Arson suspected in Monday fire that does up to $150,000 damage to Waldport church

August 12, 2024

By GARRET JAROS/YachatsNews WALDPORT – Arson is suspected as the cause of a fire early Monday that did an estimated $100,000 to $150,000 damage to Our Savior Lutheran Church on Bayview Road just north of the Alsea Bay Bridge. Firefighters from Seal Rock Fire District were first on the scene after an alarm at 6:07 a.m. in what was

Yachats preschool program looking for new director with Hettinger’s impending departure

August 12, 2024

By CHERYL ROMANO/YachatsNews YACHATS — After 10 years with the city’s only public children’s center, the executive director of Yachats Youth and Family Activities Program is leaving. Patricia Hettinger, who began as an assistant teacher in 2014 and has led YYFAP since 2021, is heading for a farm near Coos Bay sometime in the next several months. There, she

Father-son duo “The Acting Herds” of Waldport inspire each other on the stage and in life

August 8, 2024

By BARBARA B. COVELL/YachatsNews Gary Herd began acting in elementary school in Abilene, Texas and still remembers his lines and songs from the school’s annual Christmas show. “I acted through high school,” says Gary Herd, 51. “Then life happened and I stepped back.” It wasn’t until his son, Alex, then 10 years old, got a part in the 2017

Water tours give locals and visitors a chance to see bays and rivers from a different perspective

August 8, 2024

By GARRET JAROS/YachatsNews A rising wind piggybacks on an incoming tide and howls through the riggings of fishing boats docked on Yaquina Bay. Below the wind a gaggle of kayaks skitter across the water’s unruffled surface as they embark on a two-hour tour of Newport’s bayfront. “Besides kayaking being super fun, it’s a great way to explore Newport —

Lincoln County health officials say wastewater tests show “high risk” of local Covid virus exposure

August 8, 2024

By GARRET JAROS/YachatsNews Lincoln County health officials are advising the public to take precautions to guard against Covid-19 after indicators show the risk of catching and spreading the virus are “very high” across the county. The Centers for Disease Control is tracking growing outbreaks across the country including in Oregon where officials with the Oregon Health Authority say infections

Five more coast school districts joining Sitka Center’s rapidly expanding arts programs this fall

August 6, 2024

By LORI TOBIAS/Oregon ArtsWatch The Sitka Center for Art and Ecology’s youth art program has been a hit with Oregon coast school districts — from top administrators to kids doodling at their desks — enthused about the classes. It’s been so successful that the nonprofit is expanding it into five more districts this fall. Another measure of that success: Sitka

Alcohol-free dance party returns Saturday to Yachats, as it grows and connects with restaurants

August 5, 2024

By CHERYL ROMANO/YachatsNews YACHATS — Rock ‘n roll fans of all ages are invited to another alcohol-free dance party Saturday night at the Yachats Commons featuring the local band The Grey Wails. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. for the event, which will run from 7-10 p.m. Crowds have been growing since the first such booze-free bash launched last winter

Pay raises, parity highlight new three-year contract between Newport hospital nurses and Samaritan

August 5, 2024

By CHRISTIAN WIHTOL/YachatsNews Registered nurses at Samaritan Pacific Communities Hospital in Newport are looking at big pay raises in a tentative new contract. Capping five months of negotiations, Samaritan Health System management and the nurses’ union Friday reached the tentative three-year deal, which nurses must now vote on, the Oregon Nurses Association said. The proposed deal largely gives nurses

Sheriff’s deputies begin splitting 10-hour day shifts between Yachats and Waldport under new contracts

August 1, 2024

BY GARRET JAROS/YachatsNews Yachats’ new contract deputy hit the streets Thursday. In a first-of-its-kind shared deputy agreement between the cities of Waldport and Yachats, Lincoln County Sheriff’s Deputy Abby Dorsey will work 10-hour day shifts in Waldport on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and in Yachats on Thursdays and Fridays. But while both cities and Sheriff Curtis Landers have hammered out

Oregon Coast CC board names three finalists to become college’s third president

August 1, 2024

By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews The Oregon Coast Community College board has selected three finalists to come to campus in late August to go through two days of interviews to succeed Birgitte Ryslinge as the third president in the college’s 32-year history. The board met in special session Wednesday night to name three men as finalists: Joel Keebler, dean of science