» Graffiti busters deserve thanks for important job

By Mary Schamehorn
Monday, February 08, 2010 | No comments posted. I often lament when graffiti “artists” hit our community, but it’s not often that we learn who is responsible for removing their handiwork — which is a thankless, but very important, job.

Our thanks go out to Jim Giambrone Jr., Charlie O’Neill and Wayne Robbins for removing the graffiti from the skate park and the dugouts in City Park. We can only hope their services won’t be needed for a long time — but if they are, I’m sure the men will be more than willing to help again.

Watch council meetings on streaming video

After receiving a letter about something that occurred at the Jan. 4 City Council meeting, I decided to go to streaming video and see for myself who said what before I contacted the man who had written the letter. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get it to work. Thinking it was probably just me, I e-mailed City Manager Matt Winkel to see what I had done wrong. But he tried to access the council meeting as well, and wasn’t able to do it. He called Don VanDyke, who is in charge of the site, so hopefully he will get it up and running soon.

To access the Bandon City Council meetings, as well as many other meetings in the county, go to coosmediacenter.pegcentral.com.

It’s just like being at the meeting — but even better. You can fast forward the video if you get bored, and it’s a good way to see your local elected officials in action. In fact, VanDyke told us recently that our council meetings get more “hits” than any of the other bodies, which include the City of Coos Bay, the Coos County Commissioners and the Coos County Airport District.

Secure your garbage on way to dump

Art Brewer, manager of Ray’s Food Place, which has adopted the section of Highway 101 north of town, says that more than half of the garbage they pick up on any given day appears to have blown out of people’s rigs as they are on their way to the dump. Or, Art said, it has come from plastic bags that have been ripped open by our friends the crows.

At any rate, if you’re hauling your own garbage to the Beaver Hill Disposal Site, please be sure that it is well secured and doesn’t end up along the highway.

It’s hard enough to pick up the pop cans and paper cups thrown out the window by thoughtless people without having to pick up garbage that was intended for the Coos County dump.

Good intentions are harmful to the pelicans It’s sad to learn that our beautiful brown pelicans are dying here on the coast. They have been observed in some parts of the coast begging for food, having no fear of humans and eating bread crumbs as handouts. Many of the birds are emaciated, or starving, and this is apparently the reason they are not afraid of humans.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is urging people not to feed the pelicans as their diet is very particular. Good intentions of feeding pelicans the bones and heads of fish can cause damage to their throat pouch. Also fish bait can be contaminated with harmful bacteria or may be treated with chemicals to promote better fishing or preserve the bait, but it can make a pelican very ill.

Apparently a large number of pelicans remained along the coast through the winter because of the abundance of food. But now the storms and high winds have limited their ability to hunt and dive for food.

Let’s hope this doesn’t turn into a major disaster for those beautiful birds that provided such a show for us this fall and winter.

(Mary Schamehorn is Bandon’s mayor and a lifelong resident. The opinions expressed in this column are hers alone.)