04/30/02 - Officials to Plan for Tsunami Hit
04/18/02 - City of Florence Receives Water Rights Permit
04/08/02 - Coos County Commissioner Recall
04/04/02 - Coos County to Sue on Snowy Plover Issue

12/29/01 - CFF Annual Report 2001

04/30/02 - Officials to Plan for Tsunami Hit -- Lincoln City Officials to plan for tsunami hit --  A two-day tsunami warning workshop gets under way today at the North Lincoln Fire and Rescue/Taft Station and will be followed Thursday afternoon by a two-hour meeting of the Joint Interim Uniform Tsunami Response Planning Task Force.

The task force was created by House Joint Resolution 56 of the 2001 Legislature, which was sponsored by state Sen. Bill Morrisette of Springfield and coastal Reps. Elaine Hopson of Tillamook and Joanne Verger of Coos Bay. Morrisette and Hopson are members of the nine-member task force.  The task force's charge is to study and make recommendations on the development of a uniform tsunami response system, including advanced planning, effective public education and development of safe evacuation routes.  The main focus of the work and planning is to minimize the loss of life and property damage in the event of a measurable earthquake and tsunami on the Oregon Coast.

Oregon laws enacted last year and in 1995 require schools, state and local agencies and large private employers to instruct and drill students and employees on emergency procedures such as those related to earthquakes and tsunamis.

On March 1, Gov. John Kitzhaber declared the period from March 15 to May 15 as Spring Earthquake and Tsunami Awareness Season. This week's workshop and 1 p.m. task force meeting are part of that observance.  A briefing paper prepared for Thursday's task force meeting notes that "scientific evidence indicates that Oregon is at risk  for much larger and potentially damaging earthquakes than the two experienced in 1993."

A distant tsunami, typically from Alaska, would take three to four hours to arrive in Oregon, the paper notes, but "a local tsunami generated off the Oregon Coast arrives in 15-30 minutes." The author also notes that "strong ground shaking is the evacuation notification" in the event of a local tsunami.

For more information on the workshop and/or task force meeting, write to Mark Darienzo, earthquake and tsunami program coordinator, at Oregon Emergency Management, 595 Court St., Salem, OR 97301, or phone (503) 379-2911, Ext. 237, or send a fax to (503) 588-1378, or e-mail mdarien@oem.state.or.us.  Source:  April 30, 2002, Register-Guard.

Also see:  Florence Tsunami Plans

Democrats, Republicans, Green Party members and conservatives converged at the North Bend
Public Library Sunday afternoon for a more than two-hour session, discussing discontent over county actions they feel have left them out of the local decision-making process.

The catalyst that brought the group together: Wednesday's unanimous decision to sign a contract
with the California-based nonprofit Pacific Legal Foundation and sue the federal government over
critical habitat designations for the Western snowy plover despite steady objections voiced during a public session last week.

Yet on Sunday, reasons submitted for proposing the ouster of the three-member board quickly spread to include a $560,000 decision to purchase a former fish-processing plant in Charleston, providing the financing for a private venture. The county apparently took the action March 14, after holding a hastily called emergency executive session.

"They're acting like CEOs of a business, not elected representatives," said John Jones, director of a
 religious-based camp near Bridge and one of more than two dozen people who spoke out in sharp opposition to the plover lawsuit during a commission meeting last week.

Jaye Bell, a rural county resident who has criticized DeMain, Whitty and Griffith for their roles in
bringing a lottery- and taxpayer-funded gas pipeline to the coast, said the recent plover decision does not necessarily represent her gripe with the commissioners. But Bell and others at the meeting
agreed that the group could unite behind a feeling that county commissioners have been indifferent to their concerns.

"We've all got enough reasons to do it for ourselves," Bell said of a recall. "They don't have to do it for your reasons, your reasons or yours. The recall itself is nondenominational."

The possible alliance of the groups didn't appear to come as surprise to some at the meeting, who
acknowledged feeling uneasy about following the paths set forth by commissioners who, they believe, are pushing personal agendas not in line with the county's best interests.

"We have differences that can be debated but we're not being represented and I think we can all
agree that we're not being represented," said North Bend resident Thomas Matosec, who spoke in
opposition to the plover lawsuit.

Upcoming primaries in May and the subsequent November elections make a recall of Whitty and
DeMain unlikely, since the two Democrats will be up for election. The group, instead, focused its
discussion on Griffith, who is in the middle of his first term and who has led the county's drive in the
plover action. A recall effort for the commissioner was largely supported by those at the meeting, in
part, some said, to send a message to any potential candidate that many have felt the board has not
represented all interests.

