Apologies continue as bridge maintenance is truncated...

Motorists should expect delays again this morning…

Transportation officials are apologetic about yesterday’s major traffic jam that caused up to a three hour wait to cross the Siuslaw River in Florence and had cars, RVs and trucks backed up as far as five miles each way by late afternoon.
210 – “This was a mess yesterday. It was about as bad as it’s ever been in my experience here with the agency. Very basically we put the traveling public, we put the communities of Florence and Dunes City in an intolerable situation. It’s really inexcusable and for that we apologize.”

ODOT Public Affairs spokesman Rick Little said the problem came when a project that was – quote – “temperature and moisture sensitive” was scheduled on that basis alone and without thinking through the impacts on heavy summer traffic.
211 – “The plan was to shot blast a lane, put one layer of epoxy down on one lane and follow through the next two days with putting a second layer of epoxy on the one lane that was done and then do the same procedure on the second lane.”

That schedule has been changed, but it will still impact traffic through mid afternoon today. Little said they’ll hold off even talking about rescheduling the balance of the work until after Labor Day.

A public work session on revisions to the sign code will be held this evening by the Florence Planning Commission, but an expected hearing on the Parks Master Plan will be delayed until next week. Senior Planner Wendy Farley Campbell said compilation of additional information requested by the commission is the reason for the delay. The Planning Commission meets at seven this evening.

Candidates for city council and mayor positions in Florence and Dunes City have a week to collect required signatures, then get those signatures verified if they want to be on the November Second ballot. In Florence there are two candidates for Mayor… the incumbent Phil Brubaker along with current councilor and former Mayor Alan Burns. Two candidates for two seats on the Florence City Council have filed and there are so far six candidates for four positions in Dunes City. Nobody has completed the filing for the Dunes City Mayor position. Officials in both cities say it’s a good idea to not wait until the last minute. Currently it takes about two hours for Lane County Elections officials to verify signatures, but as the deadline nears and more people file, that time could lengthen.

The New Jersey company working to develop what could be the first ever wave energy park off the Oregon Coast reached what they’re calling a critical agreement with 11 state and federal agencies and three non-governmental stake-holders last week. Ocean Power Technologies received their second Department of Energy grant, this one worth $1.5-million, to develop a new generation of power buoys that would provide more than triple the output of earlier models. The company is working to develop the wave energy park off the Central Oregon Coast near Reedsport.

As the Dungeness crab season wraps up on the Oregon coast, crabbers are celebrating a good season. They've caught over 23 million pounds in the past eight and a half months. That's the fourth time in the past decade that landings have exceeded 20 million pounds. By the time crabbers bring in all of their pots by month's end, some say they expect a total of 25 million pounds.

Ore. siblings charged with murder of Nev. man
Eds: APNewsNow. Changes "death" to "disappearance" in first
paragraph to conform to final paragraph noting authorities have not
said whether body has been found.
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) - An Oregon brother and sister have been
arrested in Minnesota and charged with murder in the disappearance
of the sister's husband in Nevada.
Timothy Wayne Morgan of Eugene and his sister, 30-year-old
Kristi Michelle Preimesberger, were being held at the Ramsey County
jail in St. Paul, Minn., pending extradition to Nevada.
Police told The Register-Guard in Eugene that the 25-year-old
Morgan was arrested on August 10 in Roseville, Minn., on drug
charges before investigators learned about the Nevada murder
charges.
Eugene police searched a portable storage unit last month,
looking for the body of the woman's husband, Eric Preimesberger of
Reno, Nev.
Kristi Preimesberger reported in May that her 29-year-old
husband had gone missing after an argument. Authorities have not
said whether a body was found.
---
Information from: The Register-Guard,
http://www.registerguard.com

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - The father of missing a missing 7-year-old
boy has filed court papers opposing a request by the boy's
stepmother to delay their divorce. Kaine Horman filed for divorce
in June after he says he learned of his wife Terri's alleged plot
to kill him. He also says he thinks she was involved in the
disappearance of his son, Kyron. Investigators have not named any
suspects in the case. Kyron was last seen June 4 at his school.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - The National Weather Service says
yesterday's high temperatures hit 96 at the Portland airport and 95
in downtown Portland. Meteorologist David Elson says some cooling
is expected today, with highs around 90 degrees in the Willamette
Valley and an even bigger cooldown expected for tomorrow.

SALEM, Ore. (AP) - The Salem City Council has voted 7-1 to
schedule a public hearing on a proposed ordinance that would allow
residents to keep up to three hens, but no roosters, in back yards.
It would allow Salem residents to keep three egg-laying hens, but
only under certain conditions and with a required license.



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

TAKING A LOOK INTO COAST RADIO SPORTS:

Northwest League Baseball:
The Eugene Emeralds only managed four hits, but they made them worth their while in a 4-1 victory over the Yakima Bears yesterday. A two-run homer by Oscar Garcia in the third inning gave Eugene the lead. Garcia then scored on a ground ball in the sixth inning and the fourth and final run came in the eighth on Jorge Minyety’s RBI double. It’s summer camp day at PK Park today as the two teams meet again at noon with several youth organizations in attendance.