Dune riders protesting trails plan - Dyalisis Clinic to bring 20 jobs

Area dune riders protesting trail closures…

A proposal to change the way the U.S. Forest Service regulates off-road use on the Oregon Dunes is nearing final approval. Many who use the dunes say they’re in danger of being locked out of areas on the sand that they love to ride.
Rowland -- "They are proposing to take away 103 miles of trails."

Barb Rowland and her husband Lance have been riding for several years and they say they’re very concerned about the Forest Service’s “Designated Route Process” that will limit off-road vehicles to specific trails on about 45-hundred acres of vegetate areas on the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area. Rowland says about two-thirds of the trail closures are in Western Lane County.
Rowloand -- "The northern riding area runs from South Jetty to Siltcoos contains 97 miles. And under their proposed action 67 miles would be closed."

The move, she says, will seriously impact safety.
Rowland -- "So what that means is you're putting a lot more people in open areas that is very dangerous for young families because the dunes can change at any time."

Rowland says another factor is economic… something she says the ODNRA has not taken into account. She says ATVers spend a lot of money on the Central Coast every year.
Rowland -- "Economically wise, between Florence, Coos Bay and Winchester Bay that's $62 million dollars. So we could end up losing, you know, maybe half of that revenue."

She’s circulating a petition asking the Forest Service to extend the July 8th deadline for comment on the plan and give her and other riders more time to provide input.

Florence officials are in the process of reviewing an application for construction of a new medical office building in the business park. Florence Dialysis has been looking for a location in Florence for the past 18 months says Assistant City Manager Jacque Betz.
Betz -- "And that is a service that is much needed in Florence because people do leave the area to get that type of medical attention. And that's going to create between 15 and 20 full time jobs."

The clinic will be affiliated with similar facilities in Coos Bay and at River Bend in Springfield. Betz says company representatives want to build on a parcel just north of the Florence Dental Clinic on Kingwood Street… and they already have an eye on expansion.
Betz -- "But they want to build it, so that in the future, they can add on. And I think that they're talking about 15 actual units. Their market has shown that that will be saturated very quickly."

The application has just begun the review process and is not yet complete. Because that type of office is allowed outright by city code, it may not have to be reviewed by the Planning Commission. Betz says they hope to break ground this fall.

The timber industry has sued the Obama administration to get them to start logging more on federal lands in Western Oregon. The American Forest Resource Council and others filed the lawsuit Monday in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., against Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. Salazar faces a court deadline Friday in a separate case to say what he plans to do with the Western Oregon Plan Revision, a Bush administration plan to increase logging on the so-called Oregon & California railroad timberlands overseen by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. Salazar withdrew the plan, saying it was not defensible under the Endangered Species Act. A judge ruled that withdrawal was not done properly. The timber industry lawsuit also contends the timber volume under the plan should double.

Here is the latest Oregon news from The Associated Press

SALEM, Ore. (AP) - Gov. John Kitzhaber today signs a bill
creating an Education Investment Board, which he hopes will
eventually take over governance of education from birth through
college. Kitzhaber envisions the board will eventually have the
power to recommend budgets and to direct policy across all agencies
involved in teaching. Kitzhaber fought hard to create the panel,
which was approved by the Legislature last week after months of
negotiations.

LINCOLN CITY, Ore. (AP) - The Lincoln County district attorney's
office has identified an Oregon man found dead in a home on the
Oregon coast and announced an arrest in the homicide investigation.
District Attorney Rob Bovett says that 49-year-old Darrin M. Dow of
Tigard was found dead Sunday in a Lincoln City home. A 17-year-old
boy from the Portland suburb of Milwaukie has been arrested.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - A 19-year-old Eugene, Ore., man who
injured his back while kayaking down the lower portion of 120-foot
Bridal Veil Falls in the Columbia River Gorge is reported in good
condition at a Portland hospital. The Multnomah County sheriff's office says
it took 14 emergency responders more than an hour to rescue Robert
McKenzie Sunday. Three friends suffered minor injuries.

BURNS, Ore. (AP) - The Harney County sheriff's office says a
biplane flown by a California aerobatic pilot crashed in the remote
high desert southwest of Burns, but she escaped serious injury. The
sheriff's office says 58-year-old Jacquie Warda was able to
communicate with the pilot of another aircraft after the Sunday
morning crash and that pilot called for aid. Warda is from
Danville, Calif.

