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and oors ing D s pen Deal O sing The Clo Weekly news from the Heart of the Dunes AN EDITION OF --11223366 11--227711 Umpqua Post 5544 rtt eedspo ve..,, Re Hwy A Wednesday, October 30, 2013 | Serving the Reedsport area since 1996 | theworldlink.com/reedsport | $1.00 1500 H Marine Board approves $130,000 waterfront grant BY STEVE LINDSLEY ager for the marine board, said the “Rainbow Plaza is a public, The Umpqua Post grant request was being consid- two-lane launch ramp that does ered now, instead of waiting until have boarding floats, a transient REEDSPORT — The Oregon next spring. dock, a restroom and parking,” State Marine Board approved a “Since round 1 grant obliga- Schuyler said. “Parking, at many grant of $130,000 to acquire prop- tions did not reach the targeted 70 times of the year, is inadequate. erty on the downtown Reedsport percent of the funds being allocat- They experience continuous over- waterfront to help expand the ed,”he explained to the board, flow issues with boats, with trail- By Steve Lindsley, The Umpqua Post parking lot at the city’s boat ramp. “there are additional funds avail- ers, having to park on the adjacent Reedsport City Manager Jonathan Wright testifies before the Oregon State The grant was awarded after a able up to that 70 percent.” street, across the street and behind Marine Board in Florence on Oct. 23. To his left is marine board program hearing during the board’s Oct. 23 He explained the project would the flood wall.” manager Wayne Schuyler. Marine board staff are in the background. The regular meeting in Florence. add 6.2 acres to the existing boat- marine board approved a grant for the city of Reedsport to acquire property Wayne Schuyler, program man- ing facilities. SEE GRANT, PAGE A6 on the waterfront to expand parking near the city’s boat launch. DeFazio reacts to closure of American Bridge BY STEVE LINDSLEY “We’ve got 150,000 bridges in The Umpqua Post this country that need either total replacement or substantial repair,” Oregon Fourth District he indicated. “Unfortunately, I’m Congressman Peter DeFazio, D- fighting people in Congress who Springfield, took notice of the pro- don’t believe the federal government posed closure of American Bridge should spend money on the national in Reedsport. infrastructure and they want to He was sorry to devolve all the duties of the national see the closure. highway system, the bridges to the He’s been watching states, which is absurd.” the company since He said Congress hasn’t created it opened in 2002. a strong transportation bill. “I was there at “We got a status quo bill last the opening,”he October,” he remembered. “We said. “They took a need to be making a lot more hit, like everybody investment. We need to deal with after 2008, after Peter DeFazio that backlog and then there would the Wall Street col- Congressman be plenty of work for everybody.” lapse, but they also He also suggested lawmakers took a hit when the tighten up the “Buy America” railroad was closed by that hedge requirements in the the bill last fund (hedge fund-owned Central October. Oregon and Pacific Railroad), “There was an absolutely scan- Submitted photo by Dan Latham/ODOT because the things they make are so dalous thing that happened with The Umpqua River Bridge in Reedsport is shown open on Oct. 3. Crews will be doing painting, deck work and paving large they can only go by barge and the Oakland-Bay Bridge,”DeFazio over the next two years. That will cause some lane closures and, for three consecutive nights, a complete closure by rail. They can’t go by truck, for said, “where California took a loop- the most part. That was one of the hole in the law. They segmented the of the bridge from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. The Oregon Department of Transportation will notify residents of the traffic reasons they chose Reedsport.” bridge into a bunch of projects. impacts. He said the railroad shutdown They bid that out. They had one really affected American Bridge. company bid. It was a U.S. compa- “That hurt them,”the congress- ny, but he also placed a foreign bid man remembered. “I kept in con- ... same company. He underbid stant touch. They got way down to himself with the foreign bid.” Maintenance on Umpqua River 13 people ... a skeleton crew.”We DeFazio was chairman of the were hopeful, with the reopening of House Transporation Committee the railroad that they’d add a few at the time. more jobs. I was down there talking “Bottom line was, he used our with the manager about a year ago. Bridge slated to start this winter tax dollars to fill