LCL829

New housing for Hatfield Marine Science Center

THERESA

After more than a year of construction, a 77-unit housing project to support students, employees, visiting scientists and others working and learning at Oregon State University’s Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport is open and housing its first tenants.

Harborton Street Housing was created to address the problem of a workforce housing shortage in Newport and the surrounding community.

Current vacancy rates in Lincoln County hover below 2%, and that lack of housing has been a constraint to

recruiting students and scientists to Hatfield.

Sidney Noble is manager for student and campus services at Hatfield and says the new building helps fill a gap in local housing.

“It addresses a critical need for housing on the central Oregon coast,” Noble said.

“With a significant housing shortage and high cost of living in Lincoln County, where much of the existing housing stock is aimed at vacationers and shortterm stays, this new facility provides a much-needed alternative for students, Newportbased faculty and staff and mission partners.”

The $16 5 million, 34,000-square-foot housing

project features 72 studio-style

units and five two-bedroom units, and is located off Southeast 40th Street in South Newport, about three-quarters of a mile from the Hatfield campus.

Unlike the Corvallis campus, Hatfield’s busiest seasons are spring and summer, when most of the field-based research activities take place. So while current occupancy is fairly low, the residence hall will likely be near capacity during those peak months. Occupancy will vary between those needing shortterm housing for brief projects, and those with ongoing work at Hatfield.

Samaritan and MultiCare approve affiliation

JEREMY C. RUARK L incoln County Leader

The boards of directors for the Corvallis-based Samaritan Health Services and Tacomabased MultiCare Health System have approved an affiliation between the two organizations. Samaritan Health Services operates Samaritan Pacific Communities Hospital in Newport, Samaritan North Lincoln Hospital in Lincoln City, Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center in Corvallis, Samaritan Albany General Hospital in Albany, and Samaritan Lebanon Community Hospital in Lebanon.

In a release, Samaritan Health Services said the affiliation marks a major milestone in advancing access to highquality, community-based health care across Oregon and the Pacific Northwest.

Now that autumn weather has replaced hot summer days, bears have begun their annual fall eat-a-thon, known as hyperphagia, to prepare for winter.

This intense feeding period begins in late summer when berries and fruits ripen and

JEREMY C. RUARK Lincoln County Leader

Lincoln County voters are being asked to approve funding for the county’s Veterans Services Office through a fiveyear local-option levy in the Nov. 4 Special Election. A 2022 survey found that 48% of veterans don’t understand their disability benefit options, and four in 10 veterans felt they didn’t receive adequate guidance on benefits when leaving the military. And the U.S. Veterans Affairs Administration reports that only about 20% of veterans apply for and use VA services.

Under present funding, the Lincoln County Veterans Services Office conducts outreach as it is able, but these outreach efforts are less cohesive than ideal, and outreach events are conducted as extra duties in addition to routine, 9-5 office activity. As other federal programs see a decrease in funding, enhanced capability to engage veterans in the community is essential to maintaining their quality and comfort of life, according to a release from the county.

The Lincoln County Veterans Services Office is available to support around 5 200 military veterans. The office helps local veterans obtain federal, state, and county benefits for which they are eligible. The office provides veterans outreach services and helps veterans’ families apply for survivor benefits.

The office is mostly funded by the county General Fund and would receive no General Fund dollars while this five-year local

Report highlights Oregon students’ unmet health needs, urgent call for support

OREGON HEALTH AUTHORITY

More than one in five Oregon eighth- and 11th-graders experienced unmet mental or physical health care needs in 2022 according to a new state Student Health Survey (SHS) report developed with Oregon youth using the most recent data available.

The findings paint a

sobering picture of the challenges youth face in accessing essential care, and the critical role adults play in helping them feel heard and supported, according to a release from the Oregon Health Authority (OHA).

Key themes from the report include:

Emotional isolation: Students with unmet mental health needs often expressed feelings of

Christmas Bazaars

SILETZ VALLEY GRANGE

November 1, 10am - 3pm

November 2, 11am - 3pm

224 N Gaither Street, Siletz

Lunch served both days.

Sewing crafts, pottery, glass, woodworking, men’s gift items, baked goods, candles, quilting. Drawings every hour.

CHARISMA GIFTS

44th Annual Holiday Open House

Saturday, November 1 - December 31

Monday, Saturday 10am – 5pm Sunday, 12pm – 4pm IN HISTORIC NYE BEACH, 315 N.W Coast St, Newport

This part needs to have a coupon border like she has in the NT ad 451121

20% OFF

Any one Holiday item

Of $20 or more!

Excluding Sale Items and Custom Floral Expires 12/31/25

10 themed Christmas trees

Unique Christmas Wreaths & Ornaments. Santa’s, Angels, Snowmen, Fine gifts and Decorative Accessories. Christmas Cards & Gift Wrap. Candles and much more!! Weekly door prize drawing. COME ENJOY THE FUN!

