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March 8, 2022
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Mid-Coast Water Planning Partnership completes action plan addressing water supply HILARY DORSEY Editor
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incoln City Public Works presented an update on Mid-Coast water planning during a Lincoln City Council meeting Monday, Feb. 28. This is a five-year planning effort has been occurring for Mid-Coast water providers. The group is called the Mid-Coast Water Planning Partnership. The partnership is a collaborative that was created to develop regional sustainable solutions that ensure adequate water supplies for water systems and local industry while supporting healthy fish and wildlife populations. The partnership consists of water providers, community residents, tribes, businesses, nonprofit organizations, federal and state agencies, local governments, landowners, academic institutions and more. Public Works Director Stephanie Reid said the first step was creating the partnership. The
partnership was funded through a state grant. “The City of Newport applied for the grant,” Reid said. Over 60 entities signed the partnership charter. Everyone in the group stayed until the end for the most part. A lot of time was invested. “The key is that they’ve set up a wonderful website,” Reid said. The partnership conducted a needs assessment, developed strategies and came up with an action plan. The mission of the group is to develop an inclusive community forum that examines water use in the region. “We had 60 official meetings and probably 20
work session meetings,” Reid said. “When the working groups were done, we submitted our findings and all of our work. The coordinators brought it all together in an action plan.” According to the executive summary of the action plan, the purpose is to provide a framework and pathway forward to address water supply and use challenges in the Mid-Coast region and sustainably balance water needs. The plan describes the six-year history of the planning process and the
Festival of Illusions is back March 2024 at the Lincoln City Cultural Center T
he Lincoln City Cultural Center is thrilled to announce that its 10th (nearly) annual Festival of Illusions will be chock full of magic tricks, comedy, mentalism and balloons, open rain or shine, during Oregon’s Spring Break week. Opening on Sunday, March 20, this Spring Break tradition will present four evening performances, two matinees, Abra Cadabra art kits and an all-ages balloon workshop. All the performances take place at the LCCC, inside the historic Delake School at 540 NE Hwy. 101 in Lincoln City. Tickets are on sale now at www.lincolncity-culturalcenter.org. Festival favorites like Brett Belleque, Brian Ledbetter and Dr. Delusion will be joined by three performers making their Lincoln City debut: Craig Martin, Adam the Great and Capt. Squirrel the Pirate Magician. Ticket prices are the same as last year, thanks to our premier event sponsors: Surftides Lincoln City, Oregon State Credit Union and Amy Graham, Taylor & Taylor Realty Co. Also new this year: a “Pay What You Can” matinee, set for Thursday, March 22. The star of that one-set performance will be Capt. Squirrel the Pirate Magician, and the whole community is invited to enjoy. General admission tickets for the March 22 show may be purchased in advance -- by phone, Web or in person – for any price that fits your budget. But thanks to the recent updates in COVID restrictions from Salem, there will be two things the festival won’t have: an indoor mask mandate or the center’s previous proof-ofvaccination requirement. Both will be lifted on March 11. Visual Arts Director Krista Eddy and the Creative Quarantine volunteer crew will be assembling hundreds of Abra Cadabra Art Kits, including cup and ball magic tricks, Bubble Trumpets and a Magic Fairy making kit.
