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MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2014
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One man’s journey
Celebrate salmon
Stephen Hnilica felt a calling to do a greater good, so he started walking BY TIM NOVOTNY The World
COOS BAY — There must be something more to life. Stephen Hnilica, 23, was living the successful life near Tampa Bay, Fla., when that thought started nagging at him. Ultimately, determined to find out, he decided to go for a little walk. And he just kept going. “I was miserable,” he said, during a recent stop in Coos Bay. “I had everything people told me I should want, the big house, the nice cars, the alcohol, and I was just miserable. I asked myself why. And it was because I wasn’t challenging myself anymore. I wasn’t growing, and I wasn’t helping anybody in any real way.” So, on May 25, 2013, with a destination in mind, he began the journey most people would never even dream of making. Seriously, who wants to walk from Florida to Seattle? SEE WALKER | A8
Gabriel Dresser, right, gets some lessons on flint knapping from DJ Rogers, left. Parents Randy and Alex Dresser watch as their son learns how to use a stone and obsidian to make simple tools. The lessons being offered by Rogers and others were one of several booths and demonstrations that were part of the Mill-Luck Salmon Celebration on Saturday at the Mill Casino-Hotel.
Pot debate down to contrasting drug statistics BY NIGEL DUARA The Associated Press More online: See the gallery at theworldlink.com.
Top, Several canoes from various tribes and groups wait for their rowers and one of several canoe races on Coos Bay. Left, Salmon filets roast in a salmon pit, cooking for the many hungry vistiors.
Photos by Lou Sennick, The World
SALEM — After a week of growling at each other in the press, one of Oregon’s most outspoken district attorneys against marijuana legalization and the legalization-supporting congressman who represents the Portland area had their first chance Friday to trade barbs in person. Mostly, they traded numbers. Oregon would take at least $10 million in revenue, 25 percent would go to law enforcement, and no people have died of a marijuana overdose, said U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Portland. SEE MARIJUANA | A8
Center helps find work for people with mental illness
The Associated Press
INSIDE
SALEM — A new report showing that rising income inequality could negatively affect state tax revenue comes amid a push by Gov. John Kitzhaber, legislative Democrats and others to overhaul Oregon’s tax code. With no sales tax and property taxes constrained by 1990s ballot measures, Oregon relies on the income tax for nearly $7 of every $10 it collects — more than any other state. A report released Monday by the credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s suggests that income tax-reliant states like Oregon face a future of declining growth in state revenue. That could force the state to severely cut services or raise tax rates, particularly on the wealthiest taxpayers, as Oregon lawmakers have done twice in the past five years. Between 1950 and 1979, Oregon tax revenue grew on average 9.49 percent per year, according to S&P’s report. The figure has decreased in subse-
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quent decades, and since 2009, annual revenue growth has averaged 6.52 percent. Meanwhile, since 1980, the share of total income going to the top 1 percent of earners has doubled, now reaching about 20 percent. Since wealthy taxpayers tend to earn most of their money from capital gains, relying more on them is likely to tie Oregon’s revenue more closely to the volatility of financial markets, the S&P report suggests. Oregon’s reliance on a single revenue source already contributes to a volatile revenue stream that spikes when the economy is churning and sputters during rough patches. Kitzhaber, a Democrat seeking re-election this year, has been working for more than a year to get union and business lobbies to set aside their longstanding animosities and compromise on a more diverse tax system. He’s also working with pollsters and Republican and Democratic political consultants to come up with a plan that has a strong chance of SEE WEALTH | A8
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BY EMILY THORNTON The World
NORTH BEND — It’s been helping find work for people with mental illness since 2004, when it contracted with the Coos County Mental Health Department. Working Wonders is one of 26 Oregon Supported Employment Centers for Excellence. Find out One of the top OSECEs more in the state, it For information on has about 50 Oregon Supported clients who Employment Center battle mental for Excellence, visit illness and osece.org. wish to work. For information on It has served Working Wonders, 168 clients, call 541-756-2057. provided 193 job starts and 25 graduations since opening. Representatives from the local service will attend the state’s sixth annual conference for supported employment centers from Sept. 16-17 in Eugene. One of the main obstacles
By Lou Sennick, The World
Alice Coplen does some office work at Working Wonders, a program working with people to gain employment. clients face is that they don’t realize what skills they have, said program director Cathy Pennington. “There isn’t a single person in the program who didn’t have strengths or skills that were marketable.” The program helps people like Karen Sparks, who has both a
Hurricane Odile slams Baja
WORLD
BY JONATHAN J. COOPER
Hurricane Odile raked the Baja California Peninsula with strong winds and heavy rains early today.
World | A7
FORECAST
Wealth gap report paints grim picture for Oregon
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Bachelor of Science degree in biology and one in fisheries biology, but has been told most of her life that she can’t hold a job because of her mental illness. She now facilitates one of the support groups at Working Wonders and is looking SEE WONDERS | A8