CHRISTMAS BAZAAR

Friday & Saturday November 7 & 8 10am - 3pm

St. Peter the Fisherman Lutheran Church Highway 101 & SW 14th, Lincoln City 541-994-8793

Bakery, Treasure Room, Krumkake made fresh, Beautiful Quilts & Crafts Raffle Drawing. The St. Peter Café will be open for lunch!

11:00 A.M. – 2:00 P.M. Proceeds go toward our mission projects

NEWPORT NAZARENE

JOY HOLIDAY BAZAAR

Friday, November 21 • 10 to 4:30 PM Saturday, November 22 • 10 to 4 PM 227 NW 12th, Newport, Oregon

Over 30 vendors participating in the 25th year offering quality crafts, cookies-by-the-pound, handmade sewn clothing, beautiful quilts, vintage and modern jewelry, hand crafted wood items, holiday ornaments, books. Have lunch with your friends; hourly gift drawings.

14TH ANNUAL CHRISTMAS CRAFT BAZAAR

Friday, December 5 • 12pm-5pm

Saturday, December 6 • 9:30am-3:30pm

Central Coast Assembly of God 236 NE 6th Street, Newport

Come Shop With Us! We have over 30+ vendors with lots of handmade items for that special someone on your Christmas list!

SILETZ VALLEY GRANGE

December 6 • 10am - 3pm 224 N Gaither Street, Siletz Lunch served.

Local Artists and Business Women, unique gifts, books, skin care, toys, kitchen, handcrafted and much more.

HOLIDAY CRAFT FAIR & BAZAAR

1st Presbyterian Church and Community Vendors

Saturday, December 6, 2025 9am - 3pm

1st Presbyterian Church

227 NE 12th Street, Newport

Christmas Items, Candy, Baked Goods, Books, Toys, Puzzles, Games, Jewelry, and Raffle Items.

defeat and deep isolation, indicating a lack of accessible support systems and trusted adults.

Systemic barriers: Responses cited obstacles such as lack of insurance, long wait times, transportation issues and stigma around seeking help.

Invalidation and silence: A recurring theme in students’ narratives was a sense of being dismissed or not taken seriously. Without meaningful adult intervention, many students reported that their needs were ignored or minimized.

“The data confirm what students have been saying for years: many are struggling, and they don’t feel seen,” said Tom Jeanne, M.D., M.P.H., deputy state health officer and epidemiologist at Oregon Health Authority. “Mental and physical health are deeply interconnected, and when students can’t access care, it affects every part of their lives—including their ability to learn and thrive.”

Read the full Unmet Needs Report and learn more about the Student Health Survey with this story at the Lincoln County Leader website.

Students report barriers to accessing health care in all phases of their lives, from individual to systemic challenges. Some students struggle to disclose or even identify their own health care needs. Those able to communicate their needs might have a hard time finding supportive adults who will validate their concerns. Adding to this are the logistical barriers of insurance coverage, out-of-pocket costs, transportation, age of medical consent, scheduling and limited provider availability.

The report underscores the importance of fostering environments in which students feel safe discussing their health needs and adults—parents, educators and health professionals— are empowered to listen and respond effectively.

OHA administers the

anonymous, school-based survey annually, collecting responses from more than 45 000 students statewide.

The students represent 85 school districts, 327 schools and 29 counties.

The SHS was administered at schools between October 2022 and January 2023. Among students reporting unmet health needs, more than 4 200 responded to open-ended questions about the barriers they encountered.

Student responses reflect a complex relationship between physical and mental health.

While unmet mental health needs were often reported independently, unmet physical health needs frequently involved emotional or mental health challenges—suggesting that the two cannot be addressed in isolation.

Alexis Zou, a senior at Lake Oswego High School, was a primary author of the Unmet Needs Report and a member of the Oregon Youth Data Council (YDC).

The YDC is an OHAsponsored program that invites Oregon youth to contribute to decisionmaking about the survey.

Members are involved in all aspects of the survey, including:

• Reviewing survey content.

• Making sense of the results.

• Deciding how to talk about and use the survey.

“It was really interesting to look at the different trends that we observed,” Zou said. “In particular, some alarming ones that we noticed (were) that over 23% of Oregon eighth grade and 11thgraders said that they have unmet physical and mental health needs. We also noticed that these unmet health needs were associated with missed school, so that’s a really big problem that school districts are facing right now. We also observed that many students said they felt isolated or didn’t have a trusted adult that they could reach out to.”

Call to action to

support youth

Addressing barriers to care requires cooperation from individuals and institutions at each point of health care access, according to the report, and Oregon youth “deserve a sustained investment in health care infrastructure and community or schoolbased health services.”

