FOOTBALL 2014
FERGUSON POLICE
Special preview section, Inside
Justice Department will investigate, A6
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2014
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Fleeing suspect seriously injured
Event to help prep for disaster Coos Bay Fire Dept. will hold its second annual fair designed to get residents ready for natural disasters ■
John Thomas Bracken may have been doing 100 mph on a motorcycle before crashing into a police vehicle ■
BY TIM NOVOTNY The World
BY THOMAS MORIARTY
COOS BAY — When the world suddenly turns upside down, you have to be ready to survive. That is a tough thought for people to grapple with, but not thinking about it does nothing to help your chances. Getting information, and following-up on that information, can work wonders. On Saturday, Sept. 13, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., the Coos Bay Fire Department is hosting its second annual information fair, called “Get Ready Coos Bay.” “It is essentially a fair to have several different organizations and businesses here talking about how people can get better prepared for a natural disaster,” firefighter Steve Takis said during a recent break in event planning at the main fire station. He says there are a couple of changes from last year, but the goal remains the same. “It’s the same premise as last year, which is following FEMA’s guidelines,” Takis said. “Their thing this year, their preparedness goal, is a family communication goal. Making sure that families have not only the kits they need to have to be prepared for a natural disaster, but (that) they also have a communication plan so that if the family is not at home — how do we get a hold of them. (Making sure) everybody knows what to do in that case.” NW Natural is the primary sponsor, along with the Red Cross, and will have emergency kits to give to the first 100 attendees. Takis said that, early on, the company realized the need for this type of program. Von Summers, NW Natural community affairs manager, said
Photos by Lou Sennick, The World
Ralph Brooks, assistant principal at North Bend Middle School, watches as the students arrive for the first day of the new school year Wednesday. The students had to wait until the doors were opened at 7:45 a.m. to go in and get their schedules and find their rooms.
School year starts with a few hiccups BY CHELSEA DAVIS The World
NORTH BEND — Without fail, there are always glitches on the first day of school. That was the case Wednesday morning at North Bend Middle School and Tuesday with the Coos Bay School District’s automated calling system. Overall, though, administrators in both districts say the 2014-2015 school year is off to a pretty smooth start. “Tomorrow morning it’s going to be a circus out there,” Lighthouse School director Wade Lester said As the students enter North Bend Middle School for the first Tuesday afternoon. day of the new year Wednesday, they were guided to the gym More online: He was right. or library to pick up their schedules. Watch the video at Lighthouse, the district’s theworldlink.com. K-8 charter school, is a new utes leading up to the foghorn bell at 8:09 a.m. addition to the middle school “They’re amassing! When do you want to let this year. In July, the school’s them in?” middle school assistant principal Ralph agreement to move into the Brooks called out to principal Marci Stadiem as the former ACS/Xerox call center sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders crowded outfell through and district offi- side the doors. cials were left scrambling to The kids scurried from the gym and library find the school a new home. They chose one of the (where they got their schedules) to their lockers middle school’s wings. (which nearly everyone had trouble opening), Buses and cars were jammed in the parking lot, before racing to their first class (where they spotwith a line of cars backed up all the way to ted their friends and squealed). Broadway Street. Lighthouse started a week earli“We had way more students than we expected,” er than the middle school. The hallways were equally chaotic in the minSEE SCHOOL | A8
SEE PREPARE | A8
Memorial for former Gov. Vic Atiyeh recalls leadership
40 Stories . . . . . . . A2 Police reports . . . . A3 South Coast. . . . . . A3 Opinion. . . . . . . . . . A4
BY JEFF BARNARD The Associated Press GRANTS PASS — The Obama administration is offering a new approach to saving the bull trout, a fish whose need for clean and cold water has put it in conflict with logging, mining and grazing in the Northwest. The draft recovery plan posted online Wednesday by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service eliminates numerical goals for rebuilding populations, recognizes that climate change makes losing some populations inevitable, and focuses on fixing threats to habitat and genetic diversity. The public has 90 days to
comment, and then another draft will be issued. After another public comment period, a federal court settlement calls for a final plan to be issued by Sept. 30, 2015. Michael Garrity of the conservation group Alliance for the Wild Rockies says if the elimination of numerical goals stands, they will be back in federal court. “Conservation biology says if they are going to drop those goals, they are not going to recover bull trout,” Garrity said. “It’s an extinction plan, not a recovery plan. “They are writing off areas based on politics, not science.” The service issued draft recovery plans in 2002 and 2004, but
never got to the point of a final plan. Alliance for the Wild Rockies and Friends of the Wild Swan sued, and Fish and Wildlife agreed last month to issue a draft plan by the end of September. Lead biologist Stephen Duke says the adverse effects of ongoing logging, mining and grazing have mostly been addressed since the bull trout was listed as a threatened species in 1999. Key issues still to be fixed include connecting fragmented habitats and improving fish passage so bull trout in different areas can breed together, and eliminating threats from non-native fish such SEE TROUT | A8
SEE ATIYEH | A8
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Missing a sock? One Portland area family was, until it took its dog to the veterinarian to find out why it wasn’t feeling well. Page A5
Obituaries | A5
FORECAST
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SALEM — When Vic Atiyeh was running for governor in 1978, a campaign consultant advised him that Oregon voters were in the mood for oatmeal. U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, who recalled the story Wednesday at a public memorial service, said that’s not typically how a politician wants to be portrayed. “And yet,” Walden said of his fellow Republican. “Vic was oatmeal. Darn good oatmeal. Competent. Effective. And very good for the state. A healthy choice for what Oregonians needed during a very difficult time.” Walden was among a who’s who
COOS BAY — Police have released the name of a 40-yearold Coos Bay man who was seriously injured Tuesday when he crashed a motorcycle into a police car. According to Oregon State Police, John Thomas Bracken is currently being treated for severe injuries at Sacred Heart Medical in at RiverBend Center Springfield. The crash happened around 6:37 p.m. when a Coquille Indian Tribe police officer tried to stop Bracken's 2006 Kawasaki motorcycle as it traveled eastbound on Ocean Boulevard. Police say Bracken took off at a high rate of speed. Witnesses at the scene described the motorcycle skidding as it made a left turn onto Central Avenue, and estimated it was going more than 100 miles an hour. As the motorcycle turned onto Central, it struck a marked Chevrolet Tahoe patrol SUV driven by a Coos Bay police officer. Bracken, who was wearing a helmet, was thrown clear of the bike and landed in brush on the south side of the street. He was taken to Bay Area Hospital before being transferred to Sacred Heart. Bracken had been arrested last week in an unrelated case on warrants for the unlawful possession and delivery of methamphetamine. Police closed the intersection for several hours and detoured traffic onto 12th Street while they reconstructed the scene. 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.
New effort to save bull trout
STATE
The Associated Press
of Oregon politicians who crowded the House chamber at the state Capitol to remember the nation’s first Arab-American governor and the last Republican to hold the job in Oregon. Atiyeh died in July at age 91. His family held a private burial shortly after his death, and Wednesday’s service gave the public a chance to say goodbye. Both of Oregon’s U.S. senators attended the service, as did four of five congressional representatives. Gov. John Kitzhaber was there along with every former governor except Neil Goldschmidt. Atiyeh, the governor from 1979 until 1987, was known for estab-
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BY STEVEN DUBOIS
The World
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