Coast Radio News

Ready for the weather…

All the emergency planning in the Florence area will show results a week from today when representatives from the National Weather Service officially designate Florence and the surrounding area as being Storm Ready and Tsunami Ready. Warning Coordination Meteoroligist Tyree Wilde says the designations show emergency officials have completed a detailed list of requirements.
200 – “Basically be able to receive warnings any hour of the night and day, disseminate them out to the community, have active community outreach education program and then tying that all together into some type of operational response plan.”

Wilde, who will present special signs noting the accomplishment to Florence officials next Wednesday, says by achieving the ‘Tsunami Ready’ designation it shows a commitment.
201 – “From the community leaders, you know the, I know the fire and police chief have been very active in, in promoting the program and going through all the criteria and making sure everything was met and you’ve got an active CERT team there.”

Florence will be the tenth site in Oregon to complete the requirements.

Oregon’s average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline, as measured by Triple-A, hit the $3.00 mark briefly this week before slipping back to $2.99. It’s the first time the statewide average has breached that mark since October of 2008. For the week, Oregon’s average price is up two cents a gallon. The national average dropped a cent-and-a-half and is at $2.73 this week. Florence’s average price remains stable at $2.87.

The Revenue Marine was established on this date in 1790. Then, later the organization was renamed to the Revenue Cutter Service before it was merged with the U.S. Lifesaving Service in 1915 to create the Coast Guard. The modern day Coast Guard has several different missions, including marine safety and security as well as national defense and the protection of natural resources. The U.S. Coast Guard has had a presence in the Florence area for 93 years. Currently there are more than two-dozen men and women assigned to the Siuslaw River Station.

The blackberries are still not ripe, and that’s left hundreds of coastal residents hungry and looking for an easy meal. Sometimes though, that easy meal can mean a death sentence for black bears. Wildlife biologists say delayed or nonexistent natural food sources mean bears will go looking for garbage cans or bird feeders to get by. Stuart Love, a biologist in Coos County with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife says several bears have had to be killed already this season because they’ve become too used to getting handouts from humans.

Here is the latest Oregon news from The Associated Press

SISTERS, Ore. (AP) - A spokesman for fire crews battling a
wildfire in the rugged mountain forests of central Oregon says the
fire is about 20 percent contained. As of last night, the fire
covered about 4 square miles of the Deschutes National Forest and
private land about six miles south of Sisters. The cause of the
fire is under investigation.

COOS BAY, Ore. (AP) - A Coos County man told investigators at
the scene of a fatal shooting that he aimed and fired a
double-barreled derringer at a computer Kelly Twiggs was using. But
deputies found the woman dead last Saturday night, so prosecutors
have charged Joseph Miller Lankford with murder.

GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) - An Oregon man has been charged with
manslaughter and drunken driving in a rollover crash that killed
his 6-year-old son. Police also charged Jeffrey Wade of Cave
Junction with assault, reckless driving and furnishing alcohol to a
minor after the Saturday crash killed his son, Larry, and injured
five other people, including his 9-year-old son, Jacob.

SALEM, Ore. (AP) - The city of Salem has added the Courthouse
Square building to its list of dangerous buildings and ordered
Marion County and the transit district workers to move out within
60 days. The building is just 10 years old and cost $34 million to
build. Even before Friday's notice, officials started moving out of
the building because of problems that include leaking windows and
structural test failures.

COOS BAY, Ore. (AP) - Nearly two dozen activists involved in a
July 2009 logging protest in Oregon's Elliott State Forest have
been sentenced. Twenty-two of those arrested pleaded no contest to
second-degree criminal trespassing. They will share restitution
costs of about $1,200. The protesters were arrested during a
four-day demonstration over the logging of a stand of 107-year-old
trees.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - Oregon Public Health officials say it's
once again safe to swim in Diamond Lake in the Umpqua National
Forest. An advisory against swimming in the lake was issued July 15
because of high levels of blue-green algae, which can produce
toxins harmful to people and animals. Health officials say water
monitoring now shows reduced levels of the algae.

GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) - Oregon is tightening water quality
restrictions on suction gold dredges, which small-time miners use
to glean flecks of gold from river bottoms long ago mined of their
riches. The new rules reduce the size of dredges used in essential
salmon habitat and require miners to make daily checks that the
muddy water from their dredges does not extend more than 300 feet
downstream.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
TAKING A LOOK INTO COAST RADIO SPORTS:

Northwest League Baseball:
A pair of Yakima home runs in the first three innings, coupled with good work on the mound by five Bears’ pitchers handed the Eugene Emeralds an eight-run shutout loss on the road last night. The Ems managed only five hits on the night, two of those by first baseman Wes Cunningham who was two-for-four with a pair of doubles. Eugene and Yakima have split the first two games of their five game series… game three is tonight.

College Football:
The teams hit the practice field for the first time Monday morning in Corvallis and Eugene. Oregon State will open the season on the road September Fourth against TCU with Heisman Trophy candidate JacQuizz Rodgers in the backfield. The Ducks will open up at home that same day in Eugene against New Mexico. Head Coach Chip Kelly is hoping to pin down who his starting quarterback will be by that time.