Lincoln City Police will be changing hours of operation for certain services starting Nov. 1 in an effort to streamline records and administration ahead of moving into the new police building currently under construction.
The following services will only be available 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday:
Records/report requests
Property/evidence returns
Impound releases
Sex offender registration
The police department lobby will still be open 24 hours a day, allowing citizens to report criminal activity, speak with officers and deposit expired medications in the drop box.
Dispatch and patrol functions will continue to operate 24 hours a day and the department’s non-emergency phone number, 541-994-3636, will be answered 24 hours a day.
Fresh off a tune-up run in the Taft Two-Mile Trial, the Tigers’ cross country team will compete Thursday in the 3A/2A/1A Special District 2 Championships at Cheadle Lake Park in Lebanon.
The Class 3A Tigers competed Wednesday, Oct. 23, in a dual meet against Toledo.
Senior Lucas Hindman won the boys race, while junior teammate Rafael Perez Del Valle was second and sophomore Brayan Mateo third.
Senior Autumn Ellis won the girls race for Taft, with Brooke Orendorff second, sophomore Kaydince Beach fourth and senior Alani Cabal fifth.
s the World Series winds down in Houston, Taylor Adams stands in the on-deck circle a thousand miles away on Florida’s Gulf Coast. At the ready with pride and passion, the 2014 Taft High graduate’s perseverance has paid off with her hiring and subsequent promotion to community liaison with the Tampa Bay Rays.
Barely two weeks removed from extending the champion Astros to the limit in the American League Division Series, the Rays will begin their quest to take the next step with the 23-year-old Adams’ assistance as Community Engagement Coordinator following her hiring to a training position last January.
“Since starting as an intern in the ticketing sales and services department, Taylor has frequently gone above and beyond to create memorable experiences for our fans and been an exceptional employee and asset to the organization,” Jimmy Reed, Rays ticket sales manager, said. “Taylor’s initiative, positive attitude and willingness to learn made her a natural fit when the full-time opportunity became available.”
Before finding work alongside general manager and Sporting News Executive of the Year Erik Neander, Manager of the Year Kevin Cash and the rest of the Rays’ touted front-office staff, Adams’ pursuit of any job in any profession had been more of a sacrifice bunt than a fence-clearing blast.
“I got to work with the Tampa Bay Rays through persistence and fierce passion,” she said.
The former Taft volleyball, basketball and softball star was never quite sure what she wanted to do while attending Oregon State, where she switched majors several times in search of personal and professional gratification.
“I felt lost in class a lot of the time,” she said.
1 of 3
However, in the summer of 2017, her dad, assistant general manager of the Gresham GreyWolves, saw a tweet from the Corvallis Knights, a rival collegiate baseball team, regarding a summer internship.
“On the last day they were accepting applications, I took a chance and applied,” she said.
Adams was hired and started out as a stadium operations intern before advancing to the food and beverage department while holding down two other jobs. The following summer, she was asked to fill a gap for food and beverage manager while coaching softball at Crescent Valley High School in Corvallis.
“Taylor quickly moved into a leadership role during that season,” Knights President and General Manager Bre Miller said. “In 2018, she came back in a director role, and, due to an unexpected departure of another employee, really stepped up into a management role and helped run the food and beverage program in 2018, an enormous role that requires someone who is very organized, has to manage about 40 part-time staffers, ordering and inventory, and has to bring a good energy every day when some days you are exhausted due to the hectic summer schedule.”
2014 Taft grad Taylor Adams
“She accepted the job, not knowing much about it, but believing in herself and her abilities,” her father, Noel, said. “There were a lot of conversations that season about what she could do and couldn’t do, ideas to implement, advice for various issues that came up, but she nailed it.”
Following the 2018 season, Adams faced a difficult decision trying to figure out her next step.
“I could stay in Corvallis and continue with the Knights and coaching around the area, but if I wanted to move into professional sports, I would have to leave Oregon,” she said. “Leaving Oregon was never something I thought of doing growing up — not once did it cross my mind. That being said, I knew I was going to have to try something new if I had any chance of making it.”
Adams didn’t tell anyone, but behind the scenes she applied online for jobs with big-league teams in the closest cities she could think of — the Seattle Mariners, Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angeles Angels and Oakland A’s.
“In the midst of that, one of my aunt’s friends and I reconnected,” she said. “She had just moved to Florida a few months before. We got along really well, and she continued asking me to come visit her whenever I could. Later that night, on a whim, I applied for multiple internships with the Tampa Bay Rays.”
