The Oregon Department of Human Services encourages Oregonians to support building strong and thriving families during National Child Abuse Prevention Month in April.
This month promotes developing the social and emotional well-being of children and recognizes the importance of families and communities working together to prevent child abuse and neglect. The Department participates in events, promotes increased awareness, and works to support to families all over Oregon.
“We know that children who enjoy strong and caring relationships with their parents, siblings, caregivers, educators and other community members will grow up in loving and supportive families,” Oregon Child Welfare Director Marilyn Jones said. “Let’s all work together to prevent child abuse.”
Last week, DHS staff joined with partners from Prevent Child Abuse Oregon to plant a blue pinwheel garden in front of the Human Services Building in Salem to celebrate Child Abuse Prevention Month. The blue pinwheel reminds us that every child deserves a great childhood.
Department officials, community leaders and volunteers are participating today (April 12, 2019) in the 2nd Annual Safe Families Oregon Collaborative Conference in Salem.
Child Welfare caseworkers will be among those attending the Child Abuse & Family Violence Summit, hosted by the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office Child Abuse Team and the Domestic Violence Enhanced Response Team, from April 16-19 in Portland. Information is available at this Web site. National Child Abuse Prevention Month information can be found here.
When it comes to recognition of key community members, few are more deserving than 911 operators in Oregon.
Each second week of April, this year April 14-20, many national and local public safety organizations reach out to recognize public safety telecommunicators and their important role in the protection of life and property.
In support of this action, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown has issued a state proclamation to acknowledge these devoted professionals across the state who take emergency calls and/or dispatch appropriate police, fire and medical services to the location of the emergency.
911 operators are a vital element of a city or county emergency services system. They are professionally-trained in order to meet the demands of such crucial work that ensures information is communicated quickly and clearly, and accurately relayed to the appropriate agency. They must also track the information in a computer or other dispatch system, all while remaining calm, courteous and confident to keep the caller at ease.
“When an emergency occurs, we rely on 911 as the first point of contact to coordinate public safety resources to work toward a timely response,” State 9-1-1 Program Section Manager Frank Kuchta said. “Their goals are to help save lives and property.”
The Oregon statewide 911 program and Oregon’s Office of Emergency Management also make it a priority to highlight the week, and encourages media partners and the public to acknowledge and thank 911 telecommunicators for the important work they do.
“Their dedication to public service makes this week worth celebrating,” Kuchta said.
The 911 program in Oregon was established by the 1981 Oregon Legislature, and is managed by the Oregon Office of Emergency Management.
Program staff are responsible for continual coordination and management of the network necessary for the delivery of 911 calls and associated information, the equipment used by the telecommunicators to process those calls, and assisting local governments with the challenges faced in the participation in the statewide 911 emergency communications system.
Seven Taft High boys and three girls claimed individual titles as the Tigers won the men’s title and placed second in the women’s Thursday in a three-way league track and field meet at Salem Academy.
Junior Edson Fuentes (800 meters), senior Micah McLeish (1,500 meters), freshman Cayden Edmonds 3,000 meters) and senior David Jin (100- and 300-meter hurdles) won running events for the Tigers in the Special District 2 meet hosted by Blanchet Catholic.
JJ French
Senior Mad Scott (javelin), junior Elin Fitch (high jump and triple jump) and sophomore JJ French (pole vault) won field events for Taft.
Freshman Brayan Mateo-Perez (100 meters), freshman Samuel Vasquez (400 meters), junior Tristan Beach (javelin) and Scott (discus) posted runner-up finishes for the Taft boys.
The Tigers defeated Salem Academy 220-178 for the boys title.
Jordyn Ramsey
Freshman Aubrey Sciarrotta (200 meters), senior Savannah Russo (300-meter hurdles and javelin) and freshman Kadence James (high jump) claimed individual titles for the girls.
Sophomore Jordyn Ramsey (800 meters), sophomore Avery Nightingale (1,500 meters) and Sciarrotta (100 meters) posted second-place finishes for the girls.
