration every year “and it just went by without being reviewed and we didn’t SEE BOOK | A10
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