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LOW CLOUDS 65 • 56 | WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2020 | theworldlink.com
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Bandon special election measures approved AMY MOSS STRONG The World
BANDON — Two ballot measures proposed by the City of Bandon were soundly approved by voters in Tuesday’s special election. Measure 6-179, asking for a sewer rate increase, passed with 872 “YES” votes (69.43%) and 384 “NO” votes (30.57%); total votes: 1,256 Measure 6-180, asking voters to approve a water rate increase, passed with 862 “YES” votes and 395 “NO” votes (31.42%);
total votes: 1,257 “I was confident that Bandon voters would support their community if we did our job and provided them with the facts,” said Bandon City Manager Dan Chandler after results were posted by Coos County Elections. “It is now our job to continue to show that we can be efficient, transparent and accountable stewards of the trust the public has given us.” The ballot measures asked voters to approve an increase of $8 per month for water and $7 per month for sewer for city resi-
dents. Residents living outside city limits will see an increase of $11 in their water rate and $11 in their sewer rate. The rate increase is permanent. Bandon’s water and sewer utilities must meet state and federal requirements for safe drinking water, Chandler explained. Currently, water and sewer rates don’t cover the full cost of operating those utilities. Water revenue is short by $218,000, and sewer revenue is short by $169,000, according to Chandler. The last rate increase for water operations was in 2006, sewer
was in 2012. An increase to the base water rate was approved in 2016. However, that increase can be used only for capital projects, not operations. Chandler said the city’s general fund can’t cover the shortfalls. If general fund dollars are used to subsidize utilities, it will negatively impact public safety. The city’s six-person police department accounts for 40% of general fund spending. Administration and the planning department also are both funded by the general fund.
The rate increases should put the water and sewer funds into a break-even position for the next few years, Chandler said. Bandon has the lowest permanent tax rate of any city in Oregon that has a population of over 750 people, he added. The general fund also receives some lodging and utility taxes, but the amounts are limited. The city is prohibited from raising rates without voter approval. In this election, the city did not ask for rate-setting authority, as it has in past failed
Please see Measures, Page 5
Police at Coos Bay protest ‘exonerated’ ZACK DEMARS The World
Oregon Department of Transportation
One of many vehicles burned in recent Oregon wildfires.
Recovery begins after wildfires SALEM — After a week of firefighting efforts across the state of Oregon, Governor Kate Brown said Oregonians have been pushed to their limits. “It’s really hard for all of us to wrap our heads around the devastation that these fires have caused and the pain and the suffering that so many Oregonians endured over the past few days,” Gov. Brown said during a Sept. 14 press conference. So far, the Oregon State medical examiner has reported 10 fire-related fatalities and 22 missing persons. Those statistics will continue to be updated daily. But on a positive note, Gov. Brown said fire crews are feeling optimistic with the current forecasted weather, which should provide help to their efforts as temperatures drop and winds subside. Additionally, calls for assistance are being answered and resource crews from all over the country and Canada have been coming to help.
“We expect structural firefighting teams from North Dakota and Michigan to join our response this week,” Gov. Brown noted. “Michigan, California and Washington are providing resources to our emergency coordination center. Vermont and Nevada have reached out asking how they can help.” Also, FEMA, is on the grounds of Oregon assisting with response. Gov. Brown said she recently sent a letter to President Donald Trump asking to declare a State of Disaster in Oregon, which will free up even more resources for state officials. Oregon is also working with the National Guard to distribute 250,000 N95 masks to agricultural workers and impacted tribes statewide as soon as possible. The masks will provide a certain level of protection to outdoor workers across the state. “The smoke blanketing the state is a reminder that this tragedy has not yet come to an end,” Gov. Brown said. Gov. Brown is encouraging everyone to donate to Red Cross
and the Oregon Food Bank for victims of these wildfires. To assist recovery efforts, the state is asking three foundations: Ford Family, Meyer Memorial Trust, and the Oregon Community Foundation, to help in the recovery efforts by kickstarting the 2020 Community Rebuilding
Fund. Other organizations will also be encouraged to donate. “We will have a long road ahead, but I’m so heartened by these foundations and all Oregonians that are coming together right now,” Gov. Brown said. “The only way out of this crisis
PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) — Hurricane Sally lumbered ashore near the Florida-Alabama line Wednesday with 105 mph (165) winds and rain measured in feet, not inches, swamping homes and trapping people in high water as it crept inland for what could be a long, slow and disastrous drenching across the Deep South. Moving at an agonizing 3 mph, or about as fast as a person can walk, the storm made landfall at 4:45 a.m. near Gulf Shores, Alabama, after battering for hours a stretch of coastline that includes Mobile, Alabama, and Pensacola, Florida. Flash floods pushed water into homes in Alabama and Florida,
and officials in Pensacola and surrounding Escambia County, with a combined population of about 320,000, urged residents to stick to text messages for contacting family and friends to keep cellphone service open for 911 calls. More than 2 feet of rain (61 centimeters) was recorded near Naval Air Station Pensacola, and nearly 3 feet (1 meter) of water covered streets in downtown Pensacola, the National Weather Service reported. “It’s not common that you start measuring rainfall in feet,” said National Weather Service forecaster David Eversole in Mobile, Alabama. “Sally’s moving so slowly, so it just keeps
pounding and pounding and pounding the area with tropical rain and just powerful winds. It’s just a nightmare.” It was the second hurricane to hit the Gulf Coast in less than three weeks and the latest blow in one of the busiest hurricane seasons ever recorded, so frenetic that forecasters have nearly run through the alphabet of storm names with 2 1/2 months still to go. At the start of the week, Sally was one of a record-tying five storms churning simultaneously in the Atlantic, strung out like charms on a bracelet. Like the wildfires raging on the West Coast, the onslaught of hurricanes has focused atten-
tion on climate change, which scientists say is causing slower, rainier, more powerful and more destructive storms. In Orange Beach, Alabama, winds blew out walls in one corner of a condominium building, exposing the interiors of condos on at least five floors, video posted online showed. Other images showed buildings with roof damage and stranded boats shoved onshore by storm surge. At least 50 people in Orange Beach were rescued from flooded homes and taken to shelters, Mayor Tony Kennon said. “We got a few people that we just haven’t been able to get to because the water is so high,”
MAX KIRKENDALL Country Media
Oregon Department of Transportation
One of many homes that did not survive recent Oregon wildfires.
Please see Wildfires, Page 5
Hurricane Sally unleashes flooding in South
Please see Hurricane, Page 5
COOS BAY — A private investigator told the Coos Bay City Council Tuesday night that allegations of misconduct by police officers at an August protest were unfounded, and that any misconduct that may have occurred would have been justified. The investigation sprang from an Aug. 8 Black Lives Matter protest near the Coos Bay Boardwalk in the wake of the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis. The allegations of police misconduct during the conflict between demonstrators and armed counterprotesters were twofold: First, that a police officer pushed a pregnant woman to the ground and, second, that several police officers on duty had used “white power” hand signs during the protest. Michael Hudgins, a private investigator based in Salem, said his review of videos and eyewitness testimony led him to believe that the woman had been pushed on accident, or justifiably, and that he didn’t see evidence of police using the hand signs at the protests. City Manager Roger Craddock contracted Local Government Personnel Servies, a division of the Lane Council of Governments, to investigate the allegations. LGPS ultimately contracted Hudgins, a former police officer and detective for the City of Albany and state corrections officer. “I think it was more of public image, and the fact is there have been a lot of videos that have seemed to heighten racial tensions,” Craddock said. “When I contracted with the LCOG, I was very specific that I was not looking for a directed outcome.” Craddock said that while the investigation wasn’t legally required, he launched it anyway to verify or refute the allegations that had sparked on social media and to forward any criminal misconduct to the appropriate law enforcement agency. Those allegations sprung from a TikTok video posted after the protest, which shows the crowd at the protest engaging with counterprotesters and a pregnant woman walking away from the crowd. “She had just gotten shoved down by Coos Bay police officers,” the voiceover says in the video, though the video doesn’t show the precise moment of that incident. Several protest organizers who shared the allegations, including the person who posted the TikTok, didn’t respond to a request for comment Wednesday morning in time for publication. Hudgins told councilors Tuesday that he received information from 29 emails and interviewed six citizens and six police officers to come to his conclusions. One of the witnesses Hudgins interviewed was the pregnant woman who was allegedly pushed, he said. In that interview, she told Hudgins that she thought “it could have been an accident” that she was pushed, though she Please see Exonerated, Page 5
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Contributing wildfire evacuation resources: Where to get help ZACK DEMARS The World
Oregonians from across the state are evacuating to avoid hundreds of thousands of acres of wildfires and record-breaking poor air quality. While the South Coast hasn’t been as hard-hit by fires as other areas, organizations and individuals are collecting and offering support for neighbors in the region nonetheless. How to Help Oregon Coast Community Action is taking donations of non-perishable food and proteins, bottled water, diapers and baby wipes. Donors are asked to schedule a drop-off time by calling 541-435-7754, and monetary donations are accepted online at www.orcca.us/ natural-disaster-response. The Southwestern Oregon United Way is accepting monetary donations to support nonprofits and organizations helping residents impacted by wildfires online at www.unitedwayswo.org. The Devereux Center is always collecting donations of nonperishable food,
individually packed snacks, bottled water and clothing for its services. Financial donations are also accepted at www.thedevereuxcenter. org/donation, and donors are asked to call 541-888-3202 to arrange a time to drop off physical donations. Public safety chaplains around Southern Oregon are accepting donations of supplies — especially toiletries, nonperishable foods and sanitizing and cleaning wipes — as well as funds for chaplains being sent to counsel in hard-hit areas. Rick Nickolaus, with the Coos County Sheriff’s Office, is coordinating donations locally and can be reached at 541-252-5885. In Bandon, the Bandon Animal Rescue is coordinating donations of animal supplies, including shovels, crates and food in small bags as well as supplies for people, like food, sleeping bags and warm clothing. Donations and needs are coordinated through the Bandon Animal Rescue page on Facebook. Rotary Clubs in Oregon and California are taking financial donations to provide grants for individuals
and organizations in need. The district for Central and Southern Oregon and Northern California is accepting donations for Disaster Grants at Eugene Rotary Charitable Trust, Fire Relief Fund, P.O. Box 1184 Eugene, OR, 97440. Rotary Clubs in Southern Oregon are also accepting donations focused on that region at www.RotaryRebuildsSouthernOregon.com. Statewide, the Oregon Food Bank is accepting donations, and says the most helpful way to donate in times of great need is by giving financial support at give.oregonfoodbank.org/ give/193554/#!/donation/ checkout. Farmers or others with bulk donations can call 971-230-1674 for additional details. Where to Get Help Oregon Coast Community Action offers the South Coast Food Share Regional Food Bank, essential services (housing, energy and weatherization assistance) and rapid re-housing for veteran families. ORCCA can be reached for services at 541-435-7080. The Southwestern Oregon
United Way is offering grant funding for organizations and nonprofits that are assisting those impacted by wildfires. More information is available at www.unitedwayswo.org. In Coos Bay, the Devereux Center is offering its services for those displaced by wildfires, including food, showers, laundry and a clothing closet. It is open for services from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, and can be reached at www. thedevereuxcenter.org or 541-888-3202. The Southern Oregon Public Safety Chaplains organization has supplies available for evacuees and has coordinated with churches, homeowners and landowners to make living space available for people and animals in Coos and other counties. Those in need of supplies, space or other services are asked to contact Rick Nickolaus at 541-252-5885. This list will be updated as options change. Email reporter Zack Demars at worldnews3@countrymedia. net to share more opportunities.