Late November hit, and Adams wasn’t getting any responses, but she finally got the nerve to tell her family she had been applying for jobs out of state.
“I was confident that I wanted to see it through,” she said. “My main teams were the Angels, because my college best friend lives near their stadium, or the Rays, because of my family friend living there. I decided to turn to direct messages on a networking site since online applications weren’t getting me anywhere, so I proceeded to message everyone I could find with the Angels or the Rays. I wasn’t sure who any of the people I messaged actually were, but I just needed to spark a conversation and make a connection.”
Enter Reed, the Rays’ ticket sales manager.
“Out of the hundreds of messages I sent to people, he was the only one who responded to me,” Adams said. “He asked me for my resume, we hopped on a phone interview, and I was offered a job as a ticket sales and services intern in the span of two to three weeks. I immediately called my dad and cried happy tears.”
Calling the following time period, “the toughest month I’ve gone through in my life,” Adams had to quit the four jobs she held at the time, tried to sell and give away anything that wouldn’t fit in her car, find someone to sublet her room, and say goodbye to her lifelong friends, family and home state, “all while planning a huge road trip with my dad in order to make it to Florida in time for my first day of work.”
Adams, who has seven siblings, is the daughter of Noel Adams, an entrepreneur, and Kimberly Voss, a stay-at-home mom.
Her brother, Brendon, is a 20-year-old Taft High grad and former athlete attending Western Oregon University. Brothers Kyle, 16, and Dylan Voss, 13, attend Taft High 7-12 and Taft Elementary School, respectively. Hannah Adams, 16, attends Sandy (Ore.) High School. Taber, 21, and Abby Sofianos, 19, live in Arizona, and Ayden Sofianos, 23, lives in Sandy. Taber, Abby, and Ayden are step-siblings.
1 of 9
With her father in tow, Adams arrived in St. Petersburg, Fla., after four days of driving on Jan. 6, the day before her first day of work.
“It was heartbreaking to drop him off at the airport that evening,” she said, “but we both knew that this was what I had to do for my dream and no one supports that like he does. He is proof in my eyes that no matter what you’ve been through or how old you are, it is never too late to find your passion and chase it down.
“From the time I was young and he was my coach, to when I was in college coaching my own team and we were both working for rival summer leagues, and now when I’m 3,000 miles across the country as a part of a professional MLB team, our bond has only become stronger through sports and that has been a highlight through every step of my sports career.”
Adams spent six months as an intern before the community engagement position became available.
“I was nervous to apply because I wasn’t sure if I was qualified or ready for a coordinator position,” she said.
Barely beating the application deadline, she was offered and accepted the job three weeks later in mid-summer.
“I can’t express my gratitude for the incredible relationships I’ve made with friends, colleagues and clients,” she said. “I never could have imagined that a small-town girl who had only ever known Oregon as her home would have picked up and moved across the country. But there’s some opportunities you just can’t pass up, and this was one of them.”
1 of 3
Adams grew up in Welches, Ore., and moved to Lincoln City as a high school sophomore with her brother, Brendon, to live with her mother and younger brothers.
“My siblings are a major influence in my life,” she said. “Everything I do in my life and in my career is to show them that they can do anything and everything that they want to. I want to inspire them to chase down the enormous dreams that they have, grab them, and make them their own. They are my biggest motivation.”
Rays Ticket Manager Jimmy Reed shares the story of when Adams learned that a local family was bringing their 7-year-old son to his first home game and took the initiative to upgrade their tickets to the DEX Imaging Home Plate Club — “all the junk food he could eat,” he says — provided them with Rays caps, and arranged a meeting with the team mascot, Raymond.
Best friend Michaela van Houte, who has experienced virtually every major life moment with Adams since meeting her at age 4, says her best friend’s love for sports began before she could even sign up to compete.
“It’s in her blood,” she said. “Since I can remember, she’s participated in everything from softball to dance, and she’s excelled in all areas. Every coach has complimented her on her talents, and if ever there was something to work on, Taylor took that critique and came back to practice having already improved.
“She’s fearless on the field, court, anywhere really. It’s just her character — fearless and friendly at the same time. When she went to college, she took up rowing — something we didn’t even know was a thing — and she did great. She learned a lot from it.”
“If I had to describe her in one word, it would be perseverance,” father Noel said. “She’s faced more obstacles in her 23-plus years than a lot of people ever have to deal with, but each time she finds a way to come out of it stronger, more determined and even, somehow, more compassionate instead of hardened.