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) - The motive in a workplace shooting in Eugene
is reportedly the ribbing one employee took from a co-worker after
the predicted May 21 rapture failed to occur. The mother of the
victim says her son told her Dale O'Callaghan took it personally
when he was needled about his belief that he would be taken to
heaven by the return of Jesus Christ. O'Callaghan is accused of
shooting Jerry Andrews on Friday at LHM Hydraulics, where they
worked. Andrews suffered a fractured shoulder. O'Callaghan is
jailed on an assault charge.

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) - An arsonist who avoided federal prison five
years ago by helping lock up Earth Liberation Front activists is
headed to state prison for selling heroin. Jacob Jeremiah Ferguson
of Eugene was sentenced yesterday in Lane County to nearly five
years in prison after pleading guilty to drug-dealing charges and
endangering his 4-year-old daughter in the process. He was on
probation under a 2007 plea deal for his role in arsons by an ELF
band known as The Family.

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) - The Eugene City Council has voted to recite
the Pledge of Allegiance at four meetings each year close to
patriotic holidays. It was a compromise after Councilor Mike Clark
suggested that the pledge be recited at the start of each regular
meeting. The Register Guard reports the council also endorsed a
resolution that funds for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan should be
redirected to domestic needs.

SEATTLE (AP) - Freddie Freeman became just the second Atlanta
batter to get a hit off Seattle starter Erik Bedard and his
tiebreaking two-run homer in the seventh inning gave the Braves a
3-1 win over the Mariners last night. Brandon Beachy struck out
nine in six strong innings before turning it over to the Braves'
stellar bullpen. Craig Kimbrel pitched the ninth for his 21st save
in 26 chances.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - A Portland jury has begun deliberations in
the murder trial of a man accused of strangling his wife, stuffing
her body in a duffel bag and dumping it off a remote Oregon forest
road. KOIN-TV reports that in closing arguments, a prosecutor
accused Brian Cole of killing his wife, Heather Mallory, after she
decided to leave him for a man with whom she was having an affair.

SALEM, Ore. (AP) - Marion County sheriff's deputies say the
owner of two malnourished horses rescued this month from a
15-by-40-foot pen east of Salem has been arrested and booked into
jail. A spokesman said Audra Bentley was located yesterday at a
motel in suburban Portland and jailed for investigation of two
counts of animal neglect and two counts of animal abandonment. Mud
in the pen was a foot deep and the horses had no shelter. The
horses were taken to Lighthouse Farm Animal Sanctuary near Scio.

MADRAS, Ore. (AP) - Fire last night destroyed an outbuilding at
the Wilbur-Ellis Co. Seed Division near Madras. KTVZ reports
firefighters from Culver and Warm Springs helped Jefferson County
firefighters knock down the fire in about an hour. No one was
injured.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - A year after the Portland Trail Blazers
first took a long look at point guard Raymond Felton, the 6-foot-1
free agent has joined the Blazers after a draft-day trade with the
Denver Nuggets. Felton was introduced yesterday during a news
conference in Portland, saying he looks to make the Blazers his
team for years to come. He's played for three teams in six NBA
seasons.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)


TAKING A LOOK INTO COAST RADIO SPORTS:

Currently at one-and-two in league play, the Three Rivers Sandblasters are hoping to pull even at home this evening when they host the Withnell Dodgers. That game is set for five pm at Jiggs Dodson Field and will air on Coast Radio Sports with a 4:45 airtime.

The Eugene Emeralds stretched their win streak to six last night with a 3-1 victory over the Everett Aqua Sox. The Ems took an early lead in the second inning on a Zach Kometani RBI double, but the Sox tied it up in the same frame with a solo homerun by Jorge Agudelo. Eugene’s Jace Peterson broke the tie in the bottom of the eighth with his RBI double to right field. Jeremy Rodriquez, followed suit a few minutes later with an RBI single to provide the final margin. The Emeralds are back home at PK Park this evening in Eugene where they’ll open up a three-game series against Salem Keizer.



FOR FLORENCE AND THE CENTRAL OREGON COAST

Showers this morning… with a high near 63 degrees.
Mostly cloudy overnight… a 40-percent chance of showers… mainly this evening. Tonight’s low around 53.
More cloudy skies tomorrow… a 20-percent chance of showers and a high near 61.

Mostly cloudy and a chance of showers Thursday, mostly sunny Friday and Saturday.

The marine forecast is showing a south marine wind ten to 15 knots becoming southwest at five to ten knots… becoming a west marine wind at five knots overnight. Low tide was at 6:03. High tide at 12:32 this afternoon.