grants to partner organizations and individuals in need. Additionally, the power of the international Rotary Foundation to help leverage the funds raised through public donations will be of great benefit to Rotary’s ability to substantially assist Oregonians into the future. The expertise of the 3200-member strong Rotary organization in District 5110 is well suited to help collaborate in the development and coordination of a long-term rebuilding strategy for our communities. A statewide Fire
Rehabilitation Task Force made up of Rotary and partner organizations who are experts in such fields as site restoration, utility infrastructure, community planning, home building, engineering and banking has been formed. “For the painful and challenging times ahead, Rotary is ready to accept the public and corporate support to help those in need in our local communities. The focus is on raising and leveraging funds for future distribution via District Disaster Grants that help rebuild the fire
devastated areas,” shares District Governor Cindi O’Neil of Bend. Rotary Club of Eugene Charitable Trust, a 501(c)3, will accept tax deductible contributions for fire relief (see address below). Send charitable contributions to: Eugene Rotary Charitable Trust, Fire Relief Fund, P.O. Box 1184 Eugene, OR, 97440. For more information on our relief efforts, visit https://www.district5110. org or email to D5110DisasterAssistance@gmail. com.
Rotary establishes fire relief fund The World OREGON — In response to the catastrophic loss of homes, businesses and livelihoods for many Oregonians, Rotary has established a Fire Relief Fund to help victims of the fires rebuild their lives. Oregon communities that have been severely devastated, if not eliminated, in the wake of these unprecedented fires will need help in both the near and long term. Rotary’s 501(c)3 foundation is ready to accept tax-deductible donations to provide
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Myrtle Point man arrested on domestic assault charge The World MYRTLE POINT — A Myrtle Point was arrested following a report of an assault Monday evening. According to the Coos County Sheriff’s Office, at about 8:59 p.m., Coos County Sheriff deputies responded to a report of an assault on Arago Fishtrap Road in Myrtle Point. When deputies arrived, they contacted the victim, who had an injury to her eye. As a result of an investigation, 33-year-old Brandon Myers of Myrtle Point
Brandon Myers was arrested and charged with assault 4, domestic. Myers was transported to the Coos County Jail, were he was booked and lodged. He is being held in lieu of $10,000 bail.
North Bank Road fire 100% contained The World
BANDON — The North Bank Road fire at mile marker 8 is 100% contained, according to the Coos Forest Protective Association. Mop-up is in progress. The firefighters on scene are locating and putting out hot spots as well as locating and removing hazards, CFPA reported. North Bank Lane has been reopened from Highway 42 to Beaver Hill. “Thank you to all of you for your continued patience,” a CFPA spokes-
person wrote on the CFPA Facebook page. The North Bank Road fire erupted Tuesday, Sept. 8, during an unusual weather event involving high east winds, extreme heat and low humidity that let to devastating fires throughout the state. The North Bank Road fire burned a total of 350 acres, threatened homes in the area and caused some mandatory and self-evacuations. One structure — a woodworking and art studio — burned to the ground. No other structures burned and no injuries were reported from the fire.
Median income, uninsured both rose before pandemic ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — In 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic hit and the U.S. economy crashed, median household income was the highest ever on record, but the number of U.S. residents without health insurance also increased, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Tuesday. Median household income in 2019 was $68,703, an increase of 6.8% from the
previous year. That figure surpassed past boom-beforethe bust years in 2007, when it was $62,090 in 2019 dollars and in 1999, when it was $62,641 in 2019 dollars, according to the Census Bureau. The poverty rate in 2019 was 10.5%, a decrease from 11.8% in 2018. It was the fifth consecutive annual decline in the national poverty rate, according to the Census Bureau.
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184 new COVID-19 cases, 8 new deaths The World
PORTLAND — COVID-19 has claimed eight more lives in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll to 519, the Oregon Health Authority reported at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday. Oregon Health Authority also reported 184 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, bringing the state total to 29,662. The new cases are in the following counties: Clackamas (11), Clatsop (1), Columbia (1), Crook (1), Deschutes (2), Douglas (1), Gilliam (2), Jackson (10), Jefferson (3), Josephine
(2), Klamath (3), Lane (9), Linn (6), Malheur (25), Marion (31), Morrow (3), Multnomah (35), Polk (2), Tillamook (1), Umatilla (4), Union (1), Washington (25), and Yamhill (5). Oregon’s 512th COVID-19 death is a 73-year-old woman in Washington County who died on Sept. 1, at Tuality Healthcare. The death certificate listed COVID-19 disease or SARS-CoV-2 as a cause of death or a significant condition contributing to death. Oregon’s 513th COVID-19 death is a 74-year-old woman in Malheur County who tested
positive on Sept. 7 and died on Sept. 11, at St. Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Idaho. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed. Oregon’s 514th COVID-19 death is a 77-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Aug. 30 and died on Sept. 14, at Legacy Mt. Hood Medical Center. He had underlying conditions. Oregon’s 515th COVID-19 death is a 66-year-old woman in Morrow County who tested positive on Aug.11 and died on Sept. 13, at OHSU. She had underlying conditions.
Oregon’s 516th COVID-19 death is an 89-year-old woman in Clackamas County who tested positive on July 31 and died on Sept. 9, in her residence. She had underlying conditions. Oregon’s 517th COVID-19 death is a 58-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Aug. 25 and died on Sept. 11, at Legacy Mt. Hood Medical Center. He had underlying conditions. Oregon’s 518th COVID-19 death is an 85-year-old man in Marion County who tested positive on Aug. 26 and died on Sept.
11, in his residence. He had underlying conditions. Oregon’s 519th COVID-19 death is an 80-year-old woman in Clackamas County who tested positive on Aug. 26 and died on Sept.10, at Providence Portland Medical Center. She had underlying conditions. TESTING NOTE: Wildfires and hazardous air conditions have affected COVID-19 testing in Oregon. The Oregon State Public Health Laboratory (OSPHL) is closed again today, Tuesday, Sept. 15, due to indoor air safety issues.
Most specimens that the OSPHL cannot process are being re-routed to commercial laboratories. As such OHA does not anticipate a large backlog of tests due to OSPHL’s closure. Stay informed about COVID-19: Oregon response: The Oregon Health Authority and Oregon Office of Emergency Management lead the state response. United States response: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention leads the U.S. response. Global response: The World Health Organization guides the global response.
