PUSH FOR PEACE
WIRE TO WIRE
Kerry leaves for the Middle East, A7
McIlroy wins British Open, B1
MONDAY, JULY 21, 2014
Serving Oregon’s South Coast Since 1878
theworldlink.com
■
$1
Patriots Gathering draws activists ‘on the fringe’ BY CHELSEA DAVIS The World
NORTH BEND — When elected officials won’t listen to them, those on “the fringe” band together to tackle the nation’s problems issue by issue. In her opening comments, Patriots Gathering co-organizer Ronnie Herne instructed the crowd of about 30 that this was not a meeting “to grouch and gripe and carry on.”
Speakers rotated throughout the forum Saturday at Pony Village Mall, touching on land use, Coos County Home Rule Charter 2014, Common Core State Standards and more. It drew familiar faces. They’re the people who come to nearly every public meeting — and speak up. They’re “the fringe.” That’s how those in power define this crowd, said Coos County Watchdog founder and Bandon
resident Rob Taylor. Most recently, people will recognize him as the person speaking out against the commissioners’ handling of the mosquito problems at Bandon Marsh. “We have to do it at the most microcosm level as we can, so you attract a lot of what I call ‘the fringe,’” Taylor said. “When you see the fringe, no matter how rational the group is ... they (elected officials) see that message and then they roll their eyes, thinking
that we have a mixed message or a confused idea of what’s going on, when a lot of us are very coherent of what’s going on.” County commissioners meetings have a group of “regulars,” citizens who air their concerns every single time, which are entered into the record. That’s why vocal LNG opponent Jody McCaffree and Simpson Heights residents were disgusted by the city of North Bend’s meeting last week regarding the proposed Jordan
Cove Energy Project workforce housing camp. It was informational only, so the public’s comments were not recorded anywhere. “This is not a meeting where we get to present our issues,” McCaffree said prior to the meeting during a protest outside the North Bend Community Center. “In a hearing, it goes on the record and they’re held to it.” SEE PATRIOTS | A8
Ex-Oregon governor Vic Atiyeh dies at 91 BY JONATHAN J. COOPER The Associated Press
A local girl chases her dream to N.Y. in search of the purity of dance ■
COOS BAY — When Kim Prosa puts her mind to something, history has proven, she will not be easily deterred from that task. It is an attitude she shared with young dancers during a recent visit back home to Coos PEOPLE OF Bay. Prosa is THE another in a growing list of alumni dancers from the Bay Area that has made their mark in that profession. One thing that all of their success stories has in common is TIM they started NOVOTNY that out at the Pacific School of Dance, an off-campus program of the Boys and Girls Club of Southwestern Oregon. They also all exhibited an intense amount of focus. Administrative Director Pam Chaney watched the fire grow
WORLD
Dancer Kim Prosa is part of a growing list of local dancers who have made their mark in the professional ranks. inside Prosa, even dating back to her enrollment as a 4-year-old. “From the time she came here, even as a little one, she told us, ‘I’m going to New York City,’” Chaney said. “She knew it even then. And she did! That was one determined child.” Now she is one determined adult, who has spent the past 12 years studying and dancing in New York. “I had always heard that that was where you needed to go if you
were really going to do it,” Prosa recalled during her most recent visit home. “If you really wanted to make a life of it, you needed to fully commit yourself, and New York was the scene. You just feel a pull, even though you’ve never been there.” It was a strong enough pull that she went to Los Angeles as a teenager for an audition to the Purchase Conservatory of Dance, a prestigious school in upstate New York. While other teens were won-
dering what to do with their weekends, Prosa was locked on to her dream. “It was hard,” she says. “I remember missing a prom and missing dances, and Friday nights for company rehearsals. Everybody would be getting ready to go to the football game and I’d have class. But, finding the balance and keeping the focus, and then still finding time to have a little bit of fun keeps you on track but still enjoying things.” Sitting in a quiet room inside the Pacific School of Dance, located inside the old Eastside Elementary school in Coos Bay, it is obvious that her focus and determination has not waned since she headed east more than a decade ago. It may have evolved, some goals may have shifted, but the passion for dance still burns. “I think it kind of evolves as you get older and you start to realize it more as an identity and less as a career,” she said, when asked to reflect back. “In the beginning, you think, ‘I want this to be a career and I want to be a dancer.’ As you get older you realize there are a lot more things about it that are special. Sometimes you are SEE PROSA | A8
