UKRAINE VIOLENCE
ANOTHER BLOWOUT
13 dead, 30 wounded in checkpoint attack, A9
Spurs hand Thunder its worst playoff loss, B1
THURSDAY, MAY 22, 2014
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Vote margin is not close enough for auto recount THE WORLD
Alysha Beck, The World
From left: Jeff Simonds, Mike Keiser and Hank Hickox putt around the Punchbowl on its opening day Tuesday at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort.
Punchbowl makes its lively debut BY JOHN GUNTHER The World
BANDON — Festive music marked the opening of the newest addition to Bandon Dunes Golf Resort on Tuesday as the Langlois Fiddlers played outside the clubhouse at the Pacific Dunes course while the first guests enjoyed the Punchbowl, the resort’s new putting course. In the future, the late-afternoon sounds will come in the form of hoots and hollers as groups of golfers make their way around the 3acre putting facility. See the video for this The Punchbowl story online at isn’t your average theworldlink.com putting green. With a combination of dramatic slopes and subtle contours, it is more like a playground to entertain and challenge even the best golfers who visit the resort. “It’s fabulous,” said Christopher Smith, a golf pro at Pumpkin Ridge near Portland, who was in town for the festivities. “It’s got a little Augusta National. Sometimes you are going 90 degrees from where you want to end up. “What a great concept.” Bandon Dunes owner Mike Keiser got the idea to build the Punchbowl from the general manager at Pinehurst, another resort, which has its own putting course. Pinehurst’s Thistle Dhu was, in turn, designed after the Himalayas, the famed
putting course at St. Andrews in Scotland. Keiser commissioned Tom Doak and Jim Urbina, the architects for the resort’s Pacific Dunes and Old Macdonald courses, to build the putting course. He praised their work Tuesday. “If golf is supposed to be fun, this is fun,” Keiser said. “It’s also a challenge. It’s very tough. You can humiliate yourself.” Keiser found that out first-hand. His first trip around the putting course Tuesday was in a best-ball match, teamed with KemperSports President Josh Lesnik against Bandon Dunes General Manager Hank Hickox and Director of Golf Jeff Simonds. The friendly match became more serious as Keiser and Lesnik tried to overcome a deficit. The resort owner expects that concept to play out often in the future as golfers follow their regular rounds at the resort with casual putting contests at the Punchbowl. “From what I observed, when you have seven or eight groups, there’s a shout roughly every minute,” he said. Judging from the long line of golfers offering their congratulations to Keiser and Urbina on Tuesday, the Punchbowl will be a big hit. “It’s a lot of fun,” said Mick “The Barber” Peters of Bandon. “There’s so many shots you can try.” Peters was in the first group of regular guests to enjoy the Punchbowl during its
grand opening, just like he was in the first group at the opening of Bandon Dunes and each additional course at the resort. The Punchbowl lived up to Peters’ expectations, built up over the past several months while he looked forward to opening day. “I couldn’t wait,” he said. “I knew it was going to be special.” The Punchbowl was set up for 36 holes Tuesday. Depending on demand, it might regularly be set up with only 18 holes, and they will change constantly. “It’s limitless,” said Urbina. “The routings are ever-changing.” The resort does not plan to charge golfers to play the Punchbowl. With its proximity to the Pacific Dunes clubhouse, it likely will get a lot of use before or after meals. Stands next to the starting points for each hole also are designed to hold beverages the golfers are enjoying during their rounds. “I think it’s a great social mechanism,” Hickox said. “Guys do get tired after playing 36 holes, but they haven’t got it out of their system.” Which is why the course likely will be the site of hotly contested matches among friends. Keiser said the putting course is just as competitive as playing one of the full courses, but in a fraction of the time. “It’s basically golf on steroids,” he said.
