Greg Morgan, AVP of Finance and Beelzebub

I like the guy generally, but he is screwing up Lane Community College. Under his guidance, disaster is going to be avoided. Until him, there was no competent financial person in the ranks of LCC management. The previous person in charge of doing budgets, Marie Matsen, couldn't consistently make spreadsheets work, let alone understand the nuances of finance.

But Greg understands, CPA that he is, and he's moving the college in the right direction, away from the precipice. So why am I unhappy? Because only by teetering and perhaps starting to fall would LCC ever embrace the sort of structural change that would lead it to reaching its potential. Since this won't happen, the administration, the unions, and the various pressure groups will ensure that it runs no more efficiently than necessary and as a result, costs will be vastly higher than necessary and 2000 students who should be attending, won't.

It's Greg's fault.

Canyon Way in Newport

The Canyon Way Bookstore and Restaurant are long time fixtures of the Newport scene. Ed and Roguey opened their business in 1971 and have been running it ever since. They are located actually on a street called Canyon Way, which isn't much of a canyon by Arizona standards, more like a gulley. It's a moderately steep street with little nearby parking, so the establishment has had trouble attracting people. This is unfortunate, because the restaurant is regarded as one of the best places to eat in Newport, if not the whole Oregon Coast, and the selection of books is eclectic and extensive. The staff of the Oregon Coast Visitors Association rate it very highly.

Competition for LCC

It looks like I'll have competition if I run for the Lane Community College board in May. I don't know how people on the Eugene side of the coast range will like the idea of two members from Florence. It seems that both of the two incumbents will run again. That's amazing, particularly since Roger Hall said four years ago that he was retiring, and didn't get back in until literally the final hour of filing. Both of them will need to defend a college which has allowed almost its entire general fund ending balance to evaporate, including millions that were supposed to be set aside in reserves but weren't. If these guys feel they have been accountable and responsible, the bar is being set pretty low.

The Dunes Country Visitor Guide

Apparently, I received an RFP for the Dunes Country Visitor Guide from the Reedsport Chamber on the same day I got back from lunch at Gracie'sin Depoe Bay, where I discussed doing something similar for Tillamook. The Reedsport people seem to be in much more of a hurry, with a deadline for delivery of March 31. Usually these things take a little more time to prepare, but they already know what they want to say and most of the advertisers will be the ones who advertised last year. It doesn't look impossible.

I'm sure Oregon Coast Magazine can do a better job. We understand visitor guides better than anyone else on the Oregon Coast. We have distribution to chambers and other Visitor Centers throughout the Pacific Northwest. And we're 25 miles down the road, so we're not going to hit them with a lot of transportation costs. We'll know by the end of next week. It would be a fun project.

Up and down the Chetco

The Chetco River does not flow west into the Pacific Ocean at Brookings. It flows just about exactly south. There's a kink in the coastline here, and Highway 101 actually goes east-west through downtown and then somewhat more south as it heads towards California. The Chetco takes a jog east where At Rivers Edge RV Resort is located on the south bank. A little farther is Salmon Run golf course. Loeb State Park with its oldgrowth groves of redwoods and myrtle trees is several miles farther upstream.

Florence and Newport Events Centers

Several years ago, Florence built its "all events" center, which was later renamed the Florence Events Center. It's a wonderful place, really classy, but it loses money. As a result, the city is taking a lot of the cash generated by the local room taxes and putting it into operations at the events center. This isn't really what the room tax is for. It's collected by the lodging industry and should be used to promote tourism. Maybe that's why the idea of an events center in Newport has been such a tough sell. Tourism is very important in Lincoln County and the people up there probably don't want to find themselves taking their advertising budget and spending it to keep up a building that is largely for locals.

Birding Trail Update

The Oregon Coast Birding Trail Web site has been updated. The project has resulted in the selection of a large number of places along the Oregon Coast where a birder can observe the coast's feathered denizens. There is a brochure that is now being widely distributed by the Oregon Coast Visitors Association, which details what all these places are. You can also go to the Web site and download the pdfs. An easier method is to go to the birdwatching page of 101milebymile.com, particularly if your Internet connection doesn't easily support megabyte size images.