“It never mattered what sport she was playing at the time, there was one thing that was always consistent. She was never outworked. In all of my years as a coach, I’ve never known anyone to put more effort in to their sport. I’ve watched her sacrifice her body by running in to walls, bleachers, hitting her face on the floor, colliding with teammates and opponents, than I can count. She still has the scars to prove it in a few cases.”
Taylor is simply one of the kindest human beings that I have come to know. If she weren’t my daughter, I’d still be saying the same thing. Her heart is so loving and her ability to see the value in every person is honestly amazing to me. She has volunteered many hours in her life to helping people who just simply needed help. Trips to Guatemala to work with the locals, Boys and Girls clubs, just free time she has and comes across a person in need. And it’s the same story when it comes to animals. Talk about a soft heart for animals. It’s part of her loving nature.
I have no doubt at all that Taylor is going to continue to grow in both her life and her career to become whatever she wants to be. Her drive and passion for success is rivaled only for her love and passion for her friends and family. It may sound silly, but it’s the honest-to-God truth; if I could go back in time to the day she was born and make a list of exactly the type of person I hope my daughter grows up to be, Taylor would have checked off all of the boxes. I couldn’t be more proud of her and the person she is. She makes the world a better place every day and I can’t wait to see what she does next.”
— Father Noel Adams
“Taylor has continued to excel in professional baseball because of her drive and determination,” Knights President/GM Miller said. “She didn’t have the easiest childhood and chose to be a role model and leader for her younger siblings. She could have easily chosen not to be someone who sets a good example, but that isn’t who Taylor is. Taylor is a true professional. She has a natural nurturing attitude that I think effortlessly draws people closer to her. You want to be around her and get to know her better.
“This was easily seen in not only the staff she managed, but the fans she interacted with. Taylor has a great sense of humor and makes work fun. She is competitive and wants to give her all whether the project or task is small or large. Taylor can do anything she wants to, and is proving so as she climbs the ladder of professional sports.”
When Taylor told me she applied for a job with the Rays all the way across the country, I think part of me knew it was a done deal. Three-thousand miles away, and they still chose her because she’s perfect for this job. Not many people get to go to work and feel like they’re where they’re meant to be, but Taylor does, especially working with the community. She’s got the exact mindset needed for that job. She thinks outside the box and makes magic out of the mundane.
“Anyone who knows her is drawn in by her own excitement. She’s a natural leader, even if she doesn’t always think so. It’s evident by those who come to her for guidance. Taylor is an inspiration to everyone around her. I’m so proud of the woman she’s become and what she’s doing in her little corner of the world.”
Taft High coach Joey Arce-Torres (File photos by Lon French)
The visiting Taft High girls soccer team braved frigid conditions that dipped into the 30s to score once in each half Tuesday and secure a 2-0 league playoff upset of Salem Academy/Western Christian.
“It was the best match of the season for our underdogs. The kids played calmly and confidently,” said Taft coach Joey Arce-Torres, whose Tigers advanced to a Saturday playoff matchup against an undetermined Special District 2 opponent to determine representation in the OSAA State Girls Soccer Championships.
“Both teams played well tonight and it stayed close until we opened up the passing,” Arce-Torres said. “We kept their goalie in panic mode and had more attackers than they could handle.”
Arce-Torres said the Tigers “came up unlucky with three shots on goal early on.”
“As a coaching staff, we knew it was a matter of time,” he said.
Arce-Torres said Saige Ulrich made a “brilliant pass” to Avery Nightingale, “who used her physicality to beat the defense and hammer the shot in. After that, we bunkered down and ran out the clock for the first half.”
Expecting more attackers in the second half, Arce-Torres had Chloe Peterson mark Salem Academy’s strongest striker and instructed Jaelyn Olmeda to stay with their No. 2 player.
“Our two kids never allowed them to even get close tonight,” he said.
Senior striker Sammy Halferty “sealed the match with a thunderous shot after receiving a great pass from Nightingale,” he said.
“The air went out of Salem Academy and we simply played keep-away for the reminder of the match,” he said. “We played well, communicated, showed intensity and had great minutes from our bench.”
Arce-Torres said he was especially pleased with the play of Ella Knott, Ulrich, Halferty, Nightingale, Olmeda and Peterson.
Ella Knott
“They played like I always knew they were capable,” he said.