"A recall has a very chilling effect on anybody else that's running into office," said Bandon resident
Bobbie Stewart.  In addition, the group said it could attack Whitty and DeMain through a number of strategies in November and May, including running independent, third-party or write-in candidates for their positions. DeMain faces a challenger in the Democratic primary and Whitty is unopposed in her  primary. Several Republicans and an Independent also have filed.

Democrats and Green Party members acknowledged resentment of the representation provided by
the two Democrats on the Board of Commissioners. "There is a lot of disaffection in the county and some frustration with the Democratic Party," Stewart said.

There appeared to be some of the same from the Republican Party, as well. Wearing a "Go Gordon" Starr pin on his chest, Jim Mann, vice-chairman of the Coos County Republican Central Committee, said he wasn't opposed to a recall of Griffith, the sole Republican on the Board of Commissioners.

"I think you would even have Republican support," Mann told the group.

While Mann didn't vote in favor of a recall drive during a straw poll of the audience, he told the group a recall of Democrats DeMain and Whitty would be inconsequential due to the upcoming election and that a recall of Griffith would be more appropriate.

Following the meeting, Mann acknowledged frustrations with Griffith but wasn't specific.  "He's done some things some of us don't like," he said.

Mann and the Republican Central Committee signed a resolution opposing the commissioners during the past summer's heated debates regarding nuisance-abatement laws. The issue never came to a head after commissioners dropped their pursuit to tighten the existing laws.

Before filing a recall petition, the group must collect 3,583 valid signatures no later than 90 days after filing a prospective recall petition.

Coos County Pacific Green Party member Richard Knablin, who led the Sunday afternoon assembly, said he believed a recall election could be held by August if members begin the process in the upcoming weeks. North Bend resident Monica Schreiber coordinated the event, which drew more than 20 people who provided a constant ebb and flow into the small meeting room at the library.

The group is scheduled to meet again at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 16, in the large conference room at the North Bend Public Library. At the meeting, the group will discuss strategies for pursuing further actions. Subcommittees created to examine a potential recall of Griffith and to consider filing a friend of the court brief in opposition to the county's expected plover suit also will make reports on their progress.  Source:  4/8/02, The World Newspaper, by Andrew Sirocchi, Staff Writer  www.theworldlink.com

County commissioners say they just want the U.S. Fish and Wildlife agency to abide by its own rules in the Endangered Species Act and complete an economic impact analysis of beach closures used to protect the endangered plover.  Three commissioners signed a memorandum of understanding Wednesday with the Pacific Legal Foundation, a nonprofit group that is representing the county pro bono.

If the county wins and the economic analysis shows the costs to protect the bird outweigh the benefits, the snowy plover could lose future protected areas, known as critical habitat, along Oregon's beaches.

Environmentalists claim it could set a precedent for the entire West Coast and they plan to intervene in the case.  "Coos County is going to become infamous," said Jim Britell, president of
the Kalmiopsis Audubon Society.

Several sections of beach, totaling 18 miles, between Florence and Brookings are closed for seven months each year during the plover nesting season. The areas are fenced off, but most have alternative access to the beach.  Commissioner John Griffith, who initiated the lawsuit proposal, said he thinks a plover recovery plan being developed by the Fish and Wildlife agency will close more beaches, which will further hurt Coos County economically.  Beach closure for the New Carissa, a ship that ran aground near Coos Bay in 1999, cost the county at least $435,000 in lost revenue from recreationalists, such as surfers and beach-combers, according to Coos
County.

Some residents complained Wednesday that the lawsuit would reinforce or instill an anti-environment image in Coos County that will chase away environmental tourists, such as bird watchers.   "Ultimately, we will come across as anti-plover, and there's talk of a boycott," said John Jones, who manages a religious campground in Coos County.  Griffith disputed that notion.  "If it has any effect, it would likely be positive in that we might be seen as a place that's tired of being rolled over by the federal government," Griffith said.  He solicited Curry County and the city of Florence to join the lawsuit, but they declined.

Environmentalists who attended the packed meeting said bird-watching guide companies in Lane County planned to boycott Coos County if commissioners approved the lawsuit.

A local bird-watching group, which sponsors the Oregon Shorebird Festival and uses the plover as a symbol, said the image could keep away some of the festival's 125 visitors.  "It's made us a laughing stock," said Barbara Griffin.

But several people who spoke in favor of the lawsuit backed the county's desire for federal accountability.  "The federal government is liable for its failure to abide by its own rules, which is not uncommon," said George Gant of Bandon.    Source:  4/4/02, The Oregonian, by Wendy Owen.  You can reach Wendy Owen at 541-751-0516 or by e-mail at wowennews@aol.com.
Also see:
03/20/02 - Florence Chamber of Commerce Tries to Stay Neutral
03/11/02 - Florence Chamber of Commerce Joining Lawsuit