See FESTIVAL OF ILLUSIONS, Page A2
INDEX Classifieds......................4 Opinion.......................... 6 Obituaries ..................... 6
VOL. 95 NO. 09
COVID-19 update: Mask mandate to lift after March 11
take-home inspirations will be ready for pickup at the LCCC starting at 10 am on Sunday, March 20. The kits contain all the materials and instructions for creative projects that kids and parents can do at home (or whatever “home” might be during spring break). Through the generosity of Cultural Center donors and the Sponenburgh Memorial Trust, these kits are offered by donation, while supplies last. The Festival of Illusions was founded in 2011 to provide weather-proof, affordable family entertainment during Oregon’s public school spring break. It was cancelled suddenly by COVID in 2020 but resumed in 2021 with masks and streaming options. Staff planned this year’s festival with caution, hoping that the county and state case numbers might allow for “normal” magic events and attendance at this year’s festival. “We absolutely cannot wait to see the smiling faces of kids, parents and grandparents at the Festival of Illusions,” said Lincoln City Cultural Center director Niki Price. “We feel so fortunate that the public health situation has improved, allowing the statewide mask mandate and our vaccination card requirements to end, just in time for spring break.” These performances are not the only attractions at the LCCC during Spring Break. The Chessman Gallery will feature “From Gesture to Jester: Finding the Reality of Memory,” a 175-foot continuous drawing created during the COVID shutdown by Molly Wullstein Van Austen. Down the hall, the Fiber Arts Studio Gallery is showing woven art and pine needle baskets by Linda Gettman and Charlene Virts, as well as hand-on fiber activities and a vivid crocheted whale by the Community Fiber Coral Reef project. The LCCC galleries will be open for their regular hours, 10 am to 4 pm Thursday-Sunday, March 17-20 and 24-27.
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major steps leading to plan implementation. The group ended up with eight imperatives. These are things they found were essential for the future. They voted to adopt it and sent to the regulatory agencies. The draft is still out for a regulatory review. The group expects to have a final version in April. From April 2019 through early 2020, GSI Water Solutions, Inc. researched and developed a framework for a Mid-Coast water conservation consortium on behalf of Seal Rock Water District, Reid said. Councilor Rick Mark asked about adding a fourth water tank. City Manager Lila Bradley said the city has ideas of locations for a tank. For more information on the Oregon MidCoast Water Planning Partnership, visit https:// www.midcoastwaterpartners.com/ Read the action plan at https://bit. ly/3HAWNQn Send comments to: newsguardeditor@ countrymedia.net
HILARY DORSEY Editor
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ndoor masking for the general public and schools will lift at 11:59 p.m. Friday, March 11, due to hospitalization rates falling quicker than anticipated and a willingness to align with what California and Washington states are doing. “The entire West Coast is going to be dropping the mask requirement [next] Friday,” Public Health Director Florence Pourtal reported during a Lincoln County Board of Commissioners meeting Wednesday, March 2. “There is no guidance at this time around mask requirements being lifted for health care settings,” Pourtal said. “That means that the mask requirement will stay in place after March 11.” Even though the state is seeing less disease, there is still a risk for people not yet vaccinated, those immunocompromised, those with high risk of complications or those living with those at risk. It is recommended that these people continue to wear a mask. Quarantine is being paused for the general population, K-12 and child care settings on March 11, Pourtal added. Because of the high vaccination rates in Oregon, and a high rate of folks who got infected during the omicron surge, there is a thought Oregon has gained community immunity against COVID-19. There is no firm timeframe for the immunity but it is expected to last 90-100 days. “Pausing quarantine at this time
makes sense to our health officials,” Pourtal said. In the event of another surge, the guidelines may change. Lincoln County Public Health will continue to ask people to isolate when they have a positive COVID-19 test. People will be asked to continue to isolate for five days and wear a mask for an additional five days after isolation. Lincoln County has had a total of 73 COVID-19 deaths since the pandemic began, as of Monday, Feb. 28. The test positivity has gone down from 25 percent at the height of the omicron surge to 5.2 percent. There were 85 cases the week of Feb. 20. Pourtal said it is projected that hospitalizations will continue decreasing over the next few weeks. Samaritan North Lincoln Hospital had an average of one person in the intensive care unit in February. It was similar at Samaritan Pacific Communities Hospital. As of Wednesday’s report, 43.4 percent of people in Lincoln County have received a booster does of the COVID-19 vaccine. Approximately 60-65 percent of vaccines being administered are boosters. The schedule of clinics will be maintained for the month of March but will likely occur less often or by shortened time periods moving forward as demand declines. Find a COVID-19 test at https:// bit.ly/3CbdhgU Find a vaccine clinic at https://bit. ly/3CaJS6m Send comments to: newsguardeditor@countrymedia.net
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