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8 virus cases at Shutter Creek ZACH SILVA The World
Nicholas A. Johnson, The World
The Charleston Ice House can no longer function to provide fishermen with ice for their catch following a fire that gutted the building on Dec. 19, 2019. The International Port of Coos Bay is working on a long-term solution.
Ice plant rebuild project AMANDA LINARES The World
CHARLESTON — Some local businesses are frustrated with the new layout of the Ice Plant, which burned down in December and is in the process of being rebuilt. Mike Babcock, of Oregon Seafoods, is leading a group of local businesses and fishermen who he said feel left out of the Oregon International Port of Coos Bay’s new Ice Plant Rebuild Project. According to Babcock, the only tenant on the dock that houses the ice plant, the new layout proposed by Port officials limits dock space and makes it difficult for commercial trucks to safely enter the area to load and unload equipment. “Our company hoist is on the northwest corner of the dock and the public hoist is in the northeast corner of the dock,” said Babcock. “The new building, which shows it’s been moved over to the north side, severely limits the corner use of the dock.” The dock, which houses the ice plant, has historically been used for other reasons outside of fishermen accessing commercial grade ice, said Babcock. On multiple occasions, he explained people would access the hoists on both or either corner of the dock as well as the ice shoot often at the same time. With the new layout having a larger footprint and being shifted closer to the north side of the dock, the once multi-use propo-
Amanda Linares, The World
Mike Babcock, of Oregon Seafoods, shows scale drawings he created and presented to the Port of Coos Bay Commissioners earlier this month. Babcock has identified space limitations and challenges he says will interfere with companies like his who use the dock regularly. nents of the dock will no longer exist, he said. “I don’t think they realized the impact (the new layout) is going to have to the other uses of the dock including dock ice sales, the public hoist and our company-owned hoist,” said Babcock. “It’s going to limit those operations and it’s going to affect several generations to come. This rebuild is a huge deal. It isn’t something that we have to try to Band-Aid over.”
A total loss Last December, a fire destroyed the over 40-year-old ice plant structure, which is located across from the U.S. Coast Guard Station. After it was declared a total constructive loss, Port officials began work to create and implement a short-term
and long-term plan to return ice services to the local fishing fleet. A declaration of emergency was passed shortly after the incident to begin efforts to minimize the impacts to local fishermen and rebuild the facility. According to Margaret Barber, the director of external affairs with the Port of Coos Bay, a series of public meetings with the Charleston’s commercial fleet as well as meetings with individual stakeholders was held over the past few months to bring their input into the design phase of the new ice plant. The meetings were held with the goal of meeting the needs of all the stakeholders involved to the greatest extent possible, she explained. The Port she added worked closely with the fishing fleet to rebuild the plant as expeditiously as possible.
“Access to commercial grade flake ice is critical to certain fisheries landed in Charleston,” Barber wrote in an email. “As such, rebuilding the facility to accommodate that need has been a top priority for the Port.” A meeting held at the Charleston Marina RV Park on Feb. 27 was the only public meeting Babcock said he was aware of. The meeting, which he attended, was presented to visitors as more of an informational session and to update to community of what the Port had been working on rather than to gain input, he said. “During the meeting they talked about equipment suppliers, increase capacities, funding, insurance and timeframes, but they didn’t really talk about different dock uses,” said Babcock. “There were some people in the audience who brought this up about the historical use of the dock and what their plan was?” It was at that meeting Babcock said he expressed his concerns of the new layout to Port officials and along with fellow industry colleagues including Rick Goche, owner of Sacred Sea Tuna and Port of Bandon Commissioner.
Businesses reach out Goche, who has over 10 years’ experience working on the dock in Charleston that houses the ice plant and also works with Babcock’s company to process the pouches that hold his product, said he too is concerned over the limited space on the dock as Please see Rebuild, Page A8
Fishing charter hopes to weather virus ZACH SILVA The World
CHARLESTON — It started with coffee at sunrise. Then whatever paperwork needed to be completed and, before you know it, out on the ocean catching fish. For John Blanchard of Sharky’s Charters, this has been a typical day. All year long people flocked to his fishing charter outside of Coos Bay to get out on the water and catch salmon, tuna, halibut or anything else that was in season at the time. But, much like everything over the past month, this regular day has been completely uprooted. As the novel coronavirus
has caused businesses across the country to close, Blanchard is now worried about if his will be able to open back up. “I don’t know. I suppose I will start having to sell things. I don’t know how long I can, really — I don’t know,” said Blanchard when asked about what is next. “It’s unknown to me. I will go until I can... I guess at some point I have to come up with a plan on how I’m going to pay bills and go forward. It’s just where are the jobs now? How do you go get a job here at the coast? It was hard to get a job beforehand. I guess I would have to start looking for work or doing something.”
Please see Fishing, Page A7
Zach Silva, The World
The fishing supplies at Sharky’s Charters sits unused outside of the shop in Charleston.
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HAUSER — Four additional adults in custody have tested positive for the novel coronavirus at Shutter Creek Correctional Institution. The announcement was made Thursday by the Oregon Department of Corrections, bringing the total cases at the facility and in Coos County to eight. This is now the highest amount of confirmed cases of adults in custody in the state. As of deadline, it is unclear when the latest four cases will be transported to a facility that has 24/7 medical care. Recent cases had been promptly brought to new locations. According to an adult in custody at Shutter Creek, all four cases came from the same dorm that had produced the initial four cases. “It’s kind of nerve-racking because we’re watching it get worse,” said Jordon Dean, an adult in custody at Shutter Creek. “We’re all waiting to get sick because we do come in contact with surfaces and areas where these guys have been going.” On Thursday, Oregon Health Authority reported that 19 additional tests will soon be completed at Shutter Creek. “There is no reason to believe there won’t be more cases,” Brian Leon, an epidemiologist with Coos Health and Wellness stated earlier this week when just three cases had been confirmed.
Governor to lift delay on medical procedures SALEM (AP) — Hospitals, dentists’ offices and other healthcare providers can resume attending to patients for non-urgent procedures on May 1, and Oregon is expecting “extremely large shipments” of protective masks and gowns, Gov. Kate Brown said Thursday. However, health officials warned that Oregon, along with many other states, still lacks adequate testing capability to isolate and quash pockets of outbreaks of the coronavirus. Brown told reporters at a virtual news conference that around 8,000 tests are now being conducted weekly and that number will need to more than double. “Testing is critical, and it’s pretty clear we don’t have enough, we need more,” Dr. Bruce Goldberg of the governor’s Medical Advisory Panel said. “We need to have robust contact tracing. And these are vital, vital pieces to allow us to continue to keep people safe and to start to approach some degree of normalcy.” Meanwhile, the Legislature’s Emergency Board allocated more than $30 million to provide relief to Oregonians impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. The money will fund rental assistance, a worker relief fund, Please see Governor, Page A3
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