Mishandled handgun lands Yachats man in jail

March 7, 2019

Lincoln County Sheriff’s deputies arrested a 61-year-old Yachats man Wednesday, Feb. 27 on accusations he negligently fired a handgun with the bullet going into a neighbor’s house. No one was injured. Terry L. Davidson is in the Lincoln County Jail awaiting a pretrial hearing. Bail is $65,000. The sheriff’s office said it got a call about 7 p.m. Feb. 27

February rain was second most in past 10 years

February 28, 2019

Yes, February was both rainy and cold. Yachats got more than a foot of rain in February – 12.25 inches measured at the city’s wastewater treatment plant – almost double the amount in January. That foot of rain made February 2019 the second wettest February in the past 10 years in Yachats. Only February 2017 had more – 13.85

Yachats ‘watchers’ play integral part in weather reporting systems

February 28, 2019

By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com Donald Tucker relies on an automated station to take weather readings and an antenna on his roof to every five minutes transmit data that ends up in a national data center in Utah. Kirk Walker does it the old fashioned way. Each morning at 8 o’clock he goes out to hand-measure rain in a big metal gauge,

Yachats Farmers Market reorganizing but should be ‘exactly the same’

February 28, 2019

By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com The Yachats Farmers Market is undergoing a change of structure, but the goal of its new organizers is that the Sunday event remain exactly the same. The market, through its website, expects to begin taking vendor applications starting Monday, March 4 for its six-month season. Until last fall the market operated under the auspices of the Friends

Yachats Fire Board adds back storage building to new station

February 28, 2019

By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com The Yachats Rural Fire Protection Board voted unanimously Thursday to build a $358,000 storage building at the back edge of its new fire station under construction on the north edge of Yachats. The 2,250-square-foot, two-bay building had been cut from plans last fall when the district ran into expensive issues preparing the 6-acre site and re-doing the

There’s no quick fix for Yachats Bay beach stair repairs

February 27, 2019

The only stair access to the south side of Yachats Bay has been closed by Oregon State Parks and Recreation after it was heavily damaged by high tides Feb. 18-20. But repairing it and reopening the access won’t be as simple as some bolts and boards. The wooden top of the stairs sits on one of numerous shell middens along

Commons’ multipurpose room closes for three weeks

February 27, 2019

The multipurpose room in the Yachats Commons will be closed for three weeks starting Monday, March 4 to replace its floor. The work was originally supposed to have been done in early January, but hit a snag when contractors removed the top layer of floor and vinyl tiles underneath it pulled up. That meant the new floor couldn’t be installed over

OSU studies risks to coastline from more frequent, bigger storms

February 26, 2019

By STEVE LUNDEBERG/OSU News Service Unstable slopes on Oregon’s coastline could see a 30 percent jump in landslide movements if extreme storms become frequent enough to increase seacliff erosion by 10 percent, a new study by Oregon State University shows. For many slope failures along U.S. Highway 101, these cliffs form the base of active slides that already move a

Study illuminates job vacancies in Lincoln County

February 22, 2019

A new employment study released Friday covering Lincoln County and four adjacent areas shows, once again, that the chances of landing a full-time job with higher pay increase with the more education you have. The study by the Oregon Employment Department was of job vacancies in Lincoln, Benton, Tillamook, Clatsop and Columbia counties during 2018, drawn from a survey of

Winter campground hosts say it’s a labor of love

February 21, 2019

By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com Russell and Paula Hagfors get a free place to park their trailer, electricity, sewer and garbage service. In the winter they live in a gated community with a wonderful view of the Pacific Ocean just outside their living room. All they have to do is dodge King tides, hunker down during 60 mph winds and spend four