FLEEING GAZA
ALL-STAR GAME
Bombings drive out hundreds of families, A7
Trout leads American League to win, B1
WEDNESDAY, JULY 16, 2014
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Larvicide application falters, mosquito population creeps up BY CHELSEA DAVIS The World
“The Bti has been very effective.
COQUILLE — Mosquitoes are still bugging Bandon, but not at last year’s rate, according to Coos County Public Health. At Tuesday’s Coos County Commissioners meeting, Rick Hallmark, the county’s environmental health program manager, said Aedes dorsalis mosquito counts have increased the last two weeks, and will likely continue to stay elevated in the coming weeks. That’s due to “spotty results” from the mid-June aerial application of the larvicide Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis (Bti), Hallmark said. He didn’t know why the application didn’t halt all Aedes dorsalis fly-offs. But the mosquito’s takeover won’t
It’s not perfect, but it’s doing a pretty good job.” Rick Hallmark Coos County environmental health program manager
return to last year’s numbers, he said. Traps, which have been placed to align with the tides, have caught significantly fewer mosquitoes this summer. One overnight trap last summer would catch anywhere from 700 to nearly 5,000 mosquitoes. This year, a trap has caught at most 300. There was also a spike in early May, since permits for Bti application weren’t yet secured, and a fly-off occurred. “Mosquitoes were already active and
North Bend homicide victim ID’d
maturing and biting people,” Hallmark said. It takes four to six weeks for “this mosquito that we all hate” to die off, he said. On Tuesday, another aerial Bti application was expected. “If the wind does not cooperate, they’ll have 250 acres to do by hand between today and tomorrow,” Hallmark said. SEE MOSQUITOES | A8
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County delays tribe roads proposal For the second time, the commissioners delayed their vote on the Coquille Indian Tribe’s proposal to add 84.3 miles of Coos County roads to its Tribal Transportation Program Roadway Inventory. The tribe says it would give them a chance to obtain federal funding to improve the roads. “To me, I don’t trust that the Indians, once this is given to them, will honor any sort of contract,” said Fairview resident Ronnie Herne. Jaye Bell, of Fairview, worried about the county giving its assets to “a foreign entity.” “It’s nothing personal against the tribe,” she said, “but they are a special interest group.” Commissioner Bob Main said he hasn’t had enough time to review the proposal. He also said the board needs more time to examine all three commissioners’ potential conflicts of interest. Main’s wife works for ORCA Communications, a subsidiary of the tribe. Commissioner Melissa Cribbins was the tribe’s legal counsel for six years until she took office in January 2013. Commissioner John Sweet serves on the Coquille Tribal Community Fund board of trustees.
Bible school goes medieval
District attorney says man was living in Coos County area ■
THE WORLD COQUILLE — The Coos County District Attorney’s Office identified the victim in Sunday morning’s fatal shooting in North Bend as a 21-year-old man living in the Coos County area. In a press release Tuesday, District Attorney Paul Frasier said the victim, Luis Mario Castillo Murillo, is believed to have worked for a reforestation company. An autopsy determined he died from a single gunshot wound to the head. Investigators had difficulty identifying Castillo Murillo because of conflicting information in witness statements and the identification he was carrying. A California man, 29-year-old
By Lou Sennick, The World
Telling a biblical story, Kyle Weber uses the travelers market site Tuesday during the Redeemer’s Kingdom vacation Bible school. Bandon Christian Fellowship, at their Riverview campus outside of Coos Bay, is hosting 200-300 youngsters the rest of the week for a Bible school with a medieval theme. Youth pastor John Baldwin said they have been preparing for weeks for the youngsters from 3 years old through fifth grade, from all over the county.
SEE VICTIM | A8
Clifton sentenced to two years for marijuana grow BY THOMAS MORIARTY The World
House passes highway bill
Police reports . . . . A2 What’s Up. . . . . . . . A3 South Coast. . . . . . A3 Opinion. . . . . . . . . . A4
Comics . . . . . . . . . . A6 Puzzles . . . . . . . . . . A6 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . B1 Classifieds . . . . . . . B5
Without congressional action, the Transportation Department says that by the first week in August the fund will no longer have enough money to cover promised aid to states, and the government will begin to stretch out payments. Congress has kept the highway trust fund teetering on the edge of SEE HIGHWAYS | A8
Fines for water-wasters Edna Tourney-Edgecomb, Bandon Terrille Foutz, North Bend Jeffrey Burdg, Vancouver, Wash.
Obituaries | A5
NATION
INSIDE
WASHINGTON — With an August deadline looming, the House voted Tuesday to temporarily patch over a multibillion-dollar pothole in federal highway and transit programs while ducking the issue of how to put them on a sound financial footing for the long term.
The action cobbles together $10.8 billion by using pension tax changes, customs fees and money from a fund to repair leaking underground fuel storage tanks to keep the federal Highway Trust Fund, which pays for transportation programs nationwide, solvent through May 2015. The vote was 367 to 55. A similar bill is pending in the Senate.
DEATHS
BY JOAN LOWY The Associated Press
As drought continues, California regulators hope to stop wasteful water uses by imposing $500 fine. A5
FORECAST
The Associated Press
President Barack Obama tours Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center on Tuesday with Taylor Lochrane, in McLean, Va. Obama envisions a time when cars will be able to talk with other cars or with America's roads. He says such technology could prevent crashes, cut down on traffic and save gasoline.
COQUILLE — A Coos Bay man will spend more than two years in prison after a 2012 burglary on East Bay Drive led police to a marijuana grow on Cape Arago Highway. Judge Richard Barron sentenced Samuel Joseph Clifton to 25 months in prison Monday following his conviction on charges of unlawful manufacture and possession of marijuana and possession of methamphetamine. Clifton was also sentenced to 15 months post-prison supervision. The string of events leading to his conviction began with a burglary call on East Bay Drive in December 2012. A woman reported that tens of thousands of dollars in shop equipment had been stolen while she was taking her husband to the hospital. After Clifton was identified as a suspect, police learned he was likely in possession of methamphetamine and had been growing marijuana. The South Coast Interagency Narcotics Team subsequently served a warrant on at his Cape Arago Highway home, discovering a large grow operation.
Clifton had been growing under a card issued under Oregon’s medical marijuana program, but the card had been expired for several months at the time of the raid. Detectives found the stolen property inside, along with scales, drug packaging materials and a purported zip gun that the sheriff’s office evidence technician thought would misfire. Police say he had made building enhancements for the growing operation that put it out of compliance with the state guidelines. Clifton was arrested and arraigned on multiple felony charges stemming from the drugs and alleged theft. When he failed to appear for later court proceedings, a warrant was issued for his arrest. Detectives tracked him down with the aid of informants and hauled him back to jail. At his sentencing hearing, Clifton told the court that he had become depressed after the loss of several people in his life and had let the cards lapse. One of Clifton’s lawyer’s, John Trew, argued that the lapsed grower’s card had only lapsed a few months.
Mostly sunny 67/54 Weather | A8
SEE BARRON | A8