Nation’s colors prove resilient LWV will register voters at BLM recreation site on Voter Registration Day The World
The World
MARION COUNTY — On Sept. 7, multiple fires along Highway 22 swept through the Fishermen’s Bend Recreation Site, destroying much of the popular Bureau of Land Management -managed campground. Upon visiting the site, BLM officials found that an American flag that had not been lowered upon evacuation was found proudly flying over the charred ground. The much-loved Fishermen’s Bend Recreation Site just 30 minutes east of Salem featured dozens of campsites, well-groomed hiking trails and tremendous river access, including a boat ramp, in the Cascade foothills. Apart from the flag, “very little else remains at the recreation site,” according to Northwest District Manager Jose Linares.
COOS BAY — On Tuesday, Sept. 22, The League of Women Voters of Coos County will register voters at the Coos Bay Public Library as part of a massive nationwide effort to register new voters or re-register voters who need to edit their voter information. League members will be outside the Coos Bay Public Library in the parking lot, from 12-4:30 p.m. (Look for the blue
About the BLM The BLM manages more than 245 million
BLM photo
Images show the wildfire-ravaged remains of the Fishermen’s Bend Recreation Site on the North Santiam River east of Salem after the Beachie Creek Fire swept through the area, Sept. 9, 2020. The popular recreation site just 30 minutes east of Salem featured dozens of campsites, well-groomed hiking trails and tremendous river access, including a boat ramp, in the Cascade foothills. acres of public land located primarily in the 11 Western states and Alaska. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. In fiscal year 2018, the diverse activities authorized on BLM-managed lands
generated $105 billion in economic output across the country. This economic activity supported 471,000 jobs and contributed substantial revenue to the U.S. Treasury and state governments, mostly through royalties on minerals.
guidelines provided by the CDC. At this time, it is currently unknown whether the presence of COVID-19 antibodies will provide immunity to future infection. Donors can expect to receive the results of their antibody test within 7 to 10 days through the Red Cross Blood Donor App or on the donor portal at RedCrossBlood.org. To schedule a time to give blood, visit: https:// www.redcrossblood.org/ give.html/donation-time or call 1-800-RED-CROSS. With the COVID-19 pandemic still a danger, it’s important to schedule an appointment so adequate time will be available to sanitize between donations. For more information about the American Red Cross, visit https:// www.redcrossblood.org.
Barn, hosted by Bandon High School
Red Cross blood drives scheduled for South Coast The World SOUTH COAST — American Red Cross blood drives will be held along the South Coast in the coming months. The American Red Cross urges healthy individuals to give blood now to help ensure a steady supply for patients. The Red Cross is urging healthy donors to make an appointment to give blood to support kids fighting cancer, patients with sickle cell disease and others facing serious illnesses. More blood donors are needed to ensure hospitals have the blood necessary to help save lives. The Red Cross is now testing all blood product donations for COVID-19 antibodies, providing insight into possible past exposure to this coronavirus. The Red Cross is not testing donors to diagnose illness, referred to as a diagnostic test. To protect the health and safety of our staff and donors, it is important that individuals who do not feel well or believe they may be ill with COVID-19 postpone donation. Donations will be tested using samples obtained at the time of donation and sent to a testing laboratory where the samples will also undergo routine screening and infectious disease testing. A positive antibody test indicates potential exposure to the virus. It does not confirm infection or immunity and donors should continue to follow all COVID-19 safety
Sept. 28 Powers — 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Church of God Fellowship, hosted by Powers High School Oct. 9 Coquille — 10 a.m.-3 p.m., Coquille Community Center, hosted by Coquille High School Oct. 12 North Bend — 10 a.m.3 p.m., Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Oct. 13 Reedsport — 8:30 a.m.-2 p.m., American Red Cross Bus, hosted by Reedsport Community Charter School Oct. 14 Bandon — 1-6 p.m., Bandon Senior Center/The
Oct. 15 Reedsport — 12-6 p.m., Masonic Temple, hosted by Reedsport Community Charter School Oct. 20 Coos Bay — 11 a.m.-4 p.m., American Red Cross Bus, Newmark Center, hosted by Southwestern Oregon Community College Oct. 21 Coos Bay — 10 a.m.-3 p.m., American Red Cross Bus, hosted by Bay Area Hospital Myrtle Point — 12-5 p.m., Oaks Pavilion, Coos County Fairgrounds, hosted by Myrtle Point High School Oct. 22 North Bend — 9 a.m.-2 p.m., Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, hosted by North Bend High School Oct. 23 Coquille — 12-5 p.m., Coquille Valley Hospital, (Closed Drive - Employees ONLY) Nov. 2 Bandon — 11 a.m.-3 p.m., Bandon Dunes Golf Resort (Closed Drive Employees ONLY) Nov. 10 Coquille — 1-6 p.m., Coquille Community Building, hosted by Coquille Community Nov. 12 Reedsport — 10 a.m.-3 p.m., American Red Cross Bus, hosted by Lower Umpqua Hospital
tent.) The library is located at 525 Anderson Ave. National Voter Registration Day seeks to increase civic participation by encouraging Americans to register to vote and then turn out to vote in record numbers this year. Started in 2012, National Voter Registration Day is designed to create an annual moment when the entire nation focuses on registering Americans to exercise their most basic right — the right to vote.
The League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan political organization, encourages the informed and active participation of citizens in government. It influences public policy through education and advocacy. It neither supports nor opposes any political party or candidate. It is open to men and women of voting age. For more information on the League of Women Voters of Coos County, visit www.lwvcooscounty.org.
the release. Both ground and air resources are currently working to contain the fire. Part of the ground and aircraft resources are from the Slater and Devil Fire. “The start of this wildfire is a prime example of the need to be extra careful about anything that can start a wildfire,” stated the release. “Valuable resources are being diverted from the Slater Fire to help fight this new fire. Please remember the Klamath National Forest is closed temporarily due to extreme fire conditions.
You can still drive through the forest but you cannot get off the road.” Motorists are asked to be sure that safety chains between their tow vehicle and trailer are not dragging on the pavement and creating a shower of sparks. Check tire pressure, tire condition and wheel bearings to minimize the risk metal rims creating sparks. Motorists who need to make an emergency stop and must pull off the road are asked to be aware that hot catalytic converters can quickly ignite tall vegetation beneath a vehicle.
New wildfire detected in Klamath National Forest The World YREKA, CALIF. — A new wildfire was detected Sept. 14 in the Trinity Alps Wilderness about 6 miles southwest of Callahan, Calif., according to the U.S. Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Region, Klamath National Forest. The Fox Fire was estimated at 10 acres in size when identified by aircraft on Monday and is currently (Tuesday afternoon, Sept. 15) estimated to be 100 acres in size — due in large part to strong southwest winds, according to
DEAR ABBYBy Abigail Van Buren
Early lesson in social graces helps overcome initial shyness
DEAR ABBY: When I was a young adult, I had difficulty speaking with strangers. I recall, some years later, attending a party in honor of someone I truly admired. Most of the people there didn’t know each other. Someone had the bright idea for each of us to tell how we knew the honoree. We went around the circle describing our connection to the person. This not only kept the spotlight on the honoree, but it was a great icebreaker. I found myself interested in several of the folks there, and it gave me fodder to follow up with questions for them when we began to mingle. I learned a valuable lesson that night. Curiosity is wonderful, and as you have pointed out, people like to talk about themselves. Now when I’m in a room full of strangers, I find it easier to smile and ask, “How do you know Susie?” or, “What brings you to this event?” I am no longer shy about attending gatherings where I won’t know anyone. I actually like meeting new folks. Abby, thank you for your column and for offering your booklet that teaches people how to be more comfortable in social situations. I’m sure more than a few of your readers need it. -- MIXING AND MINGLING IN NAPA, CALIF. DEAR M AND M: You’re welcome. No one is born knowing how to be social. Social adeptness is a skill like any other. People don’t have to be brilliant or a laugh riot. Part of being social -- something you picked up on at that party -- is the importance of showing an interest in other people. A smile is an excellent icebreaker, and part of being charming is being a good listener. Of course, you should cultivate your own interests so you will have something to add to a conversation. My booklet “How To Be Popular” contains many useful tips for polishing social skills for
people of all ages -- how to approach others, what to say and what not to say. It can be ordered by sending your name and address, plus a check or money order for $8 (U.S. funds), to: Dear Abby Popularity Booklet, P.O. Box 447, Mount Morris, IL 61054-0447. Shipping and handling are included in the price. Good conversationalists prioritize what others have to say rather than feel pressured to fill the air with the sound of their own voices. And remember: Most people can focus on only one thing at a time. So forget about yourself and concentrate on the OTHER person. If you try it, you’ll find that it works like a charm. DEAR ABBY: Why does my boyfriend always expect me to help him with his home repairs when I don’t live there and don’t plan to for a long while? I live in my own house, and I don’t ask him to come help me fix a downed fence. How should I handle this situation? -FIXIN’ TO ARGUE IN TEXAS DEAR FIXIN’: Do not “argue.” If you prefer not to help your boyfriend with his home repairs, tell him you have other plans. (And if you don’t have any but don’t want to be conscripted, MAKE some.) ------------------------------Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Contact Dear Abby at www. DearAbby.com or P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069. What teens need to know about sex, drugs, AIDS and getting along with peers and parents is in “What Every Teen Should Know.” Send your name and mailing address, plus check or money order for $8 (U.S. funds) to: Dear Abby, Teen Booklet, P.O. Box 447, Mount Morris, IL 61054-0447. (Shipping and handling are included in the price.)
