Not all the news of interest in south Lincoln County can have a full-blown story. Good2Know is a roundup of items about people, places and things involving coastal life.
Church Octoberfest cancelled: The surge of COVID-19 cases in Lincoln County spurred by the Delta variant has claimed a fall event. Yachats Community Presbyterian Church announced Wednesday it is cancelling an Octoberfest celebration first held in 2019. The pandemic cancelled the event last fall, but the church had planned on its second annual fundraiser in September. “… we cannot in good conscience, move forward with plans for our Oktoberfest,” Pastor Bob Barrett said in an email to church members. “As much as each of us was looking forward to it, we have decided to cancel it and other high volume events for the immediate future.” A concert by church music director Milo Graamans will be split into a two-day event, 4 p.m. Sept. 11-12 with seating limited to 50 each day. Masks and reservations are required.
Another coronavirus victim: The Waldport Chamber of Commerce is postponing its Cruzin’ for Crab Festival scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 25. The event was to feature a car show, fresh cooked half-crab with a cup a chowder, music, a vendor fair and crabbing and clamming demonstrations. It was also planning to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the replacement of the Alsea Bay bridge, using the interpretive center as the central place for people to gather, eat and conduct a bridge walk. “While we have postponed this event, we may seek ways to modify something fully outdoors, like the bridge walk,” said chamber director Tom Fullmer.
Meeting change: Government-watchers and others with business before the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners are adjusting to a new meeting schedule. The commission has moved its weekly meeting (now online) from 3 p.m. Mondays to 10 a.m. Wednesdays. Commission Chair Doug Hunt explains that Wednesday mornings have traditionally been the time of their meetings, but was moved to Monday afternoons at the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic to consolidate staff time.
Job vacancy report: The Oregon Employment Department is reporting – to little surprise – that job vacancies in its five-county Northwest region, including Lincoln County, this spring were nearly four times the number of spring 2020 and more than double the level of spring 2019. Within Lincoln, Benton, Clatsop, Columbia, and Tillamook counties there were an estimated 9,825 job vacancies on any given day this spring. That’s more than double the number of vacancies from the winter 2021 survey. The five counties currently have unemployment rates below their long-term average unemployment rates, so despite what some may think, there really isn’t a large pool of workers on the sidelines standing by to get put into the workforce game. The bad news is, this labor shortage is probably going to get worse. The demographics of the five counties indicate they have a large number (about 27%) of people age 55 and older in the workforce poised to retire at any time. And the region has had a significant decline in the number of workers age 14 to 21 as well as workers 35 to 54 years old since 2001. So unless we get an increase in in-migration to the region, we will be struggling just to fill current jobs, let alone those of any new firms or expanding firms. The agency offer this advice to attract and retain workers: increase pay and benefits, offer more flexibility, give staff tools to be successful, do everything possible to keep good workers including “being nice,” and make it easier to apply for jobs.
Newport grandstands: Over the next year the Lincoln County School District will be replacing the aging grandstand and restrooms at Newport High School, using $2 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds allocated by the state. The district plans to have the grandstands replaced for the 2022-2023 school year. In a news release, the school district said the grandstands are the only location at the high school that meets the open-air space definition, limiting its ability to provide a space for classes to gather outside, an outdoor place for students to eat lunch, and host extracurricular activities outdoors.
Making peace: Senitila McKinley and the city of Waldport have apparently made peace – for now. A flap – mostly on Facebook – arose when the city mistakenly thought a Seashore Family Literacy fence on its new City Hall property was their’s. It wasn’t. Seashore had put it on an old ODOT dump site between its Da Noble House and the former Umpqua Bank building to use it as a children’s play area. But they stopped using it years ago and the city Library needed a fence to protect a new radio controlled car track on the Southworth Park field. The misunderstandings and bruised feelings took off from there. McKinley told the city last week that it could keep the fence to protect the track, which is used by the Library’s radio controlled car club.
Waldport medical clinic: There’s been some community concern lately about the shortage of medical staff at Samaritan Health System’s clinic in Waldport at a time when all types of medical staffing is strained by 18 months of the coronavirus pandemic. Samaritan chief executive officer Dr. Leslie Ogden is well aware of the issue – and addressing it. A doctor has recently left the clinic for family reasons and another practitioner is unable to return to work. Ogden said Samaritan has reached a “verbal agreement” for a doctor to join the clinic and is recruiting a nurse practitioner for the other opening. “The timing is terrible,” Ogden told YachatsNews this week. “We know it. We’re working on it.”
News in the news: YachatsNews has itself been in the news a bit lately. The 2 1/2-year-old online local news site was mentioned in a publication of EO Media called “The Other Oregon” in a story on newspapers and online news sites cropping up across Oregon to fill the vacuum by the shrinking of local newspapers, especially in rural areas. That story focused on newspapers in the Columbia River Gorge, Condon, and the 6-month-old Highway 58 Herald, whose start was inspired by YachatsNews. The Yachats site was also mentioned in a recent edition of The Ruralite, which is produced for rural electric cooperatives and distributed to their residential customers.
Low income housing: The state has allocated $30 million in Lottery bonds and tax credits to build 107 apartments in Lincoln City for low-income households. The housing project will consist of 11 buildings, including 41 one-bedroom units, 50 two-bedroom units, and 16 three-bedroom apartments. Plans also include a single-story community building that includes laundry facilities, a rental office, a community room, a community kitchen, covered play area and resident services office. The money was allocated by the Oregon Housing Stability Council, whose chair is Lincoln County Commissioner Claire Hall.
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Beachcomber Days should stay around the 4th. The fireworks can be on the Saturday night either before or after the 4th. The main events can be the same Saturday. Businesses could open after the fireworks.