Lincoln County Commissioners voted 2-1 Monday to approve submitting an application for Phase One reopening to Gov. Kate Brown and Tuesday it was finalized and sent.
Lincoln County officials are uncertain when the Governor’s office will approve the application and said it’s possible the County could be asked to revise the application prior to approval. The Governor’s office will be contacting applicants if necessary if additional information is needed.
According to Lincoln County, when the application is approved, Lincoln County will be allowed to enter a Phase One reopening. Guidelines for the reopening are provided on the Governor’s website.
From Lincoln County Public Information Officer Casey Miller:
It’s also important to recognize the County and most local jurisdictions have a local ordinance – Order #3-23-85 Minimize the Effects of the COVID-19 Emergency – that currently has certain provisions for VRD/STR and lodging facilities that describe allowable use of those facilities through the end of May.
A third Joint meeting of all jurisdictions regarding Order #3-23-85 is scheduled for Thursday, May 14, 2020 at 3:00pm. Public input received and forthcoming agenda information for this meeting is located online. This meeting will be streamed through the City of Newport’s website.
Commissioner Claire Hall addressed the timeliness of Lincoln County’s application submission:
“We understand the communities frustration that our application was not submitted on Monday as previously planned. But it was important to us that everything in the application was in proper order to ensure the Governor would accept our application in full as submitted. We needed more time than expected to ensure their review process would accept our application outright.”
The 13th Coast Guard District has implemented a groundbreaking technology to assist mariners in distress on the waters of the Pacific Northwest.
Across Washington and Oregon, mariners can provide vital location information to Coast Guard rescue crews from their smartphones without having to download an application. In addition to common life-saving devices known to mariners, such as Electronic Position Indicating Radio Beacons (EPIRB’s) and VHF radios, the Coast Guard now has the i911 application as an additional tool to provide lifesaving information from a mariner’s cell phone.
The i911 system is a free service developed by Callyo Incorporated. It provides fast and accurate location data to the Coast Guard in a simple web-based interface. If a mariner has recently or is actively connected to a cell-tower, the user’s smartphone could provide Global Positioning System information, potentially up to 20-nautical miles offshore. The Coast Guard has the ability to send a text message to the mariner’s cell phone requesting permission to access the GPS location information; all the mariner needs to do is enable location information in their smartphone settings and click the link provided in the text message.
The Coast Guard can then utilize the provided positions to direct search assets to the mariner’s location.
The 13th District continues to adapt with modern times to assist mariners in distress. In an age where smartphones are an essential part of everyday life, the i911 system is another tool that can be used by Coast Guard search and rescue teams to provide rapid assistance in the maritime domain. While this new technology is highly effective, mariners are advised that i911 should not replace standard VHF radios. VHF channel-16 remains the most reliable means of communication for mariners in distress.
“While VHF radio remains the most reliable form of distress communication, this tool gives the Coast Guard another avenue to rapidly locate mariners in distress utilizing smart phone technology,” said Lt. Cmdr. Colin Boyle, the 13th District’s command center chief. “In addition, the location sharing feature is only utilized during an active search and rescue case and can be turned off by the mariner at any time.”
This tool is readily available to first responder agencies across the country, including the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard ran a pilot program from May – November 2019, in which the new application was instrumental to resolving several search and rescue cases in the New England region. It has been authorized for Coast Guard command centers across the entire country as of March 20, 2020.
Lincoln City local Ryan O’Laughlin has been making a name for himself in rap circles with music videos and albums going under the moniker “C-S1K” to “help people through tough times” and promote sobriety.
C-S1K
Creativity (meets) strength, 1ntelligence and kindness.
“I came up with the name when I was 13,” O’Laughlin said.” The more people that can unify and support each other, the easier it is to live a clean life. This is for people who have a problem of course. I don’t judge those who have a drink or a smoke. I just can’t personally control it so I don’t do it at all.”
The O’Laughlin Family: Elizabeth, Ryan, Cooper and Lucas
The 33-year-old husband, father and rapper recently drew the attention of local music artists from the Salem and Portland rap scenes with his most recent music video offering: “The Wheel.” Portland’s Cool Nutz, who has been called a “local rap legend” by fans and peers, gave O’Laughlin support in a comment on the video.
“I’ve been networking with several artists,” O’Laughlin said. “I got features from two established artists, Salem’s ThatKidCry and McMinnville rapper RizzleMusik for my song ‘Add It Up.’ My song ‘Follow’ from my first EP was played on XRay.fm by Colin James, aka CJ the DJ, on his radio show ‘Between Daze’ where he interviews my producer Charles Wayne.”
Having two years of sobriety under his belt, O’Laughlin has made a debut album, “S1K: Sobriety 1s King,” and will be releasing his second, “S1K: Sobriety 1s King 2,” on May 19.
O’Laughlin has also launched a clothing line named S1K Apparel.
