AN EDITION OF
Bandon
WESTERN WORLD Thursday, March 13, 2014
theworldlink.com/bandon ♦ $1.00
Poetry Out Loud:
Mardi Gras royalty:
Inside this edition:
Student advances to state contest. See page A2.
Couple crowned for Mardi Gras. See page A10.
Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .A2 Bandon Police Log. . . . . . . . A3 Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .A4
Arts and Entertainment . . . A5 Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .A8 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .A10
Feds agree to fund small port dredging By Amy Moss Strong Bandon Western World
BANDON — The Port of Bandon, along with five other Oregon small coastal ports, will receive critically needed dredging funds this year, after intense lobbying by members of the South Coast Ports Coalition, state legislators and the governor. Congressman Peter DeFazio announced Thursday that ports in Oregon’s 4th
Mosquito management plan ready for review
Congressional District will receive an additional $4.5 million for operation and maintenance projects this year. The projects, including dredging, are critical to local economies and the fishing industry. The announcement came after Congress included $40 million for small ports in the Fiscal Year 2014 Consolidated Appropriations Act, enacted in January. In February, DeFazio wrote a letter to the Army Corps to stress the need for
additional funds at Oregon ports. It was co-signed by Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley and Reps. Earl Blumenauer, Suzanne Bonamici and Kurt Schrader. Thursday, the Army Corps announced how these and other 2014 funds for navigation maintenance would be allocated. Bandon will receive $413,000 and in total, Oregon ports received nearly $20 million in new funding.
■ See Mosquitoes, A7
Former Ocean Crest director sentenced to 9 years for thefts By Thomas Moriarty Bandon Western World
The former director of a Coos Bay senior living facility was sentenced March 6 to almost a decade in prison for stealing from the residents under his care. Judge Richard Barron sentenced Gary Brink of Bandon, formerly the executive director of Ocean Crest Assisted Living, to nine years in prison on 60 counts of firstdegree criminal mistreatment, 23 counts of second-degree theft, four counts of Gary Brink third-degree theft, two counts of first-degree theft, aggravated first-degree theft and two counts of second-degree forgery. Brink, 65, was convicted in February following an investigation that began more than two years ago. Elizabeth Ballard, the Oregon Department of Justice prosecutor who handled the case, said he
■ See Sentenced, A7
Federal allocation breakdown for South Coast port operation and maintenance projects 2014: $413,000 — Coquille River (Bandon) $1,262,000 — Port Orford $638,000 — Rogue River (Gold Beach) $696,000 — Chetco River $861,000 — Umpqua River (Reedsport/Salmon Harbor) $698,000 — Siuslaw River (Florence)
■ See Dredging, A7
Ferry Creek dam patch holds water By Amy Moss Strong Bandon Western World
Bandon Western World
BANDON — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is asking the public to review and comment on its proposed Integrated Marsh Management approach at Bandon Marsh National Wildlife Refuge. T h e public Open house review and What: Open house on comment USFWS draft mosquito manperiod agement plan began on When: Tuesday, March 18, 4March 11 7 p.m. and ends Where: The Barn, 1200 11th April 9. St. SW USFWS Representatives of USFWS is inviting will be available to answer the public questions and learn more. to attend an open house where people can ask questions and learn more about the Integrated Marsh Management approach, according to a press release. The open house will be Tuesday, March 18, at The Barn, 1200 11th St. SW in Bandon City Park. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service staff and Coos County representatives will be available to answer questions between 4 and 7 p.m. The actions proposed in the Draft Supplemental Environmental Assessment for Tidal Marsh Restoration will reduce mosquito breeding pools by improving tidal flow on the Ni-les’tun
By the numbers
Photo by Tom Rumreich, ODFW
Temporary fix Rick Howard, right, uses bentonite to complete a temporary fix on the Ferry Creek dam spillway, along with Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife employees and other volunteers.
BANDON — The leaking Ferry Creek dam received a temporary patch last weekend that will hold until a permanent repair can be completed. According to Tom Rumreich of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, he and Rick Howard, along with ODFW staff and volunteers dug under the concrete of the earthen dam at the base of the spillway where water was seeping through and filled the void with bentonite with a rock facing. A leak was discovered in the Ferry Creek dam in January. Along with the Geiger Creek dam, the Ferry Creek dam provides a significant portion of water to supply both the city of Bandon and the ODFW fish hatchery. ODFW determined last month that the spillway needs to be replaced as soon as possible. The new spillway construction will be funded by ODFW, with the city of Bandon’s contribution being the demolition and removal of the
■ See Dam, A7
Dancing through life, all the way to 100 By Amy Moss Strong Bandon Western World
BANDON — Marjorie Stephenson has danced many steps at The Barn but the steps she took there on Feb. 22 were much more ceremonial. That’s when the diminutive bright-eyed Bandon native celebrated her 100th birthday among family and friends. A week later, Stephenson was still opening birthday cards from her party and basking in the celebration of living a full century. Stephenson was born in Prosper on Feb. 22, 1914, to Chester and Jessie Bullard. She is a descendant of John and Jane Hambloch, who settled the land where Bullards Beach State Park is now located. This land was deeded to John Hamblock from President Abraham Lincoln in the mid-1800s. Chester Bullard built his house where the Bullards boat ramp now sits. “But my mother was unhappy being away from her mother, who lived in Prosper,” Stephenson said. “So he moved the house on a barge at high tide up to Prosper.” That house is still standing in the same location. Chester and Jessie had one more child, Betty (Baird), who also lives in Bandon. She will be 96 at the end of the month. Stephenson and her sister would clamber up the hill to get to school at the old Prosper Schoolhouse, which also is still standing and now a personal residence. “We had eight grades, it was quite a building,” she said. She then attended high school in Bandon, which was quite a trek. “We had to get our own transportation, but the ferryman’s sister was my best friend, so he drove us to school,” she said. He would park near the ferry cross-
Photo by Amy Moss Strong
Sisters in longevity Bandon resident Marjorie Stephenson, 100, on right, enjoys lunch at The Station with her sister Betty Baird, who’s 95. The sisters are descendants of the Hamblock and Bullard families, some of Bandon’s first settlers. Marjorie recently celebrated her 100th birthday with a party at The Barn, a place she and her friends used to go dancing. ing near where the Coquille River Bridge is now located, and the students would then walk the rest of the way on a wooden plank walkway along the river that extended into town. Stephenson graduated from Bandon High School in 1931, then later from Ashland Normal School in 1933, earning her teaching degree. Her first job was at Upper Floras Creek School. “It was a little shack with nine students and a pot-bellied stove. I was 19
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years old and lived with the McLeod family. Kurt Siewell was one of my students as was Mary McLeod. We called her little Mary McLeod,” Stephenson recalled. She then taught in Riverton for two years and on Jan. 1, 1936, she married Jack Hultin Sr., who also was a teacher. Her teaching career was put on hold for a while because jobs were short during the Great Depression.
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■ See Dancing, A7