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Wildfire resources are running thin in West (AP) - Justin Silvera came off the fire lines in Northern California after a grueling 36 straight days battling wildfires and evacuating residents ahead of the flames. Before that, he and his crew had worked for 20 days, followed by a three-day break. Silvera, a 43-year-old battalion chief with Cal Fire, California’s state firefighting agency, said he’s lost track of the blazes he’s fought this year. He and his crew have sometimes been on duty for 64 hours at a stretch, their only rest coming in 20-minute catnaps. “I’ve been at this 23 years, and by far this is the worst I’ve seen,” Silvera said before bunking down at a motel for 24 hours. After working in Santa Cruz County, his next assignment was to head north to attack wildfires near the Oregon border. His exhaustion reflects the situation up and down the West Coast fire lines: This year’s blazes have taxed the human, mechanical and financial resources of the nation’s wildfire fighting forces to an extraordinary degree. And half of the fire season is yet to come. Heat, drought and a strategic decision to attack the flames early combined with the coro-
navirus to put a historically heavy burden on fire teams. “There’s never enough resources,” said Silvera, one of nearly 17,000 firefighters in California. “Typically with Cal Fire we’re able to attack — air tankers, choppers, dozers. We’re good at doing that. But these conditions in the field, the drought, the wind, this stuff is just taking off. We can’t contain one before another erupts.” Washington State Forester George Geissler says there are hundreds of unfulfilled requests for help throughout the West. Agencies are constantly seeking firefighters, aircraft, engines and support personnel. Fire crews have been summoned from at least nine states and other countries, including Canada and Israel. Hundreds of agreements for agencies to offer mutual assistance have been maxed out at the federal, state and local levels, he said. “We know that there’s really nothing left in the bucket,” Geissler said. “Our sister agencies to the south in California and Oregon are really struggling.” Demand for firefighting resources has been high since mid-August, when fire officials bumped the national preparedness
level to critical, meaning at least 80% of crews were already committed to fighting fires, and there were few personnel and little equipment to spare. Because of the extreme fire behavior, “you can’t say for sure having more resources would make a difference,” said Carrie Bilbao, a spokesperson for the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise. Andy Stahl, a forester who runs Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics, an advocacy group in Oregon, said it would have been impossible to stop some of the most destructive blazes, a task he compared to “dropping a bucket of water on an atomic bomb.” But Stahl contends the damage could have been less if government agencies were not so keen to put out every blaze. By stamping out smaller fires and those that ignite during wetter months, Stahl said officials have allowed fuels to build up, setting the stage for bigger fires during times of drought and hot, windy weather. That’s been exacerbated this year by the coronavirus pandemic, which prompted U.S. Forest Service Chief Vickie Christiansen to issue a directive in June to fight all fires aggressively, reversing
a decades-long trend of allowing some to burn. The idea was to minimize large concentrations of firefighters by extinguishing blazes quickly. Fighting the flames from the air was key to the strategy, with 35 air tankers and 200 helicopters being used, Forest Service spokesperson Kaari Carpenter said. Yet by Aug. 30, following the deaths of some firefighters, including four aviators, and several close calls, fire officials in Boise warned that long-term fatigue was setting in. They called for a “tactical pause” so fire commanders could reinforce safe practices. Tim Ingalsbee, a member of the advocacy group Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics and Ecology, said the June directive from Christiansen returned the forest service to a mindset prevalent for much of the last century that focused on putting out fires as quickly as possible. He said allowing more fires to burn when they are not threatening life or property would free up firefighters for the most dangerous blazes. With no end in sight to the pandemic, Ingalsbee worried the focus on aggressively attacking every fire could prove lasting. “More crews, more air
tankers, more engines and dozers still can’t overcome this powerful force of nature,” he said. “The crews are beat up and fatigued and spread thin, and we’re barely halfway through the traditional fire season.” Cal Fire’s roughly 8,000 personnel have been fighting blazes from the Oregon border to the Mexico border, repeatedly bouncing from blaze to blaze, said Tim Edwards, president of the union for Cal Fire, the nation’s second largest firefighting agency. “We’re battle-hardened, but it seems year after year, it gets tougher, and at some point in time we won’t be able to cope. We’ll reach a breaking point,” said Edwards, a 25-year veteran. The immediate dangers of the fires are compounded by worries about COVID in camp and at home. Firefighters “see all this destruction and the fatigue, and then they’re getting those calls from home, where their families are dealing with school and child care because of COVID. It’s stressing them out, and we have to keep their heads in the game,” he said. COVID also has limited the state’s use of inmate fire crews — either because of early
inmate releases to prevent outbreaks in prisons or because many are under quarantine in those prisons, both Berland and Geissler said. Aside from the human toll, the conflagrations in Colorado and Utah, New Mexico and Arizona, and now California and the Pacific Northwest have cost hundreds of millions of dollars. California alone has spent $529 million since July 1 on wildfires, said Daniel Berlant, assistant deputy director of Cal Fire. By comparison, the state spent $691 million the entire fiscal year that ended June 30. The U.S. government will reimburse most state costs for the biggest disasters. Back in the field, Silvera and his crew saved two people at the beginning of their 26-day duty tour. The two hikers encountered the crew after the firefighters themselves were briefly trapped while trying to save the headquarters building at Big Basin Redwoods State Park. “We got in a bad spot, and there were a few hours there we didn’t know if we’d make it,” Silvera said. “Those people found us, and we wouldn’t have been in there.” “That’s what you sign up for.”
WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government outlined a sweeping plan Wednesday to make vaccines for COVID-19 available for free to all Americans, assuming a safe and effective shot is established and widely accepted though polls show skepticism remains across America. In a report to Congress and an accompanying “playbook” for states and localities, federal health agencies and the Defense Department sketched out complex plans for a vaccination campaign to begin gradually in January or even later this year, eventually ramping up to reach any American who wants a shot. The Pentagon is involved with the distribution of vaccines, but civilian health workers would be the ones giving shots. The campaign is “much larger in scope and complexity than seasonal influenza or other previous outbreak-related vaccination responses,” says the playbook for states from the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention. Although President Donald Trump asserted Tuesday in an ABC News town hall that a vaccine could be three to four weeks away, officials made it clear to reporters on a call Wednesday that widespread availability would take months. Among the highlights of the plan: — For most vaccines, people will need two doses, 21 to 28 days apart. Double-dose vaccines will have to come from the same drugmaker. There could be several vaccines from different manufacturers approved and available. — Vaccination of the U.S. population won’t be a sprint but a marathon. Initially there may be a limited supply of vaccines, and the focus will be on protecting health workers, other essential employees, and people in vulnerable groups. “Early in (the) COVID-19 vaccination program there may be a limited supply of vaccine and vaccine efforts may focus on those critical to
the response, providing direct care and maintaining societal functions, as well as those at highest risk for developing severe illness,” CDC Director Robert Redfield said . A second and third phase would expand vaccination to the entire population. — The vaccine itself will be free of charge, thanks to billions of dollars in taxpayer funding approved by Congress and allocated by the Trump administration. The goal is that patients won’t be separately charged for administration of their shots, and officials say they are working to ensure that’s the case for all Medicare recipients and uninsured people as well those covered by insurance at their jobs. — States and local communities will need to devise precise plans for receiving and locally distributing vaccines, some of which will require special handling such as refrigeration or freezing. States and cities have a month to submit plans. — A massive informa-
tion technology effort will be needed to track who is getting which vaccines and when, and the key challenge involves getting multiple public and private databases to link with each other. Some of the broad components of the federal plan have already been discussed, but Wednesday’s reports attempt to put the key details into a comprehensive framework. Distribution is under the umbrella of Operation Warp Speed, a White House-backed initiative to have vaccines ready to ship in 24 hours from when a version is given emergency use approval by the Food and Drug Administration. Several formulations are undergoing final trials. But the whole enterprise is facing public skepticism. Only about half of Americans said they’d get vaccinated in an Associated Press poll taken in May. Of those who said they wouldn’t get vaccinated, the overwhelming majority said they were worried about safety. To effectively protect the nation from the