“Instead of having the clothing geared towards sobriety, I wanted it to have a more universal meaning of Strength intelligence and Kindness,” he said. “The 1 represents the unity that Strength (physical & mental), intelligence and kindness can bring.”
The C-S1K YouTube channel has 270 subscribers and viewers can watch all O’Laughlin’s music videos on the platform. The videos have been well received with all having an overwhelmingly positive ratio of “likes.”
“Music is something I can’t avoid,” O’Laughlin said. “Song’s just pop up in my head sometimes. Full compositions of songs I’ve never heard before. As I progress I’m finding that music is also a great tool to help people through hard times who can relate to my addiction and mental health struggles. Making videos just amplifies this message. It makes the message to a song so much more powerful.”
“Clutch,” directed by Bausik Filmco, features O’Laughlin in a coffin while a shadowy figure has a hold on him and a fellow rapper — who wishes to remain anonymous — is drinking out of control. The shadowy figure is O’Laughlin’s producer Charles Wayne.
All C-S1K music is available for purchase on most digital stores like Amazon, Apple and Spotify.
A young C-S1K
O’Laughlin, born in Idaho, has lived in Oregon since age five and moved to Lincoln City in 2003. He had a son, Cooper in 2006. O’Laughlin said his son likes his music, but “definitely doesn’t bite his tongue when he hears something he doesn’t like.”
In 2007, O’Laughlin started the rap group “S1K Ones” with bandmate Lil Raskal. They later added Rich Ronchie and Oso Fly to the group where they made two projects and performed in Portland’s rap circuit.
In 2015, O’Laughlin met his future wife, Elizabeth, and the two moved to the island of Kauai to live in 2017. Cooper would join them three months later. The family learned they would be having a baby at the end of 2018 and Elizabeth moved back to Lincoln City while O’Laughlin remained in Hawaii to undergo alcohol treatment. During this time he began writing what would be his debut album, “S1K: Sobriety 1s King.”
“Since my sobriety I’ve learned making music really helps me vent and is my outlet to relieve my anxiety and at times depression. It’s a huge reason why I haven’t relapsed. Well, that and my family’s support.”
O’Laughlin moved back to Lincoln City in March, 2019 and was there for the birth of his second son, Lucas, in June.
“When I was younger the name stemmed from being cool but also being ‘S1K’ in the head. Mental Health is a pandemic of it’s own and I’ve always battled depression and ADD. Growing up I always felt like an outcast and being sick is a way to spin my mental sickness into a positive for those who might feel like they don’t belong or suffer from mental illness. My way of dealing with it in my late teens through my 20s was alcohol, drugs, and cigarettes. This only increases depression which took a couple life altering events caused by my alcohol use to get me clean. My message is there is a way to battle these inner demons without substances. My ways are music, sports and exercise.”
Lincoln County’s Board of Commissioners met virtually Monday and voted narrowly to send an application to Governor Kate Brown to “Phase One” reopen Lincoln County with no date set.
Lincoln County Counsel Wayne Belmont said a number of Oregon counties have submitted their applications with many having no specific date. He said that was not “uncommon.”
Board Chair Kaety Jacobson suggested submitting the application without a date because “We don’t control that date anyway.” She said once the Board of Commissioners hears back from the state with approval or pending approval, they could have an emergency meeting and come up with a date to reopen then.
Commissioner Doug Hunt said he was “certainly comfortable” with giving Jacobson and Health and Human Services Director Rebecca Austen authority to execute the document, but expressed concern over opening before June 1 and said a “surge” could happen and the County might need to shut down again.
“I don’t feel super strongly one way or the other about including a specific date in the application,” Commissioner Claire Hall said. “Because I know that people feel strongly both ways and I guess I’m willing to go with the group consensus and if the Governor tells us, I doubt if we’ll see that quick a turnaround but if we could be open a week from this weekend, I’m okay with that too.”
“I would like us to be able to get into that Phase One reopening before June 1,” Jacobson said. “That’s ultimately not our decision, we have to have this application in that sort of gets in the line of being reviewed, those things have to be verified both as a county or a region. I really couldn’t guess how long it’s going to take the state to do that. I would like to see us able to at least get our restaurants partially open and some other things before that June 1 deadline, but again, not up to me.”
Hall moved to authorize Jacobson and Austen to sign and submit the request.
“If the motion doesn’t include a date of June 1st or thereafter I’ll vote in opposition,” Hunt said.
Commissioners Hall and Jacobson voted in favor of authorizing the application and Hunt voted against. The motion passed 2-1.
“Because again, I don’t think we should open before June 1st,” Hunt explained after giving his “nay” vote.
The state’s death toll from COVID-19 is unchanged from yesterday and remains at 127, the Oregon Health Authority reported at 8 a.m. today.
