Issuu

Serving Oregon’s South Coast Since 1878

TUESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2025 |

theworldlink.com

Closure for the Neill family, as Joseph’s body is found “CCSO deputies quickly responded, meeting with the reporting party and discovered the The body of missing North safest access to the scene would Bend man, Joseph Neill has been require a boat,” a CCSO Facebook discovered in Haynes Inlet in Coos County, according to the Coos Couth post states. “With the help of the Clausen Oysters staff, they provided Sheriff’s Ofﬁce (CCSO). the deputies with transportation North Coos Dispatch received a to the scene utilizing one of their call at approximately 9:25 a.m. Jan. boats. Upon completion of the body 5, from the Clausen Oysters farm recovery, the Coos County Chief off North Bay Road of a possible Deputy Medical Examiner was deceased person found in Haynes requested to respond. After further Inlet. investigation, the decedent was The deceased person was identiﬁed as Joseph C. Neill.” reportedly found to be on the Neill had been missing since southern beach area of Haynes Inlet, Dec. 15, when his personal items east of the bridge of Highway 101, had been located on the railroad which is near the intersection of bridge which spans the Coos Bay North Bay Road, in North Bend. at Jordan Point, approximately STAFF REPORT

1.5 miles west of where Neill was located. A photographer and survivalist, Neill was out taking pictures of the king tides when he suspectedly fell. King tides can be particularly dangerous, especially during winter months when the water is frigid and an increase in sediment can make clothing heavier, let alone the increased strength of the current. The JoeStrong Facebook page, set up for bringing Neill home was replete with messages of love and support throughout the search. That support has continued, with the post See NEILL Continued on Page 3

Port update: bolstering anti-discrimination policy and community outreach on PCIP

State issues Wildﬁre Hazard Maps

BY NATE SCHWARTZ Editor

At the most recent meeting of the Port of Coos Bay Commissioners it was standing room only, and public comment took up nearly the entirety of the ﬁrst hour of the meeting. A number of locals, many of whom attended a community concern meeting in Empire (which The World covered last month) stepped up to voice their issues with the project. Though that is why the room was as full as it was, there was another concern among some attendees involving recent reports exposing that a long-time contractor with the Port was allegedly involved in White Nationalist groups. Contractor Trouble The meeting opened with Port Commission President Kyle Stevens speaking about bolstering the Port’s anti-discrimination policies and changing the leasing practices around purchases of publicly funded property. “There have been media reports recently, and I just want to make it very clear and on the record that there is no place for discrimination in our community. We remain committed to ensuring that any and all employees and contractors uphold the same commitment as part of our public mission… We’ve taken concrete steps and are continuing to take

BY JEREMY C. RUARK Country Media, Inc.

The statewide maps of wildfire hazard zones and the wildland-urban interface are complete and final versions are now available on the Oregon Explorer website. Notifications are being mailed to impacted property owners and should be expected to arrive over the next several days. The wildfire hazard map’s purposes are to: concrete steps to ensure fair inclusive and respectful work environment,” said Stevens. Those steps include introducing the Port’s ﬁrst Title VI non-discrimination policy, which includes a through complaint and investigation policy. It also meant halting any contracts or lease transfers until further updates could be drafted around those procedures. This action came as a response to an open letter to the Port, signed by local organizations like IBEW Local 932, the Sierra Club, and South Coast Health

Equity Coalition, urging the Port to reconsider the sale of Giddings Boatworks to Whit Industries. The Charleston-based hydraulic repair servicer is a contractor with the Port of Coos Bay and City of North Bend, among others, to the tune of over $300,000 dollars in public contracts. This sale and lease continuation would put Whit Industries in control of millions of dollars of publicly funded infrastructure. In the Fall, reports surfaced online about Whit Industries owner, Michael ‘Whit’

• Educate Oregon residents and property owners about the level of hazard where they live.

Gantenbein. These reports alleged ties to White Nationalist groups and presented captured audio and screenshots of the local White Lives Matter (a hate group according to the Southern Poverty Law Center) branch’s activities on the messaging app Telegram. This was paired with photos of an easily identiﬁable company work truck at Neo-Nazi events. Captured audio showed compelling evidence alleging

• Assist in prioritizing fire adaptation and mitigation resources for the most vulnerable locations. • Identify where defensible space standards and home hardening codes will apply. The statewide wildfire hazard map designates all of Oregon’s 1.9 million property tax lots into one of three wildfire hazard zones: low, moderate or high. It also identifies whether a tax lot is within boundaries of the wildlandurban interface. Properties that are in both a high hazard zone and within the wildland-urban interface will be prioritized for future wildfire risk mitigation resources and actions. To help protect these communities, future defensible space and homehardening building codes may apply to properties with both designations, according to a release from the Oregon Department of Forestry. All properties with both designations are receiving a certified mail packet informing them of the designations, outlining their appeal rights and explaining the appeal process, and explaining what the designation might mean for them and their property.

See PCIP Continued on Page 5

Sunset Bay ﬂoods, Cape Arago and Shore Acres closed to vehicle trafﬁc after land slide BY NATE SCHWARTZ Editor

Storms after New Years led to flooding at Sunset Bay State Park on Friday, January 3rd. Damage to the Cape Arago Highway has led to a closure to vehicle traffic heading toward Cape Arago and Shore Acres state parks, after a landslide undercut the highway making it too dangerous to be driven on. “The water was up to ankle level at 7:30 am when we came on. By about 10 o’clock we were starting to get to knee level,” said Lee Ricci, Park Manager at Sunset Bay, “Immediately in the morning we began evacuating the campground.” Flooding caused evacuation at the Sunset Bay campground around 8 a.m. on the 3rd, where 19 campsites had to be vacated. A preliminary timeline had Sunset Bay’s campground closed until January 9th. Further assessment of infrastructural damage is needed.

See WILDFIRE Continued on Page 3

See LANDSLIDE Continued on Page 16

FIND US ONLINE: TheWorldLink.com EMAIL US: WorldCirculation@CountryMedia.net CALL US: (541) 266-6047

Opinion

Sports

Classifieds

Calendar

Obituaries

Comics

facebook.com/theworldnewspaper

twitter.com/TheWorldLink

instagram.com/theworldlink