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Serving Oregon’s South Coast Since 1878

TUESDAY, JULY 22, 2025 |

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Opening up the Pit: Behind Coos Bay’s bourgeoning punk scene of punk spaces as rough-edged, spike adorned and insular groups, anyone who’s been One wouldn’t normally expect lucky enough to be a part of a small, conservative corner of those scenes will attest to just Oregon’s South Coast to be a how accepting, protective, and hot spot for travelling punk and righteous they can be. Especially metal bands. But thanks to the in an alienating time, with efforts of Rocky Harmon (42) spiking suicide rates for trans, and a passionate group of friends queer, and indigenous folks, and and volunteers, that scene has where communal spaces to be been materializing over the last yourself are at a premium, their two years. existence is more important than “There was nothing here. We ever. have like 6 or 7 cover bands that “We take care of each other. all play the same exact songs, Pick ‘em up when we fall,” said and they’re only at the bars. And Rocky. these kids around town were And Rocky knows this getting in so much trouble,” said ﬁrsthand, as he explained to me Rocky about what inspired him at So It Goes Coffeehouse on a to try his hand at organizing and Friday afternoon. The Las Vegas promoting shows. “And I just native is an old school punk, wanted to give them some music. complete with pink mohawk, and I wanted to see if I could pull a customary, well-loved denim one of these shows off. battle vest. Rocky knows the “This is for the kids scene intimately and knows how ultimately. Just a safe space for important it can be for at-risk them to call theirs.” youth. While the uninitiated think “I grew up in the scene. My BY NATE SCHWARTZ Editor

very ﬁrst show was in 1993, with NOFX and Face to Face. I’ve been punk rocking my entire life, since I was 8 years old,” said Rocky. “I grew up in a

rough way out there, but I made connections.” Starting back in the summer of 2023, Rocky began putting on shows that brought travelling

groups to an area that doesn’t make many tour schedules. See PUNK ROCK Continued on Page 3

An interview with the new chair of Bay Area Hospital Board: Simon Alonzo Jr. BY NATE SCHWARTZ Editor

Amidst a tumultuous time for rural hospitals across our nation, Bay Area Hospital (BAH) has been in an existential grapple. Declining insurance reimbursement rates, loss of services, and an (ironically) unhealthy general environment for healthcare in the United States led the 50-year independent hospital to the brink of defaulting on its loans and losing that independent status. In March, with the board and executive team desperate for funding options, they signed a letter of intent to enter negotiations with the private equity owned healthcare management ﬁrm Quorum Health. Which, pending those negotiations, was poised to complete a takeover of the hospital. While the board insisted that injection of capital was the only way to save a hospital that was hemorrhaging money, concerned community members worried that it would cease to be the same hospital in the ﬁrst place. Employees worried for their jobs, and regular patients for their critical services. This was the context that led into May’s elections for the BAH Board of Directors, where a coalition of four local candidates ran on the promise they would do everything they could to keep the hospital in the

hands of the community. And the community responded. Simon Alonzo Jr., Kyle Stevens, Brandon Saada, and Dr. Jon Uno ﬂipped four of the six seats on the board, and as of July 9, now represent a majority on the Board. They used that majority to elect Alonzo Jr as the new Chair. None of those aforementioned challenges have gone away. In fact, with the current administration’s new budget bill passing both houses of the legislature, government insurances will be seeing huge slashes in funding that will put rural hospitals in an even more precarious position. But, with new life on the Board, there is some optimism that a genuine local solution could be found. We caught up with new Chair of the Board Alonzo Jr to learn his background and get his perspective on the road that lies ahead. That interview in full can be found below: The World – First off, to get a little bit of background, could you tell me what your ties are to the South Coast? Simon Alonzo Jr. – “My family moved here when I was nine. We’ve lived in Coos County since then. I went to and graduated here from Marshﬁeld and went to SWOCC for a while and decided I was really in that entrepreneurial spirit, so I’ve been self-employed

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North Bend honors reserve ofﬁcer for 26 years of volunteer police service

since before I was 18. Over the years, I’ve been involved in several companies [my business partner and I] have owned. We own a company called Primal Investments that we started. It’s basically a small business and real estate investment company, so we buy or manage small businesses locally, and we buy and manage real estate here in town. We have a property management company, things like that. So, day-to-day, we’re really involved in leadership and operations, we have a team of about 45 or 50 between all of our avenues here. And, a couple years ago I decided I really wanted to be more involved in the community aspect of things, so I joined a couple of non-proﬁt boards. When the hospital came up, and I saw what was going on I decided it was something I wanted to help with and see if I could make a difference.” W – That was my next question, is what inspired you to run for the Board? Tuo join this sort of coalition of four members that ended up getting elected? SAJ – “So, two of the members I had actually never met before. I’d met Dr. Uno randomly at one point, and Kyle [Stevens] I’d met him through one of my companies a little bit. But I didn’t join with them, I didn’t come in and say ‘I’m running with

The North Bend City Council honored Reserve Police Officer Terry Lathrom for 26 years of volunteer service with the North Bend Police Department. Police Chief Cal Mitts praised Lathrom’s decadeslong commitment, calling his service “nothing short of extraordinary.” “It’s tough enough to be a police officer, but at least there’s a paycheck and benefits that go with that,” Mitts said. “As a reserve officer, you don’t get to enjoy those benefits. Yet Terry has put in nearly 27 years of dedicated service to this city, and I couldn’t think of anyone else who has given that much time as a reserve in this department.” Mitts noted that reserve officers undergo the same rigorous training and certifications as full-time officers. They wear the same uniform, carry the same equipment and often respond to emergencies on short notice, sometimes in the middle of the night. “The sacrifices made by Terry and his family over these many years are truly

you guys to overthrow the board’ or anything.

that I saw, and a need that I wanted to jump on.

I’m really big on showing up. You hear a lot of people talking about problems in the community, but they don’t want to step up and make a difference. And you hear rumors, and how things should have been, and I ﬁgured that a fresh perspective and a younger generation could maybe bring some different perspective to the table.

On the ﬂip side, as a business owner who really enjoys the South Coast and wants to continue developing there, and buying there, and living there, the hospital is one of our largest economic drivers to the region. It has 1100 employees. It produces so much for the local economy, so I didn’t want to see it fail. I wanted to be part of ﬁxing the problem.”

I really enjoy solving problems. And really, in my day-to-day, I do a lot of acquisition and problem solving, quick on your feet operations. I ﬁgured that this is something I’d be willing to take on, to help ﬁx. It was just a problem

W – With all four of you getting elected, and campaigning toward trying to ﬁnd that local

See 26 YEARS Continued on Page 5

See BAH INTERVIEW Continued on Page 3

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