New OCHS Board Elects Officers
The Oregon Coast Humane Society Board of Directors has chosen Jack Hannigan to head the board as president. The new board met with the Department of Justice yesterday to get briefed on the situation with the DOJ’s investigation and to begin to determine a course of action. The board also chose Shauna Robbers as vice president with Sandra Davidson as secretary and Jerry Hatcher as Treasurer.
Fuel Prices Still on the Rise
No relief for travelers as the price of gas continues its rise around the country. AAA Oregon reports that prices continue to rise amid record usage. Oregon jumped three cents a gallon since last weeks report and Florence followed that increase with current prices of regular gas sitting just below the $3.00 mark. Oregon drivers are paying .38 cents more a gallon than this time last year and Marie Dodds with AAA says that Oregon can expect to see as much as another .20 cent increase throughout the spring. Higher crude prices combined with usage and unrest in the middle east are all affecting prices here at home. Oregon is in the top 5 for the most expensive gasoline in the country as the west coast continues to be highest prices in the nation.
Debt Collectors Flood Courts
A new report finds debt collectors are overburdening Oregon courts to pursue debts that consumers may not even owe. The Center for Responsible Lending says debt cases cost Oregonians 18-million dollars a year between 2014 and 2016. Debt buyers, or companies that purchase debt from lenders and other creditors to try to collect on it themselves, are the main culprits. In the past five years, just six debt-buying companies filed more than 75-thousand cases in Oregon, accounting for nearly one in four civil suits in the state. Ezekiel Gorrocino at the Center for Responsible Lending says collectors don’t have to prove they are targeting the right person for debt.
“This shows how the system is actually rigged in the favor of the debt buyers, because the debt buyers, they’re lawsuits often go uncontested because they sue people without the means to defend themselves.”
Of the 300 cases the center reviewed, only one person hired an attorney and none of them won their case against debt buyers. Although debt collectors sometimes go after the wrong people, debt is still a big problem. Nearly a third of Oregonians have debts in collections and carry a median debt of about 14-hundred dollars.
Logging Accident Death
A Coos bay man has died as the result of a logging accident. The accident happened Monday. It occurred near Galagher Canyon. When EMS arrived on the scene they found that 49 year old James Jarret had been entangled in some logging equipment. They were unable to revive Jarret and he died at the scene. This is the second Coos Bay man to die as a result of a logging accident. On April 10th Arcadio Garcia-Martinez was also killed. In 2017 their were 5 logging related deaths reported in Oregon.
