The family's car has been found deep in the forest.

Curry County Sheriff John Bishop flew over heavily wooded hills south of the Rogue River for an hour today in a Cal-Ore Life Flight helicopter but couldn’t spot any sign of a family of three mushroom pickers who were last seen four days ago.

Cell phone and internet services are out of order along the South Coast at midday Thursday.

The Pilot has learned that a fiber optic cable was cut somewhere in the Myrtle Point area, impacting all cell phone service in Curry and Coos counties. Some Internet service has also been affected.

Lt. Donny Dotson, of the Brookings Police Department, said disrupted cell service includes Frontier, Verizon and AT&T. Charter Communication appears to be working and all landlines are in service, Dotson said. The outage is not impacting emergency response services in Curry County, he said. Dotson expected to receive more information from phone company officials within the hour.

The Pilot will post updates as we receive them.

Volunteers find fiberglass boat parts and other debris along Macklyn Cove beach. Submitted photo

Group collect 1,500 pounds of debris

Volunteers cleaned an estimated 1,500 pounds of trash from local beaches last weekend, and they plan another assault Saturday.

Staff reductions within Brookings Police Department are being discussed as a possible way to help balance next year’s city budget.

Budget Committee members, meeting Tuesday in their second workshop, split on the question of whether police department cuts should be considered.

GOLD BEACH – As darkness fell Tuesday evening the Curry County Sheriff's Office Search and Rescue suspended its search in the Saunders Creek drainage area near the Rogue River for three people reported as being overdue mushroom hunters.

Officials were set to regroup this morning (Feb. 1) and coordinate their search efforts.

GOLD BEACH – The Curry County Board of Commissioners will hold a special meeting this afternoon when the Curry County Citizens’ Committee will present its final recommendations to the Board. The committee’s mission was to examine the County’s financial status and contribute to the development of potential options for addressing the County’s budgetary shortfalls. 

The 1 p.m. meeting will be held at the Curry County Fairgrounds’ Docia Sweet Hall.

Coast Guard Master Chief Peter Janusch, left, swears in Flotilla Commander Ken Range.

All of this was done with about 20 members. If the Coast Guard had to pay for these services, it would have cost them about $20 an hour, Range said.

Key people involved in making the Curry County Campus a reality are, from left, Dave Bridgham, Wayne Krieger, Peggy Goergen, Patty Scott, Janet Pretti and Cherie Mitchell. The Pilot/Charles Kocher

Sometimes one good surprise deserves another.

As the celebrations for the new Curry Campus started Thursday, Southwestern Oregon Community College officials planned one surprise: naming the community room of the new building in honor of State Rep. Wayne Krieger.

But a lost letter finally delivered by the Post Office Thursday contained another surprise for college officials: a $250,000 donation toward the project.

 GRANTS PASS – Imagine a steady income from timber harvesting that could help pay for Curry County government, schools and roads.

Imagine up to 12,000 new jobs in Oregon’s rural communities.

Imagine preservation of old-growth forests and other crown jewels of the state’s natural environment.

 GOLD BEACH – Curry County Sheriff’s officers on Friday located and recovered the body believed to be the remains of Kevin Cornell “K.C.” Anton, who was swept into the ocean on Dec. 30 at the mouth of Hunter Creek while he was attempting to rescue his dog.

Sheriff John Bishop said the body was recovered approximately 2.4 miles south of the location where Anton was swept into the ocean. 

Gold Beach Police Chief Dixon Andrews said the remains of Anton’s dog, a 25-pound Schipperke, was found on Dec. 31, between Kissing Rock and Cape Sebastian, south of the place where Anton was seen entering the water in an attempt to reach the dog which had already been swept away.