A homeless person sleeps on the sidewalk in Taft (Photo by Justin Werner)
Another zoning issue has eliminated First Baptist Church as a potential replacement site for Taft Hall to serve the homeless in Lincoln City.
In a letter to Councilors, Lincoln City Warming Shelter Board President Patrick Alexander said: “I’m sorry to say the planning department review has concluded that we cannot offer overnight shelter at our alternate site at First Baptist Church [1333 NW 17th St.]. The church lies within the Oceanlake Plan District zone, which I am told does not allow for Accessory Use. At present, we have no viable option for overnight shelter this winter.”
Alexander suggested that the special Monday, Oct. 15, Council meeting “focus solely on finding solutions to this emergency situation.”
“I encourage councilors and staff to explore all available options, including emergency declarations, in order to help preserve life and health this winter,” he said.
Citing the Warming Shelter’s legal ability to host clients overnight at Taft Hall (1207 SE 48th Place), Councilors approved the Shelter for a $4,600 grant on Sept. 10 — a 90 percent reduction from the $45,000 the City awarded in 2017, and a 62 percent cut from the $12,000 the Shelter had requested.
Based on a motion from Councilor Judy Casper, Council plans to meet in an Oct. 15 workshop to research and evaluate the homelessness situation in Lincoln City and discuss “funding, zoning and intergovernmental cooperation” on homelessness services and “provide stable facilities that meet the needs of this everlasting, changing, growing population.”
Taft High 7-12 will join Toledo, Waldport, Siletz and Eddyville high schools in the Lincoln County School District’s 2018 GEAR UP College Fair Wednesday, Oct. 24, at the County Fairgrounds in Newport.
The college fair, held for the past seven years, allows more than 1,500 students an opportunity to meet with college recruiters and officials. In addition, every high school will participate in College Application Week following the fair.
“We will provide a table for each attendee for displays,” event coordinator Vicky Roller said. “Additional accommodations can be made by request. We also ask that you bring some of your ‘school/business swag’ to donate for our giveaways. Students love pens, pencils, t-shirts, pennants, etc.
Please confirm your attendance to this event ASAP. For further information, contact Roller at [email protected]
EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is from Lincoln County School District Superintendent Dr. Karen Gray.
Greetings, Lincoln County students and supporters:
Every now and then, I would like to have the opportunity to share a little about what is going on in our schools on a broad level. To share a bit about my philosophy of how we are shaping the school experience to be one that is supportive of learning both socially and academically.
The first core belief we will highlight is the implementation of restorative practices in our school culture. I have long been a proponent of restorative justice and collaborated with Resolutions Northwest, an organization that specializes in restorative justice training and mediation, in my former school district back in 2008.
So, what is restorative justice? According to Resolutions Northwest and in my shared opinion, “Restorative justice is about building, maintaining, and repairing relationships to form healthy, supportive and inclusive communities. When we do things that affect others and create harm in the community, it is our individual and collective responsibility to make things right. Restorative practices help create spaces that hold us accountable in supportive and inclusive ways.
In the public school setting, the restorative justice philosophy seeks to reduce high suspension and expulsion rates that disproportionately affect students of color, and to improve, school climate. This can be achieved by creating time and space to build community, teaching students and staff the importance of accountability, and empowering students and staff to repair harm when needed. Restorative justice is used to interrupt the school-to-prison pipeline, which begins when students are suspended and/or expelled, and as a result, fall behind academically.”
In Lincoln County School District, we are making a concerted effort to teach social and emotional skills to our students.
I am hosting a new community education series in the county and will be offering events to discuss Restorative Practices. The first 45 minutes will be time to share a core value and the second 45 minutes will be for participants to share how they feel it is going at their schools. Dates are below:
South County: Thursday, Oct. 11 from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., Waldport High School.
East County: Wednesday, Nov. 7 from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., Toledo Elementary School.
West County: Tuesday, Dec. 4 from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., Sam Case Elementary School.
