FLOODING CAUSES LOCAL LANDSLIDES
COMMUNITY FUND RAISING EFFORT FOR LIBRARY
DEATH OF LOCAL LEGEND _ LOON LAKE LLOYD
CARPENTER BECOMING ENTREPENEUR
FISHING UPDATE: MORE WILD STEELHEAD BEING CAUGHT
JUDGE FREES MAN IN OREGON TERRORIST CASE
NY COURT UPHOLDS (ANOTHER) MAN'S TERRORIST CAMP CONVICTION
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: WIN OR LOSE< LOCAL ATHLETES NEED OUR SUPPORT
Landslides threaten highways
Umpqua Post/Deborah Yates
Above, the eastern edge of U.S. Highway 101 is threatened by a mudslide that occurred Sunday afternoon after two days of heavy rains loosened the sandy soil on which the road sits. Below, the mudslide runs from the edge of the highway down a steep embankment, taking out young trees as it flows.
The rain fell and the earth slid last weekend when Reedsport and surrounding areas received an unseasonal amount of heavy rain and warmer than normal temperatures that contributed to early snow melt. The Oregon Department of Transportation and Douglas County Public Works Department employees worked overtime to cleanup the obstacles that Mother Nature put in the path of motorists.- - - - -
County road crews cleared landslides on Lower Smith River Road, Smith River Road and Five Mile Road. They also replaced a section of Scholfield Road at milepost 7.5 that washed out due to underground springs.
ODOT road crews cleared landslides on both U.S. Highway 101 and state Highway 38.
“We had three large landslides over the weekend,” said ODOT Transportation Maintenance Supervisor Tim Lollar. “The heavy, rain-saturated soil was the cause of the landslides and debris flows.”
One slide that is still being montitored by ODOT occurred on the west side of U.S. Highway 101 at milepost 207.
“I contacted geologist Pete Casgro,” said Lollar. “The slide was caused by saturated soil ... We may have to put in a rock inlay to prevent further sliding.
Contest raises cash for library
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A First Friday event at Mindpower Gallery downtown on Jan. 14 to showcased the entries in the second annual Coastal Douglas Amateur Photography Contest.
The first-place winner was Allen Kettle’s photo of a pelican on a dock in Winchester Bay. A tie was declared for second place, between Rita Monroe’s photo of a father and daughter on the dunes, and Arden Olson’s photo of Lake Marie. Third place went to Judy Taylor-Lochman, for her image of a four-wheel ATV rider on the dunes at Winchester Bay.
The contest was judged by Irwin Jones, Nancie Hammond and Keith Tymchuk. It was a fundraiser for the Reedsport Branch Library’s renovation project, sponsored by the Coastal Douglas Arts and Business Alliance.
The contest attracted 57 photographs from 16 local photographers, according to Jennifer Tymchuk, chairman of the Library Renovation Fund committee.
Tymchuk said this event has raised at least $171 for the renovation fund so far, and the committee hopes for more, as contest photos are sold to the public.
The top three photographs will be sold at auction, with half the proceeds going to the photographer and half to the library renovation project. The auction will take place on Sunday afternoon, Feb. 20, at the Confluence festival in Gardiner, immediately preceding the event’s final concert by Reedsport’s own band, PBA & the Hot Flashes.
They will eventually be included in a publication featuring the best images of coastal Douglas County, selected from several years’ worth of contest winners.
CDABA member Judy Miller said another $48 was raised through a 50-50 raffle held during the event. Those funds go to pay for CDABA’s annual liability insurance premium.
Editor Lori Newman can be contacted at lnewman@ theworldlink.com, or (541) 271-7474, ext. 203.
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- - - -Loon Lake Lloyd diesLloyd Keeland, also known as “Loon Lake Lloyd,” died peacefully Saturday in his home at Loon Lake. He was 90 years old and a legendary figure among his many longtime friends in the Ash Valley.
"Loon Lake Lloyd" Keeland got much enjoyment from talking on the phone with friends since he became completely blind in 2004.
“He loved listening to old radio shows, and he loved to tell stories. He was a natural-born storyteller, and he would always say, ‘And now for the next thrilling episode,’” said his wife, Ellen Keeland. “And that’s where he is now: on to his next thrilling episode.”
