OREGON STATE FIRES ROBINSON
GUN BATTLE
Men’s basketball coach is let go, B1
4 killed in Ukraine port city, A7
MONDAY, MAY 5, 2014
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Building Bayfront from scratch
The battle for Coos Bay
Proposed waterfront, economic development organization: intergovernmental agency or nonprofit corporation? ■
BY CHELSEA DAVIS The World
Photos by Alysha Beck, The World
Gunner Emily Sullivan fires the Lady Washington’s cannon at the Hawaiian Chieftain as the ships engage in a battle sail around Coos Bay on Sunday. Top, the crew aboard the tall ship Lady Washington cheers as Sullivan fires the first cannon shot. See the tall ships schedule for the rest of the week at theworldlink.com/tallships.
Tall ships engage in first battle sails of the week The World
COOS BAY — Hollywood has embedded naval battles in the minds of the public on a grand scale. Giant frigates firing away at each other broadside are staples of movies like Master and Commander and Pirates of the Caribbean. The modern reality is a little bit different, as guests aboard the Lady Washington and Hawaiian Chieftain found out Sunday. The tall ships, docked in Coos Bay for the week, are armed with 3-pound deck guns and smaller swivel guns that they incorporate into their educational programs. A cannon’s “poundage” refers to the weight of an iron ball cast at the diameter of its bore.
These cannons, of course, aren’t loaded with shot and shell — only blanks. The Hawaiian Chieftain, a ship custom built to new specifications in the 1980s, is the more heavily armed of the two, carrying two swivel guns and four deck guns. The Lady Washington, a historically-accurate replica, carries two deck guns and two swivel guns. To keep things “fair,” the Hawaiian Chieftain only uses its deck guns during battle sails, said Capt. John Morrison. From the get-go, the crew stressed safety first and foremost. “When there’s gunpowder on the deck, no smoking,” First Mate Patty McLaren lectured passengers after putting orange foam earplugs in her ears. Trading shots with the Lady Washington proved a challenge as it raced north on the bay.
GOP activists take on establishment The Associated Press
INSIDE
PORTLAND — A fight for the soul of the Republican Party is breaking out in a handful of Oregon state House races, where the business community and other establishment forces are battling figures from the party’s populist wing. The contested primaries are in districts that are all but certain to elect the GOP nominee in November, so the decisions won’t have much impact on the partisan makeup of the Legislature after the 2014 election. But the decisions of
Police reports . . . . A2 What’s Up. . . . . . . . A3 South Coast. . . . . . A3 Opinion. . . . . . . . . . A4
Republicans in Pendleton and the mid-Willamette Valley could significantly shake up the House Republican caucus in Salem. House Democrats also have a handful of contested primaries, though none threaten to take out incumbents or substantially shift the party’s ideological balance. Two incumbent Republicans are facing challengers from their right — party activists who are highlighting issues where they insist Reps. Vic Gilliam of Silverton and Jim Thompson of Dallas have SEE PRIMARY | A8
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SEE BAYFRONT | A8
Why don’t more women propose? Three-fourths of Americans say it’s OK, but only 5 percent do BY CONNIE CASS The Associated Press WASHINGTON — Steve Paska waited two weeks for Washington’s famously fickle cherry blossoms to emerge, then spent two hours searching for the perfect spot beneath the canopy of fluff. He lured his girlfriend there on the pretext of buying a painting of the blooms. Then he surprised her by dropping to one knee and proposing. She said “yes” so fast he forgot to pull out the ring. Go to any wedding celebration this nuptial season, whether in a
ballroom or backyard or church basement, and it’s a good bet you can trace the big day to a similar start, with different flourishes. If a man is marrying a woman somewhere in America, odds are that he proposed to her. That may seem obvious, but consider this: Three-fourths of Americans say it would be fine for the woman to do the proposing, in theory. In practice, only about 5 percent of those currently married say the woman proposed, and the figure is no higher among couples wed within the past 10 years. Attitudes actually seem to be
Circus accident
NATION
BY JONATHAN J. COOPER
Acting as the ship’s sole gunner on the voyage, McLaren spent most of the voyage racing back and forth between cannons with a piece of slow-burning rope on the end of the short wooden pole. After each shot, the barrel has to be swabbed out and then loaded with a gunpowder charge that’s rammed home and primed through the vent at the cannon’s breach. In the midst of the smoke, the remaining crew darted from bow to stern, adjusting the sails in the midst of the increasingly heavy rain. Judging by the cheers from onlooking passengers at each echoing shot, that nasty weather was more than worth the chance to see the big guns in action. For information about sailing opportunities aboard the tall ships, visit theworldlink.com/tallships.
An aerial stunt goes horribly wrong, leaving three in critical condition at a Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus in Rhode Island. Page A5
FORECAST
BY THOMAS MORIARTY
COOS BAY — The group tasked with stacking the building blocks of a new waterfront and economic development organization is stuck figuring out where to start. On Friday, the work group met to discuss the proposed Bayfront Investment Corp.’s formation, its board of directors, open meetings and records, and public criticism. The work group is a subset of the Community Enhancement Plan work group, which approved the South Coast Community Foundation’s revised bylaws last week. Coos County Commissioner Bob Main, North Bend Mayor Rick Wetherell and City Administrator Terence O’Connor, Coos Bay Mayor Crystal Shoji and City Manager Rodger Craddock, and Oregon International Port of Coos Bay CEO David Koch and Port Commissioner Bob Garcia participated in the Bayfront discussion. The participants couldn’t decide whether Bayfront should be a nonprofit corporation modSCCF or an eled after intergovernmental agency. Koch said Bayfront’s mission differs from SCCF. “As I think about what this entity is going to do ... it’s not just serving grants to other entities to direct programs,” he said. “There are going to be some direct service programs, buying property, cleaning it up and redeveloping it. There may be some opportunity to spin off nonprofits or work with other nonprofits.” He said they could always launch it as an intergovernmental agency and transform it into a nonprofit down the road. “That’s asking for nothing but
It’s time to dine! Friday, May 3 – Saturday, May 10 Local restaurants will be featuring special menu items and special pricing during the upcoming Restaurant Week.
trending the other way, an Associated Press-WE tv poll shows. Young adults are more likely than their elders to consider it “unacceptable” for a woman to do the asking. More than onethird of those under age 30 disapprove. While Paska, 26, believes female proposals are OK — after all, one of his sisters proposed to her boyfriend — he wanted to declare his love and dedication the traditional way. “I think if she’d gotten down SEE PROPOSAL | A8
Showers 58/46 Weather | A8
Oregon Bay Area
RESTAURANT
Experience all Coos Bay, Charleston and North Bend restaurants have to offer during this exciting week. Visit www.theworldlink.com/hungrybay for a list of participating restaurants.
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