Answer: The lights were out of sync, said Randy Dixon, Coos Bay’s operations manager, and Oregon Department of Transportation re-synced the lights several weeks ago.

The most likely culprit for the timing difference is a disruption of power services of some kind, Dixon said.

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Answer: Police have not arrested anyone in the Leona Robison case – in which the 86-year-old woman was killed during an apparent home invasion April 11 – because they say they are conducting a thorough investigation.

But Coquille Police Chief Mark Dannels believes they are close to making an arrest.

Neither he nor District Attorney Paul Frasier will discuss details of the case with the public, media or even family for fear of damaging the investigation and later conviction.

They have gathered evidence from the scene of the homicide, conducted interviews and have the results of Mrs. Robison’s autopsy, none of which have been released. An arrest, they say, is imminent.

Answer: Of the $6.9 million general obligation bond measure Coos Bay voters approved in the spring of 2008, all but about $100,000 has been spent on the new fire station at 450 Elrod Ave.

Firefighters moved into the new station in June after working from the old fire station at 150 S. Fourth St. That station was built on filled land as a temporary structure in 1954.

About $407,000 went to a new fire engine, $1.1 million purchased the land and $5.3 million went to site preparation, construction and related expenses, said Rae Lee Cousens, the city’s finance director.

The money can be used only for the fire station project, she said, and any leftover funds will go back toward paying off the debt of the bond measure.

The account won’t be closed until next year, she said.

Until then, some of the money is being used to purchase things inadvertently left out of the bid, said Fire Chief Stan Gibson. For example, lights that indicate to drivers when the doors are in motion have been added, he said.

Meanwhile, the station is functioning as planned.

‘And everybody’s very pleased with it,” Gibson said.

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Answer: ‘The college is conducting an internal search for the director of athletics/coach as the first step in the recruitment process,” said SWOCC President Patty Scott.

‘We have many talented individuals that work for the college, and we want to recognize those talents while giving every opportunity for career advancement to our employees.

‘If the internal search is not successful, we plan to conduct an external search. We are confident that the most qualified candidate will be selected during the recruitment process, either internally or externally.”

Also, is the fancy new brickwork for the mailbox and wall that is being built in front of the red house on Ocean paid for by our tax dollars or by the home’s owner.

Answer: Fewer design challenges on the ‘dark” side of the street meant fewer hurdles to the sidewalk’s development and lower cost, said Jim Hossley, city public works and development director.

The city has no plans to install lights, he said, but the city could investigate how much they would cost.

‘There’s just not funds at this time for that kind of project,” Hossley said.

The cinderblock work in front of the house is a trade, he said.

The city needed more right of way, and the property owners wanted a replacement for the hedge that formed a barrier for privacy and noise control, he said.

The right of way is roughly 10 feet by 120 feet. Total area along the property is 1,097.57 square feet.

‘If anything (the cost) was probably about equal,” he added.

Without the right of way, the city could have lost part of the Oregon Department of Transportation grant that helped pay for the project, he said, because it would not have met Americans with Disabilities Act requirements.

I realize that the section mentioned is going to be repaved next summer, but we need some holes filled in before then.

Answer: ‘We will continue to monitor the condition of the road and fix those problems that cannot wait until the summer paving project,” said Dan Latham, a spokesman for the Oregon Department of Transportation.

Starting in May, weather permitting, ODOT expects to spend six to eight weeks repaving Highway 101 between Highway 42 and Bandon.

The stretch was last paved in 2002.

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Answer: Fundraising and donations.

‘We went to all lengths to make sure that there was no district money spent on the trip,” said coach Tom Nicholls, who estimated it cost $1,100 per player for the six-day trip.

When he became coach, Nicholls said, he knew he wanted to take the team on a trip each year — ‘take kids someplace they might never get the opportunity to have a chance to go.”

He had a connection to an athletic director in Hawaii, he said, making the scheduling possible.

Twelve players, three coaches and 10 other people went on the trip from Jan. 1-6. People not on the team or not coaching paid out of pocket for the trip.

The team played — and won — two games during the trip.

The cultural exchanges with the Hawaiian teams and students, though, was as much the point of the trip as the games, he said.

Hawaiian parents and students set up potlucks.

‘There was a lot of great interaction that way.”

Players also visited cultural and geological sites.

Teammates peered over volcanic crater’s edge and watched lava that has been flowing continuously for 30 years.

‘They were able to stand within 10 feet of flowing lava,” Nicholls said.

‘And there’s not another place in the world where they could have seen that.”

North Bend Athletic Director Mike Forrester also said the district spent no funds on the trip.

No substitute teacher was needed for Nicholls, who is not a district employee besides coach. Substitute pay for other coaching staff wasn’t paid by the district.

‘It wasn’t just about basketball; it was about giving kids a little bit about culture, too,” Forrester said.

‘I think it was a great experience for our kids.”

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Answer: A groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled for Feb. 24 at the site. The first building will be a food warehouse. Currently, food is stored on Southwestern Oregon Community College’s campus.

The warehouse will be on leased land on LaClair Street. A Head Start and family resource center is also planned for the site, but the warehouse is the first building to be constructed.

Local non-profit Oregon Community Coast Action received funding through a community development block grant of the Oregon Business Development Department, obtained by Coos County on its behalf, Coquille Community Tribal Fund, Cow Creek Umpqua Indians Foundation, Ford Family Foundation, M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust and local donations.

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Answer: The windmill on U.S. Highway 101 on the bayside disappeared as mysteriously as it appeared.

Mike Vaughan took the sculpture down for maintenance of the bearing just before Christmas, he said.

He originally erected the kinetic wind sculpture in fall 2009 as part of ‘The Winds of Time” contest through the Coos County Cultural Coalition. The contest, however, never was held.

The sculpture, which was built in one day with volunteer labor and materials, became popular, and its colorful parts remained intact.

‘Everybody loved it,” Vaughan said.

‘Mostly, people said it was cheerful and happy.”

People also liked its simplicity and usefulness — drivers could easily see how hard the wind was blowing and in what direction, he said.

The piece of land the windmill was on belongs to the Coos Historical & Maritime Center, and Vaughan didn’t rule out the possibility of the windmill reappearing there or somewhere else. Maybe he’ll sell it, he added.

He said he hopes to build smaller forms of the sculpture, maybe in partnership with a high school class, and sell them.

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Answer: Stufflebean had announced at the beginning of the meeting that he had to leave at 5 p.m.

‘A majority of the board is required to transact county business,” according to Oregon Revised Statutes 203.240. Commissioners Bob Main (in person) and Nikki Whitty (on speakerphone) still were present.

County Board of Commissioners’ meetings are available online at www.coosmediacenter.com, although several days often elapse before they are uploaded to the website. You can also see them on Channel 14.

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