The Umpqua Post
Weekly news from the Heart of the Dunes AN EDITION OF
Wednesday, November 19, 2014 | Serving the Reedsport area since 1996 | theworldlink.com/reedsport | $1.00
SCDC grant to help processing facilities BY GAIL ELBER The Umpqua Post
COOS BAY — The South Coast Development Council has received a grant to help local meat and fish producers get the facilities and equipment they need to sell their products close to home. WealthWorks, a group of nonprofits and agencies that supports economic development, has given SCDC and two partner organizations in Curry and Douglas coun-
ties $375,000 to spend over two years. The goal, said SCDC development assistant Michelle Martin, is “to have a viable business or businesses that we walk away from and they’re successful.” SCDC and its partners, NeighborWorks Umpqua and Curry Watershed Partnership, were chosen over five other applicants. All six got initial smaller grants to survey their community about what it needed. SCDC and its partners focused
on ranchers and fishermen, most of whose product is sold out of the area. For example, local organic beef producers must send their cattle to Mohawk Valley Meats in Marcola, near Springfield, which doesn’t distribute the meat back here. Facilities for processing meat and fish closer to home would make it easier for Coos, Curry and Douglas county residents to buy local meat and fish. They’d also open up opportunities for ranchers
and fishermen to develop products for other markets. What the new business will be like depends on what local producers decide they need, Martin said. Ranchers might form a cooperative meat processing facility. Existing trucking firms might get new equipment. A privately owned cold-storage plant might spring up. The WealthWorks grant is only part of a group of food-related projects that SCDC is nurturing.
For instance, the council is looking at ways to improve Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (”food stamps”) beneficiaries’ access to fresh produce. Staff are studying a project in Newport that multiplies SNAP dollars at the local farmers’ market. For every SNAP dollar shoppers spend at the market, they get a few more. The money that funds Newport’s project is raised by a lemonade stand at
SEE GRANT, PAGE A3
GSD sends bills with new rates BY STEVE LINDSLEY The Umpqua Post
By Lou Sennick, The Umpqua Post
A pumpkin starts its aerial journey at Reedsport on Thursday afternoon. It is moving fast enough that the people are still watching the trebuchet as the gourd starts its arch through the air.
It’s all about the trebu-chet
The trebuchet at Reedsport Community Charter School is primed and loaded with the weights lifted in the air Thursday afternoon. Students from the school sat in the stands to watch the team load and launch pumpkins on the football field. They tossed two before the arm broke.
Confluence leader sought The Reedsport/Winchester Bay Chamber of Commerce has a number of events throughout the year. The chamber is looking for a volunteer chairperson/ coordinator for one of them. The chair will plan and execute the annual Confluence celebration in downtown Reedsport in February. The celebration includes wine, beer, seafood and music. Tents are set up on Winchester Avenue and the celebration also uses the Reedsport Community Center for vendors and music. Anyone interested should contact the chamber at 541-2713495 or 1-800-247-2155. Phyllis Dever, Debby Turner and Levi Allen chaired the event earlier this year.
Pumpkin chucker tosses gourd 250 feet, lands with a thud, no bass THE UMPQUA POST It was supposed to be a head-to-head competition. School against school. Machine against machine. Pumpkin against pumpkin. In the end, the dates didn’t line up and Reedsport Community Charter School held a separate “Pumpkin’ Chuckin’” vs. Marshfield High School. Marshfield threw first at Mahaffy Pumpkin Patch in Allegany on Oct. 26. Marshfield was the only team and their 18-foot catapult threw a basketballsized pumpkin 155 feet. Reedsport shop teacher Guy Marchione said they just couldn’t make the Oct.26 event, but did come to Allegany the next weekend. “The competition with Marshfield was set up to determine who threw the
reweighed pumpkins the farthest,” Marchione said. “Marshfield had their trebuchet already built, tested and in place from the previous year. I told the owners that we were still in the testing stage and would not be able to make the date Marshfield was there. We decided to let Marshfield throw that weekend and then come back the following weekend to throw with us. We showed up but Marshfield didn’t.’” Marchione said it was never supposed to be a head-to-head battle. “The competition was about who threw the farthest, not that we did it on the same day,” Marchione said. “Marshfield threw 155 feet, while Reedsport threw 250 feet.” Marchione reported his students built
SEE PUMPKINS, PAGE A3
Feeling like Christmas in July in November
SEE RATES, PAGE A3
County hires CB firm to work with GSD THE UMPQUA POST A Coos Bay firm has been awarded a contract to do engineering and design work for the Gardiner Sanitary District wastewater treatment system, including replacing a leaky pipe at the bottom of the Umpqua River. The Dyer Partnership Engineers and Planners, Inc. was awarded a $358,500 contract by the Douglas County Board of Commissioners. County planning director Robb Paul explained the award. “It’s part of a grant for the rebuilding of the Gardiner sanitary system,” he said. “We went out for an RFP (request for proposals) and received three proposals back - and Dyer was the best qualified.” Commissioner Susan Morgan,
SEE GSD, PAGE A3 By Steve Lindsley, The Umpqua Post
Spaghetti and Christmas were the theme for a fundraiser at the Reedsport Eagle’s Lodge on Thursday, Nov. 13. It was a benefit for Christmas in July. There was a raffle for dozens of items and an auction, which featured a Christmas tree, decorated by Kitty Roden of Kitty’s Kitchen is Christmas Forever.
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The Gardiner Sanitary District board held a special meeting on Nov. 14 to discuss rates. The city of Reedsport has begun including sewer bills with water bills and some residents were unhappy with the rates. Reedsport supplies Gardiner water and also treats Gardiner’s wastewater. A recent agreement meant the city would take over billing. Along with the Reedsport agreement came approval of a rate study earlier this year that set rates for district patrons. The former board was recalled in June. Those actions meant some Gardiner customers were hit with big bills. One father and son in the district were hit with a $380 bill. Their bill, according to one board member, should have been $120. That unit had a water leak earlier this year which affected the new bill. The base rate is supposed to be $60, with increases based on usage. The rates are supposed to average out to $141 per equivalent dwelling unit (EDU).
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