Blanchet Catholic defeated Taft 215.5-117.5 for the girls crown.
Taft returns to the track at 10 a.m. Saturday for the Prefontaine Rotary Invitational near Coos Bay.
North Lincoln Fire & Rescue Capt. Jim Kusz led a tribute Thursday to local law enforcement and safety organizations at the Kiwanis Club’s annual First Responders Recognition Luncheon at Chinook Winds Casino Resort.
Various local groups paid tribute to the men and women who keep the community safe
“Jay and Jan Heck first put the event together four years ago because they wanted to do something to show appreciation to the first responders of our community,” said Diane Kusz, who now heads the luncheon committee following the Heck’s move to Dallas, Ore. “First Responders are invited to lunch as a way to say thank you.”
Various organizations such as Oregon State Police, Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, Lincoln City Police, North Lincoln Fire & Rescue, U.S. Coast Guard, Pacific West Ambulance, Community Emergency Response Team and American Red Cross were among those honored in the noon banquet at Aces Bar and Grill.
The Taft High 7-12 jazz band performed at Thursday afternoons annual event
Speech courtesy of NLFR Capt. Jim Kusz
Welcome:
Four years ago – Jay and Jan Heck wanted to start a new tradition for Kiwanis in which the First Responders are recognized for the dedication to the community.
They realized many in our community never encounter our services, and “that is a good thing”, however, they do know that many of our community members do, and for that Kiwanis wants to say thank you.
Let me take a moment to recognize Jay and Jan Heck, who recently moved to inland to Dallas, Ore., it was shortly after one of my presentation on CSZ and tsunami’s, but I think that was a coincidence…anyway, we’d like thank them for their service and commitment to the Kiwanis Club … no matter where they live.
Today, the Lincoln City Kiwanians would like to say thank you for your service – they celebrate and honor you, our first responders.
When you came in today…you were given a small bag with a symbolic piece of glass in it.
This pocket glass token represents an abundance of appreciation and gratitude to our First Responders today. It was an idea my wife, Diane, had, Diane approached Kelly Howard at the glass studio and with a limited budget (originally, she wanted to get all of you new cars, but she couldn’t get hold of Oprah Winfrey in time).
So, they created these tokens from rescued glass, Diane thought that was perfect, rescued glass for rescuers! It was saved and has been re-purposed to act as a reminder that this community cares and thanks you for your acts of bravery, compassion and willingness to run into harm’s way, be that a structure fire, at an active crime scene, perilous rescue at sea, or give aid relief (PWA/ARC/CERT).
It’s also given to you for those days or moments, when you may feel just a little unappreciated or defeated – please pick up this rescued glass … hold it in your hand and know that there are people in this community that care and thank you for being there!
Three decades ago, when I started as a volunteer with West Linn Fire outside of Portland, little did I know it would become a career…and that this service changes your life and the ones you love.
Dinners get interrupted, you miss your children’s activities and much more. Your family must learn to let it go and be OK with it.
In our home when the tones go off…we know “someone is having a bad day” – as their life has just made a change, and that someone may be a first responder on the scene.
First responders’ job has its ups and downs and at times can be very demanding and challenging both physically and emotionally. Sometimes the call goes well, and all is safe and other times no so much.
A few years back, I was visiting family in Chicago, and got into a conversation with my niece Jenny, and her husband Danny.
Jenny works in the ER at St. Elizabeth Hospital on the near northside. In what is called Wicker Park, area of Chicago. She sees overdoses, gunshot victims and abused and critically ill individuals daily.
Danny works at the Lincoln Park Zoo in a beautiful and upper-class area, off Lake Shore Drive, it where people come to have fun and enjoy the park and its gardens.
They shared with me one typical day in their respective jobs…
Jenny was working night shift when they had a shooting that brought several critical victims in, it nearly overwhelmed the ER and their staff. It was chaotic and stressful!
