GAZA CONFLICT AFTERMATH
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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 13, 2014
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Move over, North Bend sign BY CHELSEA DAVIS The World
The World File Photo
The North Bend sign was moved to its current location in 2011. At the same time, the letters were changed to glow red.
NORTH BEND — One of the Bay Area’s most prominent landmarks, the “Welcome to North Bend” sign, will be pushed out of the way to make room for a traffic signal directing increased traffic from a nearby workforce housing camp during Jordan Cove’s construction. The North Bend City Council discussed the proposal to move the sign during a work session Monday night. Councilor Howard Graham said the councilors are not happy.
This traffic signal is an Oregon Department of Transportation condition within the conditional use permit application to site the housing camp on the Al Peirce property under the McCullough Bridge, said Josh Anderson, a transportation engineer for David Evans and Associates. Since the North Bend planning commission already approved that permit this spring, the traffic signal is a “go” unless the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals sides with Simpson Heights residents who oppose the decision. The city of North Bend hosted a
town hall last month to try to dissuade Simpson Heights residents’ concerns about the proposed 2,100-person housing camp, which would sit less than a mile from their neighborhood. At the time, Anderson assured them that eight years of analysis had resulted in a slick transportation plan that would minimally impact the nearby neighborhood. Now, Graham isn’t so sure. He hopes ODOT “will bend to pressure.” The council is now considering SEE SIGN | A8
Less crab, more cash ■
2014 commercial Dungeness crab season ends this week on high note The World
COOS BAY — The commercial Dungeness crab fishing season officially closes at midnight on Thursday, but the numbers are not likely to change much at this point. Hugh Link, executive director of the Oregon Dungeness crab commission, says it is proving to be a unique season, and that is a very good thing. Over the past decade, Oregon commercial crab fishermen have averaged landing about 20 million pounds of crab. This year’s numbers are expected to end below average at about 14.35 million pounds. “That said,” Link said, over the phone on Tuesday, “our value to the fishery is over $49.7 million to the (Oregon) fishermen, which is the highest value I can find on record.” He noted that even in a prior season, that was one of the best years for landings, with fishermen bringing in more than 33 million pounds of crab, the value to fishermen for that season was at $49.4 million. “So (this season) was a good, good year value-wise,” he said. Breaking the numbers down further, Charleston has brought in about 2.8 million pounds of Dungeness. That translates into more than $10 million for local fishermen in the 2013-2014 sea-
son, which officially began Dec. 16. Link noted that the commercial crab fishery is cyclical and hard to predict, over one stretch of years the average landings were at 10 million pounds. So, it was not a surprise to find the numbers down a little bit, but the financial windfall was unexpected when the fishermen first started dropping their crab pots last December. One reason for the surge, he says, is the old law of supply and demand. Another reason has to do with where that demand was coming from. “There seems to be quite a bit of export of the Dungeness this year,” Link said. “I’m looking forward to seeing the (final) numbers, but there appears to have been quite a bit of export to China.” The numbers will have to be digested in a hurry, as the commercial Dungeness crab fishery has a short off-season. Link says fishery experts are already starting to look ahead to next season, which is less than four months away. “Our ocean seemed to be really full of bait and healthy,” he said. “We’re looking forward to, maybe, another good year next year.” In the unpredictable Dungeness fishery, one learns that there is always room for a maybe.
By Lou Sennick, The World
Seth Ayotte takes apart a Dungeness crab Saturday afternoon at the Charleston Seafood, Beer and Wine Festival. The Oregon Dungeness crab season ends Thursday at midnight and the Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission is reporting less crab but more money from the season.
Ocean Boulevard work begins Thursday
State fines company over Curry County herbicides BY JEFF BARNARD The Associated Press
complex case we have ever done within our pesticides program.” Bruce Pokarney Oregon Department of Agriculture spokesman
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Cedar Valley resident John Burns, assistant chief of the local volunteer fire department, said he and the others were happy that the fines and license suspensions were levied. He said they remained frustrated over the state’s regulatory process, particularly the long time it took to let people know what pesticides were involved so they could get medical treatment. SEE HERBICIDES | A8
Lenita Roe, Springfield Daniel Niederer, Reedsport Harold Conrad, North Bend
Obituaries | A5
BY TIM NOVOTNY The World
Motorists may find a little extra congestion on Ocean Boulevard this week, as the Coos Bay — North Bend Water Board begins a water main replacement project. Work is expected to run until midNovember. Water Board general manager Rob Schab talked in July 2013 about the reliability and redundancy it would create within the system. “The purpose is to allow us to move water from the expanded treatment plant directly into the distribution system,” he said at the time. Currently, water needs to be pumped into a 9 million-gallon clear well before going back into the distribution system. Schab said
Mother left notes
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ever done within our pesticides program,” and the penalties the maximum possible, Pokarney said. The case dates from October 2013, when 15 people in the Cedar Valley area north of Gold Beach complained they got sick after herbicides being sprayed on nearby commercial timberlands drifted over their homes. The symptoms they reported included respiratory problems, stomach cramps, headaches, swelling of hands and eyes, and rashes.
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Water Board to replace water main for increased reliability
“This was probably the most difficult and
GRANTS PASS — The state Tuesday fined a southern Oregon helicopter company for providing false and misleading information during the investigation into complaints that herbicides meant for timberlands in Curry County fell over nearby residents, making some of them sick. The Oregon Department of Agriculture said Tuesday that it fined Pacific Air Research, Inc., of White City and pesticide applicator Steven Owen $10,000 each and suspended their commercial pesticide licenses for a year. Owen and the company did not immediately return a call for comment. Department spokesman Bruce Pokarney said Owen has asked for an administrative appeal. “This was probably the most difficult and complex case we have
Police reports . . . . A2 40 Stories . . . . . . . A2 South Coast. . . . . . A3 Opinion. . . . . . . . . . A4
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Clatsop County Court arraigns woman accused of killing one daughter and injuring another.
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FORECAST
BY TIM NOVOTNY
the new project will allow water to be sent directly into the system, in addition to the clear well. ”If there was a problem now we wouldn’t be able to get water into the system,” Schab said. “A second option also allows us to do maintenance to the line to help increase longevity.” The project is being paid for entirely through existing funds. The project covers a section of Ocean Boulevard, running from the Water Board driveway entrance to Woodland Drive — a distance of about 2,500 feet. Work will begin Thursday. Laskey-Clifton Corporation, the contractor on the project, will work Mondays through Fridays between the hours of 7 a.m. and 6 p.m., and will maintain a continuous traffic flow. However, one westbound lane will be closed during much of the project. Brief delays may be expected at
Thunderstorms 68/56 Weather | A8
SEE OCEAN | A8