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MONDAY, JUNE 23, 2014
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Art curriculum under construction
State’s top Dem to visit Coos Bay
Sunset Middle School given $70K grant for Studio to School project ■
BY CHELSEA DAVIS The World
The chair of the Democratic Party schedules meet-andgreet June 27 ■
COOS BAY — They have the funding, now the Coos Art Museum and Sunset Middle School are brainstorming how to expand the school’s arts curriculum. Museum staff have been keeping an eye on the Oregon Community
BY TIM NOVOTNY
Foundation for the last two years, when the agency announced a $150 million gift from the Fred W. Fields Fund, the largest gift OCF has ever received. Fields, a longtime wood products executive, insisted the funds be used to support education and the arts. He died in December 2011. Meanwhile, Coos Art Museum board member Kathleen Zappelli was working with Sunset Middle School teachers and the Bay Area Artists Association to bring three art classes to 500 students last school year. The kids studied light
and shadow, proportion and color. OCF staff toured schools statewide last year, looking for those that met their criteria for the Studio to School program. “They found out every school in the state was underserved in the arts,” Coos Art Museum executive director Steven Broocks said. “But the most underserved of all were middle schools, particularly in rural locations. Sunset School is exemplary of the sort of site they were looking to help.” OCF reps wanted projects “ripe for expansion,” schools that prima-
rily served low income, rural or culturally diverse communities, and school partnerships with local arts organizations. Sunset, and 17 other schools, were a perfect fit. Earlier this month, the museum announced it had received $70,000 a year for three years, with the possibility of $35,000 a year for two years after, for Studio to School. “Art and theater ... are really lacking right now,” said Kathy Sizemore, the program’s new education outreach director. “They SEE SUNSET | A8
The World
COOS BAY — Mark McKelvey, chair of the Coos County Democrats, calls it a “unique opportunity.” The Coos County Democrats will be hosting Frank Dixon, the chair of the Democratic Party of Oregon, at the Seven Devils Brewery on Friday, June 27, from 6-7 p.m. The public is invited to stop by the business, at 247 S. Second St. in Coos Bay, regardless of political affiliation. However, McKelvey believes it will be most beneficial for the county’s registered Democrats, who comprise a fairly wide political spectrum. “It really does create some interesting and fruitful discussion,” he said. “The Coos County Democratic Party includes a lot of different people and perspectives, this would be a great opportunity for all of them to spend some time with the state party chair.” A veteran Infantry Unit Commander and an attorney of consumer law, Dixon has been a member of the Democratic National Committee since 2007. He was elected in 2013 to serve on the executive committee of the Association of State Democratic Parties, and is now serving his first term as chair of the Democratic Party of Oregon. He previously served three terms as first vice-chair.
Fun at the Egyptian lasted all weekend
Photos by Lou Sennick, The World
Visitors chat and check out the lobby of the Egyptian Theatre early Saturday afternoon on the second day of events for the grand reopening of the historic downtown building.After being closed for three years, and lots of fundraising, the Egyptian Theatre Preservation Association the theater reopened with three days of events, music and movies. The jazz group Ain’t Misbehavin’ performs live on the stage at the Egyptian Theatre early Saturday afternoon on the second day of events for the grand reopening of the historic downtown building.
SEE VISIT | A8
Trying to avoid ‘mission creep’ BY JULIE PACE The Associated Press
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BY JEFF BARNARD The Associated Press GRANTS PASS— When a fire filled the Cascade Range’s rugged canyons in southwestern Oregon with smoke in 2011, firefighters started thinking an unmanned aircraft might help them get a look beneath the cover that a conventional scout plane could not. The state’s Department of Forestry will get the chance this summer to use a small remotecontrolled helicopter equipped with video, infrared cameras and a GPS locator to get a better look in tight smoky places before incident commanders send in fire crews.
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“You are always looking for improved visibility of your fire,” said department fire prevention specialist Brian Ballou. “It just cuts down on the unknowns.” Covered by a federal grant, the off-the-shelf Century model G30 cost about $1,800. The cost will total about $5,000 once it is outfitted it with video and infrared cameras, and GPS, said Tyson Shultz, a department stewardship forester assembling the craft and getting qualified to fly it. It is only cleared by the Federal Aviation Administration to fly 400 above the ground, and the current gas tanks only allow it to be in the air for 30 minutes, though that can
be extended with more. At just 5 feet long, the helicopter is too small to take the place of manned aircraft that produce infrared maps, and drop water and fire retardant. The hope is that it will fill a very specific niche in the constant demand for more and better information on a wildfire by providing easy access to an overhead view of places manned aircraft cannot go, Ballou said. With privacy concerns dampening the enthusiasm over drones, Oregon is ahead of the curve in actually buying its own aircraft. in agencies Firefighting Washington and Montana have
First major Michelle Wie continues her exceptional season with a victory at the U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2. Page B1
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Oregon to use radio-controlled helicopter on fires
SPORTS
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama, in charting a new phase of American military engagement in Iraq, pledges that his war-weary country will not be “dragged back” into a lengthy conflict or become ensnarled in “mission creep.” But recent U.S. military history is full of warning signs about the difficulty of keeping even a limited mission from expanding and extending. The prospect that this latest mission in Iraq could follow that pattern is particularly risky for Obama, given that he has staked so much of his legacy on having brought America’s long war there to a close. Already some of the White House’s closest allies worry that Obama’s plan to send in 300 special operations forces to train the Iraqi military could be the first step in pulling the U.S. back into Iraq’s violent sectarian fight. “I think that you have to be care-
not gone much beyond looking at the issue. Cal Fire took advantage of a drone operated by the California National Guard on last summer’s massive Rim fire outside Yosemite, but has no plans to get its own. Alaska used one on a fire this year that the University of Alaska Fairbanks flies as part of the FAA’s evaluation of how to integrate unmanned aircraft into U.S. airspace. The National Institute of Standards and Technology has been using drones to gather data to feed into wildfire behavior computer models.
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