A firefighter extinguish flames creeping up a hillside during a Sept. 18 blaze off northeast of Brookings.

Five Brookings-Harbor area residents shooting guns at exploding targets during the height of fire season last September have been cited for causing a brush fire on Carpenterville Road, according to Coos Forest Protective Association (CFPA).

The September 18 fire, northeast of Brookings, scorched  6.6 acres of 4-year-old reproduction timber.

The people cited were Jonathon D. Wilber, 22, of Brookings; Patrick J. Flanery, 22, of Harbor; Luke H. Rigel 23, of Harbor; Jonathon B. White, 25, of Harbor; and Ray E. Tuttle, 27, of Brookings. They received fines of up to $110.

This property tax statement, from a resident in unincorporated Curry County, indicates the homeowner paid $1,959.45 last year. Approval of the May ballot question would increase that bill $543 to $2,502.45 — an amount, the taxpayer said, he’d be willing to pay for adequate county services.

Many concerned residents cite examples of their property tax rates, most with erroneous information and bad math. Others say they don’t see the value in county services. Some think more fat can be cut from the county budget. They think county employees make too much money. Others still think the federal government will bail out Curry County again.

Pat Billington checks donated lighting fixtures at the Habitat for Humanity’s thrift store that opens in Harbor on Thursday. The Pilot/Jef Hatch

“It’s such a poverty stricken county,” said Pat Billington, board president of the Curry County Habitat for Humanity. “It’s hard for people of means to understand what low-income people need to buy when it comes to home renovations.”

Trash Dog volunteers attacked both ends of the county Saturday, with about 15 of them at Floras Creek and another dozen at the shooting ranges east of Brookings.

“The Floras Creek Road proved to be a big deal,” said Ed Gross, cofounder of the Dogs. “It was a long day; we got a lot of trash.”

Pilot file art The Evergreen bears were last seen in 2010 leaving Brookings in the back of a truck. Pilot file photo

Those bears.

Sheriff John Bishop doesn’t care who knows how much his salary is — and people have been asking.

As an elected official, it’s public information, but with a tax levy on the May 21 ballot, he’s even more willing to show that, compared to Oregon counties of similar size, taxpayers are getting a deal with him and the services his department provides.

Curry County commissioners voted 2-1 Wednesday morning to place on the May 21 ballot a question asking for a property tax levy to provide funding for public safety.

Now it’s up to voters.

County Commissioner David Brock Smith was looking for approval for what he’s calling “a suture” to stop the county’s fiscal bloodletting when he spoke to about 20 Curry County Homebuilders Association members Tuesday night — and instead walked away with a few gashes of his own.

“I got a little beat up,” he said the next day. “A few bruises.

Bob Horel supports a proposed property tax heading for the May ballot and he plans to create a political action committee (PAC) with the goal of educating voters why they should support it, too.

The PAC will be formed to collect money so the volunteers can inform voters about the tax — and more importantly in Horel’s mind, the ramifications of not having it in place.

Brookings city officials issued a warning this afternoon advising people to avoid contact with water in Harris Creek and water in the area where it discharges onto Harris Beach after a sewer line broke late Wednesday night.

The state has been notified and the pipe has been repaired, according to a city press release.