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MOSTLY SUNNY, SHOWERS 67 • 54 | THURSDAY, JUNE 18, 2020 | theworldlink.com
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Gold Beach mayor stands by comments ZACH SILVA The World
GOLD BEACH — The inflammatory email to Oregon Coast Community Action from board member Karl Popoff was the topic of discussion during Gold Beach’s city council meeting this week. The email, sent last Monday, led to Popoff stepping down from his position on ORCCA’s board. However, the Gold Beach mayor still had to face his city council over the email that included explosive comments about the Black Lives Matter movement. The Gold Beach City Council concluded on Tuesday that the language used by Popoff in his email violated city policy. As a result, the council censured him by not paying for his travel to some of the various boards he serves on around the state, including the Oregon Depart-
ment of Transportation and the Oregon Mayor’s Association. The Gold Beach City Council did not reach an agreement that he should no longer serve on those boards, so he will stay. Popoff is up for reelection as mayor in November. Additionally, the city council is planning to put out a statement to show that it does not condone his actions. Following a nearly two-hour executive session Tuesday night, the council met in public session for almost an additional hour where council members shared their feelings and Popoff said he accepted responsibility but did not show remorse. “There is no racism, there is no intention to hurt (ORCCA Executive Director) Kim (Brick),” said Popoff of his email, which had been in response to Brick’s initial email which stated, among other things, that black lives matter.
“My intention at the time was that quite frankly, I was — I guess I took offense that these people matter more than other people.” Brick’s email was sent to ORCCA board members and staff, discussing deep levels of institutional racism in the country. Her email also explained that nationwide community action programs like ORCCA stemmed from the Civil Rights movement. ORCCA is a charitable organization that provides resources through programs such as the South Coast Food Share, South Coast Head Start in addition to working to help those in need including those experiencing homelessness. Popoff, who has served as mayor for Gold Beach for 16 years, responded to everyone included on the email. Please see Popoff, Page 2
Contributed Photo
Vietnam veteran and North Bend native Karl Popoff now serves as the mayor of Gold Beach.
Just Beachy
Coos Bay lowers fees for social gaming CHERYL UPSHAW The World
Zach Silva, The World
Beachgoers head to Sunset Bay Park on a sunny (and windy) Wednesday afternoon. With sunny weather expected for the next week, the area’s beaches are likely destinations for many area residents.
Split Supreme Court rules against Trump in DACA case WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected President Donald Trump’s effort to end legal protections for 650,000 young immigrants, a stunning rebuke to the president in the midst of his reelection campaign. For now, those immigrants retain their protection from deportation and their authorization to work in the United States. The 5-4 outcome, in which Chief Justice John Roberts and the four liberal justices were in the majority, seems certain to elevate the issue in Trump’s campaign, given the anti-immigrant rhetoric of his first presidential run in 2016 and immigration restrictions his administration has imposed since then. It was the second big liberal victory at the court this week, following Monday’s ruling that it’s illegal to fire people because they’re gay or transgender. The justices rejected administration arguments that the 8-year-old Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program is illegal and that courts have no role to play in reviewing the decision to end DACA. Trump’s first reaction came on Twitter, where he retweeted a comment incorporating a line from Justice Clarence Thomas’ dissenting opinion in which Thomas called the ruling “an effort to avoid a politically controversial
but legally correct decision.” Roberts wrote for the court that the administration did not pursue the end of the program properly. “We do not decide whether DACA or its rescission are sound policies,“ Roberts wrote. “We address only whether the agency complied with the procedural requirement that it provide a reasoned explanation for its action. Here the agency failed to consider the conspicuous issues of whether to retain forbearance and what if anything to do about the hardship to DACA recipients.” The Department of Homeland Security can try again, he wrote. But any new order to end the program, and the legal challenge it would provoke, would take months, if not longer, immigration experts said. The court’s four conservative justices dissented. Justice Thomas, in a dissent joined by Justices Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch, wrote that DACA was illegal from the moment it was created under the Obama administration in 2012. Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote in a separate dissent that he was satisfied that the administration acted appropriately in trying to end the program. DACA recipents were elated by the ruling. Please see DACA, Page 2