Danny share his eventful day at the zoo, it was beautiful spring day when suddenly, several ducks escape the pond enclosure and needed to be herded back gentle to the pond.
You couldn’t have two so different experiences, in the same city … only a few miles apart.
Just like Lincoln City, visitors and residents see one side of the coast, responder see something else … I look at the ocean and see danger, tourist see something else …
MORAL … First responders deal with ducks escaping their enclosures every day, really (think about it) and they need to be wrangled back gentle, only sometimes it’s not ducks that need our assistance but elephants, or tigers that need help, and to keep this relevant for the USCG sometimes sharks, or worst there are times the animal can’t be saved, it’s chaotic, sad, stressful work. It can be overwhelming…and they do this 24/7, 365 days a year!
These calls take a toll, on dispatchers, law enforcement, medics, fire service personnel, hospital staff, emergency planners, coast guard members and all partners who work to be there when you need them, on what might be a person, or family’s worst day of their lives.
So, this token is there to a help you feel grounded, supported, and be mindful that you are more than a person in a uniform. You are a person in a community on the beautiful Oregon coast, part of something larger and loving, recognized and appreciate today and every day.
The Oregon Department of Human Services has announced development of a plan to return Oregon foster youth who are being served in other states.
“We want youth in Oregon and we will need help building an appropriate continuum of care to keep them here and help them thrive,” Director of Child Welfare Marilyn Jones said. “The plan will ensure children and youth have thoughtful transitions and will be placed in appropriate settings in Oregon to meet their specific needs.”
A plan will be available in the next 60 days, as the Department identifies the necessary steps to get youth back to Oregon.
The Department is asking all its partners – health care providers, care facility operators, county Coordinated Care Organizations, community groups, mental health services, drug and alcohol treatment partners – to help create a shared and comprehensive vision for the safe and appropriate end to placements in other states.
Oregon has to create more places where highly vulnerable foster youth can receive the best available care, mental health counseling, psychiatric supports and other services they currently receive out of state.
The Department’s Office of Reporting, Research, Analytics and Implementation is conducting research to determine capacity, placement and service matching for all foster children and youth in Oregon.
Early research results indicates 85 percent of foster youth can be placed in foster homes. By identifying the needs of other children and youth, the Department can estimate the specific number of settings needed including residential or mental health services, in-home plans with family treatment services and safety plans, and foster and group homes for youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
The Department has partnered with the Oregon Health Authority and has secured a contract with Comagine to conduct clinical assessments on youth placed in programs outside of Oregon.
Within the next 60 days, the Department will coordinate with out of state providers and agencies in Oregon and determine the clinical need and level of care required for each youth currently out of state. Providers in Oregon will convene during that period to identify facilities needed to return the children and youth to their home state.
Travel Oregon’s Only Slightly Exaggerated depicts a fun, exciting and diverse landscape that truly embodies what it is to experience what Oregon has to offer.
The video, directed by Kylie Matulick and Todd Mueller and written and produced by Portland-based ad agency Wieden + Kennedy, was animated by Psyop and Sun Creatures Studio. The one-minute, 30-second video features a musical score by the Oregon Symphony that flows perfectly with the animation.
The film is an animated snapshot of Oregon, replete with a beach-side dune buggy accompanied by flying fish, an underground cave network twisting through marble rock, ghost forests submerged in clear blue waters, a bee flying through colorful flora, majestic outdoor Oregon scenery, hiking, hang gliding and presents the viewer with a real sense of adventure.
The Travel Oregon website features the video on its homepage and dedicates a portion of the site to the video, where visitors can “Explore More of Oregon, Only Slightly Exagerated.”
The whimsical and, at times, surreal video strikes a fine balance of fantasy and reality and paints Oregon as a vividly green state.
The Oregon Tourism Commission, doing business as Travel Oregon, is a semi-independent agency created by the Oregon Legislature in 2003 to enhance Oregonians’ quality of life by strengthening economic impacts of the state’s $11.8 billion tourism industry.