capacity in China He seemed quite hopeful. But, that they didn’t have before to apparantly, the privately-held cor- BY STEVE LINDSLEY impacts. The work will require some lane closures poration had some sort of restruc- build bridges,”he said. “I was pret- The Umpqua Post and, at one point, a full closure of the bridge for up to turing or changes.” ty (angry) about that.” three consecutive nights. American Bridge is now owned During the hearing DeFazio REEDSPORT — Construction is expected to begin “What we’re going to see,”Latham said, “is for … I by a group in Taiwan. said the company owner admit- this winter on an Oregon Department of think it’s about two to three months … there will be a DeFazio says it’s ironic, because ted he used the loophole to get Transportation project to paint the Umpqua River one lane closure across the bridge with a temporary the U.S. has a need for companies the bid and then planned to build Bridge in Reedsport, as well as remove rust, replace traffic signal. There would be some delays, some lane to provide bridge work. rivets, do some minor steel repair and resurface the SEE DEFAZIO, PAGE A6 closures there that people should be aware of. The bridge deck. biggest impacts that we have are going to be three “The contractor is going to have about a two-year nighttime closures. For three nights, from about 11 window to do all this work,”said ODOT Public o’clock at night to about 5 in the morning, we’re going State agency hopes Information Specialist Dan Latham. “That’s to get the to completely close the bridge. The reason we need to maximum flexibility, as far as scheduling and timing. do that is because we have to paint the ends of the There’s probably closer to only nine months or a year swing span. To do that, we have to open up the work on this, so they may finish up very soon. They bridge.” facility will be available may do some of it this coming spring and summer That means traffic north to Florence or traffic and then hold off and do the rest the following sum- south from Florence will have to detour to state mer. That’s the nature of the work and the general Highway 38 or state Highway 126 to I-5 and then cut for another industry schedule.” back over. Instead of a 22-mile drive to and from The work could conceivably be done by the end of Florence, it will be a 155-mile trip. BY STEVE LINDSLEY He said his agency stepped up 2014. “We are making exceptions for emergency servic- The Umpqua Post quickly when American Bridge Latham made the announcement about the work es,”Latham said. “Fire trucks, ambulances and police officially announced to the state it in a letter dated Oct. 18. He also spoke about the proj- cars, if they need to get through, can notify us and, REEDSPORT — A state agency would close the facility in ect in a phone interview. within five or 10 minutes, as soon as we can get the is already thinking about how to December. The Umpqua River Bridge was opened in 1933 and bridge open, we’ll let them through.” market the American Bridge facili- “We’ve already offered that consists of a 430-foot steel-through-arch swing span. ty once it closes. kind of capacity and service to Latham said there will, of course, be some traffic SEE BRIDGE, PAGE A9 “I’ve done lots of site calls, American Bridge,”he said. “There done lots of events at American are other options. We can list it Bridge,”said Chris Claflin, who is ourselves on the Oregon. We have business development officer for our own industrial site Web page. the Oregon Business Development Many prospects will come to the Hinds trial set for Feb. 2014 Department, also known as state economic development Business Oregon. “I’m really agency first, at least our website. BY STEVE LINDSLEY come back with those charges,”he assault complaint. familiar with the property and I “In working with our local part- The Umpqua Post recounted. He spent a night in the think that, when American Bridge ners, and capacity, we would put That grand jury met in October Reedsport jail. gets to the point where — and I (the information) on that service.” REEDSPORT — Trial for a 47- 2012, two months after the alleged The police chief at the time, the believe this is the route they’re But, Claflin said, it’s up to year-old Reedsport man — origi- incident. The late Mark Fandrey, said a female vic- going to be taking with regard to American Bridge to decide what to nally charged with rape, kidnap- indictment was tim, whom he did not identify, told the property — is that they will put do with the property, to which they ping and sodomy in an August 2012 dated Oct.

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