GOLD BEACH – Freeman Marine Equipment Inc., which began in a Gold Beach garage in 1975 and has become a recognized and respected international name in marine closures, has been purchased by Canadian-based AdvanTec Global Innovations.

“The purchase of Freeman Marine greatly enhances AdvanTec’s marine group - Advanced Marine Technologies’ position as an industry leader in marine closure markets - due to their 36 years of experience in the design and manufacture of high quality marine closures,” said Paul Hill, CEO of AdvanTec.

GOLD BEACH – Wayne Krieger says that to bring more jobs to Oregon, there must be changes in state laws.

“Every politician is talking about creation of jobs,” Krieger said. “But to create jobs, we need changes in environmental laws, land use laws. Without a change in land use laws, Oregon is not a place where people will come to start a business.”

Krieger, who will seek his seventh term in the Oregon House of Representatives in the 2012 election, said that the appeals process in Oregon is so complicated that anyone can hold up construction for years, appealing from a planning commission to a city council or board of supervisors, on up to the Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA) and then to the courts.

Viola Williams gets an early start on mailing packages at the Post Office Friday. The Pilot/Lorna Rodriguez

Brookings resident Viola Williams, one of the thousands of Americans shipping packages this holiday season, was at the Brookings U.S. Post Office Friday with a package for a relative in Idaho. 

She always mails her packages early. 

“I used to work in a mail room,” she said. “They always said the 10th of the month would be good to mail things by. I wouldn’t like a rush.”

The latest Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife test of crab maturity has shown improvement, but commercial crab season still won’t start before Dec. 15.

Recreational crab fishing in the ocean also is closed until that date, although recreational harvesting in Oregon’s bays and estuaries remains open.

The usual Dec. 1 opening was delayed because tests showed the crab hadn’t developed enough meat for harvesting. Consensus must be reached between state agencies in Oregon, California and Washington before fishing can begin.

 Sheriff’s deputies might not respond to burglaries, even those in progress.

Building permits and inspections could be turned over to the state, with the nearest office in Coquille.

The county jail, currently described by Sheriff John Bishop as “an absolute disaster,” could fall even further into noncompliance of state regulations.

Those are among the predictions a 24-member Citizens’ Committee heard Wednesday in Gold Beach as the panel met for the first time to seek ways to avoid a county government financial collapse.

The Brookings-Harbor School Board may have voted against the charter school proposal Tuesday night, but the fight is not over for Riverside Charter Academy.

Board members and Riverside Charter Academy project director Annette Klinefelter-Dingle each had a different response when asked about the next steps.

“We are awaiting the written notice regarding the board’s action, and their suggested remedial actions for the proposal,” Klinefelter-Dingle said. ‘We have every belief that once we resubmit the proposal based on the suggested remedial measures that they’ll approve it.”

The crowd listens as school board members vote on the proposed charter school. The Pilot/Jef Hatch

Rules of order didn’t seem to carry much weight Tuesday night as the Brookings-Harbor School Board voted on a proposed  charter school and, as a result, several people in the audience, charter school proponents, and one or two board members seemed unsure of what exactly they voted for ... or against. 

A helicopter brings a load of logs toward the deck where they will be deposited. The Pilot/Steve Kadel

ROGUE RIVER-SISKIYOU NATIONAL FOREST – The “thwack, thwack, thwack” of helicopter rotors reverberates through the forest on a rainy morning.

Suddenly a sturdy Vertol helicopter appears in the gray sky with two Douglas fir logs hanging from a cable. The aircraft lowers itself toward a log deck and drops its cargo onto the ground before speeding back across the valley where other logs await.

Editor’s note: This is the fifth in a special series of articles about Curry County’s pending fiscal crisis.

“We’ve got to replace $3 million,” says Curry County Commission Chair George Rhodes. 

Federal timber harvests have stopped. Federal support payments are going away. Savings have been used up.  Spending has been cut to “bare bones.” Voters soundly rejected new property taxes.

Monday afternoon was sunny and warm – just the recipe for a nice motorcycle ride.

Vince Langley, visiting from Portland, chose North Bank Chetco River Road for an outing on his 750-cc Ural Tourist with sidecar.