Lloyd Keeland is best known for the book he co-wrote with Ellen, “The Lusty Life and Adventures of Loon Lake Lloyd: WWII Marine, logger and resort owner,” published in 2000. The book has been available ever since at many local venues and tourist attractions in Douglas County and the Coos Bay area.
The 400-page book includes 169 photographs of his history with logging and farming in the area and of the people and wildlife he enjoyed so much.
When they heard of his death, neighbors Astrid and Tom Ward wrote, “Lloyd was the first person that welcomed us to our new home in Ash Valley, and he remained a good friend and neighbor through the following eight years. He will be always remembered.”
“He was a natural talker,” Ellen said. “He was 100 percent Irish on both sides of his family and that’s why he loved to drink, tell stories and fight. He loved it when he could correct anything that was wrong. He liked a lot of activity in his life. He was a very compassionate person, but I never saw him cry. He never felt sorry for himself, even when he went blind about seven years ago.”
“Lloyd was a big presence in the fabric of our little valley community,” said his friend and neighbor Sitka Sitka. “He was a great neighbor and a dear friend to the very last breath. We will feel his loss and tell his story for a long while.”
“The legend of Lloyd Keeland will live on in Loon Lake country even though his presence will be missed,” said Ash Valley neighbors Martin and Loretta Yearous. “He has been our good friend and neighbor for 40 years.”
Ellen Keeland said her husband “was a very conservative man as far as thinking that people should work and not whine.”
He supported and donated to many conservative causes, she said, including Oregonians in Action, the Second Amendment Foundation, the National Rifle Association. He also “really loved to donate to the VFW home for children in Nebraska and to Toys for Tots every Christmas, and to the Oregon Special Olympics.”
A public funeral service for Keeland are being planned for Saturday at 10 a.m. in Pacific Auditorium.
Editor Lori Newman can be contacted at lnewman@theworldlink.com, or (541) 271-7474, ext. 203.
Carpenter becomes entrepreneur
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Things were not any better here �” maybe worse. It became apparent to Thompson that if he was going to survive economically, he would have to find a different job.
Thompson’s cousin, Casey Cordero of Empire, has been a glass blower for 15 years. Cordero owns Flashback Tees, the “oldest head shop” in Coos Bay, Thompson said. Cordero uses his storefront as the venue to sell his blown glass products including colorful pipes for smoking �” tobacco.
According to Thompson, he and Cordero were sitting around talking about Thompson’s unemployed status. Cordero asked if he would like to get into glass blowing. Thompson agreed to give it a try. Now, nine months later, he too is making and selling colorful glass tobacco pipes and pendants in a storefront of his own.
It’s a smoky issue, selling tobacco pipes and other products some associate with 1960s hippie-style head shops. No doubt a number of winks, smiles and shoulder nudges have been exchanged by people viewing the colorful glass tobacco pipes, water pipes, pendants, incense, the Seedless clothing line and other items that in the 1960s were associated with marijuana.
The M word
When the family first opened their new shop, a lot of people came in with their medical marijuana cards for various disabilities, Terrance said.
“In Oregon, you have to have a legitimate disability to have a medical marijuana card. In California, all you need is a hangnail it seems,” said Terrance.
Business has been good at The Shadow Box.
“People have wanted one of these shops in town,” Thompson said. “The closest was in Coos Bay. Some people cannot easily leave Reedsport and can only get to Coos Bay twice a month. This is a public service to the people in Reedsport.”
Although the glass tobacco pipes are unique and colorful, some people cannot use them because of respiratory problems. For these people, Thompson stocks vaporizers.
Works of art
But for Thompson, the money in the shop is made from his glass pipes.
“I start with a raw product, glass, and turn it into a finished product,” Thompson said. “Pipes are real products and sell real fast. When I make money off glass, I am doing OK.”
Thompson misses being a carpenter, but blowing glass is still working with his hands.
“When I was a carpenter, I rarely got an ‘atta boy,’” Thompson said. “Here, my customers tell me how much they like my work. That is so fulfilling �” instant fulfillment. Better than an ‘atta boy.’ (Their comments) put a smile on my face.”
Customers of The Shadow Box must be at least 18 years of age. Thompson said people should also know that they do not sell K2 or Spice.