Oregon Health Authority reported 60 new confirmed cases and eight new presumptive cases of COVID-19 as of 8 a.m. today, bringing the state total to 3,228. The new confirmed and presumptive cases reported today are in the following counties: Benton (3), Clackamas (10), Clatsop (1), Deschutes (1), Hood River (1), Marion (14), Multnomah (22), Polk (2), Umatilla (1), Washington (11), Yamhill (2).
To see more case and county level data, please visit the Oregon Health Authority website, which OHA updates once a day: www.healthoregon.org/coronavirus.
Stay informed about COVID-19:
Oregon response: The Oregon Health Authority and Oregon Office of Emergency Management lead the state response.
United States response: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention leads the U.S. response.
Global response: The World Health Organization guides the global response.
COVID-19 has claimed three more lives in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll to 127, the Oregon Health Authority reported at 8 a.m. today.
Oregon Health Authority reported 79 new confirmed cases and 13 new presumptive cases of COVID-19 as of 8 a.m. today bringing the state total to 3,160. The new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases reported today are in the following counties: Benton (1), Clackamas (6), Clatsop (1), Coos (1), Deschutes (1), Hood River (1), Jefferson (2), Lane (1), Linn (2), Malheur (1), Marion (37), Multnomah (24), Polk (2), Umatilla (4), Washington (6), Yamhill (2).
To see more case and county level data, please visit the Oregon Health Authority website, which OHA updates once a day: www.healthoregon.org/coronavirus.
Oregon’s 125th COVID-19 death is a 76-year-old woman in Clackamas County, who tested positive on April 8 and died on May 8 at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center. She had underlying medical conditions.
Oregon’s 126th COVID-19 death is an 81-year-old man in Linn County, who tested positive on April 19 and died on May 2 at Samaritan Albany General Hospital. He had underlying medical conditions.
Oregon’s 127th COVID-19 death is a 92-year-old woman in Polk County, who tested positive on May 1 and died on May 7 at Salem Hospital. She had underlying medical conditions.
Note: The number of hospitalizations in the 30–39 age group dropped by one. During routine data reconciliation, a person was determined not to have been hospitalized during their COVID-19 illness.
Stay informed about COVID-19:
Oregon response: The Oregon Health Authority and Oregon Office of Emergency Management lead the state response.
United States response: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention leads the U.S. response.
Global response: The World Health Organization guides the global response.
Lincoln City Councilor Rick Mark posted on Facebook Friday addressing concerns of a planned Saturday “drive-through” convoy in Lincoln City.
In Mark’s post, he shares a message from Lincoln City Police Chief Jerry Palmer that he believes may “help to ease some worries.”
Councilors,
I have made phone contact with one of the organizers of the rally supposed to be coming to Lincoln City this Saturday morning. This representative, Teri Lopes (sp?) advised that she knows of 16 people who have indicated they plan to attend in support. She was not sure if it would be 16 vehicles or multiple people in fewer vehicles.
She stated they are coming to show support for front line essential workers and 1st responders. They support reopening Oregon businesses. They plan to stage at the parking lot near the Grocery Outlet. Then they plan to drive through downtown on Hwy 101 to SW 51st Street near Mo’s. They plan to have signs supporting and saluting local workers and 1st responders. I expect they may have political signs as well. They will drive through town honking horns and displaying their signs.
Some may stop to support local business by purchasing take-out from some of them. She advised they have done this support rally in several places and have been well received. They are respectful, clean up after themselves and are not coming to cause trouble but to show support. They also bring masks and gloves so they can don those if going into a business.
I also contacted Salem Police Chief Jerry Moore this morning and he confirmed this group did not cause either them nor OSP any problems when they were at the capitol last week.
Tomorrow, I and Sergeant Weaver will try to meet with this group before they start through town and provide a safety briefing. I heard that Riley may be there to meet them as well. My tentative plan is to allow them to drive through town at their own pace, obeying traffic laws. We will monitor so we can address any issues that might arise.
After they complete their drive through to Taft, they plan to disperse. Some may visit other open business and others may leave altogether.
I’d encourage you to reach out to concerned local citizens and relay this information. I find nothing illegal at this point. I hope our community can be respectful and we can avoid any unpleasant confrontations.
Thank You! Have a safe weekend and enjoy the sunshine.
Chief Jerry Palmer, LCPD
In an email sent to Homepage and posted to Facebook groups, a participant of the Seas the Moment Coast Convoy writes:
Convoys will be coming every direction, except the Ocean. The entire group will meet up in Lincoln City. .We will be meeting all the convoys at Bimart/Grocery Outlet parking lot at 11 am. Those coming from the East will meet at the Goodwill on Lancaster Dr. just north of Silverton Road on the west side of Lancaster at 9 am. We will meet up at 10-10:15 at Spirit Mountain with any one coming out of Newberg or Portland area. . From there we will head south and do our slow convoy to Taft Historical area in Lincoln city. Honking horns, waving flags and signs. If you have your reopen signs or our magnet Thank you signs that will work too. The parking lot at the South end of town in Taft Historical area by Mo’s. Along the way if you see a store or place open for us, feel free to stop just meet us at the Taft parking area. Bathroom is open there for use.
