As I stood along a wall in a packed church several weeks ago for the memorial service of Bandon resident Todd Freitag, three thoughts entered my mind.

July 8, 1929 - Jan. 28, 2019

BANDON - Smoke damage has temporarily closed the Sprague Community Theater and city officials are saying they "dodged a proverbial bullet" in an incident that could have been much worse.

July 8, 1929 - Jan. 28, 2019

The first picture I am sharing this week is the Bandon City Hall in 1961 as city officials (including manager of utilities John Fasnacht on porch) look over the flooding from Ferry Creek, which threatened businesses in the area. The…

The first picture I am sharing was taken in the early 1980s after the remodeling of many of the Old Town buildings had started as evidenced by the clock tower shop, now occupied by Sassy Seagull, which had previously been…

Oct. 20, 1932 - Nov. 28, 2018

(Correction: Coos Bay School District's graduation rate is 65, while Marshfield High School's is 91.4)

LANGLOIS — Steven White sat in the Bandon High School gym behind the scorer’s table unaware of what was about to happen.

LANGLOIS — For the past decade the women at Valley Flora Farm have been harnessing horses to get the farming done, but are now ready to harness the sun itself to support climate-friendly farming.

BANDON - The Trinity Alps Chamber Music Festival will return to the Oregon Coast at 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 9, at the Langlois Cheese Factory, 94179 Allen Boice Drive, Langlois.

LANGLOIS - The Langlois Public Library announces its annual Book Sale, which will be held from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 23, at the library, located at 48234 Highway 101.

We would like to add our thoughts in support of the proposed Bandon Beach Hotel. We opened our B&B here at Floras Lake in 1991 and are about to start our 29th season. Since opening, we have always wished for…

COOS BAY – Southwestern Oregon Community College announces the names of students who excelled fall term 2018-2019. These students are being recognized with placement on the college’s Dean’s List (DL), Honor Roll (HR) and Academic Excellence (AE) list.

COOS BAY – Southwestern Oregon Community College announces the names of students who excelled fall term 2018-2019. These students are being recognized with placement on the college’s Dean’s List (DL), Honor Roll (HR) and Academic Excellence (AE) list.

I found the first picture I'm sharing some time ago, but I wasn't sure about the story until I found several articles about the South Jetty Road in the 1957 issues of Western World.

BANDON - Start the new year off with some jazz and folk songs and stories.

LANGLOIS — It’s been an emotional stretch for the Pacific boys basketball team.

The Northwest is already seeing the effects of climate change, according to a new national climate assessment. The 1,600-page report outlines dire consequences across the country as global temperatures continue to rise. In the Northwest, the changes threaten much of what our region holds dear — from ski seasons to salmon runs.

Who put the assessment together? It was assembled by 13 federal agencies. It’s a report that’s put together for Congress every four years. This edition contains the most comprehensive evaluation to date on climate impacts to economy, health, agriculture and the environment.

The 2018 assessment includes a whole chapter on the Pacific Northwest, providing a vivid picture of what’s in store. The findings aren’t just about future predictions but impacts we’re already seeing in the region. What are some of the key findings for the Pacific Northwest? They add up to bad news for Oregon, Washington and Idaho: More extreme weather creating more landslides, flooding, drought and wildfires. The report notes that the region’s way of life is connected to the environment and natural resources and that the impacts are profound. The Northwest’s economy depends in large part on natural resources in sectors like forestry, fisheries, agriculture and outdoor recreation. Climate change threatens all of them.

Winter recreation, for example, would be hit hard; the report predicts a lack of snow from climate change could cut all snow-based recreation revenue by 70 percent. And with spring starting earlier, crops could start blooming before insects come around to pollinate them. Then there are the things we might not think about as related to climate change, like our health. Warmer temperatures bring more mosquitoes, and as a result we’re going to see more mosquitoes carrying the West Nile virus. That means more people getting infected and even dying from that virus. The report says we’re already seeing some of these effects in the Northwest. What kinds of climate change impacts are we seeing? The report zeroes in on a recent year when we saw a lot of them: 2015, a year of severe drought for the Northwest. The report presents that year as a preview of our future with climate change. Temperatures were several degrees above normal with record low snowpack, rampant wildfires and smoky skies, and huge agricultural losses.

Toxins from harmful algal blooms closed fisheries along the coast in 2015 and we saw salmon die-offs because of the warm water temperatures in rivers and streams. Does the report include recommendations for how we should prepare?

Yes. And one of the big themes for those recommendations is reducing risk from extreme weather. It says we should prepare our infrastructure for more stress in the future from stronger storms, hotter heat waves and bigger wildfires. It will be important to develop back-up plans for when things go wrong because of global warming. So, if a landslide or drought takes out a key source of groundwater, we need a second source to turn to.

