The Lincoln City Police Department announced they are participating in the Oregon Three Flags “Click It Or Ticket” Safety Belt Campaign. This safety belt campaign will start today and will run through September 12 and is a coordinated effort involving law enforcement agencies throughout the state.

The Board of Commissioners have awarded $10,000 to the Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) to expand the existing Friendly Visitor Program. Currently, the program has nine volunteers serving 23 seniors in the county. With the additional funding, RSVP has set a goal of expanding the program to 30 volunteers serving 100 seniors and will be able to hire a part time volunteer coordinator.

The Oregon Rain Garden Guide, produced by Oregon Sea Grant at Oregon State University, is the state’s first stormwater management resource for both novices and expert landscapers. Rain gardens are sunken beds that absorb and treat stormwater runoff from rooftops, driveways and other paved surfaces.

The Commission on Children and Families is sponsoring a sleeping bag drive to benefit the homeless population now through October 1. The sleeping bags will be distributed to needy individuals at Project Homeless Connect 2010. Donations can be made to participating churches and to the Commission on Children and Families.

Toledo police, Lincoln County Sheriff's Deputies and Toledo fire crews responded to a semi-truck and trailer that overturned and went into Depot Slough. The trailer contained hazardous chemicals and hazmat crews responded along with a second truck to pump the chemicals into. There were no reports of any leakage. The cause of the crash is still under investigation.

The Oregon Task Force on Nearshore Research completed its report titled “Recommended Long-Term Funding and Coordination Strategy for Implementing Nearshore Priorities of Oregon” on July 30. The 30-day comment period on the recommendations began on August 2^nd. The Task Force will accept written public comments through August 31. For more information go online to www.Oregonocean.info.

Governor Kulongoski outlined a process to rebalance the state budget after the State Economist reported a $377.5 million dollar shortfall in the September revenue forecast. With the recent federal assistance, the Governor assured school districts that additional cuts to K-12 as a result of the forecast will not be necessary.

Deputy David Hawley responded to a disturbance in Yachats. A subsequent investigation revealed that 42-year old Jack E. Sigler was found in possession of an indoor marijuana grow operation.  94 plants were seized at the location of approximately 2.3 pounds of dried marijuana. He was later indicted on multiple charges stemming from that incident.

Oregon State Police troopers from the Albany Area Command office are investigating a fatal traffic crash involving an unloaded log truck and passenger vehicle on hwy 20 just west of Blodgett. A SUV was eastbound on Highway 20 when it crossed the centerline and collided with an unloaded westbound Peterbilt truck. 

The Oregon Transportation Commission has approved 41 multi-modal projects totaling over $97million and 57 rural airport projects totaling over $4 million for the ConnectOregon III program. The Newport Airport was approved to receive $10,758 for a Beacon and an emergency generator under the rural airport projects section.

Senator Ron Wyden called for the release of billions of dollars to pay for badly needed work on jetties along the Oregon coast. The Army Corps of Engineers estimates there is $1.2 billion in work that needs to be done on Oregon’s coastal jetties. There is approximately $5 billion sitting unallocated in the federal Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund.

A forecast for large numbers of returning coho salmon will allow anglers to harvest wild coho in three fisheries along the Oregon Coast beginning Sept. 1 and Oct. 1. The three fisheries are the Siletz River, main stem open from the mouth to Old Mill Park boat launch from Sept. 1 to Nov. 30 or until a quota of 400 fish has been caught.

On the last day to file for city council or Mayor David Allen through his hat in the ring to run for Newport city council bringing the total to 9 who are vying for 3 open council seats. Allen served on the Newport city council from 2001-2004 and has been an active member on the Newport Budget Committee.

Lincoln County’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 11 percent in July, continuing to slowly climb from the previous month at 10.9%. In July last year the rate was 10.5 percent. The unemployment rate for Lincoln County was above but close to the same as the statewide rate, which is at 10.6% and is higher than the national rate at 9.5%.

The Lincoln City council received an update from ODOT regarding Hwy 18.  ODOT is working to fix the bump in the roadway east of Rose Lodge caused by a landslide. It was explained that work has been done and now ODOT will able to do emergency repairs but may not be able to get some funding for a permanent repair next summer.

Newport police officers responded to a report from Port of Newport Security of a burglary at the Marina where a cash box was kept. Security and Police Officers located the suspects hiding in the public restrooms. Both suspects were lodged at the Lincoln County Jail and charged with Burglary II, Theft II, and Criminal Mischief II.

Much of the Lincoln City area was without power for a couple of hours on Tuesday 8/24. The power to the area went out around 7:20 last night affecting 12,000 customers. Pacific Power crews reported that the outage was the result of a transmission problem and they were able to get power restored to the area at 8:50.

A quilt representing the cities that participated in the 2009 All America City Award competition will arrive in Toledo to be displayed for a week before traveling on to another community.  The quilt has been displayed all over the country.  From Toledo, it travels on to Erie, Pennsylvania and four more cities before it returns to National Civic League headquarters in Denver. 

Governor Kulongoski announced the appointment of Chris Brown to the position of Superintendent of the Oregon State Police effective September 1, pending State Senate confirmation. Brown will assume the Department's leadership following the retirement of Superintendent Timothy McLain.

There were a couple of incidents that Newport police responded to over the weekend that involved people under the influence of drugs and alcohol. One man was arrested after crashing his car, he was found to be over 3X the legal limit. Another man was arrested for disorderly conduct and eluding police after he jumped into Yaquina Bay in his PJ’s.