WEEKEND EDITION
Friday March 13, 2020
www.currypilot.com
Brookings, Oregon
SERVING CURRY COUNTY SINCE 1946
Gold Beach adding fuel tax to ballot
By Linda Pinkham
G
Staff Writer
old Beach is going to repair the city’s streets — one way or another. Who will pay for the repairs will be up to voters deciding the fate of ballot measure 8-100 in the primary election on May 19. Residents of the city are being asked to pass a fuel tax so that the costs for street maintenance are shared by visitors to the city. If
the measure doesn’t pass, then the city will collect a surcharge on city water bills to pay for street repairs, according to discussions at the March 9 City Council meeting. Ballot measure 8-100 is a motor vehicle fuel tax that would charge 1 or 4 cents per gallon at the pump, depending on the time of year. The tax will be 1 cent per gallon from Nov. 1 to April 30 and 4 cents per gallon from May 1 to Oct.
31 to coincide with the peak tourism season. If the fuel tax sounds familiar, that’s because it was voted down “overwhelmingly” in November 2018, according to City Administrator Jodi Fritts. Councilors were still perplexed by the result a year and a half later at their March 9 meeting since a clear majority in a survey indicated that city residents were enthusiastically in favor of passing a portion of the
Gov. Brown bans large gatherings across state F
costs of street repairs onto visitors and through-traffic on U.S. Highway 101. Gold Beach city councilors and staff are worried that the measure will fail again unless they actively promote the benefits of the fuel tax over the alternative — a monthly street repair fee of $2 each month would be included on each water bill and collected along with the One of the highest traffic routes in Gold Beach is to water payments. Riley Creek School on 6th Street. Even the patches have been repaired several times, creating a bumpy More FUEL on Page A2 ride to and from school. Photo by Linda Pinkham.
Mind challenge
Staff Report
or the next four weeks, all large gatherings over 250 people are canceled statewide, Gov. Kate Brown announced Wednesday night. The decision comes after 21 people have tested positive for novel coronavirus, the most recent two cases involving residents at a veterans home in Lebanon. Gov. Brown announced Wednesday the new rules to slow the spread of COVID-19 in Oregon. The following measures are based on the recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Oregon public health experts, epidemiologists, and health professionals. Brown will address the strategies at a press conference at 9 a.m. today in Portland, including: 1. Large gatherings: All large gatherings over 250 people will be canceled statewide effective immediately for four weeks. A gathering is defined as any event in a space in which appropriate social distancing of a minimum of three feet cannot be maintained. 2. Schools: In addition to previous guidance issued on March 8, 2020, to keep schools open, all non-essential schoolassociated gatherings and group activities should be canceled — such as group parent meetings, field trips, and competitions. 3. Workplace: Recommended implementation of distancing measures including increased physical space between employees in offices and worksites, limited in-person meetings, limited travel, and staggered work schedules where possible. 4. Long-Term Care and Assisted Living: Strict limitations announced this week by the Oregon Health Authority and Department of Human Services remain in place. As the number of positive cases increases across Oregon, public health resources will be directed toward implementing the guidelines and policies in this statewide mitigation plan, More COVID19 on Page A4
The first challenge might be finding RJ Simkovich’s Bamboozled! Escape Rooms, located in Port of Brookings Harbor. Hint: it’s in the back of the same building as Oceanside Diner. Photo by Linda Pinkham.
Bamboozled! Escape Rooms now open
Lineup announced for Brookings' Summer Concerts in the Park T
By Linda Pinkham
T
he dark wizard will be back in one hour to wreak havoc on the world — unless you and your team can defeat him. All you need to do is find the hidden clues in his lair, solve challenging puzzles and riddles, and collect all seven wizardly items on the list. If you succeed, you will save the realm from the evil wizard. That’s the scenario in the first themed escape room at Bamboozled, located at Port of Brookings Harbor on the backside of the Oceanside Diner at 16372 Lower Harbor Rd. The Wizard’s Keep has locked trunks and boxes, a
he lineup for the 2020 free “Summer Concerts in the Park” series at Brookings’Azalea Park promises to be the best of its 25-year history with music for fans of cajun, country, folk and classic rock. The eight-concert season, sponsored by Rogue Credit Union, starts Sunday, June 7, with a Billy Joel tribute band, and ends Aug. 30 with the high-energy rockabilly sounds of Gino and the Lone Gunmen. “Our fans told us what they want and we’re delivering a solid summer with fantastic artists,” said Les Cohen, chairman of the nonprofit American Music Festival, which organizes the series. Seven of the concerts begin at 1 p.m. Sundays, with bands playing in the covered band shell in the natural amphitheater at Azalea Park. A special mid-week concert is set for 6-8 p.m. Thursday, July 9, and More on Page A4
Index
Classifieds.................A5 Crosswords...............A4
Calendar....................A6 Comics......................A4
Weather HIGH LOW
Thurs 67 43
Staff Writer
Past four days
Wed 67 44
Tues 68 42
Mon 59 40
5-day forecast, tides and complete weather: Page B1
Call us 541-813-1717
locked desk, glass flasks filled with magic potion ingredients, a maze puzzle, a shelf of books on arcane topics and more. As participants get deeper into the contents of the room, the puzzles open up to reveal more riddles, puzzles and oddities, until eventually there’s stuff spread out everywhere. If you fail to solve all of the tasks, you probably won’t turn into a newt, but you won’t have any bragging rights. Most people can solve all the problems and complete the objective inside an hour, but even those who can’t, still have a good time — and you can always ask for hints. One group was overheard deliberating, “Should we ask for
a hint?” and the answer was, enjoys watching people work “No! We are big!” through the puzzles and clues The record time to date is he creates because that’s what 31 minutes by a group of Del sociologists like to do — Norte County teachers, calling study people. Don’t worry themselves “No Hints,” who about being unveiled because have previously participated he’s from here, a graduate in other escape rooms. The of Brookings Harbor High Wizard’s Keep escape room School and Southwestern is designed to be an introducOregon Community College. tory experience for people Simkovich is constantly who may not have tried an using his co-workers at his day escape room yet. Everything is job as test subjects for new spelled out with an instrucpuzzles. Both his dad, as well tion sheet on the desk. Future as his friend and co-worker escape rooms will be progres“Jackson” have different sively more challenging and -skillsets at solving different sophisticated. kinds of puzzles because of The business is the their learning styles.“I consider brainchild of RJ Simkovich, the whole venture to be sort a youthful-looking college of a science experiment,” he graduate with a master's degree in sociology. He More ESCAPE on Page A4
Sunrise/Sunset RISE SET
Fri 7:29 7:22
Fax 541-813-1931
Sat 7:27 7:24
Sun 7:26 7:25
Mon 7:24 7:26
Online www.currypilot.com
$1.50