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TUESDAY, MAY 28, 2024

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Coquille High School hosted South Coast Chess Tournament For the World

A South Coast Chess Tournament to end the school year was held at the Coquille High School Library this weekend. The Coquille Chess tournaments are not just for Coquille as it has become more diverse with players coming from Sutherlin and Myrtle Creek as well as Coos Bay, North Bend, Myrtle Point and Port Orford. Several adults continue to challenge the scholastic players.

Winners of the May tournament were:

Hughes (North Bend), second place Malichai Florez (Coquille), third place: Bradly Oneslager (Myrtle Creek)

Advanced: first place Misha von Dassow (Coos Bay), second place Randy Smolensky (Myrtle Summer chess tournaments Creek), third place Jordan are planned to be played in the Florez (Coquille). parks of Bandon and Coquille with badminton, squirt guns Intermediate: First place tied and other outdoor fun can be between Matthew Bottoroff played between rounds. If you (Myrtle Point) and Jaxon would like to join competitive Williams (Myrtle Creek), third chess (any age, any skill level) place Skyler White-Ross (Port or get free group summer Orford) lessons to begin in July, contact Novice: First place Ruckus drnancykeller@yahoo.com.

Brookings student competed in the Baja Coos County Society of Automotive Engineers California Unofﬁcial Election Results announced by Secretary of State of Oregon

For the Pilot

Twenty-six students from Oregon Tech’s Baja Racing team traveled to Lebec, Cali., April 25-28 to compete in Baja Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) California, where students test their self-built off-road vehicle for performance and endurance. Ethan Warner of Brookings attended the event as part of Oregon Tech’s Baja Racing team. Warner is pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Manufacturing Engineering Tech at Oregon Tech. Baja SAE is a Collegiate Design Series competition run by SAE International. Oregon Tech finished No. 17 out of 61 teams from Canada, Mexico, India, and

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Censure of councilwoman Susanna Noordhoff invites scrutiny and reﬂection BY NATE SCHWARTZ The World

On April 29, 2024, the North Bend City Council voted to censure one of its members, Susanna Noordhoff, over allegations of workplace misconduct and her role in the creation of a negative work environment. The straw that broke the camel’s back in terms of starting this censure process came on August 8th, 2023, when Councilor Noordhoff accused City Manager David Milliron of covertly reading her e-mails. This was based on Milliron possessing information that Noordhoff was surprised he had, assuming he could have only gotten it through those means. The recipient of Noordhoff’s email had made a Facebook post referencing it.

The Council decided to conduct an investigative report on Noordhoff’s behavior as they viewed this incident as another in a line of code of conduct missteps and misdirected anger. The investigative report substantiated this incident as workplace misconduct, alongside seven other allegations. The details of those allegations are still a bit murky, however, as only a redacted version of the investigative report is available to the public. The parts of the report that are consistently redacted are the ‘ﬁndings’ related to each accusation. This leaves the reader with the context for each accusation but does not provide the investigators ﬁnal thoughts on those situations beyond seeing which allegations were ‘sustained’. This is not helped by the

‘Factual Summary’ of the report. This summary was given to Noordhoff and her legal representatives as opposed to the full report itself, which the District Attorney took issue with, requiring they release the investigative report, and stating that the factual summary did not give all of the information. “The DA also found that the summary that the City had previously provided in lieu of the report did not adequately describe the signiﬁcant facts contained in that report… Additionally, all of the investigator’s conclusions were redacted from the report we received,” stated Dennis Steinman, Noordhoff’s legal counsel. “While this was allowed by the DA’s order, it is troubling because the notice of this hearing repeatedly stated that the

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‘investigation revealed’ certain actions that purport to support the censure. With the investigator’s ﬁndings and conclusions redacted from the report we received, it is impossible for us to know what the investigation actually revealed or adequately respond the investigator’s reasoning.” Despite this, during the fateful session, Steinman addressed each of the eight accusations individually. The defense was relatively compelling, as the attorney gave an explanation as to why each individual incident was not, in isolation, worthy of censure. Or in some cases, expressed apologies on Noordhoff’s behalf, admitting some regret with how certain situations were handled. The mind of the council,

The unofficial election results have been released following voting for May, 21, 2024 Primary Elections. Of the 49,588 registered voters in Coos County, 18,318 cast their ballot in this cycle, which is a voter participation rate of 36.94%. Unofficially, Drew Farmer beat out incumbent Robert Main and the Fire Year Public Safety Levy went down at the ballot box. “Last night’s election results indicate the levy did not pass,” Sheriff Gabe Fabrizio said in a release. “We have definitely enjoyed and appreciated the support we have received from the community, but we understand the levy was untenable at this time.” So what happens now to the Sheriff’s and DA’s Offices? “We will continue to serve the county to the best of our ability with resources allocated to us,” Fabrizio added in the release. “We will be meeting soon to amend the budget, where the commissioners and civilian budget committee will have to decide how much Please see ELECTION Page 12

Please see CENSURE Page 4

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