The Travel Oregon staff develops and implements a biennial strategic marketing plan which includes advertising and marketing, publication development, cooperative promotions, consumer fulfillment, public relations, international marketing, tourism product development, State Welcome Centers, research, and industry relations. Travel Oregon cooperates extensively with local communities, industry associations, government agencies, and private businesses in the implementation of its strategic plan.
The Oregon Tourism Commission, a nine-member board appointed by the Governor, governs the Travel Oregon staff and its programs; the agency is funded by a 1.8% statewide transient lodging tax.
The U.S. Coast Guard Alert was involved in the arrest April 9 of a Canadian national allegedly distributing meth
A criminal complaint was filed today in federal court alleging Canadian citizen John Phillip Stirling, 65, illegally possessed, with intent to distribute, methamphetamine aboard a U.S. flagged vessel in Oregon waters.
According to court documents, while on a routine patrol April 9, the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Alert detected a sailing vessel traveling north 225 nautical miles from Newport.
The vessel, named Mandalay, listed a home port of Seattle and visible U.S. registration numbers. When Coast Guard personnel attempted to communicate with Stirling, he went below deck and would only respond via VHF radio. Once Coast Guard personnel determined the Mandalay was a U.S. flagged vessel, they boarded and found Stirling to be the vessel’s sole occupant.
Stirling stated he did not have vessel documentation and refused to produce identification. Upon further questioning, Stirling’s speech began to deteriorate and he displayed signs of a possible drug overdose.
Coast Guard personnel administered medical aid to Stirling and evacuated him by helicopter to Astoria. He was later transported by ambulance to Adventist Health Portland for additional treatment.
Coast Guard personnel conducted a search of the Mandalay and discovered 28 seven-gallon jugs containing liquid methamphetamine.
Stirling made an initial appearance today in federal court before U.S. Magistrate Judge Stacie F. Beckerman. Stirling was ordered detained pending trial.
A criminal complaint is only an accusation of a crime, and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
This case is being investigated by the U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service (CGIS) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).
The Lincoln County Assessor’s Office will conduct a physical reappraisal of all residential properties in Lincoln City areas through spring and summer of 2019.
Specific areas include Taft, Nelscott, Drift and Schooner Creek Road, Otis and Rose Lodge. County Appraisers will attempt to visit each property, driving marked County vehicles and carrying Assessor’s Office identification.
Physical reappraisals are routinely conducted to update the Lincoln County assessment records and maintain equitable assessments. Newly reappraised values in these areas will be reflected on the 2019-20 tax statements which will be mailed in late October 2019. Appraisal questions may be directed to Appraisal staff at (541) 265-4102.
The Assessor’s Office is located in room 207 on the second floor of the county courthouse, at 225 West Olive Street in Newport. The front counter is open to the public Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m.
Property assessment data can also be accessed on the computer terminal in the hallway outside the Assessor’s Office, Monday through Friday 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m.. Access to Assessor’s Office maps and prior year property and value information continue to be available on the Assessor’s web page at: www.co.lincoln.or.us/assessor.
For additional information, contact the Lincoln County Assessor’s Office at 541-265-4102 or at [email protected].
Newport High School Robotics Club members with some of the materials accepted at their Earth Week e-cycling event
Lincoln County residents can avoid illegal disposal of computer and related electronics equipment when Newport High School’s Robotics Club and Thompson’s Sanitary Service host Earth Week Electronics Recycling, April 26-27.
The annual event will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. both days in the east campus parking lot at Newport High, 322 NE Eads St.
With more than two billion computers in use worldwide, safe disposal of e-waste has become a critical concern. It is illegal to dispose of e-wastes in landfills in Oregon because they contain hazardous chemicals like lead, cadmium, mercury and more that can contaminate water supplies. However, most of this waste can be recycled and reused, which is the goal of the event.