North County: Thursday, January 10 from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., Taft Elementary School.
Refreshments provided and all are welcome to listen, share, and join the conversation.
The awarding Wednesday of a three-year $745,871 federal grant to the Stepping Up Initiative will help Lincoln County address mental illness and substance abuse issues in the criminal justice system.
“This funding will provide necessary services to keep people with a mental health disorder out of jail,” Lincoln County Sheriff Curtis Landers said. “It will provide them with the tools and resources to build a foundation to be successful. and, most importantly, it will reduce crime in our community.”
The funds come from the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s Justice and Mental Health Collaboration program, and provide direct assistance to clients, supportive services, including housing and treatment, and additional training for law enforcement.
“This is a remarkable achievement, but we’re just getting started,” said County Commissioner Claire Hall, who first advocated for Lincoln County to join Stepping Up. “This award underscores the fact that we’ve built a new public-private partnership and culture of collaboration that will improve public safety, save tax dollars, and save lives.”
The grant funds will be available beginning in January 2019. A pretrial justice program to hire two specialists, presented by Landers and approved by the Board of Commissioners and budget committee for the 2018-19 fiscal year, will meet the requirements for a local match.
The award was announced Wednesday afternoon at a gathering to mark the two-year anniversary of Lincoln County joining the national Stepping Up effort, which was launched in 2015 by three national organizations. Almost 400 counties in the United States have joined Stepping Up. The event also provided an opportunity for community partners to provide input on next steps.
The new grant will support a Pretrial Justice Counselor position in the Sheriff’s Office to coordinate mental health and co-occurring disorder services. CHANCE will provide peer support services and help coordinate pretrial services and ReConnections will provide pretrial drug testing as directed by court orders.
Indigent program participants will have access to emergency vouchers, transportation assistance and communication assistance.
Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training will be offered to all first responders county-wide, and Trauma Informed Care training for pretrial justice staff and stakeholders will take place as a result of this grant award.
“This is a very comprehensive grant involving programming, counselling, and compliance,” Landers said. “It is structured to address the barriers people struggle with and allow them to live productive lives without committing crime. “
The bad news is the Taft High volleyball team is still looking for its first victory of the season following a 3-0 loss at Rainier Tuesday night. The good news is it might come as early as Thursday when the Tigers host Clatskanie at 6 p.m.
“Our goal the rest of the season, and especially at tomorrow’s home game against Clatskanie, is to play our game,” Taft Coach Kelsey Hart said. “We’ve struggled with coming out and playing at the level I know we can play at.”
Clatskanie defeated Taft 3-2 at home on Sept. 18, but was extended the distance before prevailing, 25-23, 23-25, 13-25, 25-23, 15-10. The three set-wins remain Clatskanie’s only set victories of the season.
“We’re working on building up their confidence and belief in themselves, as it’s purely the mental aspect of the game that is holding them back,” Hart said. “We’d love to have a packed gym and a loud, energetic crowd for tomorrow’s game.”
Clatskanie is 1-9 overall and 1-4 in Coastal Range League play, while Taft stands 0-12, 0-5. Clatskanie is 3-27 in sets won and lost, while Taft is 6-34.
Meanwhile, the Tigers fell 25-14, 25-23, 25-15 Tuesday at second-place Rainier.
“After the long bus ride, it took us a bit to get out of our travel funk, and while the outcome wasn’t nearly what we wanted, I think there were some great moments during last night’s game,” Hart said. “After a rough time serve-receiving during Game 1, the girls really stepped up and made changes that helped us have a very close Game 2.”
Freshman libero Addie Gates, filling in for starting libero Corey Van Damme, who was out sick, helped Taft improve its passing in the second game, Hart said.
“She was flying around the court, popping balls up to setter position, or getting up balls that we’ve traditionally struggled with,” she said.
The Tigers have just two league matches, and four competitions overall, following Thursday’s game to notch the season’s first victory.