coronavirus, experts say 70% to 90% of Americans must either be vaccinated or have their own immunity from fighting off COVID-19. Since the poll, questions have only mounted about whether the government is trying to rush treatments and vaccines to help President Donald Trump’s reelection chances. Before the Republican National Convention in August, the FDA granted authorization for treatment of COVID-19 patients with plasma from people who have recovered, even though some government scientists were not convinced the clinical evidence was sufficiently strong. And last week it was reported that Michael Caputo, a Health and Human Services Department political appointee, tried to gain editorial control over a weekly scientific report from the CDC. As public confidence in core health agencies has taken a beating, Trump administration officials have been forced to play
defense. “We are working closely with our state and local public health partners ... to ensure that Americans can receive the vaccine as soon as possible and vaccinate with confidence,” HHS Secretary Alex Azar said in a statement Wednesday. “Americans should know that the vaccine development process is being driven completely by science and the data.” That could be a tough sell. In the AP poll, 1 in 5 Americans said they would not get a coronavirus vaccine, and 31% said they were unsure. Uncertainty is also an issue for the hundreds of federal health care and military officials working on the vaccination program. For example, such basics as the effectiveness of the eventual vaccines are still unknown. The FDA has set a threshold of 50% effectiveness for approving a COVID-19 vaccine. “We’re dealing in a world of great uncertainty,” said Paul Mango, a top HHS official working on the vaccine plan.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Months after the police killing of Breonna Taylor thrust her name to the forefront of a national reckoning on race, the city of Louisville agreed to pay the Black woman’s family $12 million and reform police practices as part of a settlement announced Tuesday. But Taylor’s mother and others who have taken up her cause said much more must be done to right the wrongs of racial injustice in America. “Please continue to say her name,” Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer, declared at an emotional news conference, evoking the call that has become a national refrain for those outraged by the shooting and police violence. Taylor’s death sparked months of protests in Louisville and calls nationwide for the officers to be criminally charged. The state’s attorney general, Daniel Cameron, is investigating police actions in the March 13 fatal shooting. “I cannot begin to imagine Ms. Palmer’s pain, and I am deeply, deeply sorry
for Breonna’s death,” said Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer in announcing the terms of the lawsuit settlement. Standing nearby as the mayor spoke, Palmer said the police reforms were not enough. “We must not lose focus on what the real job is, and with that being said, it’s time to move forward with the criminal charges, because she deserves that and much more,” Palmer said. “As significant as today is, it’s only the beginning of getting full justice for Breonna.” The lawsuit, filed by Palmer in April, accused police of using flawed information when they obtained a “no-knock” warrant to enter the 26-year-old woman’s apartment. Taylor and her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, were roused from bed by police, and Walker said he fired once at the officers, thinking they were intruders. Investigators say police were returning fire when they shot Taylor several times. No drugs were found at her home. Dissatisfaction with
the settlement extended to “Injustice Square” in downtown Louisville, where demonstrators have gathered daily for 113 days, demanding justice for Taylor. Some who listened to the announcement over a loudspeaker near a memorial for Taylor said the price for a life seemed low, the promised reforms too little and too late. “It’s just not enough,” said Holly McGlawn, who noted how much Taylor might have made had she lived. She was young, she could have worked for another 40 or 50 years, she said. “You can’t put a price on a Black woman being able to sleep at night and know she’s not going to get murdered,” McGlawn said. “Justice delayed is justice denied. There was a better way to handle this,” agreed Shameka Parrish-Wright who has been part of the daily demonstrations where the city often faced peaceful protesters with force. “I’m hearing apologies now that should have happened early on.” Palmer left the news
conference with one of her attorneys, Ben Crump, and met with protesters at the nearby park. She surveyed the original art of her daughter, prayed and wiped away tears. She had just two words to say: “Pressure applied,” a saying her daughter often used as an emergency medical tech. Crump said the $12 million payout is the largest such settlement given out for a Black woman killed by police. The settlement, “sets a precedent for Black people,” he said. “When (police) kill us we expect full justice. We expect justice for the civil rights that you took from this human being. And then we expect full justice from the criminal justice system.” In the time since Taylor’s shooting, her death — along with George Floyd and others — has become a rallying cry for protesters seeking a reckoning on racial justice and police reform. High-profile celebrities like Oprah Winfrey and LeBron James have called for the officers to be charged in Taylor’s death.
Palmer’s lawsuit accuses three Louisville police officers of blindly firing into Taylor’s apartment the night of the raid, striking Taylor several times. One of the officers, Jonathan Mattingly, went into the home after the door was broken down and was struck in the leg by the gunshot from Walker. The warrant was one of five issued in a wide-ranging investigation of a drug trafficking suspect who was a former boyfriend of Taylor’s. That man, Jamarcus Glover, was arrested at a different location about 10 miles (16 kilometers) away from Taylor’s apartment on the same evening. The settlement includes reforms on how warrants are handled by police, Mayor Fischer said. Other reforms seek to build stronger community connections by establishing a housing credit program to encourage officers to live in certain low-income areas in the city. Officers will also be encouraged to perform two paid hours of volunteer work every two weeks in the communities where
they serve. The city will also track police use-offorce incidents and citizen complaints. The city has already taken some other reform measures, including passing a law named for Taylor that bans the use of the no-knock warrants. Police typically use them in drug cases over concern that evidence could be destroyed if they announce their arrival. Fischer fired former police chief Steve Conrad in June and last week named Yvette Gentry, a former deputy chief, as the new interim police chief. Gentry would be the first Black woman to lead the force of about 1,200 sworn officers. The department has also fired Brett Hankison, one of the three officers who fired shots at Taylor’s apartment that night. Hankison is appealing the dismissal. The largest settlement previously paid in a Louisville police misconduct case was $8.5 million in 2012, to a man who spent nine years in prison for a crime he did not commit, according to news reports.
US outlines plan to provide free COVID-19 vaccines
Louisville to pay $12 million to Brionna Taylor’s family
eEdition
FOUR-DAY FORECAST FOR NORTH BEND TONIGHT THURSDAY FRIDAY
Low clouds
Times of clouds and sun
LOW: 56° 65° LOCAL ALMANAC
65°
Yesterday Year to date Last year to date Normal year to date
SUN AND MOON
First
Halsey
60/69
Florence Reedsport
57/62
59/66
Elkton
Last
Yesterday
Astoria Burns Brookings Corvallis Eugene Klamath Falls La Grande Medford Newport Pendleton Portland Redmond Roseburg Salem The Dalles
Bandon
65/55/r 90/39/pc 65/56/pc 72/52/t 70/56/t 76/44/pc 90/50/pc 74/56/pc 61/52/c 85/60/pc 74/61/t 80/49/pc 70/57/sh 78/56/r 83/61/c
REGIONAL FORECASTS South Coast Tonight Thu.
57°
65°
Curry Co. Coast Tonight Thu.
58°
63°
59°
74°
57/71
70°
-10s
Beaver Marsh
43/76
59/74
Thursday ft.
Low
7.5 7.1 8.1 7.7 7.8 7.4 7.0 6.6 7.3 --7.8 7.4 7.6 7.0
6:39 a.m. 6:57 p.m. 6:37 a.m. 6:55 p.m. 8:05 a.m. 8:23 p.m. 7:35 a.m. 7:53 p.m. 6:20 a.m. 6:35 p.m. 7:50 a.m. 8:09 p.m. 6:53 a.m. 7:07 p.m.
ft.
-0.8 0.4 -0.8 0.5 -0.7 0.4 -0.6 0.4 -0.6 0.9 -0.3 0.6 -0.7 0.5
63°
74°
Friday
High
ft.
Low
12:58 a.m. 1:33 p.m. 1:03 a.m. 1:38 p.m. 2:29 a.m. 3:04 p.m. 1:47 a.m. 2:22 p.m. 12:38 a.m. 1:16 p.m. 2:11 a.m. 2:42 p.m. 1:12 a.m. 1:46 p.m.
7.5 7.4 8.1 8.1 7.8 7.8 7.0 7.0 7.8 7.7 7.8 7.8 7.6 7.4
7:19 a.m. 7:44 p.m. 7:17 a.m. 7:42 p.m. 8:45 a.m. 9:10 p.m. 8:15 a.m. 8:40 p.m. 6:59 a.m. 7:23 p.m. 8:33 a.m. 8:58 p.m. 7:32 a.m. 7:55 p.m.
North Coast Tonight Thu.
58°
65°
0s
Snow
10s
NATIONAL CITIES
Klamath Falls
Medford 57/72
-0s
Showers
Flurries
20s
30s
Ice
Cold Front
40s
National high: 111° at Death Valley, CA
56/74
Ashland
Rain
50s
60s
Warm Front 70s
80s
Stationary Front
90s
100s
110s
NATIONAL EXTREMES YESTERDAY (for the 48 contiguous states)
45/75
Butte Falls
Willamette Valley Portland Area Tonight Thu. Tonight Thu.
59°
T-storms
Chiloquin
59/75
High
Shown are tomorrow’s noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
45/74
Toketee Falls
46/74
Gold Hill Grants Pass
47/78
Crescent
61/73
Powers
12:07 a.m. 12:56 p.m. Charleston 12:12 a.m. 1:01 p.m. Coos Bay 1:38 a.m. 2:27 p.m. Florence 12:56 a.m. 1:45 p.m. Port Orford 12:41 p.m. --Reedsport 1:19 a.m. 2:03 p.m. Half Moon Bay 12:22 a.m. 1:10 p.m.
Rogue Valley Tonight Thu.
