The Umpqua Post
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Wednesday, September 17, 2014 | Serving the Reedsport area since 1996 | theworldlink.com/reedsport | $1.00
Fred Wahl Marine to buy American Bridge facility BY STEVE LINDSLEY The Umpqua Post
REEDSPORT — A lot of people were Photo courtesy McKenzie River Trust/ Shawn Stephensen shocked late last year when American A stretch of Scholfield Creek may be purchased by Bridge announced it would close its McKenzie River Trust for conservation. A representative facility on Bolon Island. made a presentation to the Reedsport City Council about Now comes word that Fred Wahl city-owned land in the area. Marine Construction, which currently has a boat-building and repair facility on the Reedsport waterfront will purchase the American Bridge property and buildings. Fred Wahl Project Manager Mike Wahl confirmed the sale Monday. “It was a piece of property that we looked at,” Mike Wahl said. “There was no price on it and it wasn’t on the market. We didn’t know what it was going to cost.” He said they stayed in contact with BY STEVE LINDSLEY The Umpqua Post American Bridge, based in Coraopolis, Pa., to see when the facility would go on REEDSPORT — A conservation group has the market. approached the Reedsport City Council about pur“A couple of hours before they put it chasing some land next to Scholfield Creek. on the market, they called us, and we Ryan Ruggiero is the land protection manager for decided to meet the offer they threw out the McKenzie River Trust, or MRT, based in Eugene. there,” Wahl said. He made a presentation to the Reedsport council at its He would not discuss the purchase Sept. 8 meeting. price. “You may be wondering what someone from the “We purchased the property and the McKenzie River is doing down in the Umpqua estubuildings,” he said. “It’s over 30 acres.” ary,” Ruggiero told the council. “We got started back He said they’re still developing plans in 1989 and have been serving the land conservation for the property and the sale won’t be needs of all of Lane County for the last 10 or 12 years finalized until the end of the year. He does know something on the wish list. SEE MCKENZIE, PAGE A6 “We have plans for a (500-ton)
MRT hopes to purchase city land
By Lou Sennick, The World
Fisher Wahl, grandson of Fred Wahl, owner of Fred Wahl Marine in Reedsport, breaks a bottle of champagne across the bow of a fishing boat being launched in January 2013. The Victory is 114-feet long and is the 37th new boat built by the firm and the longest ever. The boat will eventually head for the Bering Sea. Travellift,” he said. “But, we have to do the permitting and stuff like that and there are some railroad easements that we’re trying to work around right now. We’re still in the process of just getting the project started and securing the land.” American Bridge closed two manufacturing facilities nationwide late last year — including the one in Reedsport —
citing a declining economy. More than 50 employees were laid off in Reedsport. Wahl said they plan for more workers. “We’re hoping to create about 30 more jobs,” he said, “keep what we have going and keep two facilities going.” In an interview in July with The
SEE WAHL, PAGE A6
OAKS scores show uptick BY CHELSEA DAVIS The Umpqua Post
By Steve Lindsley, The Umpqua Post
Reedsport Mayor Keith Tymchuk listens to testimony at a City Council meeting Monday, Sept. 8. Tymchuk has decided not to seek re-election but plans to continue to work on economic development and port issues in the region.
