Yachats man perishes Sunday during rescue attempt of woman, sons at mouth of the Yachats River

August 18, 2024

By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews YACHATS – A man who camped and rented the past two years around Yachats is presumed drowned after he attempted to rescue a woman and her two sons from the mouth of the Yachats River Sunday afternoon but then was swept away himself. Friends identified the missing man as Sean Johnson, 52, who had camps north

Undisclosed buyer purchases closed Philomath mill for $15 million

August 18, 2024

By BRAD FUQUA/Philomath News PHILOMATH – An undisclosed buyer has purchased Interfor Corp.’s property and sawmill operation in Philomath after the Canadian-based company closed the mill early this year. Two industry publications said the sale was for $15 million, but could not identify the buyer. Rick Pozzebon, Interfor’s executive vice president and chief financial officer, mentioned the sale during

Two Oregon Coast CC president candidates begin interview process Monday

August 18, 2024

Two finalists to become the third president of Oregon Coast Community College will go through a two-day interview process with the college board, staff and faculty, managers and college partners Monday and Tuesday. A third finalist, Joel Keebler, dean of science at American River College in Sacramento, withdrew his candidacy Friday. The remaining two finalists are: Brian Kelly, president of

Four years after getting $1.7 million grant, Waldport finds a way to construct sidewalks to schools on Crestline

August 15, 2024

By GARRET JAROS/YachatsNews WALDPORT – Waldport city councilors let loose a collective cheer when they learned work on the long-awaited plan to build a sidewalk along a portion of Crestline Drive could begin as early as next week. Then came the collective groan when they learned that Lincoln County still has to sign off on the project because it

Central Oregon Coast fire board will ask voters to increase an operations levy in November

August 15, 2024

By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews WALDPORT – The Central Oregon Coast Fire & Rescue District board voted unanimously Thursday to ask voters in November to increase their property taxes to help make up for inflation, increased operating costs and to rebuild the district’s financial reserves. The board approved asking for a 60 cent increase to an operations levy of $1.27 that

Floating wind project off southern Oregon coast clears first big bureaucratic hurdle in a long process

August 15, 2024

By MONICA SAMAYOA/Oregon Public Broadcasting The Oregon coast is inching closer to generating renewable electricity using floating offshore wind turbines, although any construction is still years away. On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, or BOEM, announced it finished an environmental assessment. The assessment looked at potential impacts from issuing leases to develop floating offshore

Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office now using state-of-the-art drug testing device

August 15, 2024

The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office has started using a new state-of-the-art tool giving officers a safer and smarter edge to combat drug problems in our community. This device also aids in detecting explosives and chemical agents. The device is the TacticID Mobile handheld Raman analyzer produced by Metrohm. The Raman analyzer has already proven to be effective by confirming the

Florida man rescued from Devils Churn south of Yachats; one of few “ever pulled out of here alive”

August 15, 2024

By GARRET JAROS/YachatsNews YACHATS — A Florida man was rescued relatively unscathed from Devils Churn on Tuesday after tripping while taking a photo and falling about 15 feet into the ocean. Jack Turnock, 70, was was on the south side of the chasm taking a photo when he tripped and tumbled into the ocean shortly before 1 p.m. He

Lane County rolls out mobile crisis response program on Sunday

August 15, 2024

By TIFFANY ECKERT/KLCC News EUGENE — A new mobile crisis response program in Lane County is scheduled to launch Sunday that allows any county resident experiencing a behavioral health emergency to access on-site intervention through a mobile crisis service by dialing or texting 988, or calling the dedicated crisis line. When connected, callers in crisis will hear, “You’ve reached the

RFK Jr. is likely to appear on Oregon ballots this fall after secretary of state decision

August 15, 2024

By DIRK VANDERHART/Oregon Public Broadcasting Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is one step closer to appearing on ballots across Oregon this November. All it took was a brand-new political party. On Monday, the Oregon Secretary of State’s office verified that backers of the independent presidential candidate had gathered enough valid signatures to create a new minor statewide party. Dubbed the “We