GOLD BEACH – Questions about a rumored merger between Curry County Health and Human Services (CCHHS) and Curry Health District were raised at a recent Curry County Board of Commissioners work session.

Commissioner Georgia Nowlin challenged CCHHS Director Jan Kaplan to explain why the commissioners hadn’t been consulted.

Kaplan said he’d held informal discussions with the Curry Health District for the district to take over his department as early as next July.

Brookings orthodontic specialist Terry D. McDonald, DDS, has been recognized by the Pacific Coast Society of Orthodontists (PCSO) with a Lifetime Achievement Award.

McDonald accepted the award in Honolulu during PCSO’s 74th annual session in October. It’s the society’s highest award, and only two other orthodontists have received it since the society was founded in 1929.

McDonald’s other credentials include an MS and a Diplomate American Board of Orthodontics.

Tracie Gutierrez’ lifelong love of collecting has resulted in a business for her and bargains for the public.

Gutierrez, owner and manager of The Treasure Collector resale store on Highway 101 South, told the Pilot, “I did all this collecting stuff my whole life, and you can’t keep everything,” so...

Last April, she opened The Treasure Collector to help others find what they want at prices they can afford, and to relieve her overstock.

It’s a family affair. Two new businesses – Outdoor Living Spaces and Pirate Energy – share not only the same building at 16160 Highway 101, but also some of the same relatives.

Pirate Energy is owned and operated by Harold Bailey, with the help of family members including his wife Lisa, and provides batteries and supplies for autos, trucks, boats, RVs, ATVs, motorcycles, golf carts, solar applications and more.

Outdoor Living Spaces, owned and run by Bailey’s sons, Ryan Mattes and Robert Bailey, offers aluminum awnings, patio and screen rooms, carports, and decks.

Ming Chen, owner and chef of the Dragon Palace restaurant at 1025 Chetco Avenue in Brookings, comes from a family of restaurateurs.

Since his move to the United States 10 years ago from Canton, China, he has worked in a number of family-owned restaurants in Medford, Florence, Eugene and Coos Bay.

Having acquired that wide variety of experience, Ming decided it was time to start his own restaurant. With help from his friend, associate and distant relative, Eric Chen, Ming Chen opened the doors of the Dragon Palace on Nov. 24 and began offering his own special Chinese menu.

Not one to let an opportunity slip by, artist-cosmetologist Kandi Legg didn’t hesitate when she saw a chance to move her full-service  Salon Dolce to the recently-vacated building at 509 Chetco Ave.

Legg contacted her friend, massage therapist Connie Twinning, at her Spruce Street studio, Of Time and Touch, and invited her to move her business into the new Salon Dolce location.

Plans were quickly made to turn Salon Dolce into a total experience where clients can find both external and internal beauty.

Becky, left, and Darrel, right, operate Wild River Pizza along with daughter Kelsie, and grandchildren Braxton and Baylie. The Pilot/Marge Woodfin

The page was filled with loving tributes and joyful greetings, all because they have been serving pizza to the Brookings-Harbor community and environs for 30 years. That’s a lot of pizza.

It’s obvious that everybody loves their pizza, but that isn’t the whole story. All of those published pats-on-the-back included loving tribute to the friendship and warmth served with the pizza over the last three decades.

Cousins & Co. music store, which has been in business 14 years at various locations in the Brookings-Harbor area, has moved from Earl E. Books to a new location: 615 Chetco Ave.

A grand re-opening, featuring music and refreshments, is scheduled for noon through 6 p.m. today (Oct. 30).

“The new location will give us the opportunity to once again become a full service music store,” said owner Kim Banfield.