COQUILLE — A margin of 0.3 percent separates the two Republican challengers for the South Coast’s seat in the state House, but the law says that’s not enough for a state-sponsored recount. Under Oregon law, automatic recounts only occur when the margin between candidates is less than one-fifth of 1 percent of the total votes cast for the two candidates— 0.2 percent. Final unofficial results Tuesday night have Marine Corps veteran and gun-rights activist Casey Runyan leading Coos Bay resident Jason Payne with 50.18 percent of the voters. Payne and Runyan are vying to topple Democratic incumbent Rep. Caddy McKeown of Coos Bay for the Oregon House District 9 seat. Coos County Clerk Terri Turri says that either Payne or Runyan could request a recount themselves, but it wouldn’t be free. “If they want anything like that, they have to pay for it,” she said. Turri said no recount requests have been made yet. Even if they come in the near future, the county’s election division won’t consider them until the election results are certified. That’s at least 21 days out. “We’re not even going to run any (signature challenges) for 14 days,” she said.
Still early for future of books and roads Coos Bay City Council hears more feedback on two pricey issues ■
BY TIM NOVOTNY The World
COOS BAY — It’s not quite having to go back to the drawing board, but Coos Bay’s City Council heard about some of the perceived flaws with the Right-ofWay Restoration policy Tuesday night. The city is hoping to enact a new policy to keep streets lasting longer by requiring the agencies that tear them up to do more than just fill in the trenches they create. According to Mayor Crystal Shoji, Northwest Natural Gas and Johnson Rock were just two of the companies that spoke during the council meeting, others sent letters to the city. Basically, the organizations feel the related costs would be too steep. “We’re just trying to figure out how we can get a happy medium, where we help save the roads but don’t end up charging our people so much money that they can’t take care of their emergencies,” Shoji said. The mayor said it is important to note that commenters weren’t really against it, in principle. “They think it’s a good idea to try and save the streets, and not cut them up as soon as you build them and things like that,” she said. “If we adopt this policy there is a bigger up front cost, and then you are SEE COUNCIL | A8
GOP picks team to take on Democrats in November
Police reports . . . . A2 What’s Up. . . . . . . . A3 South Coast. . . . . . A3 Opinion. . . . . . . . . . A4
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Clare Cady, Coos Bay Lee Harless, Coos Bay John Ford Jr., Vallejo, Calif. Joel Lemon, Coos Bay Alfred Morgan, North Bend
more than a decade. “There’s a clear choice in the race for Senate between Monica Wehby, who will vote with national Republicans against Oregon’s priorities, and Jeff Merkley, who fights for Oregon and puts Oregon first,” Merkley campaign manager Alex Youn said in a statement. “The voters here have many generations of fruit and vegetable growing, so they’re among the most educated voters,” said Chuck
NUKE SAFETY FAILURE Montana facility fails a test simulating a hostile takeover in which they could not recover the stolen weapons. Page A6
Obituaries | A5
FORECAST
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PORTLAND — Revelations that Monica Wehby’s ex-husband and ex-boyfriend had both complained to police that she harassed them did little damage to her campaign, as she easily defeated state Rep. Jason Conger to take on U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley in the November election. Also in Tuesday’s primary, GOP
days of the campaign. “I do have a message for those national Democrats who are willing to shred my family for their own political gain: People are tired of your dirty tricks,” Wehby said. “We all know that the best way to defeat a bully is to stand up to him, and that is exactly what we are going to do.” Wehby will face an uphill climb against Merkley, a first-term Democrat. Republicans haven’t won a statewide race in Oregon in
NATION
The Associated Press
gubernatorial candidate Dennis Richardson defeated four rivals and will go up against Democratic Gov. John Kitzhaber. In the Legislature, grassroots conservatives rejected establishment Republicans in three of four districts where they battled. Accepting victory in front of cheering supporters at her campaign headquarters in Oregon City, Wehby addressed the police reports that surfaced in the final
DEATHS
BY JONATHAN J. COOPER AND STEVEN DUBOIS
Burr, president of the Southern Oregon Seed Growers Association. “The opposition spent a million dollars and couldn’t convince the people.” A handful of state legislative races saw hard-fought contests between warring factions of the Republican Party, and they look to shake up the House GOP. Populist conservatives beat out establishSEE GOP | A8
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