Items accepted for recycling (at no charge) include: TVs, computers (monitors, towers, laptops, desktops); computer peripherals (mice, printers, speakers); camcorders and cameras; MP3 players (iPods, zunes, etc.); printer ink and toner cartridges; cables and power supplies; cellular, corded, and cordless phones.
Data security on computers is the donator’s responsibility. Hard drives can be removed and hammered prior to recycling or erased by programs like Killdisk (there’s a free version at killdisk.com.)
Items not acceptable include batteries, DVD and VHS players, game consoles and handheld electronic games, scanners, and fax machines. Many of these items might be donated to local service organizations, if in working condition.
The event marks the fourth time NHS Robotics Club has helped host this event. Over the past 10 years, the club has managed to keep more than 70 tons of materials from entering the waste stream, with around one-quiarter of that being e-waste.
The club also partners with Lincoln County to host a surplus office equipment sale every fall.
For more information, call Liz Fox at 541-265-9281, x231 or email [email protected].
For more information about Thompson’s Sanitary Service Recycling, contact Aimee Thompson at 541-265-7249 or email [email protected].
EDITOR’S NOTE:The following letter from Lincoln City Planning Director Lindsey Sehmel seeks local business owners’ input regarding future sign ordinance options:
Dear Business Owner:
The City of Lincoln City recently passed two ordinances (2019-14 & 2019-15) making amendments to the City’s sign regulations. In doing so, City Council directed staff to provide all businesses in the commercial zoning districts with this letter identifying the changes and summarizing the future work program relating to signage.
First, the recently adopted ordinances are not the final review of signs. Council seeks your input on future decisions on signage options, opportunities, and design. Council was clear that additional review and public engagement is necessary and directed certain matters be
brought forward in the design standards review process. Planning Department staff will engage, educate, research and prepare for public outreach on the future work to the City’s sign regulations.
Summary of noteworthy changes in Ordinance 2019-14 and Ordinance 2019-15, which will be in effect ,May 8, include:
• Chapter 17.72 is now consistent with Ordinance 2018-13 (Chapter 9.34) adopted last October, in that content-based definitions and terms in Chapter 17.72 were removed from the code consistent with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Reed v. Town of Gilbert.
• Chapter 9.34 primarily concerns exempt temporary signage (not requiring a permit).
• Chapter 17.72 primarily concerns permanent signage and temporary signs issued pursuant to a permit, or with certain limitations.
• Both chapters place a cap on flags at a maximum of three flags and two windsocks per residence or business. Such flags must be located on private property, not public property. This limitation on flags and windsocks has been referred for review in the ongoing design standards review process.
• Both chapters permit a business to substitute two feather banners for two flags for an interim six-month test period. Business owners have been adamant that such banners should be allowed. Council has directed that the ongoing design review process review any problems or benefits of such feather banners discovered during the test period. This allowance sunsets on Oct. 8, 2019, and again only concerns feather banners on private property.
• Council requested that the design standards review process look at the current code allowance for 24 inches of encroachment into street right of way for wall mounted signs above 7.5 feet.
• The design standards review process will explore the current prohibitions and permitting hurdles to signage on City and ODOT right-of-way, including ADA concerns.
I will be working with my department staff to identify and prepare a draft scope of work and timeline to address the remaining sign code ordinance issues as directed by council.
This includes reviewing and preparing design standards for the sign ordinance, reviewing the current regulations in conjunction with the pending draft commercial and multi-family residential design standards and ensuring the new design standards and an updated sign code reflect the vision and desire of Lincoln City into the future. This scope of work will be presented to the Planning Commission for a work study meeting in May 2019.
Please contact me via [email protected], if you have any questions, concerns, or would like to be added to the email list for future notifications on the pending work related to permanent signage design and aesthetics in Lincoln City.
Respectfully,
Lindsey Sehmel, EMPA, AICP
Director Planning and Community Development
Each second week of April, this year April 14-20, many national and local public safety organizations reach out to recognize public safety telecommunicators and their important role in the protection of life and property.
