The Umpqua Post
Weekly news from the Heart of the Dunes AN EDITION OF
Wednesday, May 7, 2014 | Serving the Reedsport area since 1996 | theworldlink.com/reedsport | $1.00
Commissioner candidates offer opinions on county topics The following is a response to questions submitted to county commissioner candidates. Responses are presented in the order they were received by The Umpqua Post. Some candidates did not answer the questionnaire and some did not offer photos. Some information is available in the Voter’s Pamphlet for the May 20 primary election. Rogers
Questions: 1. What would you suggest to help Douglas County’s continued budget problems? 2. What specific issues would you like to tackle for the Reedsport and western Douglas County area? 3. What changes would you like to see in the way the board operates. 4. Should the board try to hold meetings in other parts of the county, besides
Fummerton
Freeman
Roseburg? 5. Closing statement.
Monte Muirhead (did not provide a photo) 1. In addition to acquiring local control of federal forest lands, so that timber harvests may increase, the answer to any budget problem is to increase revenue. The more people who are working, the more people there are to
pay their property taxes on time. A healthy job base equals a healthy revenue base for the county. I’ve suggested a couple of things: One, cut the county development fees by one-half for an entire year. Allow this “stimulus” to encourage new construction projects and consequently put more people back to work. Two, improve collaboration between the county, the cities and Umpqua Community College. By working together, there’s an increased chance of attracting new industry to the area ...such as the current U.C.C./city of Roseburg proposal to launch a health care college in the area. 2. I would like to improve the fisheries industries by investing more in the restoration of the Salmon Harbor docks and facility. Recruiting another industry to locate on Bolon Island is obviously a priority. I personally would like to see the Umpqua River Lighthouse promoted more in county tourism and recre-
ational guides. Maintaining the lighthouse and museum is a top priority for me: I used to live less than one mile from the lighthouse, and its red and white beams must always be kept running. 3. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. I have no specific changes to propose in how the board should be run at this time. I DO have a few board-related issues I would like to implement. I want to reinstate the weekly board meetings to public access cable television, so that people can once again watch the meetings from their home. 4. This subject has been debated countless times in the past. In the end, the consensus has always been that it would be too expensive to pay all of the department heads and other county workers to travel to other places in the
SEE COMMISSIONER, PAGE A6
Picture perfect
Acree
Hartman
Assessing our next assessor There are two candidates for the position of Douglas County assessor. One candidate, Harry McDermott dropped out of the race. Each candidate was asked a series of questions: 1. Why is the assessor’s position important to the county? 2. What experience do you bring to the position? 3. What are some of the issues you see in the Reedsport, western Douglas County area that can be addressed by the assessor? 4. Why has this race been so negative? 5. Closing statement. The responses may have been edited for format, spelling, punctuation and/or grammar. The responses are presented in the order they came into The Umpqua Post. The Oregon Primary Election is May 20.
Photo by Steve Lindsley, The Umpqua Post
A couple watches the sun set on a bench at the Umpqua River Lighthouse overlook of the Pacific Ocean on April 29. The area had summer-like conditions, which included warm temperatures on the coast and spectacular sunsets.
Veteran honored with quilt
Susan Acree 1. The assessor’s office works with 110 taxing districts that provide critical services throughout Douglas County. The purpose of the ad-valorem (according to value) property tax system is to provide a financing mechanism for local governments such as cities, school districts, fire districts, park districts, vector control districts, road districts, cemetery districts, sanitary districts and special districts. For the most part, the Assessor is an administrative position that follows statutes and Department of Revenue guidelines. It is imperative that the assessor’s office remains unbiased and nonpartisan. State law requires that the assessor’s office make every effort to adjust the real market value of every property to as close to “100 percent of real market value” each year as is possible via the mass appraisal process. Some properties are exempt from taxation, such as government buildings and property or that of charitable organizations. Some properties are assessed at less than market value such as farm or forestland. Other property owners are eligible to receive partial tax exemptions, including veterans, senior/disabled and farm/forest assessments. 2. I am an Oregon Registered Appraiser with more than 36 years of experience — appraisal, assessment, management — in the
A Vietnam veteran was honored at a ceremony Saturday near the Umpqua River Lighthouse. Robert Bennett was honored by the Quilts of Valor Foundation and other veterans at the presentation. The event started with a color guard from Station Umpqua River of the U.S. Coast Guard. Pastor Kyle Busnepz was on hand to offer a prayer. “Father in Heaven,” Busnepz prayed, “We thank you so much for the sacrifice that has been offered, Lord, on behalf of our nation and Photo by Steve Lindsley, The Umpqua Post may I ask for your blessing on him Veteran Robert Bennett (center) receives a Quilt of Valor at a ceremony Saturday in Winchester Bay. Bennett is a and encouragement for him,
disabled Vietnam veteran who was exposed to Agent Orange. His daughter, Fallon Rose (right), requested the quilt from the organization.
SEE VALOR, PAGE A6
Complaint filed against school board member
The Oregon Government Ethics Commission has acknowledged it has received a complaint against a Reedsport School Board member. “I can confirm that a complaint was received against Brian Thornton,” agency spokeswoman Diane Gould said. According to the agency’s website, the complaint, case number 14-122EDG, was received April 15 and the complainer is James SEE ASSESSOR, PAGE A9 Hixenbaugh, the Reedsport School
District’s former athletic director. The nature of the complaint is not released unless there is further action. Thornton did not respond to an email request from The Umpqua Post for more information. Thornton was elected to the school board in 2011 and his fouryear term will expire next year, unless he chooses to run for reelection. Commission procedures allow
for the filing of a complaint and a preliminary review of that complaint by executive director Ronald Bersin. If he decides the case requires further review, and is in the ethics commission jurisdiction, he can ask the commission to review it. The preliminary review lasts for 135 days and Bersin will file a preliminary review report. The report will go to the commission. The commission will
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decide at a future meeting whether to dismiss the complaint or move the complaint into the next stage, which is an investigation. The commission is expected to review the case at the Aug. 8 meeting.