The start of October and arrival of cold weather means the start of flu season is around the corner. Oregon Health Authority officials say it’s a good time for families to schedule appointments to get flu vaccines. The vaccines are recommended for everyone 6 months and older.
The flu vaccine may take up to two weeks to become effective, so getting it earlier in the season is ideal, OHA disease and vaccine experts say. While it’s difficult to know exactly how bad the flu season will be this year, they say getting a flu shot is the best way to prepare for however it shapes up.
“They are the best protection against flu we have available,” said Ann Thomas, M.D., public health physician at the OHA Public Health Division. “We can all do our part in keeping flu numbers down by getting a flu shot before the season really hits hard.”
Flu vaccine is available from health care providers, local health departments and many pharmacies. The vaccine is free or low cost with most health insurance plans. To find flu vaccine clinic, visit http://www.flu.oregon.gov/ and use OHA’s flu vaccine locator tool.
Flu is a virus that causes mild to severe respiratory illness. In severe cases it can lead to hospitalization and even death. The virus kills thousands of people in the U.S. each year. People at higher risk of severe illness include children, adults older than 65, pregnant women and those with chronic medical conditions or weak immune systems. Oregon had two flu-related deaths of children during the 2017-2018 flu season.
Oregon Immunization Program data for the 2017-2018 flu season show that flu vaccination rates among some groups lag behind others. Officials worry that Latinos of all ages and African American seniors may be left unprotected if flu vaccination rates among the two groups do not increase. Latinos typically have high childhood immunization rates, yet only 39 percent of Latinos received a flu vaccine. African American seniors had a 61 percent vaccination rate compared to 73 percent for white seniors.
“It’s not clear why flu vaccination rates for these two groups are lower,” said Aaron Dunn, OHA Immunization Program manager. “We want to call attention to it and hope our health partners will help us reach out to these groups to ensure everyone has an opportunity to get a flu vaccine.”
Public health officials also encourage health care workers to get vaccinated for the flu. Immunized health care workers help prevent the spread of influenza in health care settings, particularly among hospitalized patients at high risk for complications from the flu such as the elderly, very young and those with some chronic illnesses. Data on 2016-2017 Oregon health care worker influenza vaccination rates are available on the OHA website.
Additional ways people can help prevent flu:
Stay home from work or school when you are sick and limit contact with others.
Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue out when you are done.
Wash hands with soap and water. Use an alcohol-based hand rub if soap and water are not available.
Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth.
Clean and disinfect surfaces and objects that may have flu germs on them.
The Oregon Department of Public Safety Standards and Training (DPSST) has continued its support of the Pink Patch Project to raise awareness for breast cancer.
The Pink Patch Project (#PinkPatchProject) is an innovative public awareness campaign that involves hundreds of public safety agencies around the country. The goal of the Pink Patch Project is to increase awareness about the life-saving benefits of early detection and intervention in the fight against breast cancer.
The patches are intended to stimulate conversation between DPSST staff and the community and raise awareness.
“DPSST staff know first-hand the impact breast cancer and other cancers have in our organization, our families and our community,” DPSST Director Eriks Gabliks said.
“Anything we can do to bring awareness to the issue or support our staff who have, or are fighting cancer is worth the time,” He said.
“Breast Cancer Awareness Month is an opportunity to also bring awareness to the cancer issues faced by our career and volunteer firefighters around the state. Firefighters have a 9 percent higher risk of being diagnosed with cancer than the general U.S. population and a 14 percent higher risk of dying from cancer than the general U.S. population according to the Firefighter Cancer Support Network. Bringing awareness to all cancers and sharing information about detection and prevention is paramount.”