Staff writer Deborah Yates can be contacted at dyates@theworldlink.com, or (541) 271-7474, ext. 206.
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- - - -More wild steelhead being caughtPete Heley
Crabbing remains slow, but one boat crabber landed 10 legal crab in Half Moon Bay Saturday morning in only a couple of hours of crabbing. He said that he was pulling up full pots of barely undersized crab, but every few pulls he would nab a keeper. Dock crabbers are having to work very hard to catch a few legal crab.
Since the chances of catching a bright salmon are about nil, it is nice to have the winter steelhead fishing in the smaller streams finally get going. On weekends, fair numbers of steelhead anglers on the Umpqua seem perfectly willing to release every steelhead they catch.
The Coos River/ Milli-coma system is still producing good numbers of fin-clipped steelhead, but recently, the proportion of wild steelhead being caught seems to have increased. Tenmile Creek below Eel Creek is producing some nice steelhead catches with fair number of keepable STEP fish.
Bottomfish
The few people who fished the South Jetty/ Triangle area did well on assorted bottomfish. One Reedsport resident, whose Youtube handle is “The tunamasters,” caught rockfish, greenling and some very impressive striped surfperch last Saturday. Another angler who avidly fishes the South Jetty area for assorted bottomfish states that it fishes better than any other jetty area he has tried. Unfortunately, his theory for the good fishing is that our jetty has the toughest walking, and more slippery rocks, than any jetty he has tried. That is the biggest reason the South Jetty, at least the outer parts of it, receives less fishing pressure than many other jetties.
Several anglers who live in Cottage Grove but rent year-round spaces in Winchester Bay have been a little upset with some of the recent bar closures. These anglers usually limit out on ling cod in about two and a half hours after launching when they are able to fish. More often than not, they are forced to go to Charleston to actually launch after waiting for a bar report on the Umpqua bar.
After launching out of Charleston, they fish the same spots they fish when launching out of Winches-ter Bay, but Charleston is four more ocean miles farther away than is Winchester Bay. Recently, these anglers have been using 9-to-10-inch, thick-bodied, plastic twin-tailed grubs in purple, orange or white. The required jighead to get these plastics down to the bottom in more than 300 feet of water weigh at least two pounds.
Sturgeon and trout
Interest in sturgeon fishing is building. Although a couple of anglers have said they saw sturgeon leaping during the last few weeks, there have been no confirmed recent catches of sturgeon in the lower Umpqua River.
Trout anglers need to target the larger lakes in the area that are not completely dependent upon planted trout. Yellow perch and brown bullheads are still almost completely overlooked, despite decent catches made at other northwest waters.
A short report by Terry Sheely in the current edition of Northwest Fly Fishing relates how several agencies (U.S. Geological Survey, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife), with the help of $350,000 in federal money are jointly trying to prove that smallmouth bass and other introduced sport fish are using shad fry to become more fit, making them more able to target salmon and steelhead smolts.
Lacking hard evidence, this line of thinking is still in the theory stage. But anglers that like fishing for warmwater fish need to be forewarned. This angler’s theory is that these agencies should worry about things that they can actually do something about.
Columnist Pete Heley can be contacted by e-mail at peteheley@charter.net or in person on weekends at the Stockade Market in Winchester Bay.
Judge frees Ore. man in Islamic charity case
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EUGENE, Ore. (AP) -- A federal judge has freed an Oregon man whose conviction in September on money smuggling charges has been thrown into question.
Judge Michael Hogan
ruled Wednesday that Pete Seda (SAY-duh) could be released, wearing a GPS device constantly, while his lawyers argue the conviction should be thrown out or that he get a new trial.
Seda was convicted of tax fraud and conspiracy in what the government said was a plot to send about $150,000 through an Islamic charity he managed in Ashland to Saudi Arabia.
Prosecutors said the money was intended to aid Muslims fighting the Russians in Chechnya.
But after the trial, federal prosecutors acknowledged they didn't tell defense lawyers about payments made to the husband of a witness and about discussions of paying the witness.
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NY court upholds man's Ore. terror camp conviction
NEW YORK (AP) -- A federal appeals court on Wednesday upheld the conviction of a Lebanese-born Swede who was sentenced to life in prison for plotting to open a terrorism training camp in Oregon to help al-Qaida.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan on Wednesday issued an order finding that Oussama Kassir had a fair trial when he was convicted in 2009 of supporting al-Qaida by trying to help open the camp in Bly, Ore., a tiny community of just a few hundred residents.