Gov. Tina Kotek recently championed new investments in Oregon’s behavioral health system to ensure access to services that promote youth social and emotional wellness and prevent youth substance use disorders. These investments include $6 million to support school-based health centers (SBHCs) increase mental health services, substance use disorder screening, and prevention programs. An additional $1 million was dedicated to support culturally specific suicide prevention efforts.

Students participating in the 2022 survey also emphasized the importance of logistical and emotional support from friends, family and trusted adults to get their health needs met. Youth said social norms need to shift to address the stigma around mental health and medical care, particularly among parents, caregivers, teachers and clinicians. For more information on supporting Oregon youth, see pages 10–14 of the Unmet Needs Report. To learn more about the Youth Data Council, visit www.oregon.gov/YDC. OHA and partner organizations are using this data to inform policy, guide resource allocation, and develop new strategies for improving youth access to care across the state.

Identifying and addressing Oregon students’ unmet health needs aligns with OHA’s 2025-2027 Strategic Plan. Among the plan’s key strategies is to “expand access to health and social services resources and supports for children, parents and families.”

Skateboarder dies in traffic crash

On Tuesday, October 21 2025, at 11:29 p.m., Oregon State Police (OSP) responded to a vehicle versus skateboarder crash on Highway 101, near milepost 121, in Lincoln County.

The preliminary investigation indicated a skateboarder, 35-year-old

Joseph Wesley Tallman, of Depoe Bay, attempted to cross the highway from the eastbound shoulder and was struck by a northbound Mack commercial motor vehicle, operated by 35-year-old Marcus Daniel Harwood of Veneta, who was unable to avoid the collision. The skateboarder (Tallman) was declared deceased after being transported to an area hospital.

The operator of the Mack (Harwood) was uninjured.

The highway was impacted for approximately four hours during the on-scene investigation. OSP was assisted by the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, Lincoln City Police Department, North Lincoln Fire and Rescue, and ODOT.

RANDY STAPILUS

Oregon Capital Chronicle

The significance of small-town protests

After the Oct.18, massive No Kings protests, some small-community people have sent messages to this effect: Our community didn’t have a No Kings event last time, but should it for round three?

For many of those people and communities, the best strategic answer is yes.

Nationally, the October No Kings event outran the June edition, with an estimated 7 million or more attendees overall. Oregon attendance has been pegged at 100 000 minimum, but the actual total number may have approached twice that. October outpaced June by an increase of one-third to one-half.

Most of the attention went, as it usually does, to the big urban events. Portland’s turnout, which was of course the largest in the state and estimated at around 40,000 (local law enforcement) to 50 000 (a number of news reports), was indeed spectacular. The Eugene event attracted about 3,500 to 4,000, and about 1,000 at the statehouse in Salem.

Other larger Oregon cities, like Hillsboro, Gresham, Bend and Medford, had substantial events as well.

Not to discount any of that, but a big crowd protesting Trump in Portland or Eugene, impressive as it was, doesn’t count as an earth-shattering surprise. What may be of greater interest is this: While Trump won 25 of Oregon’s 36 counties, No Kings events, sometimes

VOTE YES ON MEASURE

21-235

Our Lincoln County November special election ballot contains just one item, Measure 21-235, a measure that asks all of us to examine our commitment to the veterans among our neighbors whose service has helped our country to remain safe. There are over 5200 veterans in Lincoln County, many of whom rely on the Veterans Service Office for access to the benefits they’ve earned. In the past the office has been funded by the county’s General Fund, but this vital resource faces funding challenges due to a decrease in support from the federal government.

Without Measure 21-235 the Lincoln County Veterans Service Office would receive no General Fund dollars during the

drawing large numbers of people relative to the population, were held last weekend in most of them.

In Yamhill County, which voted for Trump in each of his presidential contests, the No Kings event I attended in McMinnville featured a long march and an enthusiastic crowd and pulled an estimated 1,000 people. Another event in smaller Newberg drew about half as many.

Trump won Douglas County with more than 67% of the vote in 2024 yet about 1,000 people protested at Stewart Parkway in Roseburg.

About 2,000 were estimated at Grants Pass in Josephine County, where Trump won nearly 63% of the vote in 2024

Still, these are counties with large populations mostly not too far from more liberal urban areas. What about locations further away?

Hundreds protested in Pendleton and Tillamook — Trump won Umatilla County with 67 2% in 2024 and Tillamook County with 49%.

In all, Oregon hosted more than 60 No Kings events. Protests were reported in such small or mid-sized communities as Lakeview, Heppner, Scappoose, Prineville, Silverton, Enterprise, Harrisburg, Baker City, Coos Bay, La Grande, Oakridge, Woodburn, Gold Beach, Bandon, Cloverdale, and even small and remote Burns (in Harney County, which went 77 7% for Trump in 2024). Every one of those was located in a county

five-year period the measure covers.

