eEdition SUNNY 68 • 53 | THURSDAY, JUNE 25, 2020 | theworldlink.com
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Racist grafitti reported in Empire JILLIAN WARD The World
EMPIRE — More racist graffiti turned up in Coos Bay over the weekend. A report was made Friday, June 19 that a wooden fence on Marshall Street in the Empire District had the message: “No n***** zone.” It is considered to be the third racist tagging in the city over the past few weeks, in addition to a fourth incident following the death of
Oregon special session begins
George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis. “… We went out, took a report, documented,” said Chief Gary McCullough with the Coos Bay Police Department. “It was on private property, so the person living there was notified and instructed to contact their property management company to get it removed.” McCullough said there was no suspect or information to follow up on. Then on Tuesday, June
24, City Manager Rodger Craddock brought it to McCullough’s attention that the graffiti was still on full display and that it hadn’t been removed. “As soon as we found out, we took the steps to notify property management who immediately went out there and removed it from the fence,” McCullough said. Though Coos Bay has always had a problem with graffiti, the uptick in racist
tagging is new. “And none of it is similar except (being) race-related,” McCullough said, listing the Nazi tagging on the CCAT bus shelter near Mingus Park and then another on a pump station on city property. McCullough said he never saw the tagging on the pump station since the city’s Public Works Department removed it and then made the police aware of it. “We’ve been chasing
graffiti for years and if it’s the same person there … are things that tie it to one person or a group, but these (seem) separate and there are no similarities in how it’s applied,” he said, adding that usually graffiti is an art form people use and apply patterns in style. However, “There are no similarities in ink color, application techniques … it’s all random.” All of the cases are open over the instances of racist tagging in the city. Mc-
Cullough urged anyone in the public to come forward if they have information on who is behind any of these incidents. “If people have information on who may be applying these, we’ll take it and run with it,” he said. “… If we can identify who is responsible, we want to deal with them as quickly as possible.” To report information on these incidents, call the CBPD at 541-269-8911.
Duck, Duck, Duck
Lawmakers plan to address police, virus issues in Salem SALEM (AP) — Oregon lawmakers, most wearing masks and trying to maintain social distance, began a special session Wednesday to crack down on police brutality and throw a lifeline to those suffering financially from the coronavirus. “This is a catastrophic disaster session,” Senate President Peter Courtney, D-Salem, told a press conference on Zoom, saying racial discrimination, police brutality and “a monster disease that won’t let us out” must be dealt with. Draft measures would mandate rent protections during the coronavirus emergency and prohibit a lender from treating a borrower’s failure to make loan payment as a declaration of default. They would also prohibit law enforcement officers from limiting the ability of a person to breathe, create a statewide online database of discipline records, prevent an arbitrator from reducing punishments for officers, ban the use of tear gas on protesters and allow the state attorney general to investigate and prosecute when officers kill or seriously injure a person. Lawmakers had passed four bills out of committee by Wednesday afternoon, the Statesman Journal reported. They would: extend small school district grants and school district funding for foreign exchange students; create an Eastern Oregon economic development grant program; and halt the courts from suspending someone’s driver’s license for failure to pay a traffic-related fine. The fourth bill contained forestry-related provisions stemming from a memorandum of understanding between Oregon’s forest industry and environmental interests from earlier this year. Some pushback was expected from law enforcement groups on those measures. “My hope is that decisions will be made based upon facts, evidence and data, not on emotions, politics or perception,” Jim Ferraris, president of the Oregon Association of Chiefs of Police and police chief of Woodburn, told a joint panel Tuesday. Sen. Lew Frederick, D-Portland, who is Black, believes there will be changes after the death of George Floyd. “I can’t say that they’re going to be all of the changes that I might want to see, but I think we’re going to see some changes,” Frederick said in a recent phone interview. But people also need to start talking about the role of police, he said. Please see Session, Page A2
Zach Silva, The World
A group of ducks enjoy a sunny day on the water at Mingus Park on Wednesday afternoon. Expect more sunshine the next few days. See the forecast on the back page.
Summer library programs adapt to COVID-19 ZACH SILVA The World
COOS COUNTY — After months of planning and preparation, the North Bend Public Library had its summer programs almost all ready to go. But these pre-COVID-19 plans were drastically forced to change. “Well, we had to adjust about 180 degrees,” said Teresa Lucas, assistant director at North Bend Public Library. “Our programs were just about completed. We were in the process of fine-tuning our plans when all of this happened. As you know this happened in March, towards the end of March, and at that point libraries usually have pretty much everything set for what they’re going to do for the summer.” During the summer, the North Bend Public Library, much like the other eight libraries in the Coastline Libraries that serve Coos County, is full of activities. “We usually have between 300
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The North Bend Public Library, as well as others in the county, has had to adjust its summer reading program plans. and 400 people coming in our doors every single day during the summer during non-COVID. We have programs every single day of the week,” said Lucas. “We have programs for babies, tod-
dlers, children, teens and adults. So that covers almost every single day of the week.” As libraries across the county look to open back up in a limited capacity with shortened hours
sity led to at least 100 customers and employees testing positive. In East Lansing, Michigan, an outbreak tied to a brew pub spread to 34 people ages 18 to 23. There and in states like Florida, Texas and Arizona, young people have started going out again, many without masks, in what health experts see as irresponsible behavior. “The virus hasn’t changed. We have changed our behaviors,” said Ali Mokdad, professor of health metrics sciences at the University of Washington in Seattle. “Younger people are more likely to be out and taking a risk.” In Florida, young people ages
15 to 34 now make up 31% of all cases, up from 25% in early June. Last week, more than 8,000 new cases were reported in that age group, compared with about 2,000 among people 55 to 64 years old. And experts say the phenomenon cannot be explained away as simply the result of more testing. Elected officials such as Florida’s governor have argued against reimposing restrictions, saying many of the newly infected are young and otherwise healthy. But younger people, too, face the possibility of severe infection and death. In the past week, two 17-year-olds in Florida died of the virus.
of operation, the programs that make the summer go have shifted to online settings. In North Bend this has meant an online summer reading program and a YouTube channel that has books read out loud and puppet shows for kids, in addition to discussions for adults. The summer reading program for teenagers includes arts and crafts and caps off the summer with a time capsule. Lucas will have a time capsule of her own to mark the pandemic. “We’re going to put all the positive things that happened during these three months because our patrons are amazing and they understand .... And they’re willing to go the extra mile because they know we’re going to go the extra mile,” she said. At the Coos Bay Public Library, it’s a similar story of working to connect with patrons in an online setting. Please see Libraries, Page A2
Virus cases surging among younger population ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Coronavirus cases are climbing rapidly among young adults in a number of states where bars, stores and restaurants have reopened — a disturbing generational shift that not only puts them in greater peril than many realize but poses an even bigger danger to older people who cross their paths. In Oxford, Mississippi, summer fraternity parties sparked outbreaks. In Oklahoma City, church activities, fitness classes, weddings and funerals seeded infections among people in their 20s, 30s and 40s. In Iowa college towns, surges followed the reopening of bars. A cluster of hangouts near Louisiana State Univer-
And authorities worry that older, more vulnerable people are next. “People between the ages 18 and 50 don’t live in some sort of a bubble,” Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt said. “They are the children and grandchildren of vulnerable people. They may be standing next to you at a wedding. They might be serving you a meal in a restaurant.” The virus has taken a frightful toll on older people in the U.S., which leads the world in total deaths, at over 120,000, and confirmed infections, at more than 2.3 million. Please see Virus, Page A3