Governor requires people to wear masks in 7 counties SALEM (AP) — Gov. Kate Brown announced Wednesday that residents in seven of Oregon’s counties will be required to wear masks at indoor public spaces as COVID-19 social distancing restrictions are tentatively eased. Multnomah County, the state’s most populous, is among the counties where people will be required to wear masks indoors. Brown also gave the goahead to four counties to enter a new reopening phase, including Multnomah, home to Portland, which had been the only county that had not yet entered phase 1. These announcements come as the state continues to see a spike in cases. As of Wednesday’s case count, the total number of people who have tested positive for coronavirus in Oregon is 6,218. In addition, one more person died from the disease, raising the state’s death toll to 183. Last week Brown issued a statewide pause on all county applications to move into a new reopening phase, in order to give health experts “time to assess what factors are driving the spread of the virus and make adjustments to our reopening strategy.” After an analysis of the growth of new cases, hospitalizations and results of contact tracing, Brown approved Marion, Polk, and Hood River counties to implement phase
2 of the state’s reopening plan and Multnomah County begin phase 1 Friday. “While Multnomah County has seen an increase in new cases recently, the county has not experienced an uptrend in new hospital admissions, and overall hospitalizations remain well within capacity,” Brown said about the county, which was the only Oregon county that had not yet reached phase one. However, residents in all four counties approved to move into the next phase, in addition to Clakamas, Lincoln and Hood River counties, will be required to wear face covering while in public indoor spaces beginning June 24. Up until now, the governor had determined what counties could enter a new phase on a county by county basis. However, that is changing. Some counties will now be grouped together as regional units for reopening decisions. The tri-county area–– Multnomah, Washington, and Clackamas counties— will be treated as a single unit Marion and Polk Counties, which each include parts of Salem, will also be treated as a unit going forward. “Both of these regions include a highly-connected urban area, making it difficult to monitor the disease based solely on the contours of county jurisdictional lines,” Brown said. Please see Masks, Page 2
COOS BAY — Coos Bay City Council approved a resolution Tuesday night that will lower the fees on little-used local social gaming licenses. There are only a few businesses that host social gaming and these have been hard-hit by the outbreak of the novel coronavirus. Social gaming in Coos Bay refers to small-scale gambling, generally in the form of card games that are hosted in bars. There are fewer than five businesses in Coos Bay that host social gaming, along with a few organizations that sporadically hold social gaming events. Social gaming is distinct from the gaming that occurs in The Mill the Three Rivers casinos, which is more heavily regulated. The portion of city code that deals with social gaming had not been updated since 1989. City staff recommended the code be changed in order to more accurately reflect the cost of maintaining the licenses. There are background checks involved with the licensing, which contributes to the cost. The original application fee was $65. In addition to this, businesses would pay a $150 fee each quarter for each gaming table they hosted. Employees and dealers had to pay an additional $25 application fee yearly. Businesses could be approved for one-time special event licenses by paying $25 for each event. The new fee is $75 per year per table. The employee fee went up to $50 per year and the event fee remained the same. City Manager Rodger Craddock did not feel that the lowered fees would incentivize more businesses to take advantage of social gaming. Craddock explained that while social gaming was formerly common in Oregon, several decades ago, it was outlawed across the state. Areas like Coos Bay, which already had ordinances in place to govern social gaming were allowed to continue with the practice. Businesses cannot profit off the tables themselves, but can profit off the food and drink sold to patrons who use the tables. The games at local bar Coney Station were paused due to restrictions for the new coronavirus, but will likely resume later. According to co-owner Sandra Jones, the games help her business, though they are only hosted sporadically. “They do order food,” she said. The council voted unanimously in favor of making the change.