Measure 21-235 would levy $0 035 per $1 000 of assessed property value, funds which would all support Veterans Service Office operating expenses.

According to the County Registrar, it’s estimated that the average cost to property owners would be approximately $8 60 per year, less than the cost of a single fast-food meal. A small amount, and yet, it could mean a life-saving difference in the lives of our veteran neighbors.

Supporting Measure 21-235 isn’t just about taxes. It’s about honoring promises. It’s about ensuring that those who served our country have a place to turn when they need help. Please vote yes on Measure 21-235, Eliot Sekuler Gleneden Beach

which supported, often strongly, Trump at the polls. If planned events all materialized (as all or nearly all seem to have done), Sherman, Gilliam, Grant and Malheur may have been the only Oregon counties not to hold a protest last weekend. Very high vote percentages often are driven by communities where a prevailing view is that everyone, or almost everyone, locally votes in that direction. If that impression is

punctured by a significant number of people who show up at a protest, some significant amount of the air may be let out of the balloon. Those very high percentages may decline. With that in mind, some people in smaller communities have quietly begun to message other people about holding such an event there next time. If that happens, the number of Oregon communities with such events could expand by a couple of dozen or more. They could

also alter (not necessarily flip, but moderate) the character of a number of communities.

That, of course, depends on whether another No Kings national event happens. None seems to be planned at present, but a third edition does seem likely, since both of the first two were widely considered successes, and the second seemed to expand considerably in size over the first.

And if some of the people who attended protests

in Bend or Grants Pass event came from nearby communities, they might decide next time to build a local activity of their own — establishing a protest community in a location that previously hadn’t seen (or perceived) one. In a small community, that more localized activism could affect the social atmosphere. Hold a few more No Kings rallies, and the impact on Oregon could be real. A street protest can feel ephemeral, but the ripple effects could be large.

https://oregoncapitalchronicle. com/2025/10/23/the-significance-of-small-townprotests/ Oregon Capital Chronicle is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Oregon Capital Chronicle maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Lynne Terry for questions: info@oregoncapitalchronicle.com.

Lincoln County Natural Resource Tour

PAMI MONNETTE Leader Guest Article

Earlier this fall, the Partnership for Lincoln Lands and Waters (PPLW) hosted their annual Lincoln County Natural Resource Tour.

We had the privilege to take roughly 35 local community leaders to three sites that highlight businesses and organizations who work in the agriculture, forestry and fishing industries.

The tour participants included Lincoln County government representatives, conservation organizations, extension agents, scientists, farmers and foresters. This year’s tour visited a farm and forestry site in the Beaver Creek area and then a food web organization on Yaquina Bay.

The first tour stop highlights a local beekeeper business, Beattie’s Bees, who manages honey bee hives across the Lincoln County landscape. Andrew Grant, owner, emphasized the importance of managing landscapes for multiple uses so that there is an abundance of forage plants for the bees

throughout the year.

For the next stop, the group traveled up in the hills to tour a timber site managed by Manulife Investment Management. Jake Theimens, the Western Oregon Silviculture Manager for Manulife, explained the history of the timber unit and how it is being managed sustainably for timber products, habitat and recreation. They have been working with Hampton Lumber to install pollinator plantings in slash piles. The Corvallis 2 Coast (C2C) trail runs through the site we visited and Manulife has installed informational kiosks to educate hikers about timber stand management.

For lunch the tour group stopped at the Beaver Creek natural area and indulged in some

amazing food prepared by Fish Mongers, a “boat to table” food truck based out of Waldport. Lastly, our group was fortunate enough to visit the Yaquina Lab at the Central Coast Food Web on the Yaquina Bay. The food web hosts a state-ofthe-art processing facility, online market and business support for local producers.

All of our tour participants noted that they would recommend that local leaders attend our annual tour to become more informed about natural resource practices and industry in Lincoln County. PLLW would like to thank all of our supporters and sponsors for making this tour happen: OSU Lincoln County Extension, Starker Forests, Manulife Timber Investments, Gibson

Farms, Miller Farms, Hampton Lumber and Oregonians for Food and Shelter.

The Partnership for Lincoln Lands and Waters is a is a group of farmers, foresters, and supporters of the fishing industry who seek to preserve our thriving natural resources sectors in Lincoln County. Through our collective efforts, we work to tell our stories of stewardship and care of the land for the well-being of generations to come.

If you have questions about natural resource issues, are interested in our work or would like to be on the invite list for our upcoming events and tours, please email lincolnlandsandwaters@ gmail.com.

Pami Monnette is the PLLW grassroots coordinator.