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eEdition  SUNNY 69 • 54  |  MONDAY, JULY 13, 2020  |  theworldlink.com

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Coast Guard medevacs fisherman The World

NORTH BEND — A Coast Guard aircrew medically evacuated a 26-year-old man Saturday morning off the fishing vessel McKenzie Rose 100 miles west of Coos Bay. The fishing vessel’s captain used a marine radio to hail watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector North Bend at approximately 5:30 a.m. to report a member of the crew sustained a head injury and was in need of medical attention, according to a press relase from the U.S. Coast Guard, Astoria attachment. The McKenzie Rose began to transit toward shore to more quickly rendezvous with the Coast Guard MH-65 Dolphin helicopter aircrew, stated the release. A constant communication schedule was established between the sector and the fishing vessel. The aircrew hoisted the injured

fisherman shortly after noon and transported him to the Coast Guard airbase where his care was transferred to emergency medical services personnel. “Getting this man to emergency medical care was a coordinated effort between the McKenzie Rose crew and the Coast Guard,” said Petty Officer First Class Michael Halasz, Sector North Bend watchstander. “The teamwork greatly aided in the swift transport and treatment of the injured crew member.” The current condition of the man is unknown.

A Coast Guard aircrew medically evacuates a man from a fishing vessel operating 100 miles west of Coos Bay on Saturday, July 11. The aircrew hoisted the injured fisherman safely and transferred him to emergency medical services personnel. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Ben Loy

Bandon to ask voters for rate increases

Enjoying the sun at Laverne Park

AMY MOSS STRONG The World

less than 50 years, then you can do much more. ... The nice thing about space, it sets the standards really high.” Controlled from Dubai, the celestial weather station will strive for an exceptionally high Martian orbit of 13,670 miles by 27,340 miles (22,000 kilometers by 44,000 kilometers) to study the upper atmosphere and monitor climate change. China will be up next, with the flight of a rover and an orbiter sometime around July 23; Chinese officials aren’t divulging much. The mission is named Tianwen, or Questions for Heaven. NASA, meanwhile, is shooting for a launch on July 30 from Cape Canaveral. Perseverance is set to touch down in an ancient river delta and lake known as Jezero Crater, not quite as big as Florida’s Lake Okeechobee. China’s much smaller rover will aim for an easier, flatter target. To reach the surface, both spacecraft will have to plunge through Mars’ hazy red skies in

BANDON — The City of Bandon will ask voters in the Sept. 15 election to approve two rate increases — one for sewer and one for water. Both the city’s water and sewer rates fail to pay for the city’s costs of running those utilities, according to City Manager Dan Chandler. Between the two funds, this fiscal year’s shortage will be around $400,000. City city’s overall 2020-21 fiscal year budget is approximately $3.5 million less than last year’s budget. Chandler said the ballot measures are asking voters to approve an increase of $8 per month for water and $7 per month for sewer. Residents living outside city limits would see an increase of $11 in their water rate and $11 in their sewer rate. This would be a permanent increase. The base rate includes 2,000 gallons of water and covers 90% of customers most of the year. There are no proposed changes to the city’s electric rates. The city is prohibited from raising rates without voter approval. The city is not asking for rate-setting authority, as it has in past failed ballot measures. “The only place to make up the shortfall is from the city’s General Fund,” Chandler explained. “... It’s really the only place to make it up.” Chandler went on to explain that the city budget has a number of funds. The General Fund is the most flexible and comes from property taxes, utility taxes and lodging taxes. Other funds are for utilities, roads and other specific purposes. This year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent temporary closure of local lodging establishments, the city’s transient occupancy tax receipts are down significantly. Those TOT receipts make up 16% of the General Fund. “It is unlikely that Bandon will see anywhere near its normal tourist traffic this year,” Chandler said. “Lodging has been down around the state, even in jurisdictions where the hotels stayed open.” Bandon also has the lowest permanent tax rate in the state for cities with populations of 750 or more. The city’s police department is funded entirely out of the General Fund, and accounts for 40% of General Fund spending. The next largest category is Administra-

Please see Mars, Page A2

Please see Rates, Page A2

Amy Moss Strong, The World

A family enjoys the sun and water at Laverne County Park on Sunday, July 5. Laverne Park, a popular spot for camping and day use, consistes of 350 acres located on the North Fork of the Coquille River, approximately 15 miles north of Coquille on the Coquille-Fairview Road. The frequent 80 to 90 degree temperatures in the summer make swimming, picnicking, fishing, camping or playing a pleasure. The spacious day use area has three covered picnic shelters, softball fields, horseshoe pits, large barbecue grills and a developed swimming area. There is also a fort-like playground area. Hiking trails are nearby. The park is open year-round for RV or tent camping. Campsites are available for online reservations at www.co.coos.or.us. For group camping and to reserve day use shelters, contact the park’s reservation line, 541-396-7755.

3 different missions aim at Mars CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Mars is about to be invaded by planet Earth — big time. Three countries — the United States, China and the United Arab Emirates — are sending unmanned spacecraft to the red planet in quick succession beginning this week, in the most sweeping effort yet to seek signs of ancient microscopic life while scouting out the place for future astronauts. The U.S., for its part, is dispatching a six-wheeled rover the size of a car, named Perseverance, to collect rock samples that will be brought back to Earth for analysis in about a decade. “Right now, more than ever, that name is so important,” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said as preparations went on amid the coronavirus outbreak, which will keep the launch guest list to a minimum. Each spacecraft will travel more than 300 million miles (483 million kilometers) before reaching Mars next February. It takes six to seven months, at the minimum, for a spacecraft to loop out beyond Earth’s orbit and sync

up with Mars’ more distant orbit around the sun. Scientists want to know what Mars was like billions of years ago when it had rivers, lakes and oceans that may have allowed simple, tiny organisms to flourish before the planet morphed into the barren, wintry desert world it is today. “Trying to confirm that life existed on another planet, it’s a tall order. It has a very high burden of proof,” said Perseverance’s project scientist, Ken Farley of Caltech in Pasadena, California. The three nearly simultaneous launches are no coincidence: The timing is dictated by the opening of a one-month window in which Mars and Earth are in ideal alignment on the same side of the sun, which minimizes travel time and fuel use. Such a window opens only once every 26 months. Mars has long exerted a powerful hold on the imagination but has proved to be the graveyard for numerous missions. Spacecraft have blown up, burned up or crash-landed, with the casualty rate over the decades exceeding

50%. China’s last attempt, in collaboration with Russia in 2011, ended in failure. Only the U.S. has successfully put a spacecraft on Mars, doing it eight times, beginning with the twin Vikings in 1976. Two NASA landers are now operating there, InSight and Curiosity. Six other spacecraft are exploring the planet from orbit: three U.S., two European and one from India. The United Arab Emirates and China are looking to join the elite club. The UAE spacecraft, named Amal, which is Arabic for Hope, is an orbiter scheduled to rocket away from Japan on Wednesday, local time, on what will be the Arab world’s first interplanetary mission. The spacecraft, built in partnership with the University of Colorado Boulder, will arrive at Mars in the year the UAE marks the 50th anniversary of its founding. “The UAE wanted to send a very strong message to the Arab youth,” project manager Omran Sharaf said. “The message here is that if the UAE can reach Mars in


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