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, which is an annual campaign to increase awareness. It is estimated that approximately 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in ther lifetime
The Department of Public Safety Standards and Training (DPSST) operates the Oregon Public Safety Academy which spans more than 235 acres in Salem. The Academy is nationally recognized for its innovative training programs and active stakeholder involvement. Eriks Gabliks serves as the Director, and Sheriff Jason Myers of the Marion County Sheriff’s Office serves as the Chair of the Board. The department implements minimum standards established by the Board for the training and certification of more than 40,000 city, tribal, county and state law enforcement officers, corrections officers, parole and probation officers, fire service personnel, telecommunications, emergency medical dispatchers and private security providers.
The Oregon Health Authority has finalized the 2019 capitation rates for coordinated care organizations (CCOs). These rates are the per-member-per-month amounts the state pays CCOs to coordinate health care for nearly 1 million Oregonians on the Oregon Health Plan (Medicaid). This increase represents a 4.35 percent change in the rate of growth for plan year 2019.
The adjustment will result in an average net payment of $449.69 per month for each member, which is $21.81 more than the average per-member-per month payment in 2018, an increase of 5.1 percent. A reduction in the Quality Pool payment for calendar year 2019 of at least 0.75 percent results in an overall rate of growth of 4.35 percent.
Increases in CCO costs have been driven by three primary factors: changes in membership due to the renewals process (1.7-2.1 percent impact), pharmacy costs (1.8-2.3 percent impact), and fluctuations in rural hospital costs.
The renewals process in 2017 led to changes in OHP enrollment and has meant a less healthy population of members, which affects the rates.
There are 12 rate categories for CCOs, which take into account the average cost for members in these specific categories. For example, the state pays CCOs more for members who are disabled than it does for children because members who are disabled generally have higher health care costs. The rates are also based on average provider rate costs in each region.
“Containing health care costs has gotten harder the deeper we dig into the system, but many of our CCOs are proving that it can be done,” said OHA Director Patrick Allen. “To incentivize cost containment, we are putting rewards in place for those who are bending the cost curve.”
The Central/Eastern region (Eastern Oregon CCO, PacificSource Central, PacificSource Gorge and Cascade CCO) successfully came in at a rate of growth below 3.4 percent for the first time since Affordable Care Act expansion in 2014. Three out of four CCOs in the region achieved an expenditure growth from 2016 to 2017 that was lower than 3.4 percent.
As part of Oregon’s Medicaid waiver commitment to incentivize cost containment and quality in the program, CCOs in this region received an upward adjustment. With this reward, the region still maintains the lowest percentage increase when compared against the other three regions.
As part of its “CCO 2.0” policy proposals, OHA is working to address the major cost drivers in the health care system, increase the share of CCO budgets tied to performance, and find areas of opportunity for improved efficiency. The recommended policies also offer changes to OHA’s rate-setting policies and procedures that could help reduce costs in the long term.
In its 2012-2017 Medicaid waiver, the state held spending growth to 3.4 percent and avoided $2.2 billion in Medicaid costs through the coordinated care system and other health system reforms. A recent independent evaluation of the first five years of Oregon’s Medicaid waiver found Oregon’s health reforms lowered per member costs compared to Washington’s Medicaid program.
A full breakdown of final amended 2019 CCO rates can be found on OHA’s website
The Lincoln City City Council voted to pass new language added to a sign ordinance Monday in a special session. Mayor Don Williams was the sole no vote, which made the passing of the motion non-unanimous and set for a second reading at the Oct. 8 regular City Council meeting.
At issue was the constitutionality of the sign ordinance and the City wanting to declare an emergency so the new language would “clarify content neutrality” and be effective immediately.
Lincoln City property owner Jim Hoover spoke at the special session and told the council he didn’t believe this qualified as an emergency.
Hoover said he thought declaring this issue an emergency was “a misrepresentation of the process …” He also said because the City went about trying to pass the ordinance with new language and declaring it an emergency, it circumvents Oregon Revised Statutes, which allow for the public to have 30 days to gather signatures and bring it to a vote.
Williams spoke at length against declaring an emergency, saying he didn’t believe it qualified. After speaking to many people over the past week, Williams said he shared concerns about the idea of declaring an emergency. Williams read from two documents that discussed what a city should and shouldn’t do pertaining to signs.
