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FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2022

Brookings, Oregon

Celebration of life held for homicide victim

Photos by Breeana Laughlin/The Pilot

Keegan Boren's friend plays a song on the guitar that they wrote together.

BY BREEANA LAUGHLIN The Pilot

Keegan Boren’s life was taken tragically in a homicide in July. But his family and friends made it clear that tragedy does not deﬁne him. More than a hundred family, friends and community members came together

on Aug. 27 at Azalea Park in Brookings to grieve Keegan’s loss. They also came together to celebrate his life. Keegan was described as a passionate artist, a friend you could count on, and a ﬁerce competitor – someone who always put everything he had into everything he did. He has many family members and

friends in Brookings. They sang him happy birthday. The day of his memorial would have been Keegan’s 17th birthday. “He loved his family and he loved his friends. And he had a personality that never ended. I am so grateful to have had him bless me for many years, and to have so many memories,” his mother Correne Borren said while ﬁghting back tears.

“When he did something, he did it largely. He would be the ﬁrst to show up to practice and the last to leave. He had a drive, and part of that drive is just who he was as a person,” Keegan’s grandfather said. “He loved large also. I always appreciated his spirit, his love and his passion

Watching over the plover

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Brookings starts street and sidewalk project BY BREEANA LAUGHLIN The Pilot

get the federal government to give a major grant to the port project, which would then open it up for additional private funding. "I think it's a very strong ask," he said. "It would add 10 to 12% to west coast shipping capacity. I

The City of Brookings is starting a series of street improvement projects using funds from the city’s voter approved local fuel tax. The city council awarded a contract to Tidewater Contractors in Brookings for almost $710,000 at their council meeting last week. The contractors will work to repave Alder Street, Memory Lane, Buena Vista Loop, Marine Drive and a portion of Mill Beach Road. The work is expected to start this month and may extend into Spring 2023, according to a press release. This contract also includes patching at various locations around town. A separate project on Railroad Street is already underway to construct storm water inlets and pipe, and then installing a curb, gutter and sidewalks along both sides of the street between Center Street and Mill Beach Road. That $527,000 project was contracted to McLennen Excavators in Brookings. Together, the projects total more than 1.5 million in street and sidewalk improvements. “This is all a part of our long-term program to improve and maintain city streets,” said Mayor Ron Hedenskog. The city also announced in a separate release that new parking regulations will go into effect in September. The City Council reportedly postponed the effective date in order to give effected residents time to ﬁnd alternative

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Photo courtesy of Roy Lowe

A snowy plover watches over its chicks.

Photo by Breeana Laughlin/The Pilot

Dave Lauten and Kathy Catelein have been working together to save the snowy plover, which has started to rebound. plovers 26-years-ago. “We were hired to do the job the ﬁrst year, and then we liked it so much it turned into another year… and then it turned into 26 years,” Lauten said. The biologists study the birds by ﬁnding their nests – which consist of just a few tiny eggs laid right in the sand. They monitor the nests along with the mating pairs of birds. When the baby birds hatch, the biologists put small colored bands on their legs in order to track them. “It’s interesting to study the individual birds at each beach and see the dynamics of population – and what is working and what isn’t working,” Castelein said. Lauten and Castelein have worked with the Nature Conservancy and Oregon State University, and they now work with Portland State University’s Oregon Biodiversity Information Center.

Bandon biologists dedicate themselves to snowy plover recovery BY BREANA LAUGHLIN The Pilot/The World

Snowy plovers are a rare shorebird species that live on Oregon beaches. These ﬂuffy little birds blend in with their surroundings and can be hard to spot. Just few decades ago these birds almost disappeared for good. The populations of the Western Snowy Plover have made a comeback thanks to a coordinated effort by biologists, volunteers and educated beachgoers up and down the Oregon Coast. Dave Lauten and Kathy Castelein have been on the forefront of this effort. The Bandon-based biologists came to Oregon to study

Their dedication to birds and to wildlife is what keeps them motivated. “We work 7-days a week all summer long. You have to have the passion to get up out of bed at 5 a.m. every morning day after day and you have to have a passion for the birds – and ﬁnd it interesting,” Lauten said. “It’s a little bit like a game because you are getting clues all the time about where the birds might be nesting and where to ﬁnd the birds and whether or not the brood is still active. So for me I look at as a little bit of a challenge to make it fun,” he said. Bringing the birds back Not everyone knows there are endangered-species right here on the Oregon Coast, the biologists said. “There are a lot of people that don’t understand what is going on, or don’t even know Please see PLOVER Page A11

DeFazio continues to push for port container project looming in January, DeFazio has focused much of his efforts on getting the federal government to support a proposed container shipping facility in the Port of Coos Bay. "I'm putting on a major push for the container port," DeFazio said Thursday while visiting Coos Bay to get a close look

BY DAVID RUPKALVIS The Pilot

For the ﬁrst time in almost four decades, Peter DeFazio is not campaigning for ofﬁce, but that doesn't mean the long-time congressman has stopped campaigning. These days, with retirement

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at where the shipping facility would sit. "I talked to (Pete) Buttigieg yesterday, probably for the ﬁfth time. I've brought it up with the president twice, I've brought it up with Buttigieg many times. I'm doing everything I can. It has bipartisan support." DeFazio said he is trying to

Phone Number: 541-813-1717 • Address: 15957 Highway 101 S STE 1, Brookings, OR 97415 • Email: Circulation@CountryMedia.net A6

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