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MIDWEEK EDITION

Tuesday December 31 2019

www.currypilot.com

SERVING CURRY COUNTY SINCE 1946

Brookings, Oregon

Coos Bay man dies in Curry truck crash Was reported missing on Sunday

O

A pickup truck driven by Chester “Paul” Mayer is winched up the hill after landing about 100 feet from where it left the Carpenterville Highway, or Oregon Route 255, between Brookings and Gold Beach. Photo by Rob Motluck.

County changes coming in 2020

Staff Report

regon State Police troopers and emergency personnel responded at 9:10 Monday morning to the report of a single-vehicle accident on Highway Route 255, known as the Carpenterville Highway, near milepost 361 between Brookings and Gold Beach. Officials said a preliminary investigation determined that a Ford F350 truck driven by Chester “Paul” Mayer, 50, of Coos Bay was northbound on Highway 255 when it failed

to negotiate a curve, crossed the southbound lane and left the roadway. Mayer sustained fatal injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene. Mayer was last seen leaving a residence in Brookings on Saturday evening. He was reported as a missing person to the Brookings Police Department on Sunday. The state patrol was assisted at the accident scene by the Curry County Sheriff’s Office, Brookings Police Department, Brookings Fire Department, Cal-Ore Ambulance, and the Oregon Department of Transportation.

Crab season is on

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he Board of Curry County Commissioners is looking ahead to a handful of customer service changes with the beginning of 2020. The biggest change will be new office hours, and a restructured Community Development Department. After some controversy earlier this fall, the commissioners set standard operating hours for all departments that have public traffic, and those departments that support county department operations. In November, the board unanimously agreed that county offices will be open to the public Monday through Friday, from 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Offices will close for lunch, but will be available by special appointment if the public cannot meet during regular business hours. The new hours take effect Jan 1. Additionally, after years of the county’s two main development departments being in separate locations, the Planning Department and the Building Safety Department have merged into one office space and a shared reception counter. The merged space provides for a customer to meet with both permitting divisions to discuss projects. And, said a county spokesperson, the new location allows a cost savings because of the shared reception staff. In other cost-saving

More County on Page A5

Crab boats are loaded with gear and heading out from the Port of Brookings Harbor to set their traps for the commercial season opening today. The season had been delayed at least twice. Photo by Grant Fraley.

Brookings butterflies going the distance M

A monarch butterfly adorns Holly Beyer’s hair. Photo courtesy Holly Beyer.

Linda Pinkham Staff Writer

onarchs from Brookings are making a big impression, as the butterflies are being counted in overwintering areas of California. The Brookings Oregon Monarch Advocates (BOMA) raise butterflies from eggs found in deliberately planted monarch butterfly “waystation” gardens. The eggs hatch into caterpillars, form cocoons, then emerge as monarch butterflies, which are tagged before being released. Of the 4,224 monarchs tagged and released in the Pacific Northwest, 2,901 (88.8%) were the offspring of Ovaltine, a butterfly that laid her eggs last July in Holly Beyer’s waystation in Brookings, according

to a Dec. 13 Facebook post on Monarch Butterflies in the Pacific Northwest. Of the tags recovered so far this year, 74% originated from the Brookings brood stock. The endangered butterflies have been closely monitored by the Pacific Northwest group since 2012. This is the second-highest yearly number since they began. “Without Ovaltine and Holly, we would have tagged only 1,323 monarchs in the (Pacific Northwest) this year, which would have been the lowest total since we began tagging,” according to the post. One of Beyer’s tagged male butterflies, G0927, was found at the Presidio park in San Francisco on Dec. 16, resting on a car More Butterflies on Page A4

Wising you a prosperous, healthy and amazing 2020. P258918pP1231

Happy Ne w Y e a r C omm un it y !

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