La Pine
Canyonville
TIDES
70/59 86/37 71/52 78/56 77/57 86/37 80/47 85/49 70/61 80/54 75/60 85/44 79/54 76/55 77/55
48/78
Oakridge
62/77
Location
51/78
Sunriver
60/68
60/70
Port Orford
58/63
Thu.
Bend
57/72
Coquille
60/64
52/79
60/69
Roseburg
59/69
Hi/Lo Prec. Hi/Lo/W
0.22 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.01 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
51°
Sisters
Springfield
61/70
61/73
Oct 9
OREGON CITIES
65°
Oakland
56/65 58/64
7:25 p.m. 6:59 a.m. 7:03 a.m. 8:01 p.m.
Oct 1
52°
Cottage Grove
59/68
61/68
Coos Bay / North Bend
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2020
City
59/70
Drain
Gold Beach Sep 17 Sep 23
Mostly sunny
65°
Bandon
Full
Times of clouds and sun
Eugene
0.00" 28.02" 42.82" 38.12"
Sunset tonight Sunrise tomorrow Moonrise tomorrow Moonset tomorrow
SUNDAY
55°
Yachats
73°/58° 65°/50° 78° in 1991 41° in 1969
PRECIPITATION
SATURDAY
Shown is tomorrow’s weather. Temperatures are tonight’s lows and tomorrow’s highs.
56/61
High/low Normal high/low Record high Record low
New
Clouds and sun, showers around
54°
North Bend Tuesday
TEMPERATURE
NATIONAL FORECAST
ft.
-0.5 -0.1 -0.5 -0.1 -0.5 -0.1 -0.4 -0.1 -0.3 0.3 -0.1 0.1 -0.4 0.0
Central Oregon Tonight Thu.
48°
80°
Thu.
Fri.
National low: 25° at Angel Fire, NM
Thu.
City
Hi/Lo/W
Hi/Lo/W
City
Hi/Lo/W
Albuquerque Anchorage Atlanta Atlantic City Austin Baltimore Billings Birmingham Boise Boston Buffalo Burlington, VT Caribou, ME Casper Charleston, SC Charleston, WV Charlotte, NC Cheyenne Chicago Cincinnati Cleveland Colorado Spgs Columbus, OH Concord, NH Dallas Dayton Daytona Beach Denver Des Moines Detroit El Paso Fairbanks
83/55/s 56/48/sh 75/68/r 79/65/pc 88/70/t 80/62/pc 83/51/s 80/66/r 95/61/s 79/55/pc 65/47/c 61/40/r 60/32/c 84/47/s 84/73/r 80/57/c 73/66/r 84/50/s 67/52/pc 78/53/c 66/52/c 82/53/s 73/51/c 75/47/c 86/68/t 73/48/c 90/76/t 88/56/s 72/53/s 67/45/s 89/63/s 62/44/c
83/58/s 57/47/sh 78/64/c 69/56/c 88/66/t 70/52/pc 85/59/s 81/64/c 81/54/s 62/49/c 61/43/pc 60/39/s 58/33/pc 87/54/pc 82/65/t 70/47/c 73/58/r 83/56/s 62/50/pc 68/48/s 61/45/pc 84/55/pc 66/45/s 65/36/pc 86/62/pc 67/44/s 89/73/t 89/60/pc 66/51/s 61/44/pc 84/62/s 57/42/c
Fargo Flagstaff Fresno Green Bay Hartford, CT Helena Honolulu Houston Indianapolis Kansas City Key West Las Vegas Lexington Little Rock Los Angeles Louisville Madison Memphis Miami Milwaukee Minneapolis Missoula Nashville New Orleans New York City Norfolk, VA Oklahoma City Olympia, WA Omaha Orlando Philadelphia Phoenix
59/40/pc 82/45/s 84/64/pc 62/38/s 80/53/pc 85/51/s 89/75/pc 90/73/t 72/48/c 76/54/s 90/82/pc 103/79/pc 81/54/c 87/67/c 90/68/pc 83/56/c 64/42/pc 85/67/pc 90/78/pc 62/51/pc 61/45/pc 88/49/pc 85/62/c 88/78/c 79/58/pc 78/70/r 82/58/pc 74/56/c 75/55/s 90/76/t 81/62/pc 109/81/s
Fri.
Hi/Lo/W
65/47/s 79/47/pc 82/59/pc 59/40/s 66/42/c 87/56/s 89/77/s 88/69/t 67/47/s 73/53/pc 90/81/pc 102/77/pc 69/47/pc 80/58/pc 91/67/pc 71/51/s 60/42/s 78/59/pc 90/78/pc 58/49/pc 62/48/s 84/54/s 75/54/pc 86/73/c 68/52/c 74/65/r 81/56/s 67/54/sh 71/55/pc 90/75/t 70/52/c 106/80/s
Thu.
Fri.
City
Hi/Lo/W
Hi/Lo/W
Pittsburgh Pocatello Portland, ME Providence Raleigh Rapid City Redding Reno Richmond, VA Sacramento St. Louis Salt Lake City San Angelo San Diego San Francisco San Jose Santa Fe Seattle Sioux Falls Spokane Springfield, IL Springfield, MA Syracuse Tampa Toledo Trenton Tucson Tulsa Washington, DC W. Palm Beach Wichita Wilmington, DE
74/50/c 92/53/s 75/47/pc 78/56/c 74/65/r 79/44/pc 88/57/pc 88/52/pc 76/64/r 86/59/pc 80/54/pc 94/69/s 85/62/t 84/66/pc 73/61/pc 77/60/pc 81/47/s 74/58/c 70/52/c 89/57/pc 76/49/pc 79/51/c 65/42/c 88/80/pc 69/46/c 79/57/pc 102/73/s 84/58/pc 78/63/c 90/77/pc 82/55/s 79/60/pc
66/41/pc 86/53/pc 63/43/pc 63/47/c 70/56/r 77/49/pc 80/56/pc 78/44/pc 70/54/r 81/56/pc 73/53/s 90/62/pc 84/59/pc 84/67/pc 72/59/pc 75/59/pc 82/49/s 65/58/sh 67/54/pc 76/53/pc 69/45/pc 65/41/c 61/38/s 87/76/t 64/44/s 69/47/c 99/72/s 82/58/s 72/53/pc 91/77/pc 82/57/s 71/50/c
Weather (W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain, sf-snow flurries, sn-snow, i-ice, Prec.-precipitation.
National Guard and Emergency Management
Major General Mike Stencel said Monday that by the end of day on Monday, Sept. 14, the National Guard should have over 700 members mobilized for response efforts. Additionally by the end of the week, Stencel expects to have well over 1,000 guardsmen on duty. Some 143 guardsmen have been at Traffic Control Points throughout Oregon, including in Lincoln County. Also, 11 aircrafts are in Oregon and available as they wait for the smoke to clear for examination. “As you can imagine, our pilots are pretty
frustrated waiting for this weather to lift,” Stencel said. “But we’re anxious and hopeful that we are going to be able to fly, most likely in southeast Oregon in the next 24 hours.” Director of the Office of Emergency Management Andrew Phelps spoke briefly about the fatality statistics and addressed rumors and rumor control surrounding the fires. “Rumors can cost lives,” Phelps said. “We’re relying on government entities, official government sources and our media partners to make sure accurate information is being conveyed responsibly.”
Wednesday, according to the poweroutage.us site. A curfew was imposed in Gulf Shores hours before the storm’s arrival. Florida officials shut down a section of Interstate 10 near Pensacola because of high winds. In Escambia County, Chief Sheriff’s Deputy Chip Simmons vowed to keep deputies out helping residents as long as possible. “The sheriff’s office will be there until we can no longer safely be out there, and then and only then will we pull our deputies in,” Simmons said late Tuesday. This for a storm that, during the weekend,
appeared to be headed for New Orleans, about 200 miles (320 kilometers) to the west. “Obviously this shows what we’ve known for a long time with storms — they are unpredictable,” Pensacola Mayor Grover Robinson IV said. National Hurricane Center forecaster Stacy Stewart said the rain will be “catastrophic and life-threatening” over portions of the Gulf Coast. The storm still had winds of 100 mph (155 kph) more than two hours after it reached land. Forecasters warned that heavy rainfall would continue into Thursday as the
storm moved inland over Alabama and into central Georgia, with the threat of serious flash flooding. “Sally has a characteristic that isn’t often seen and that’s a slow forward speed, and that’s going to exacerbate the flooding,” said Ed Rappaport, deputy director of the hurricane center. He likened the storm’s plodding pace to that of Hurricane Harvey, which swamped Houston in 2017. Sally’s effects were felt all along the northern Gulf Coast. Low-lying properties in southeastern Louisiana were swamped by the surge. Water covered Mississippi beaches and
parts of the highway that runs parallel to them. Two large casino boats broke loose from a dock where they were undergoing construction work in Alabama. In Orange Beach, Alabama, Chris Parks, a tourist from Nashua, New Hampshire, spent the night monitoring the storm and taking care of his infant child as the winds battered his family’s hotel room. Their return flight home was canceled, so they were stuck in Alabama until Friday. “I’m just glad we are together,” Parks said. “The wind is crazy. You can hear solid heavy objects blowing through the air and hitting the building.”
