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THURSDAY, JUNE 5, 2014
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Stolen dog, owner reunited BY THOMAS MORIARTY The World
COOS BAY — A missing Pomeranian was reunited with his owner Tuesday more than two weeks after being stolen from a car at Shore Acres. Martha Hickerson said her dog Beacon was found by service employees at the Ken Ware auto dealership. She drove back from Bend as fast as she could when she heard the news. It’s unknown how the dog wound up at the automobile service center. The dog had obviously been well-fed by its abductors. H ickerson Beacon had been visiting the area when she stopped by Shore Acres State Park outside Charleston. When she returned to her car, her beloved pup was gone. Desperate to get Beacon back, she began an all-out media blitz. “We put out a lot of these flyers and a lot of ads,” she said. Hickerson also signed up for Pet Amber Alerts. Stealing a companion animal is considered first-degree theft, a Class C felony. “The rangers at Shore Acres blanketed the place when they found out,” she said. “They took it very seriously.” Hickerson said her dog’s theft is still being investigated by Oregon State Police, since it’s a felony that happened at a state park. Reporter Thomas Moriarty can be reached at 541-269-1222, ext. 240, or by email at thomas.moriarty@theworldlink.com. Follow him on Twitter: @ThomasDMoriarty.
Disease is killing sea stars on coast
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Golf course decision goes to LUBA BY JOHN GUNTHER The World
The proposed Pacific Gales golf course near Port Orford cleared one hurdle only to nearly immediately learn of another. The Curry County Board of Commissioners affirmed the county planning commission’s decision to approve the conditional use permit required to build the golf course on the Knapp Ranch, located between Port Orford and the Elk River. The commissioners signed a final order for their decision last Tuesday, denying an appeal of the planning commission’s decision by Oregon
Coast Alliance. But by the end of the week, ORCA already had filed an intent to appeal the decision with the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals. Now the matter goes to the threemember state board, a process that could take up See the full version of to half a year. this story online at theworldlink.com LUBA is awaiting the official record of the case from Curry County, including testimony and written arguments. When that information comes in from the county, parties have 21 days to file briefs stating their case. Then a
hearing will be set for oral arguments. And after the hearing, the board has 35 days to file its ruling. There also is a possibility that other groups or individuals besides Oregon Coast Alliance could appeal the county’s decision, as long as they have had a part in the process. The appeal period to LUBA is 21 days from May 27, when the commissioners signed the written order. According to its website, Oregon Coast Alliance has been opposed to the Pacific Gales project from the start, claiming it “takes a big chunk of coastal farmland out of production,” that it “fails to protect important natural resources in the
area,” and that it “will provide no sustainable, longterm economic development.” The group initially filed written testimony opposing the conditional use application and then appealed the planning commission’s decision to the county commissioners on several legal grounds. Now it is appealing the subsequent commissioners’ decision. “The point of filing the appeal is we disagree with the county’s interpretation of the legal issues that come up,” said Cameron La Follette, the land use director for ORCA. “We SEE GOLF | A8
The long road to graduation
By Lou Sennick, The World
Despite some personal hardships the past few years, Jadess Taitano will be graduating this weekend from Marshfield High School where she attended the past two years.
The World
COOS BAY — Jadess Taitano isn’t letting the past become a roadblock to her future. The 19-year-old is graduating from Marshfield High in two days, no small feat considering she’s had a rough past couple of years. Taitano grew up in Salem but left two years ago when she was 17. “My mom was unfit,” she said. “I lived with my blood aunt, but she was moving to Washington, so I moved in here with my aunt’s friend.” Inside It’s not news that changGraduation ing schools suddenly is hard schedule. Page A2 on a kid, but it’s especially difficult in the middle of high school, when friend groups are mostly set in stone and a student doesn’t have parents to go home to every night. She eventually settled in, but she won’t say it was easy. “It was a big change when I first moved here,” she said. “I was the new kid again. “But I love this school. Coming here and being in the theater programs was different, because we actually get noticed.”
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Principal Doug Holland calls Taitano “the celebrity of the school.” There’s something electric about her, both on- and off-stage. She’s often compared to Lea Michele’s character Rachel Berry on “Glee,” both in appearance and talent. That talent has translated to a long list of activities and accomplishments, awards and scholarships. At the scholarship assembly last week, Taitano landed two: a $500 Aaron Roblan Memorial Scholarship and a $1,850 Pranatis Memorial Scholarship. “After doing this my whole career, why is it that some kids can overcome incredible adversity and some can’t?” Holland said. “With Jadess, I wish I could just bottle up the positive energy she has inside her and the belief she has in herself.” When Kelly Haut started working at Marshfield two years ago as a performing arts teacher,she was shocked by what many students went home to every night. Today, she’s an English teacher at MHS. “There’s a lack of consistency and support in their lives,” she said. “But theater is very timeconsuming to be involved in, so they’re too busy to get involved in things on a path of distraction.” Last year, two of Haut’s theater students were
It is confirmed, Oregon’s wandering wolf has become a father. The two wolf pups were spotted in a forest east of Medford. Page A5
homeless, but they shined in the program. “Especially for kids who have a lot going on emotionally, they can vent those things out in a healthy, proactive manner (in theater),” Haut said. This fall, Taitano’s headed to Southern Oregon University to study performing arts. “I’ve wanted to be an actress since I was 5,” she said. In only two years as a Pirate, she’s taken the stage a number of times, in “Wizard of Oz,” “The Importance of Being Earnest,” “All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten,” “Property Rites” and “The Seussification of Romeo and Juliet.” She’s also a choir member and one of two forensics team members heading to nationals in a couple weeks (junior Helena Platt qualified in Humorous Interpretation of “Camp Sunshine”). This is Taitano’s first and only year in forensics — speech and debate — but she wowed audiences with her dramatic interpretation of “Life as a Fly.” The sketch reveals a woman with artistic aspirations, “but her life has been a whirlwind,” Taitano said. The character suffered at the SEE SUCCESS | A8
FORECAST
BY CHELSEA DAVIS
DEATHS
A mysterious disease that causes sea stars to disintegrate is exploding on the Oregon Coast. Oregon State University marine ecologist Kristen Milligan said that Oregon was largely spared last year as the disease known as sea star wasting syndrome spread on the West Coast. But monitoring of tide pools along much of the coast shows the number of sea stars affected has jumped from just 1 percent in April to as high as 50 percent. The greatest concentration is at Fogarty Creek north of Depoe Bay. “It’s very serious. Some of the sea stars most heavily affected are keystone predators that influence the whole diversity of life in the intertidal zone,” Bruce Menge, a professor of marine biology at OSU, said in a statement. Losing so many sea stars — a major predator of mussels and sea urchins — could throw the marine ecosystem out of balance, Milligan said.
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MHS senior sets her sights on success
BY JEFF BARNARD The Associated Press
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