“From the bench, Olivia Coulter and Veronica Jin used their speed to give us valuable minutes and started the second half for us. It’s athletes like those two who give us the depth to compete at this level.”
Salem Academy and Taft split one-goal victories during regular-season league play this year.
North Lincoln Fire & Rescue sent a Type 6 engine as part of a Lincoln County strike team to aid in combating the Kincade Fire in Sonoma, Calif.
NLFR Firefighters Brian Nordyke, Eric Maestas, and Steven Kha
NLFR Firefighters Brian Nordyke, Eric Maestas, and Steven Kha are attached to Engine 1717 and in California now assisting containment efforts.
Lincoln County joins eight other strike teams fighting the blaze that has burned close to 66,000 acres and forced the evacuation of nearly 180,000 people.
The Kincade Fire is 5 percent contained according to early reports from Cal Fire Monday morning and has destroyed 96 structures and officials say nearly 80,000 structures are threatened.
The National Weather Service is calling for favorable wind conditions in California Monday but high winds Tuesday and no rain forecast for the rest of the month could add to the firefighters difficulties.
“It’s very humbling to be a part of a large scale mobilization of resources and see how quickly Oregon can respond in a time of need,” State Fire Marshal Jim Walker said. “To assemble 75 fire engines and 271 firefighters in a matter of hours to respond to our neighbors in need is extraordinary. I appreciate the more than 60 fire agencies that answered the call, the work of our OSFM staff and Office of Emergency Management in assembling the response, and Chief Hallman of Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue and Chief Ruiz-Temple of OSFM in providing support for our firefighters while deployed to California. I truly appreciate all that you do.”
The deployment of the Oregon resources could last as long as 16 days.
An OSAA ruling turning the team’s only defeat of the season into a victory by forfeit gave the Taft High boys soccer team two victories in one day Friday after the Tigers concluded their regular season with an 8-0 home win over Gervais.
Taft’s only loss of the year — 2-0 at Dayton on Sept. 25 — was classified as a victory by forfeiture due to the use of an ineligible player, giving the Tigers a 14-0 record and improving their season scoring advantage to a blistering 101-8 with the Special District 2 playoffs looming.
Dayton, which self-reported the violation, was ordered Friday to forfeit its first eight games of the season by the Oregon School Activities Association, the governing body of Oregon sports.
The OSAA’s Executive Board voted 8-0 for the forfeitures even after the league approved the school’s transfer hardship appeal. The defeats dropped the Pirates’ season record to 3-12 and their league mark to 3-11.
“Dayton had tremendous turnover last summer, a new superintendent and a new principal who had to hire 18 teachers, two counselors and a VP/AD,” Dayton Vice Principal/Athletic Director Wade Witherspoon said. “I started late August after soccer was well under way. None of us caught the fact that a migrant boy who was living with his stepsister had moved from Salem to Dayton and was playing on the soccer team this year.”
Meanwhile, Taft senior Edson Fuentes scored three goals, Sammy Vasquez two and Kaden Wright, Mauricio Rivas and Kevin Acosta one each Friday evening in the Tigers’ shutout win that concluded the regular season at Voris Field.
“With them [Gervais] still being a young team, we were able to use the time to really focus on keeping our game intact,” Taft coach Ryan Ulicni said. “We were able to get some of our younger players some game time, which will help keep our roster deep going into playoffs.
“Overall, I could not be more proud of how this team has worked hard to be leaders in the league and to overcome any adversaries.”
The Taft High girls soccer team bid farewell to a host of senior players by sending them off with a 5-0 league victory over Gervais on Thursday in the regular-season finale at Voris Field that set the stage for a league playoff appearance.
The fifth-place Tigers will play Tuesday at Salem Academy/Western Christian in the Class 3A/2A/1A Special District 2 postseason tournament for a chance at State. The winner will play the loser of Dayton at Blanchet Catholic on Saturday.
“We have a healthy matchup, for we split with Salem Academy and both games were very close [2-1 home victory Sept. 12; 3-2 road defeat Oct. 8],” Taft coach Joey Arce-Torres said. “Because we have such a large conference, three teams will get selected for the State tournament.”
The Tigers will enter the playoffs on the heels of Thursday’s five-goal shutout of winless Gervais.
“The kids played a great first half,” Arce-Torres said. “There were no shots on goal against us and we moved the ball well offensively.”
Photos by Lon French
1 of 16
Chloe Peterson scored two goals and Avery Nightingale one for a 3-0 Taft lead at halftime.
