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Man wanted for attempted murder arrested in Eugene By DAVID RUPKALVIS The World
A man wanted for more than 20 charges in Coos County, including two counts of attempted murder, was arrested Monday in Eugene, but not before leading officers on a chase that lasted close to two hours. Leslie Clarence Bennett III was taken into custody in Eugene after running from officers who tried to arrest him on warrants from Coos County. After finding out where
Bennett was located in northwest Eugene, officers went to the area, but Bennett ran on foot, jumped into the Williamette River and began swimming downstream. He was able to swim to an island in the river, but jumped back into the water and tried to swim away when officers arrived by boat. While he was still in the water being followed by the boat, officers told Bennett he was under arrest, but he still refused to give up. Bennett was finally arrested in the water, several thousand feet
from where he first entered almost two hours after the chase began. He was taken into custody and will be returned to Coos County to face 24 charges, including the two counts of second-degree attempted murder, four counts of kidnapping, four counts of coercion, two counts of menacing, three counts of strangulation, four counts of fourth-degree assault, and one count each of burglary, second-degree assault, tampering with a witness, recklessly endangering another person, and endangering a
person protected by a the Family Abuse Prevention Act. According to court records, Bennett was arraigned March 28 on 17 charges related to incidents earlier in March. He was released from custody April 4 and ordered to check in with the court the next day, but he did not show up. He was later indicted on seven additional charges. Running from officers is not new for Bennett, who did the same thing last week when officers in North Bend attempted to
arrest him on a restraining order violation and warrants. In that case, he fled on foot into the woods and was able to avoid officers. But his attempt to avoid police lasted less than two weeks when he was finally taken into custody Monday. Bennett was checked out at a hospital in Eugene before being taken to the Eugene Police headquarters. According to online records, he has not been transferred to the Coos County Jail as of Tuesday.
Offshore wind project passes first hurdle By DAVID RUPKALVIS The World
was a gonner as my limbs were already losing feeling. I thought there was no way anyone was getting my big ol' body out of the water and onto the dock of a boat in time," said Brown, who is a large-framed guy. "That's where Raimey (one of the passengers on the charter) and Eric came into the picture.
On Tuesday, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management closed its comment session for a proposed offshore wind farm along the Oregon Coast. The comment period was set aside to allow people to share concerns and ask questions and also allowed companies interested in running wind farms to share their interest with the federal government. One of the major call areas presented by BOEM is offshore from Coos Bay to Brookings, with potential wind turbines located at least 20 miles offshore. One of the companies interested in possibly building a wind farm in the area is Deep Blue Pacific Wind, a joint venture between Total Energies and Simply Blue. Peter Cogswell, director of government and external affairs, said Deep Blue hopes to one day run a wind farm off the coast. "It's a group with some Oregon connections that continues to be excited about developing offshore wind off the Oregon Coast," Cogswell said. "We are going to be identifying specific areas in the Coos Bay and Brookings area we hope to get developed. We've tried to be very thoughtful in our comments and where we're trying to locate our areas." Cogswell said Deep Blue understands there are concerns from many in the area, pointing specifically to commercial and residential fishermen as well as those concerned a wind farm could impact natural travel routes for sea animals and birds. "It's important we understand the commercial fishing and even recreational fishing and even others users in the ocean," he said. While BOEM closed the comment period this week, the offshore wind farm process is just beginning. After reviewing the comments, BOEM will narrow down the call areas and then issue a proposed sales notice. That will be followed by a final sales notice, and, potentially, an auction for interested companies to bid in the third quarter of 2023. At that point, a multi-year environmental review will begin. Cogswell said under the timeline, wind farms will probably not be up and running before 2031. "There's a lot of work to do to explore our sites and other sites out there," Cogswell said. "If everything goes without a hitch and the auction takes off next year, you're not looking for a project being up and energized until at least 2031." The offshore wind areas BOEM has proposed could create 3 gigawatts of electricity
Please see BOAT, Page A2
Please see OFFSHORE, Page A7
Courtesy of ODFW
Brenda Meade, chair of the Coquille Tribal Council, shakes hands with members of the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission on June 17 after the commission approved a co-management agreement between the tribe and state.
Oregon Tribe and state leaders enter historic rivershed co-management agreement By CHRIS AADLAND Underscore News and ICT
An Oregon tribe and state leaders have agreed to co-manage fish and wildlife across a large swath of southwest Oregon, in what they say is a monumental arrangement and the first of potentially more comprehensive management partnerships between the state’s wildlife agency and tribal nations. The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission on June 17 unanimously agreed to a framework agreement with the Coquille Indian Tribe, giving it more power in fish and wildlife management
throughout a five-county area of southwest Oregon while also ensuring tribal members are able to fish, hunt, gather and trap on public lands for subsistence or ceremonial purposes under tribal regulations that the tribe and Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) develop together. “This is partially about the cultural restoration of my tribe,” Brenda Meade, chair of the Coquille Tribal Council, told commissioners. “But it is also about our tribal government working with the state as cooperative sovereigns on species restoration. It's about collaboration and sharing of resources.”
Drastically declining numbers of Chinook salmon — a species that Coquille tribal citizens and other Indigenous people in the state have long relied on for cultural, spiritual and subsistence reasons — prompted the tribe last year to declare a tribal emergency and pushed state and federal leaders to more aggressively work to protect salmon populations returning to the more than 1,000 square-mile Coquille River watershed. That also led the tribe to request that the state formally agree to give it more authority in conservation and management issues in the rivershed, because,
the tribe said, it had the resources and stake to do so. The tribe and others had also criticized ODFW for not adequately working to increase Chinook salmon numbers in the Coquille River. The agency admitted it didn’t have the resources needed to fully address the protection and restoration needs of the watershed. “There is too much work for one agency and too few resources if left to only the state,” Meade said. “Coquille people have a sacred duty to care for fish and wildlife that aligns with the mission of Please see AGREEMENT, Page A3
Contributed photo
After this 27-foot boat was capsized by a sneaker wave, the owner, crew and passengers on a prowler charter worked to rescue them from the ocean on Father’s Day. The boat was destroyed, but no one died in the incident.
Four rescued after boat capsizes near Bandon By MARY SCHAMEHORN Guest Article
Shane Brown of North Bend and his three companions are thankful to be alive after they were rescued by Prowler Charter owner Wayne Butler, his deckhand Eric Webber and some of the 13 passengers on the charter boat after Brown's 27-foot boat Defiance capsized on the Bandon
bar Sunday, June 19. Brown has posted on Facebook several times since the accident. He explained that the vessel was hit by a sneaker wave which swamped the boat and capsized them within seconds. He and his three companions were in the cabin, but all managed to get out. "We were all wearing PFDs (personal flotation devices). We
managed to get out from under the boat and to the surface. We were able to hold on to the hull of the boat until a charter boat was able to come over from a few hundred yards away and fish us out of the water," Brown said. "I had my three companions fished out of the water first because I had an obligation to them and because I really thought I
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