“From what I investigated, that’s all they were doing.” A second allegation in the TikTok video said that the same officer who allegedly pushed the woman was one of four officers to flash a “white power” hand sign — the commonly used “OK” hand sign which is used in some circles to indicate the initials “W-P,” for “white power” — to counterprotesters
during the day. “There’s no credible evidence to suggest or indicate that this allegation is true,” Hudgins said. As evidence, Hudgins showed the council a video taken by someone livestreaming the event, in which the person taking the video asks several police officers if they’d use the symbol in question. The officers say they didn’t, and give
their names to the person recording when asked. Several councilors peppered Hudgins with questions about his investigation, largely around possible objections to the investigation’s credibility — including Hodgins’ two decades as a police officer. During that time, Hudgins was acquitted of misconduct allegations and awarded $1.4 million in a subsequent lawsuit against
the department. Reference: https://www. seattlepi.com/seattlenews/ article/Oregon-officer-is-acquitted-of-misconduct-1059585.php https://democratherald.com/news/local/ hudgins-awarded-million/article_69b3371d69b2-5882-90000a0391869566.html “The only thing I have in this lifetime is my word, and my integrity,”
Hudgins told the council. Hudgins said he’s still preparing the formal report with his findings, but wanted to present an executive summary Tuesday because of the content and severity of the allegations. “I didn’t feel like this could wait for three more weeks to get on the agenda for (the October council meeting),” Hudgins said.
ballot measures, but rather a specific increase for each utility. Bandon resident Rob Taylor, founder of Coos County Watchdog, opposed the ballot measures.
“Most everyone wants clean water and the opposition to the ballot measures that increased the water and sewer fees had nothing to do with access to water,” Taylor said. “It was an opposition to the misappropriation of the city’s budget.” “The vote does prove
the city officials were wrong when they claimed the reason the city needed the rate-setting authority was because the voters would never give them an increase,” Taylor added. Mayor Mary Schamehorn, however, was thrilled with the margin of victory, saying it was a huge win
for the city. “I am elated with the vote, and I want to express my heartfelt appreciation for the majority of the voters who understood that the city could no longer continue to sell its water for less than it costs to produce,” Schamehorn said. “Even with the latest
rate increase, we will continue to have the lowest utility rates in the county. I know this will be a hardship for many in our community, and I feel for those of you on a fixed income who will be most impacted. But had we been able to set our own rates, like most every other utility
company in the country is able to do, our rates would be much higher today and in line with those of our neighboring communities.” “Again, I appreciate the support of those of you who took the time to vote and to support our ballot measures,” Schamehorn said.
Friday’s closing quotes: Stock Close Intel 50.00 Kroger 32.70 Microsoft 208.85 Nike 119.24
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is through it and we’ll only get through it together.” Fire Update Oregon Department of Forestry Fire Protection Director Doug Grafe once again gave an update on progress at the Monday press conference. Grafe said the state has passed the east wind event that rapidly moved fires across Oregon and they have had four days of good firefighting conditions and continue making progress. Although ODF was
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Kennon said. “But they are safe in their home, as soon as the water recedes, we will rescue them.” Street lights were knocked out in downtown Mobile, a city of about 190,000, where a stoplight snapped, swinging wildly on its cable. Trees were bent over as the rain blew sideways in the howling wind. In downtown Pensacola, car alarms went off, the flashing lights illuminating the floodwaters surrounding parked cars. Before sunrise, water
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assumed the officer knew she was pregnant because they’d spoken previously. The officers were engaging with the woman and other protesters and counterprotesters to prevent violence between the two, Hudgins said. “Their goal is to just separate,” Hudgins said.
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looking forward to forecasted rains early this week, Grafe said they’re now slated to fall sometime on Wednesday into Thursday. Unfortunately, these rains could bring thunder storms on east side of state, which could cause new fire starts. “It’s kind of a mixed bag relative to the weather, but overall, compared to what we dealt with, with the east winds, this gives us a lot of opportunity to make good progress,” Grafe said. Grafe said winds in south central Oregon could provide some challenges this week as well, but they are predicted to be relative-
ly consistent. Across the Oregon landscape, Grafe said they have made tremendous progress on establishing control lines on most fires throughout the state. On the coast, fire crews have held lines off the North Bank Lane Fire near Bandon in Coos County for four to five days, which has Grafe “feeling very comfortable on containment there.” At the Echo Mountain Complex, they are holding lines thanks to excellent work from crews. Positive work has also been happening at the Pike Fire in Tillamook County. “We’re holding lines on
all those fires on the coast, I’m very proud of the work,” Grafe said. “Absolutely immense amount of work, in four days, accomplished. That sets the stage relative to what we can accomplish in another five days.” Grafe credits their progress on the coordinated effort across all districts and communities. Lastly, Grafe made note of saying that as they begin to fly aviation crews for examination, the public must refrain from flying their own personal drones.
was up to the doors of Jordan Muse’s car outside the Pensacola hotel where her family took shelter after fleeing their mobile home a few miles away. The power failed early in the morning, making it too stuffy to sleep. Her 8-year-old son played with toys underneath the hotel room’s desk as Muse peered out the window, watching rain fly by in sheets. “The power trucks are the only ones above water, and they’re the biggest,” Muse said. “I can’t believe it got so bad. That’s why we came here.” Nearly a half-million homes and businesses had lost electricity by early
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Big Ten changes course and will play football RALPH D. RUSSO Associated Press
Big Ten is going to give fall football a shot after all. Less than five weeks after pushing football and other fall sports to spring in the name of player safety during the pandemic, the conference changed course Wednesday and said it plans to begin its season the weekend of Oct. 23-24. Each team will play eight games in eight weeks and the conference championship game will be held Dec. 19 — if all goes well. That should give the Big Ten an opportunity to compete for the national championship. The Big Ten said its Council of Presidents and Chancellors voted unanimously Tuesday to restart sports. The vote last month was 11-3 to postpone,
with Ohio State, Iowa and Nebraska voting against. The decision to play came after sharp pressure from coaches, players, parents and even President Donald Trump, all of them pushing for a Big Ten football season. The conference is home to a number of battleground states in the November election, and Trump swifly applauded the move in a tweet. The emergence of daily rapid-response COVID-19 testing, not available when university presidents and chancellors decided to pull the plug on the season, helped trigger a re-vote. The Big Ten said it will begin daily antigen testing of its athletes, coaches and staff on Sept. 30. Team positivity rates and population positivity rate thresholds will be used to determine whether teams must halt practice or play. The earliest an athlete
will be able to return to game competition would be 21 days following a COVID-19 positive diagnosis. “Everyone associated with the Big Ten should be very proud of the groundbreaking steps that are now being taken to better protect the health and safety of the student-athletes and surrounding communities,” said Dr. Jim Borchers, team physician for Ohio State. The Big Ten will take a bow, but the conference has been battered for a month. First-year Commissioner Kevin Warren was the main target, criticized for a lack of communication within the conference and not providing enough information to back the initial decision. The Big Ten postponed Aug. 11, indicating it would try to make up the season in the spring. But there was no plan in place. The Pac-12 followed the Big
Ten in postponing, but was far more detailed in its explanation and also had more obvious hurdles to clear. Half the Pac-12 schools are still operating under statewide restrictions that make it impossible for teams to practice. Meanwhile, as the Big Ten and Pac-12 bailed, the three other Power Five conferences forged ahead, along with three other major college football leagues. Games have started, with the Big 12 and Atlantic Coast Conference kicking off last week. The Southeastern Conference is scheduled to start playing games Sept. 26. Meanwhile, the Big Ten was on the sideline, with coaches struggling to explain to players why other teams could play but they could not. “We’re excited and we can’t wait to get started,” Michigan State linebacker Antjuan Simmons said.
In Nebraska, eight players had filed a lawsuit against the Big Ten over its decision to postpone. Glen Snodgrass, father of one of the players, Garrett Snodgrass, was teaching a class at York (Nebraska) High School when he received word of the reversal. “This is what a lot of people have been fighting pretty hard for,” he said. “I can’t say enough about those eight boys and what they had the courage to do. They worked their entire lives to get where they are, and they just wanted to play.” Nebraska was at the forefront in opposing the Big Ten’s original decision. The university had put out a joint statement from the school president, athletic director and coach Scott Frost expressing disappointment. Frost had also suggested Nebraska might look outside the Big Ten to play games.
