Body in surf identified, school board to begin replacement proceedings; gas steady at $2.61 in Florence; and bull elk wasted

Body Identified as one of two missing fishermen…

The body of a man, found in the surf just north of Yachats last Thursday was identified yesterday as that of 62-year old Bill Bodewig of Yachats. Bodewig, the owner of a landscaping and tree service has been missing since he and a Florence man went fishing on the rocks near the Oregon House north of Florence November 18th. Officials presumed that both men were swept from the rocks by heavy surf and found a backpack and two fishing poles two days later, but no sign of either man. 23-year old Nick Lutz, who worked for Bodewig is also assumed to have perished but his remains have not been found.

The Siuslaw School District Board of Directors will take the beginning steps this evening to fill the vacancy created by the death of Nancy Phelps. The board is expected to officially declare the position vacant. That begins the 20-day application window for interested residents to apply. To be eligible, applicants must have lived in the district for the past 12-months. Once a selection is made, the appointee would serve until June 30th of next year.

Oregon State Troopers are investigating what they’re calling an illegal kill of a four-point bull elk just west of Mapleton. Saturday morning, just before eight AM a passing motorist saw the animal lying on the shoulder of Highway 126 near milepost ten. Trooper Scott Salisbury responded and found a fresh arrow wound in the animal. Bow season for cow elk is currently open, but it’s closed for bulls. Witnesses told the trooper a large herd of elk had been spotted at 4:30 that morning feeding near the roadway. Officials were able to salvage the meat and donated it to charity.

Gas prices remained in neutral locally, regionally and nationally according to Triple-A of Oregon and Washington. The National Average price for a gallon of regular unleaded stayed at $2.63 this week, 12 cents below Oregon’s statewide average price of $2.75. In Florence, the average price is still two cents below the national average, it’s at $2.61.

TAKING A LOOK INTO COAST RADIO SPORTS:

Prep Basketball:
Two games in the area last night… the Siuslaw Vikings showed improvement last night, but fell to the Bandon Tigers 37 – 31. Seabre (suh-BREE) Church and Kasey Strenke (STRENK-ee) each had eight points to lead the Vikings. In Elmira, the Falcons rolled over the Reedsport Braves 85 – 18. Monica Vaughn led the Braves with seven.

On the boys’ court… Siuslaw gave up a 25 –to- 8 run in the third quarter and a fourth quarter rally fell short as Vikings lost to the Bandon Tigers 50 – 37. Ryan Larson led with ten points for Siuslaw. The Reedsport Braves fell on the road 67 – 29 to the Elmira Falcons. Tyler Stronbridge led Reedsport with ten points.