Phelps could be memorialized with foundation; Real estate sales stabilize; Salem man disrupts flight to Hawaii

Foundation considered to honor late school board member…

School officials are considering formation of a foundation that would offer an incentive for high school students to get involved in civic activities.
205 – “Create an award, annually uh, given to a senior, a graduating senior, that has done exceedingly well in terms of community contributions.”

Siuslaw Superintendent Jeff Davis says the foundation would be in honor of the late Nancy Phelps who served on the school board for just a few years, but left a lasting impression.
206 – “In terms of replacing Nancy those are big shoes to fill. She was a natural in that position, but she’s also done an exceedingly good job of training our existing board members.”

Davis said the school board is still seeking applicants to fill the position left vacant when Phelps passed away in November.
207 – “We’re going to extend it until the 20th of this month and we’re hoping that we can get a pool of several people, although we do have one qualified candidate right now. But if we’re going to go through the interview process it would be ideal if we could have two, three or four people to interview.”

The successful applicant would fill the remainder of Phelps’ term, just under two years.

A revival in real estate sales in the Florence area in the second half of 2009 appears to show signs the local real estate market has stabilized. That’s according to Tawfik Ahdab (tah-FEEK ah-DOBB), a Certified Residential Appraiser who’s studied the Coastal real estate market for several years. Ahdab said sales of single family homes reached 222 in 2009, up slightly from 214 the year before. Last year’s figure is still less than half the total number of sales recorded in 2005. While sales have stabilized, the average sale price continues to fall, and the length of time that homes remain on the market is still high. Ahdab says tight credit is having an impact. Conventional financing reached a record low of 37-percent of all sales, while cash buyers reached a record high market share of 44-percent. The appraiser also said the $8,000 first time buyer tax credit has played a – quote – “marginal role” in stimulating demand, but a $6500 tax credit for other home purchases has the potential to have much more impact.

Federal authorities are considering possible charges against a 56-year old Salem man who they say disrupted a flight out of Portland bound yesterday for Hawaii. The man’s name has not been released because he’s not been charged, but he allegedly made threatening remarks and refused to stow his carry-on luggage. The incident caused NORAD to scramble jet fighters to escort Hawaiian Airlines Flight 39 back to Portland where the man and a female companion were escorted off the plane. The flight was allowed to depart after being searched by Port of Portland Police and FBI.

Here is the latest Oregon news from The Associated Press

SALEM, Ore. (AP) - Atlanta-based Alcan Cable is citing corporate
reorganization and a significant business drop-off in telling
Oregon state officials it plans to cut 33 jobs at its Roseburg
plant. Oregon's Department of Community Colleges and Workforce
Development received an official Warn Act notice of the layoffs
yesterday.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - Oregon's largest utility is beginning its
push to build a new gas-fired power plant in the northcentral part
of the state, one of a host of investments Portland General
Electric plans in the next five years. PGE hopes to address an
energy supply shortfall, transmission bottlenecks and regulatory
requirements.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - The Oregon Zoo continues to break
attendance records, despite the recession-battered economy. The zoo
topped 1.6 million visitors for the first time in 2009. The
previous record, set in 2008, was 1.59 million visitors. The zoo
plans to offer a summer exhibit featuring lifelike robotic
dinosaurs beginning in May.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - Portland residents have been punching 10
digits to make a phone call for a decade. Starting Sunday, the rest
of Oregon residents will be required to use an area code with every
call. The Oregon Public Utility Commission also says a fourth area
code - 458 - will be added in March for new customers because the
state is been running out of phone numbers.
(The Oregonian)

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) - Eugene Police Chief Peter Kerns says an
officer was justified in using a Taser stun gun on a non-English
speaking Chinese student. The officer felt threatened by the
19-year-old who was mistakenly suspected of trespassing last
September at his townhouse. He had just arrived in Eugene to take
English classes at the University of Oregon.
(Register Guard)

VALE, Ore. (AP) - Investigators say it was a dead Ontario
woman's cat the led police to accuse her boyfriend of murder. After
a state trooper arrested the 32-year-old man Monday for
investigation of drunken driving, troopers went to return a cat
found in his car to the girlfriend and discovered her body. The
Oregonian reports 32-year-old Antonio Alfaro Villa was charged with
murder Wednesday in Malheur County Circuit Court for the death of
the woman, 56-year-old Araceli Hernandez.
(The Oregonian)

ASHLAND, Ore. (AP) - Only a week into 2010 and Ashland police
are investigating a second sexual assault. A woman told authorities
she was attacked in an alley Tuesday afternoon. The assault came
just days after a woman was found unconscious and hypothermic.
Police believe that woman, who is recovering, was kidnapped and
sexually assaulted either New Year's Eve or early New Year's Day.
Sgt. Jim Alderman says investigators have yet to find a link
between the two cases.

MCMINNVILLE, Ore. (AP) - McMinnville's Cascade Steel Rolling
Mills is set for another round of layoffs. Management at the mill,
one of the largest employers in Yamhill County, notified the United
Steelworkers that it plans to lay off an another 17 workers. That
brings the number of union workers who have been laid off since
December 2008 to 103.

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) - A federal judge in Eugene has sentenced a
meth dealer to 14 years in prison. Jose Luis Michel-Capristo was
arrested in November 2008 after drug enforcement agents served a
search warrant at his Springfield home. The agents found meth,
scales, handguns and cash.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

TAKING A LOOK INTO COAST RADIO SPORTS:

College Basketball:
The Oregon State men equaled the program’s worst loss in school history last night, falling to Seattle University 99 – 48 in Corvallis. The 51-point margin of defeat came via the same score that the Beavers suffered 12-years ago at Arizona. Oregon State head coach Craig Robinson said he was most disappointed about the Beavers’ effort. He said the loss was more ‘mental’ than anything else and called the loss – quote – “upsetting to watch”. The Beavers are preparing for the first of two Civil War basketball games of the season… Sunday evening at Mac Court in Eugene.

On the schedule…
It’s the first Far West League Dual meet of the year for Siuslaw… and the first opportunity to catch the team in action on the home mats… Siuslaw hosts North Bend this evening at six.