Left sees way to get past Senate roadblock BY JONATHAN J. COOPER The Associated Press
SALEM — Repeatedly thwarted by Republicans and a conservative Democrat in the Senate, environmentalists, gun control activists and others on the left hope this year’s legislative elections will finally give them their ticket to success in the Legislature. Sen. Betsy Johnson, a conservative Democrat from Scappoose who’s willing to buck her party and
Comics . . . . . . . . . . A6 Puzzles . . . . . . . . . . A6 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . B1 Classifieds . . . . . . . B5
its interest groups, has joined with Republicans on several key votes to deprive advocates of their needed Senate majority. “Time and again, priority legislation for the environmental community has lost 15-15,” said Doug Moore, director of the Oregon League of Conservation Voters. “In order to change that, we have to change the dynamic of votes in the Senate.” Moore doesn’t single out Johnson for blame, noting that
“any one of those 15 could have stepped up at any point.” But her position is particularly frustrating for groups on the left that insist the Senate’s other 15 Democrats are with them, along with the more liberal House and Democratic Gov. John Kitzhaber. Among the measures Johnson is blamed — or celebrated — for blocking: an extension of Oregon’s low-carbon fuel standard, gun control measures requiring background checks for private sales,
Babe Ruth Tournament Willard Merriam, Coos Bay Louann Ebben, Coos Bay
Obituaries | A5
Local teams capture state championships in two divisions, including the 13-year-old team winning at Clyde Allen Field. Page B1
FORECAST
Police reports . . . . A3 What’s Up. . . . . . . . A2 South Coast. . . . . . A3 Opinion. . . . . . . . . . A4
Bright lights, big city humanitarian efforts
SPORTS
INSIDE
SEE ATIYEH | A8
Photos By Lou Sennick, The World
Kim Prosa, center, returned to the Pacific School of Dance on Wednesday to teach a group of young dancers some techniques of modern dance. Prosa, who now dances professionally in New York, learned to dance at the school starting at the age of 4.
DEATHS
PORTLAND — Vic Atiyeh, Oregon’s last Republican governor who shepherded the state through a deep recession during two terms in the 1980s, died Sunday night, a family spokesman said. The former governor died at 8:15 p.m. at Portland’s Providence St. Vincent Medical Center of complications from renal failure, said Denny Miles, who had formerly served as Atiyeh’s press secretary. He said that Atiyeh (pronounced uh-TEE-uh) was at home but had returned to the hospital Saturday due to shortness of breath and possible internal bleeding. The son of a Syrian immigrant, Atiyeh turned down an offer to play for the Green Bay Packers to take over his family’s rug business. He entered politics in the Oregon Legislature, then ran for governor and won on a platform of cutVic Atiyeh ting taxes. He wound up raising taxes because of the recession, but was also remembered for cutting his own salary as governor three times to help balance the budget. Atiyeh lamented the poor roll of the dice that made him governor during a recession. “I don’t want to sound defensive about it, but what you get is criticism during the period when times are bad, and then when times become good, it’s just the nature of things,” Atiyeh told an interviewer days before leaving office. Democratic Gov. John Kitzhaber said Atiyeh was both a mentor and a friend, calling him “a great Oregonian, an historic governor, and a remarkable human being.” Kitzhaber added: “He will be greatly missed, yet his steady leadership, gentle spirit, and love for our state lives on in the many contributions he made to Oregon.” House Republican Leader Mike McLane said the former governor was the epitome of a public servant. “He was our example,” McLane said. “He will be missed by all of us.” Atiyeh, a mainstream Republican who championed small state government and allowing citizens to be “left alone,” lost his first run for governor in 1974 to Democrat Bob Straub. He challenged Straub again four years later and won, taking office in 1979 as Oregon underwent what was then its most severe recession since the Great Depression. The state jumped from among the fastest growing in the country to one with a dwindling population as environmental regulations helped doom the once-mighty
and an effort to use driver’s license records to automatically register thousands of new voters. She’s also blamed for killing an effort to use unclaimed damages from classaction lawsuits to provide lawyers for the poor. Even Howard Dean, a former presidential candidate and Democratic National Committee chairman, weighed in on Johnson’s vote on the registration measure.
Partly cloudy 64/55 Weather | A8
SEE ROADBLOCK | A8