“Sammy Halferty and Sage Ulrich controlled everything in the middle and sent beautiful passes to open teammates,” Arce-Torres said. “With a dominant performance up front, we were able to empty our bench early and give playing time to many of our younger players.”
Class 3A Taft finished the season 5-8 overall and 5-7 and in fifth place in Special District 2 play.
“After our senior recognition, we ran back to the field and made more adjustments for the second half,” Arce-Torres said. “It is important to recognize sportsmanship and humility as a group and not embarrass other teams when things aren’t going particularly well.
1 of 4
“We changed out our key players and put them on defensive roles. Because of her brilliant, selfless season, we were able to reward Sammy one last time with a penalty kick that she sent screaming through the back of the net to change the score to 4-0. After completely emptying the bench, Lucy Reyes had her opportunity and put in the final score of the evening.
“Every JV athlete suited up and each had significant minutes today in our final home match. Our seniors finished the match on the field and each on the back defensive line where they passed and assisted their younger teammates with direction and praise to close out the game.
“I am so proud of those seniors, especially Sammy and Fatima who played all four years and were significant leaders from June to October. They will be dearly missed.
“I am thankful and blessed to be involved in the process of teaching young kids to be good humans. I take that responsibility very seriously and prioritize it even more than the nuts and bolts of athletics. I am hard on the kids, but they know at the end of the day, I love and respect each and every one of them but I will always be honest and direct about things like character, humility, kindness and sportsmanship. Overall, I think they all got a passing grade this season.”
Don’t look now, but that will be the Taft High volleyball team that will take the court Saturday afternoon in Willamina with eyes on earning a spot in the OSAA State Volleyball Championships.
A perennial doormat in the sport, the Tigers have suddenly emerged as the favorite against Rainier in their 1 p.m. opening Coastal Range League playoff match. The winner will face host Willamina at approximately 3 p.m. to advance to State.
Coach Kelsey Hart
Few forecast such a scenario when the season opened last September for a team that literally went years between winning even a single match just a short time ago.
“I wouldn’t say we’ve exceeded my expectations,” Taft coach Kelsey Hart said. “I knew based on summer open gyms, and the beginning of the season, that we were going to have a strong season. I am incredibly proud of how the girls have played and grown as a team. But I did expect that of them. I do think we’ve exceeded other people’s and teams’ expectations of us, though.”
With no seniors on the roster, Hart said the Tigers expect big things in the future.
“Team attitude is great right now. The girls are excited about our opportunities and proud of what we’ve accomplished this year,” she said. “The entire varsity team will be returning next year. That puts us in an amazing spot moving forward. Many of the other teams in the league have several key seniors on their teams, so they’ll be losing some of their power. We’re only going to be getting stronger from here.”
Officer Holly Blakely, left, John Oksenholt, Aaron Linfoot and Chase
Two local businesses have joined forces to help achieve a fundraising goal of $75,000 for the Lincoln City Police Department’s startup K9 program.
Meredith Lodging and Oksenholt Capital are matching up to $10,000 in donations until the end of the year to reach the $75,000 goal, $55,000 of which has already been received.
“The entire city benefits from this important program and we want to encourage the community to donate between now and the end of the year,” Vice President of Operations for Meredith Lodging Aaron Linfoot said. “Meredith Lodging is committed to investing in the success of the communities where our employees live and work, and where our Meredith Lodging Owners have homes.”
LCPD will use money raised to provide K9 handler training and certification, equipment, transport and a kennel.
LCPD will be training a patrol K9, which differs from a drug detecting K9 in that it can do more, like catch fleeing suspects, recover evidence and crowd control.
“We are honored to join Meredith Lodging in matching community donations between now and December 31st to get this project to the finish line,” Oksenholt Capital CEO Jon Oksenholt said. “The police work hard to keep our communities safe. Statistics show the need for and benefit of a police department utilizing a K9 Unit to help reduce crime. In addition, numerous studies show the positive impact a K9 Unit brings to the police force.”
Currently the LCPD depends on the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office for K9 related activities.
“We are grateful to Oksenholt Capital and Meredith Lodging for stepping in to help us get to the finish line on funding this project,” said Officer Holly Blakely, who is spearheading the project. “This project kicked-off last February and we are thankful for the community support we have received so far. We have $20,000 left to go and with this generous donation and match, Oksenholt Capital and Meredith Lodging will help us get there much faster.”