Prosecutors said Kassir, who's in his 40s, tried to set up the camp in late 1999 and early 2000 so al-Qaida could take advantage of relaxed U.S. gun laws and train European recruits for Islamic militancy. They said he "trained men to become terrorists on American soil," provided lessons on how to alter an assault rifle so it could launch a grenade and told witnesses in Bly he supported Osama bin Laden.
A cooperating witness, James Ujaama, who pleaded guilty in 2007 to providing material support to terrorists by loading programs onto Taliban computers during a trip to Afghanistan, testified he tried to create the training camp on 360 acres of land. He said the terrain, with small trees and rocks, and widely varying temperatures were similar to Afghanistan.But the camp never really got off the ground. Ujaama said he visited the property only three times, the last time with Kassir, who traveled from London expecting to find lots of weapons and men eager to be trained.Ujaama said Kassir became angry when he saw nothing had materialized.At sentencing in September 2009, Kassir told a judge that witnesses had lied at his trial. He also said the jury couldn't have adequately studied the evidence because the deliberations lasted only two hours.
A three-judge panel of the appeals court rejected arguments that the trial judge erred by admitting evidence that was irrelevant and unfairly prejudicial and by letting a terrorism expert testify about the history of al-Qaida. The appeals court also rejected arguments that evidence was insufficient and the law used to convict was overly broad, was unconstitutionally vague and infringed on First Amendment rights.Kassir's lawyer, Mark S. DeMarco, said Wednesday he hadn't read the appeals court's order and couldn't comment.
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» Planning commission was disrepectful
As a person of this community and a citizen of Reedsport, I feel that every citizen of Reedsport should know how people are treated by the committee of public meeting board (City Planning Commission).
People treat and/or listen to people with concerns or complaints of the town of Reedsport.
I personally witnessed this committee laugh at people, tell jokes while others were speaking and admiring the clothes they had on, as more important than the person speaking.
I have never been so astonished or ashamed to say I belong to this community or town as I was on Jan. 13.
For my opinion, as if it matters, you need to elect or vote a new committee for this town, one that shows respect, consideration and professionalism for themselves, the town and other people as well.
We are not their joke!
Kimberly Weezer
Reedsport
People treat and/or listen to people with concerns or complaints of the town of Reedsport.
I personally witnessed this committee laugh at people, tell jokes while others were speaking and admiring the clothes they had on, as more important than the person speaking.
I have never been so astonished or ashamed to say I belong to this community or town as I was on Jan. 13.
For my opinion, as if it matters, you need to elect or vote a new committee for this town, one that shows respect, consideration and professionalism for themselves, the town and other people as well.
We are not their joke!
Kimberly Weezer
Reedsport
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Win or lose, athletes need our support
When I first moved to Reedsport, I wrote long letters home to family and friends in Germany about my amazement at how the people of this community supported their sports teams. When the boys’ basketball team was scheduled to play in the state tournament, I wrote, “Reedsport just left.” It was that empty around here.
Twenty years later, my letters would be a bit different. Athletically, Reedsport finds itself in an interesting place. We have outstanding individual athletes who are excelling in golf and track; league-champion volleyball and wrestling teams; struggling football and basketball programs; but very few fans in the stands, regardless of the sport.
The few old-timers who still buy season tickets and cheer for the Braves even without a son or daughter on the court or the field recall that the entire community used to come out to show its support for our student-athletes. That’s no longer the case.
Is there too much alternate entertainment available for us now? Have we become comfortable, lazy, complacent? Are we so spoiled by watching professional sports on television that we can no longer get excited to watch our own young people learning to work hard, play as a team, develop their skills, and learn sportsmanship through winning and losing?
There is no shortage of drama, courage, and heartache on the hardwood, the mats, and the turf of Reedsport Community Charter School. And we all know how a passionate crowd can work together with even a losing team to change the outcome of a competition.
As a father and a fan and a community member, I encourage you to join with me in coming to games and matches and cheering on our Reedsport Braves, in defeat or in success.
Jost Zetzsche
Reedsport