“I don’t see how any of this rises to the level of an emergency.” Williams said.
Lincoln City City Attorney Richard Appicello
City Attorney Richard Appicello said he took language from the International Municipal Lawyers Association and reworked existing Lincoln City ordinance language to make it more content neutral.
Appicello argued that it was an emergency, “…when you have problems with your ordinance that people are alleging are constitutional deficiencies.”
“The problem with our sign ordinance is it says the definition of a temporary political sign includes a discussion of the content and it says the content has to concern a candidate on this election or a measure on this election. That’s the problem,” Appicello said. “Because if you want to put up a sign in your yard that says I like beer or whatever it is you want to talk about, you’re discriminated against by that content-based language.”
Lincoln City Manager Ronald Chandler
City Manager Ronald Chandler told the Council he had been through many elections. He said he received requests from various candidates to enforce the sign ordinance.
“It’s always a difficult position for staff to be in because we don’t want to become a factor in the election,” he said. “As I became aware that there was a problem with our ordinances, I talked with [staff] and we found there was some validity to the concerns that were expressed on these ordinances. So I authorized Mr. Appicello to go forward and put this together.”
“I think we can make a pretty fair case that this constitutes what would be an emergency to put this on a fast track so it can be dealt with.”
Williams responded to Chandler with: “We have many more issues that rise to the level of an emergency in this city right now than this.”
“People can certainly hear that there’s no sign regulations in Lincoln City, let’s go nuts,” Appicello said. “I’m not kidding, that’s where the public health and the threat to the public safety is. That people are just going to think there are no rules, just do whatever you want. And that could be signs out there in the clear vision area and signs in the right-a-way and you know, cats and dogs living together, fire and brimstone, end-of-the-world type stuff.”
“I always quote Bill Murray whenever possible,” said Appicello to the laughter of the Council.
Lincoln City Mayor Don Williams laughs at Appicello’s Bill Murray reference
The ordinance was amended to remove the emergency declaration, and a second reading will take place at the next Council meeting Oct. 8, where it would take effect 30 days after its adoption.
Councilors Dick Anderson, Judy Casper, Riley Hoagland and Susan Wahlke voted yes to approve first reading. Williams voted no. The motion passed, 4-1.
At the end of the special session, Anderson said the Council had been challenged with another ethics complaint. The council passed a motion unanimously to release executive session recordings to lawyers and the Oregon Government Ethics Commission.
Taft sophomore Alex Del Valle (File photo by Lonnie French)
Junior Estib Hernandez and sophomores Jose Flores and Alex Del Valle scored goals, while senior goalkeeper William Brooks knocked away 10 shots Monday to lead the Taft High boys soccer team to a 3-1 league home victory over Yamhill-Carlton.
“We played a great game against a well-prepared Yamhill team,” Taft coach Ryan Ulicni said. “Credit to them for being very ready for our game today.”
Flores scored Taft’s first goal on a precision crossing pass from fellow sophomore William Calderon during a fast-paced first half.
Deploying an aggressive second-half attack, Taft scored again on a corner kick by defender Hernandez, one of 48 shots on goal for the Tigers, with several hitting the crossbar.
“The Yamhill goalkeeper did a lot of work stopping some fantastic breakaway shooting and some distance shots,” Ulicni said.
Del Valle tallied the final goal for Taft, which surrendered just one on a penalty kick.
“It was nice I was able to play some younger players and get them some game experience in preparation for the last half of the season,” Ulicni said. “We’re going to roll with this momentum right into the next game.”
Taft (6-2-2, 5-2-2) returns to the pitch Wednesday at Blanchet Catholic.
Every now and then, I would like to have the opportunity to share a little about what is going on in our schools on a broad level. To share a bit about my philosophy of how we are shaping the school experience to be one that is supportive of learning both socially and academically.