Nuggets stun Clippers, face Lakers in West finals LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — Just about everyone had L.A. vs. L.A. written in for the Western Conference finals. Then along came the resilient Denver Nuggets, who crashed the party. Behind Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic, the Nuggets advanced to the conference finals for the first time since 2009. They will face LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers starting Friday in Game 1. But this was no ordinary road. The Nuggets fell behind 3-1 in their first-round series against Utah before bouncing back with three straight victories. Then they went down 3-1 to the Los Angeles Clippers in the second round before winning in Game 7 again. They made history, too, becoming the first NBA team to rally from a 3-1 series deficit twice in the same postseason. As expected, Denver is an underdog against the Lakers. Murray & Co. are used to it. “Everybody counts us out. It’s fun to silence everybody,” Murray said. “We love it.” The last time the Nuggets were in the conference finals they faced the Lakers as well, losing in six games. That squad was coached by George Karl and boasted Chauncey Billups and Carmelo Anthony. The Lakers were led by the late Kobe Bryant and would go on to win the NBA title over Orlando. This time, Denver features a play-making point guard in Murray and a center who thinks of himself as a point guard in Jokic.
Heat beat Celtics in East finals opener LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — Jayson Tatum thought he had a dunk to tie the game. Bam Adebayo had other ideas — and in the biggest moment of his young NBA career, Miami’s All-Star big man more than rose to the occasion. Jimmy Butler’s three-point play with 12 seconds left put Miami ahead for good, Adebayo finished it off with a stunning rejection of Tatum at the rim on the ensuing Boston possession, and the Heat struck first in the Eastern Conference finals with a 117-114 win in Game 1 on Tuesday night. “When you have great competition like this, you just have to make plays that you can’t even really explain,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “And that was Bam tonight.” The Heat were down by 13 in the opening minutes, down by 14 in the final quarter and felt like a bad call took the lead from them in the final seconds. They found a way in overtime, improving to an NBA-best 9-1 so far in these playoffs. Goran Dragic scored 29 points, Jae Crowder scored 22, Butler had 20 and Adebayo had 18. But even after a night when Butler made a go-ahead 3-pointer late in regulation and had the go-aheadCombined, they’ve helped the Nuggets go 6-0 in elimination games this postseason. Pressure doesn’t bother them. “It’s just fun, the journey,” Jokic said.
World Series will be entirely at Arlington NEW YORK (AP) — The World Series will be played entirely at the Texas Rangers’ new ballpark in Arlington, Texas, and Major League Baseball hopes fans can attend. The Division Series, League Championship Series and World Series all will be part of a bubble designed to minimize exposure to the coronavirus, which limited the regular season to a 60-game schedule for each club and caused 45 postponements. This will be the first World Series played entirely at one site since 1944, when the Cardinals beat the Browns 4-2 at Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis, where both teams shared the field. “The elimination of travel is obviously a positive because because it cuts exposure,” baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said in an interview with The Associated Press after Tuesday’s announcement. “Less interaction outside with the group that you’re looking to protect is a huge positive. It’s all about what the risk of interacting with the community is.” While MLB was pleased with the players’ response to protocols during the regular season, the bubble was preferred for the latter stages of the postseason, when there is little time available for rescheduling. After playing the entire regular season in empty ballparks, MLB hopes to be allowed to have
about 25% capacity for postseason games at Arlington, where total capacity is about 40,000. Manfred views the neutral-site World Series as a one-off, along with other innovations for 2020 that included runners at second to start extra innings and seven-inning doubleheaders. “It’s not something that we’re contemplating as a permanent change,” he said. Off days were eliminated for the Division Series and League Championship Series, which will stress pitching depth among starting rotations and bullpens. The two traditional off days were retained for the World Series. First-round best-of-three matchups in a postseason expanded from 10 to 16 teams this year will be held entirely at the higher-seeded clubs. The final eight teams will shift to bubble environments. The World Series will be at Globe Life Field in Arlington, a retractable roof stadium with artificial turf that opened this year adjacent to the Rangers’ old ballpark. The American League Championship Series will be at San Diego’s Petco Park, and the NLCS at Globe Life. The AL Division Series will be at San Diego and Los Angeles’ Dodger Stadium, and the NL Division Series at Globe Life and Houston’s Minute Maid Park.
for-good points again in overtime, he pointed at Adebayo for his favorite moment. “Bam. That seals the game for us,” Butler said. “I love how he does any and everything that you ask him to do. I really do. You ask him to pass the ball, he does that. Score, he does that. Come up with a huge defensive stop, block, he does that. He’s a huge part to our winning. I’ve been saying it all year long and I’ll repeat it again.” Kemba Walker’s basket with 23.2 seconds left in overtime put Boston up by one, before Butler muscled his way to the rim for a score while getting fouled by Tatum. The Celtics went to Tatum on the ensuing possession, only to watch him get denied by Adebayo. “He made a great play,” Tatum said. “That’s all it is. ... Can’t do anything about it.” Tatum scored 30 points for the Celtics, Marcus Smart had 26 points, Walker had 19 and Jaylen Brown added 17. The Celtics had been 156-1 since the shot-clock era started 65 years ago — winners of 92 straight — when leading by 12 or more points going into the fourth quarter of a playoff game. They’re 156-2 now. “This is an interesting team. We don’t have many superstars.” Actually, they have two burgeoning stars in Murray and Jokic. In the Game 7
win over the Clippers, Murray scored 40 points while Jokic finished with 16 points, 13 assists and 22 rebounds. The Nuggets are playing with an abundance of confidence, no matter the deficit. They were down by double digits in Games 5, 6 and 7 but came back to win each time. “We are not accepting that someone is better than us,” said Jokic, whose squad beat San Antonio last season in Game 7 before losing to Portland in seven games. “They really need to beat us and need to play much better than us. ... When we start playing for each other and you see the ball is flowing and the defense and everybody has everyone’s back, it’s really fun.” Denver certainly quieted the noise around the Clippers, who hoped the additions of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George would lead them to their first-ever conference finals — and beyond. But LA’s stars fell flat. “It hurts. It hurts. But we move on,” George said. “Year 1 together, first run together, of course we wanted to win this. But we’ve been very optimistic about us being together and building something going down the road.” After a quick celebration Tuesday — of the win and coach Michael Malone’s 49th birthday — the Nuggets will be ready to get back to business. “We know what we got,” Murray said. “We’re a top-four team in the league and we’re trying to push to be No. 1. ... We’ve got a squad that we believe in each other and know we can go out there and win it.”
Portland LPGA event shortened to 54 holes PORTLAND (AP) — The LPGA Tour’s Portland Classic set for this weekend has been reduced to 54 holes because of poor air quality caused by wildfires that have been burning across the West. The course and practice facilities at Columbia Edgewater Country Club remained closed Tuesday and Wednesday’s ProAM has been canceled. The air quality in Portland has been at dangerous levels because of the wildfires in Oregon, Wash-
ington and California. “Our meteorologist says that it is unlikely that air-quality conditions will improve before midday Thursday, and we cannot risk the health of our players, staff, volunteers, broadcast crew and others at the golf course,” LPGA Chief Tour Operations Officer Heather Daly-Donofrio said in a statement. “This is not a choice we made lightly, but we are confident that this is the right decision.” On Monday, Canadian
Brooke Henderson withdrew from the event because of the smoky conditions. Henderson, ranked No. 6 in the world, has won the Portland event twice. Eight of the world’s top 10 golfers were expected to play in the 49th edition of the Portland tournament. Hannah Green of Australia won the event last year. The Portland Classic was already scheduled to be played without fans this year because of the coronavirus.
Defending champ Bernal pulls out of Tour GRENOBLE, France (AP) — Defending Tour de France champion Egan Bernal has pulled out of the race ahead of a mammoth stage in the Alps, his Ineos Grenadiers team said Wednesday. Bernal had been struggling since last weekend’s stage in the Jura mountains, where he dropped more than seven minutes on the main contenders and slipped out of contention. Hampered by back pain, the 23-yearold rider lost more time during Tuesday’s first Alpine stage. Bernal was in 16th place, 19 minutes and four seconds behind race leader Primoz Roglic. “This is obviously not how I wanted my Tour de France to end, but I agree that it is the right decision for me in the circumstances,” Bernal said. “I have the
greatest respect for this race and I’m already looking forward to coming back in the years ahead.” Last year, Bernal became the first Colombian to win the Tour, and the youngest champion of the post-World War II era. His team said Bernal will try to recover as quickly as possible and redefine his goals for the rest of the season. Bernal’s withdrawal marked the end of Ineos’ dominance at cycling’s biggest event. The successful period started in 2012 with Bradley Wiggins’ victory, when the team was called Team Sky. The squad won seven of the last eight editions with four different riders, but its bestplaced rider this year is Richard Carapaz, who stood 14th ahead of Wednesday’s Stage 17. Arguably the toughest, the trek
features the Col de La Madeleine and the Col de La Loze, the Tour’s highest point this year at 2,304 meters. The traffic-free pass between the ski resorts of Meribel and Courchevel was opened to cyclists this year after a forest track was paved by local authorities. The last six kilometers of the climb are particularly difficult, with very steep sections and sharp turns. Lennard Kamna won the 16th stage, featuring five categorized climbs after pulling clear of a group of breakaway riders as the race entered the Alps on Tuesday. There was no significant change in the overall standings ahead of Wednesday’s mammoth summit finish in the high mountains as Roglic kept his 40-second lead over second-place Tadej Pogacar intact.