Tymchuk looks to life after mayorship BY STEVE LINDSLEY The Umpqua Post
It’s been an interesting summer for Reedsport Mayor Keith Tymchuk. He was a member of a committee that chose an interim county commissioner after the resignation of long-time Commissioner Doug Robertson. He saw the city sign a historic, years-in-the-making agreement with the Gardiner Sanitary District to take over billing of the district’s sewer customers. He missed his first council meeting in a long time to drive his daughter to college in Montana. Tymchuk attended several meetings as a commissioner on the Port of Umpqua board. He decided not to seek a seventh term as mayor. He said he’s given a lot of thought to what he’ll be doing after his term expires at the end of the year. “I hope to be, and willing to be, as much of a resource for the city as I can,” he said, “in light of the fact that I think I’ve, over my
years, developed, what I feel, is an excellent working relationship with officials and representatives of a variety of levels of government. I’d like to keep using that to the city’s benefit, if I can.” He said he would stay involved as a port commissioner and will continue his work as chair of the governor’s South Coast Solutions Regional Advisory Team. He also hopes to stay in the loop of economic development efforts in the region. “I made sure, when I approached people, as I was considering not running,” Tymchuk said, “I made sure I asked, ‘If I chose not to run for mayor again, would it impact my those positions?’ The answer is no. It does not. I think I still have the ability to bring a voice to the community in a variety of areas in economic development and in regional problem solving.” Tymchuk, in the past few months, has been pushing hard for Reedsport to be a part of the proposed Jordan Cove LNG project on
SEE TYMCHUK, PAGE A6
COOS BAY — Oregon students didn’t show dramatic improvement on state tests last year, new data shows, though there were a few bright spots of success on the South Coast. The Oregon More Department of Education online released the Go to the2013-2014 worldlink.com Oregon to see the Assessment of breakdown of Knowledge and student OAKS Skills results on scores in Wednesday, graphs, charts Sept. 10. Deputy and databases. Superintendent Rob Saxton glossed over the report, noting there were no glaring increases or decreases from the year prior. By this time next year, school districts will be poring through an entirely new set of data, since students will take the Smarter Balanced assessments instead of OAKS this spring. That doesn’t mean this data isn’t
important, said Christopher Mazzeo, Education Northwest Director of Evidence Use and Policy. “They matter as a snapshot of one data source about performance in the last year,” he said. “With a new test next year, it will take some time to fully understand. “It will be very hard to compare from previous years’ data on OAKS to Smarter Balanced and I would discourage people from trying. Eventually, we’ll have more Smarter Balanced data, so we can understand what that means.” There were impressive gains and plummeting OAKS scores on the South Coast: Nearly every single high school enjoyed increased writing scores Only half of third-graders in five South Coast schools passed reading Science and math scores were all over the board, though a few high schools made steady improvement over the last few years Gov. John Kitzhaber and his supporting education agencies are laser-focused on his 40-40-20 goal. By 2025, Kitzhaber wants to
Art Fair caps summer festival season The summer festival season wraps up this weekend when the second annual Art Fair will take place in downtown Reedsport. The event is hosted by the Coastal Douglas Arts and Business Alliance, or CDABA. CDABA announced that there are more than 20 artists signed up to participate this year. The event will be in downtown Reedsport 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 20. Artists, crafters, authors, photographers, and others with original or hand-crafted items were been invited to participate. The artists scheduled for this year’s event are: Susan Allison, A`eron Blackman, Bev Jarrett Doane, Kathy Elfers, Tamara Flores, Kelly Froats, Nina Foran Gee,
Lois Harris, Sharon Hatter, Sandra Key, Laura Moore, Jay Norton, Liz Nelson, Nicole Piper-Ryan, Kristi Roelle, Rosemary Russell, Beebe Slater, Ronda Smith, Sherry Stein, and Katherine Wilson. Members of the Dunes Art Club and the Thursday Evening Library Yarn Group also will be participating. Artists will be presenting art in a variety of mediums, such as oil and water color paintings; pen and inks; photographs; bird feeders and other items made with glass, wine bottles and Mason jars; felted wool items, including felted bars of soap; handmade dog treats; rainbow colored crayons; beaded jewelry;
SEE FAIR, PAGE A6
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see a 100-percent high school completion rate. Over the next 11 years, Oregon has a long way to go. During the 2012-13 school year, 69 percent graduated. The “40-4020” breaks down into 40 percent finishing community college, 40 percent getting at least a bachelor’s degree, and 20 percent completing high school. “I don’t think it’s too lofty,” Mazzeo said. “I think it’s an important thing for the state to set out a target it tries to reach. The only way you meet big goals is to set the target.” To reach that goal, education officials are targeting several benchmarks as evidence of a student’s academic potential. Third grade reading “Reading by third grade is one of the single greatest predictors of life-long success,” said Chief Education Officer Nancy Golden in a news release. This pivotal benchmark has led state education agencies, including the Oregon Education
SEE SCORES, PAGE A6
Business community focuses on Main Street Dozens of business owners and community members came to Reedsport City Hall on Aug. 9 to help develop a plan for improving the downtown area. It was part of the Main Street Program, instituted by the Oregon Historic Preservation Office. The coordinator is Sheri Stuart, who attended the meeting and help facilitate the discussion on what needs to be done.
SEE MAIN STREET, PAGE A6