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Serving Oregon’s South Coast Since 1878

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Coos Bay beefs up annexation regulations New By DAVID RUPKALVIS The World

The Coos Bay City Council voted unanimously to adopt an ordinance regulating how properties can be annexed into the city. The vote last week was the end of the process that has taken several months and was meant

to beef up the cities annexation regulations. Community Development Administrator Carolyn Johnson told the council the issue came up during a council work session in December, at which time the city council asked the Planning Commission to consider new annexation regulations.

“They were fairly lean and really didn’t provide a lot of direction or criteria,” Johnson said. The regulations adopted last week change that, requiring much more information from property owners interested in annexing into the city. “If and when folks wanted to annex property into the city, they

would be required to provide adequate information to the city,” Johnson said. “It dovetails nicely with the effort we’re undergoing for a housing needs update.” Johnson explained the housing update usually includes a look at annexation policies, and the city Please see ANNEXATION, Page A2

As prices rise, union protests stagnant wages

Photos by David Rupkalvis/The World

Members of Local 2784 hold an informational picket outside the Roseburg Forest Products chip plant in North Bend. The union is asking the company to share record profits with employees who are suffering due to inflation and high gas prices. Below, one sign tells the story of how pay at RFP is no longer among the best in the region.

Members ask for better pay as company records major profits By DAVID RUPKALVIS The World

Rising costs due to inflation and other reasons has made it difficult for anyone to make ends meet, especially if wages are stagnant. That is the message members of Local 2784 tried to send to Roseburg Forest Products last week when they held two informational pickets at Roseburg Forest Products’ locations in Coos County. On Thursday, more than 40 union members picketed in Coquille while more than 30 members came out early Saturday morning to send the same message at the RFP chip facility

in North Bend. Mike Napier, who led the pickets, said RFP is making record profits due to high lumber prices and it’s time for the company to take care of its employees. “As far as our wages go at the mil, we used to be three times minimum wage, and minimum wage is catching up to our wages,” Napier said. “Plywood prices and lumber prices have gone through the roof, and they have yet to off the employees any wage increases.” Napier said when he joined RFP years ago, a job in the mill was a dream job in Coos County. He said people would line up Please see PROTEST, Page A2

Spending bill returning millions to South Coast By DAVID RUPKALVIS The World

The omnibus spending bill recently signed into law by Pres. Joe Biden will deliver tens of millions of dollars to the South Coast, benefitting communities in Coos, Curry and Douglas counties. Many of the projects were spearheaded by Congressman Peter DeFazio and U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, who all voted in favor of the spending bill. The biggest funding element is $6.8 million for repairs to the Coos Bay North Jetty. After years of decline, the jetty has lost close to 200 feet, but a contract has already been approved to extend and stabilize the jetty. “The North Jetty, which maintains the safety of the Coos Bay bar crossing for mariners, has receded nearly 1,000 feet

File photo

Sentor Ron Wyden, above, and Senator Jeff Merkley worked to include fuding for several Southern Oregon projects in the 2022 spending bill recently singned by Pres. Joe Biden. from its original build design,” said John Burns, CEO of the Port of Coos Bay. “Senators Merkley and Wyden have championed funding to extend the jetty by approximately 150 to 200 feet and stabilize the head, trunk, and

root system. This is truly critical maritime infrastructure to maintain safety within the harbor, and to promote future commerce and economic development for the region and state. We are extremely grateful to Senators Merkley

Photo Gallery: Student art exhibit takes over Coos Art Museum

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and Wyden for their ongoing efforts.” Some other projects in Coos County include $231,000 for the Coos County emergency radio system, $1.3 million to the city

sub-variant could cause COVID scare By DAVID RUPKALVIS The World

A new variant of COVID-19 is beginning to cause concerns in Europe and China and could soon make its way into the United States. The BA.2 sub-variant of omicron is leading to increased cases in Europe, with Germany and England reporting 250,000 new cases daily due to the stealth sub-variant. Katrinka McReynolds with Coos Health & Wellness reported Thursday that the climbing cases around the globe will eventually make its way into the United States, likely in the next four to six weeks. “As usual, larger populations tend to see it first and Coos County is on the trickle down,” McReynolds said. “It gets to us a little later.” McReynolds reported Coos County had a new COVIDlinked death this week, an 88-year-old woman with underlying conditions. There were 45 new cases reported in the last week, with 112 active cases as of Thursday. Nine people were hospitalized Thursday. But overall, news on the pandemic locally was good as the mask mandate was lifted and cases counts remained low. McReynolds said from firsthand knowledge and what she is hearing, there has been little conflict since the mask mandate was removed. “We have a percentage of students who are still wearing it,” she said. “Just from personal experience being in stores, there’s a percentage who are still wearing them. I was in Safeway and I thought, wow, about half the people are still wearing a mask.” McReynolds said the key message right now is letting people decide individually whether they want to wear a mask or not. “I think that’s the important message at this point - now you can choose,” she said. ‘People who want to continue wearing masks are encouraged to do that. Those who were ready to take the masks off likely did so as soon as they heard the mandate was being lifted.” McReynolds said with the case count dropping and with most tests now being taken at home, Coos Health & Wellness has also changed its policy toward contact tracing and investigating cases. She said the only investigations ongoing now are in congregate care settings such as jails and senior living facilities. The key right now, McReynolds said, is to treat any illness as a serious one. “If you’re feeling sick, please don’t expose other people to it,” she said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s COVID, the flu or a head cold. No one likes feeling sick anyway.” McReynolds said with the new variant possibly coming this way, it is time to stock up on home tests to be ready. “We may see other variants coming out and we may see increased incidences of getting COVID,” she said. “Testing is available at all the chambers of commerce and also at libraries.

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