FLORENCE – We will meet at the Veterans Memorial on Bay Street at 9am and get to Lincoln City before 11.
COVID-19 has claimed three more lives in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll to 124, the Oregon Health Authority reported at 8 a.m. today.
Oregon Health Authority reported 75 new confirmed cases and five new presumptive cases of COVID-19 as of 8 a.m. today bringing the state total to 3,068. The new confirmed cases reported today are in the following counties: Clackamas (9), Clatsop (9), Deschutes (1), Lane (2), Linn (1), Marion (13), Morrow (1), Multnomah (30), Polk (2), Umatilla (3), Wasco (1), Washington (8).
Note: During routine data reconciliation, a presumptive case originally reported as a Benton County case was later determined not to be a case. It was subtracted from Thursday’s state total, and the total number of cases in Benton County went down by one to reflect this change.
Also, the number of hospitalizations in the 10-19 age group dropped by one. During routine data reconciliation, a person was determined not to have been hospitalized during their COVID-19 illness.
To see more case and county level data, please visit the Oregon Health Authority website, which OHA updates once a day: www.healthoregon.org/coronavirus.
Oregon’s 122nd COVID-19 death is a 51-year-old man in Marion County, who tested positive on May 3 and died May 6 at Salem Hospital. He had underlying medical conditions.
Oregon’s 123rd COVID-19 death is an 80-year-old woman in Marion County, who tested positive on April 21 and died May 6 at Santiam Memorial Hospital. She had underlying medical conditions.
Oregon’s 124th COVID-19 death is a 71-year-old woman in Multnomah County, who tested positive on April 23 and died May 5 at Providence Portland Medical Center. She had underlying medical conditions.
Stay informed about COVID-19:
Oregon response: The Oregon Health Authority and Oregon Office of Emergency Management lead the state response.
United States response: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention leads the U.S. response.
Global response: The World Health Organization guides the global response.
Taft’s Siletz Bay was the destination for many beachgoers in Lincoln City Friday as the needle flirted with 80 degrees and the sun shone amid a mostly cloudless sky.
The parking lot in front of Mo’s was full, with vehicles circling the parked cars in the hopes of finding a space. Some would cheer upon finding one, vindicated after subjecting themselves to multiple laps.
F-15 Eagle’s flying overhead earlier seemed to set the stage for as one couple put it: “the perfect day.”
Families caught crabs and rode kayaks as kids played in the sand and dogs laid out to sunbathe.
Some sat in chairs and others upon logs, watching a full beach take advantage of “a perfect day” in Taft’s Siletz Bay.
Lincoln County officials say it remains uncertain when Lincoln County will qualify for an initial reopening of businesses under the State of Oregon plan announced Thursday due to questions about regional readiness.
Oregon’s reopening plan set forth by the Governor yesterday has seven key criteria measured at the County level or at a regional level that must be met before a County may enter Phase 1 of reopening. Lincoln County is in a region that includes Lincoln, Benton, Linn, Polk, Yamhill and Marion Counties.
Commissioner Kaety Jacobsen, Board of Commissioners Chair, said “It’s clear that Lincoln County can meet county-level benchmarks set out by the state of Oregon. However, there is less clarity if the county’s regional partners will be ready to meet regional criteria for hospital surge capacity, personal protective equipment supply levels for hospitals, and testing resources and capacity for the region.”
Under Phase 1, businesses closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, such as restaurants, retail shops and salons, would be eligible to open under state guidelines designed to limit potential spread of the virus. Counties were notified Thursday the state is ready to begin accepting applications for Phase 1 reopening, and state approval of the plan will allow opening of some limited areas as soon as May 15 if all the county and regional criteria are met.
Even under Phase 1 reopening, the Executive Orders discouraging nonessential travel remain in place as does the Stay at Home order, modified in some fashion to allow people to visit reopened businesses. In Lincoln County restrictions on local short-term lodging are covered by a separate order adopted by the county and cities and are not part of the state-approved reopening plan. The governor expressed concerns in a call with commissioners Thursday that the reopening not result in a deluge of visitors to the coast. Local work on a phased reopening of short-term lodging is included in the local planning process.
Commissioner Jacobson said the commissioners and county leadership are fully aware of the hardships the closures have placed on many local business owners, operators and employees. “It’s a challenging and difficult act to balance health and economic concerns, but we will make the best decisions we can based on the available data.”
She added that the county leadership team is actively pressing to determine answers to regional questions and is proceeding with an application to reopen with the information available on County levels of readiness.
