Despite the protests of people who fish the hugely popular Rogue River and ocean off Gold Beach, the Rogue Reef will remain on the list of proposed places to install a wave energy generating array.

The Oregon Policy Advisory Council’s recommendations, outlined in a meeting last week in North Bend, now go to the state Land and Conservation and Development Board for approval in Salem Jan. 24.

Photo courtesy of Matt Hall, Curry County Reporter Incumbent and newly-elected Curry County officials are sworn into office Monday by Judge Jesse Margolis (in black robe). County commissioners meet today to discuss fiscal challenges for 2013. Submitted photo

Two new Curry County Commissioners – Susan Brown and David Brock Smith – were sworn in Monday morning knowing they will face a myriad of challenges in their upcoming years of public service.

They were among other elected officials who gathered at the courthouse in Gold Beach to tackle the new – or in some cases, continuing – tasks in their respective positions. Brown will take the Position 3 seat, formerly occupied by Bill Waddle; Smith will take Position 2, formerly occupied by George Rhodes. Commissioner David Itzen remains on the board.

A discarded toilet, rope and wire are among the debris found by Trash Dog volunteers along Old County Road. The Pilot/Jane Stebbins

Trash-Doggin’ is a never-ending job, said co-founder Ed Gross after the group’s most recent foray up Old County Road on Saturday.

“Old County has been, and continues to be, the favorite dump site for the unsavory and unscrupulous trash dumpers of Brookings,” he said. “Old County is a real producer.”

Members of the Chetco River Watershed Council (CRWC) last week debated the success of its Cherish the Chetco event last summer and if it they should try for a repeat event this September.

More than a dozen groups comprising about 120 volunteers, assisted in the endeavor. They included the South Coast Coordinating Watershed Council, the CRWC, the state Dept. of Fish and Wildlife, the U.S. Forest Service, South Coast Fishermen and others.

Long-time Oregon State Police Sgt. Scott Punch died Saturday night of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound at his Gold Beach home, authorities reported Tuesday.

Punch, 45, is survived by his wife and two children. 

Lawnmowers in the summer and snow in the winter are now to blame for the lack of redundant broadband Internet service on the South Coast.

Redundant broadband Internet ensures that those using the Internet – via credit cards, 911 service, television and online banking, among other uses – will not lose service when a line is cut. That happened twice last year – once when a lawnmower struck a fiber optic line and another time by fire.

Internet subscribers were hoping redundancy would be in place by last November, but are going to have to wait until spring before it becomes reality, as snow and steep terrain between Gasquet and O’Brien – the “Gasquet Gap” – have delayed construction this winter.

When climbing the 22,842-foot Mount Aconcagua in Argentina, Eric Nourse, as he was known to do, chose the riskiest route. On Dec. 29, the decision had terrible consequences. The Pilot/Photo courtesy of Facebook memorial page

It might be a trail. Or perhaps an event. But whatever the family selects to honor Eric A. Nourse, a Gold Beach native, it must be epic.

That’s what the comments about Eric on social media say, as people from throughout the climbing world learned of his death in Argentina. 

“Awesome!” “Amazing!” “Incredible!” and “no words. ...” were among comments posted about a photo of the adventurer.

The Brookings City Council will discuss increasing System Replacement Funds (SRF) by $2.35 a month and asking voters to keep in place for another 10 years a wastewater bond set to expire this year.

It means property owners will pay an additional $2.35 a month to pay for damage inflicted by November’s storm. The bond would set homeowners back between 26 and 39 cents per $1,000 assessed valuation a month, depending how the bond is structured.

The discussion begins at 4 p.m. Jan. 7 at city hall.

The Chetco River Watershed Council is down to its last $300 since the South Coast Coordinating Watershed Council (SCCWC) severed its relationship and ceased funding the Brookings-based council last May.

That could leave important studies in the Chetco River – including water-temperature monitoring critical to coho salmon, and that is in its fourth of five years – in limbo.

The Chetco River Watershed Council (CRWC) is trying to establish a baseline of information regarding water temperatures to help it obtain grant funds to restore salmon habitat – one of the watershed’s primary goals.

Crew members of the Little Joe commercial fishing vessel unload crab from the hold on Monday. The Pilot/Jane Stebbins

Among the first crabbing vessels to arrive at the Port of Brookings Harbor Monday afternoon was the Little Joe, with about 10,000 pounds of crab on board.

“Any day crabbing is a good day,” someone commented as the boat sidled up to the dock.

Commercial crabbing season officially began at midnight Monday morning, and dozens of boats took to the placid seas to pull pots that had been placed over the weekend. Seasoned fishermen fought off the pinching crustaceans to unload them into metal bins that were hauled off the boat and into containers to be trucked to Eureka for processing.