Farmers can start planting crops that are better suited to hotter summers and wetter winters and springs. The Northwest can develop water markets so that people who have water could sell it to people who need it. And we can start growing more of our own seafood using aquaculture instead of catching wild species in the ocean to help offset the threat of extinction for fish and other species that will struggle to survive with warmer water and ocean acidification.

The report acknowledges that much remains unknown about how the risk of climate change can be offset. But anything that reduces carbon emissions that trap heat — contributing to the greenhouse effect — will reduce the severity of that risk over time.

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Pinot noir is one of the finickiest grapes, but with proper nurturing it produces an amazing wine. Officials in Oregon and at a U.S. government agency are similarly finicky, and are stomping on a California winery’s claims that it makes an Oregon pinot.

Copper Cane, a Napa Valley, California, winery sells more pinot noir made from Oregon grapes than anyone else, and often at a lower price. That has some Oregon winemakers, who call the California version a less elevated product, seeing red.

Now, both the U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau and Oregon’s liquor agency have ruled that Copper Cane’s labels have been improperly referencing Oregon wine regions. The case recalls France’s mostly successful efforts to have only sparkling wine produced in its Champagne region called by that name.

At stake is a multi-billion-dollar industry, and Oregon’s reputation for producing a delicate pinot noir in its cool, rainy climate, according to state Rep. David Gomberg and winemaker Jim Bernau, who have been sharply critical of Copper Cane.

“Part of this is prestige and marketing,” Gomberg said.

Grapes for Copper Cane’s pinot noirs are grown in three Oregon wine regions and trucked in dry ice to California. Jim Blumling, Copper Cane’s vice president of operations, acknowledged that the winery’s top-selling Elouan Pinot Noir is more pronounced than the typical Oregon version because the grapes are picked later, with higher sugar content.

“It helps deliver a more concentrated juice in the fruit,” Blumling said.

Bernau, founder of Willamette Valley Vineyards of Turner, Oregon, said Copper Cane’s labels deceptively indicate its wines came from Oregon’s officially designated wine regions, or AVAs.

“Copper Cane takes something valuable that isn’t theirs and deeply discounts it,” Bernau said. “They can’t use Oregon AVAs if the wine is not made in the AVA.”

In their rulings this month, the federal and state regulatory bodies agreed there was a problem because Copper Cane’s labels refer to Oregon’s Willamette Valley, Rogue Valley and Umpqua Valley wine regions. If a wine label claims or implies it’s from a particular AVA, 95 percent of the grapes must be from there, according to the Oregon Wine Board.

The federal TTB told Copper Cane that it has to ditch seven of its labels, agency spokesman Tom Hogue said.

The Oregon Liquor Control Commission found last week that Copper Cane has committed seven violations and is seeking to revoke its ability to sell in Oregon, said commission spokesman Matthew VanSickle. The violations focus on Copper Cane’s improper use of AVA designations and “misleading statements on labeling.”

One major grocery store chain in Oregon, Fred Meyer, is already taking Copper Cane’s Elouan Pinot Noir and Willametter Journal wines off its shelves.

Gomberg wants the federal government to stop Copper Cane from selling Elouan wine in the other 49 states.

“Copper Cane claims they were simply engaged in ‘fanciful’ marketing,” Gomberg said. “But the state of Oregon has determined that they crossed the line from fanciful to fraudulent.”

Blumling and Copper Cane’s owner, Joe Wagner, will meet with Oregon Liquor Control Commission Executive Director Steven Marks on Wednesday to try to resolve the issue, Blumling said.

The company has already submitted new labels to the TTB that don’t mention Oregon winemaking regions and say only that the grapes come from prime Oregon vineyards, Blumling said. Those labels have been approved by the TTB, he said.

Copper Cane hopes the new labels also satisfy the Oregon liquor commission.

The previous labels had been in use for years until Gomberg and Bernau complained, the California winemakers said. They believe it was to edge out the competition. Last year, 120,000 cases of Elouan wine — over 1.4 million bottles — were sold nationwide, Blumling said.

“We’re being blatantly attacked,” Wagner said. “What’s disappointing is it’s for financial gain.”

In a Nov. 19 statement, Gomberg said that Elouan Pinot Noir and The Willametter Journal “look and taste like they have an additive” called Mega Purple, often used in California to make wines darker and thicker. Blumling called that “slanderous” and denied any such additive has been used.

He said Elouan’s growing national popularity, with sales up 50 percent in a year, will raise consumers’ consciousness and boost overall demand for Oregon pinot noir.

“We’re expecting that all boats rise with the tide,” Blumling said.