Wednesday, January 1, 2025
Child luring convictions lead to life in prison without chance of parole JEREMY C. RUARK Lincoln County Leader
For the past two years, Lincoln City Police Department (LCPD) personnel have been aggressively pursuing child safety enforcement investigations. The investigations have included LCPD officers conducting counter childluring operations on social media. The Lincoln County Leader has reported on several arrests following the investigations over the past several months. Recently it
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Lincoln County, Oregon
was announced that there have been convictions that have sent two Lincoln County residents to prison for life without parole. Following LCPD investigations, arrests and court action, 31-year-old Ryan R. L. Braddock, of Lincoln City, received his sentence on Thursday, Dec. 19. Braddock was arrested on Aug. 21, 2023, on two counts of luring a minor and two counts of online sexual corruption of a child in the second See PRISON, page A7
Search warrant in cold case
At around at 7 a.m. on Friday, Dec. 27, law enforcement officers from Lincoln County agencies executed a search warrant at a residence in the 200 block of Northwest Seventh Street in Newport. The warrant is related to a cold case missing persons investigation, according to Newport Police Chief Jason Malloy. No further details were available as of Monday’s press deadline, but Malloy said the case has been turned over to the Lincoln County Major Crime Team. A search of the residence was still underway when this photo was taken Friday. Check out the Lincoln County Leader website for further information as it is released. (Photo by Steve Card)
Taking a look back at the year 2024 The year 2024 has officially come to a close, and before diving too far into 2025, the Lincoln County Leader took a look back at some of the stories making headlines over the previous 12 months. Portions of some of the newspaper’s 2024 front-page stories have been compiled here, month by month, along with a few of the photos that made the news.
Travis Tibbetts, standing, and Matt Hall, with the Newport Public Works Department, install a pay station at the Fall Street parking lot. It is one of 10 stations that will be located throughout the Bayfront. (Photo by Steve Card)
JANUARY
YBC announces radio station closures David Miller, Yaquina Bay Communications coowner with his wife, Linda, announced that on Monday, Jan. 1, the company’s radio stations —KYTE 102.7 FM, KNPT 1310 AM, KNCU 97.7 FM, KBCH 1400 AM, and KCRF 96.7 FM — will cease operations. “We are not happy about this circumstance, but Oregon Coast Bank determined that they would not renew our loans,” Miller wrote in the release. “With the pandemic, our only source of income, advertising, has been reduced by more than 50 percent. We also have not been able to obtain financing elsewhere, nor
have we been able to find a buyer for the stations.” Move over News-Times, here comes The Leader By the time the Wednesday, Jan. 10, edition of the NewsTimes comes before its loyal readers, staff will be hard at work producing the first edition of its successor, The Lincoln County Leader. The last 12 months saw the News-Times undergo a succession of modifications, including changes to the paper’s publication dates and the Sept. 1 sale of the News-Times from News Media Corporation of Rochelle, Illinois, to Salembased Country Media, Inc. Now, the News-Times, established in 1882, is in the See REVIEW, page A5
In search of passing gray whales
A complete renovation of the exterior of the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse in Newport will be done this year. The lighthouse will be closed to public access from now through June. (Photo by Steve Card)
Yaquina Bay Lighthouse closes for exterior restoration work State park still open to the public STEVE CARD Lincoln County Leader
The Yaquina Bay Lighthouse in Newport is about to get a full exterior
restoration, and as of today (Wednesday, Jan. 1) it is closed to the public and will remain closed until June. However,
Yaquina Bay State Park will remain open during this time. The lighthouse, built in 1871, is the only wooden lighthouse still intact on the Oregon coast, and it is the last example in
It’s that time of year again when gray whales are on their southward migration to the calving lagoons in Mexico. And for the past four decades, the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department has helped thousands of people spot the passing whales during Winter Whale Watch Week, which was held this year from Dec. 27 through Dec. 31. Volunteers were stationed at 15 sites along the coast from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. each day to help visitors spot the migrating whales. Pictured are people hoping to spot whales from the observation deck at the Yaquina Head Lighthouse. (Photos by Steve Card)
See YAQUINA, page A8
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