Saturday, despite the threat of falling snow, varsity and junior varsity chess teams from Southern Oregon converged at Coquille High School for the first Chess League chess tournament. An elementary individual chess tournament was held as well. Varsity teams Marshfield and Coquille battled it out and ended up in a absolute tie, so the trophies were deferred to a future tournament to battle out a tie breaker event.

Due to the lack of varsity teams that were developed at the schools, an adult team made up of coaches and parents was formed to give some variety and hopefully tough competition for the high school teams. Coquille beat Marshfield first round, 3 to 2, Marshfield fell to the adult team during the second round, 2 to 3, Coquille beat the adult team during the third round, 3 to 2 and then Marshfield managed their revenge and beat Coquille during the final round, 3 to 2. So Coquille and Marshfield ended 5 to 5 after the 2 rounds against each other. Coquille’s Varsity team was made up of Jessi Ross, Tasha Keller, Stephen Mast, Deven Johnson and Ivy Hallmark. In the Junior Varsity division with six teams, the Coquille Middle School junior varsity team were undefeated and won the first place trophy. The team was made up of Jasmine Lambson, Hailey Riley, Aaron Grabinsky, Tyler Neuschwander and Jonathan Logan. Coffenberry Junior Varsity team from Myrtle Creek got second place and Marshfield got third.

In the Elementary Division, fourth grader Josiah Perkins continued to dominate as he won all five rounds. Fifth grader Jace Sperling was second place overall with 4 wins. Elementary results: Fifth grade: Jace Sperling first place, Kaden Johnson second place, James Hoper third place. Fourth grade: Josiah Perkins first place, JJ Newman second place, Cooper Page third place. Third grade: Jed Wright first place, Jordan Henderson second place. Second grade: Ethan Zigler from Myrtle Creek first place, Izabella Sperling second place. Kindergarten/First grade: Joshua Grabinsky first place & Gracie Wright second place.¤

Oregon Prison Art, an invitational show of works by seventeen artists currently serving time in Oregon State Prisons, opens next Friday, December 11th at two locations: Upstairs in the Mabel Hansen Gallery of the Coos Art Museum; and around the corner at Black Market Gourmet.

The show, which consists of about sixty works, some done specially for the exhibit, includes acrylics, pastels, and tempera paints, but the bulk of the work is done by artists working in their small (poorly lit) cells with nothing but some colored pencils, a plain graphite pencil, or a ball point pen. All the works have been matted and framed by local Coos County framers who have donated their time and in some cases the materials as well.

 Victoria Tierney, who curated the show, says, “People who have seen the catalog of the exhibit are amazed; we have no idea of the level of excellence of the work being done in our state prisons.” The show opens with a reception at the Coos Art Museum on Friday , December 11th from 5-7 pm; Black Market Gourmet will also be open on that afternoon from 1-5 p.m. For more information call the museum at (541) 267-3901 or Black Market Gourmet at 269-0194. Admission is free to both openings, and the public is invited.¤


"Grace" by Steven Abbott
This drawing was awarded first place in the graphite pencil division of this
year’s Department of Corrections show in Salem. Steven Abbott is an inmate
at the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem. He was raised in Coos Bay.


"The Blue Parrott" by David Clark
David Clark is an inmate at Snake River Correctional Institution in Ontario,
near the Idaho border, the "Siberia" of the Oregon Prison system. Six of the
seventeen artists in this show are from the Snake River Correctional Institute.

Attorney General John Kroger today announced that a former fugitive was sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty to child pornography charges. “Child pornography victimizes children, and the people who engage in it need to be punished,” said Attorney General Kroger. John Calvin Hudson, III was indicted in Coos County in August 2009, but fled the area. The U.S. Marshal’s Fugitive Task Force arrested him in September in a Bend motel. Hudson pleaded guilty on November 17th to 10 counts of encouraging child sexual abuse in the first degree and was sentenced to 3 years in prison and 3 years of postprison supervision.

He was taken into custody after the hearing. Senior Assistant Attorney General Michael Slauson prosecuted the case. Hudson’s arrest followed an investigation by the Oregon Department of Justice’s Internet Crimes against Children (ICAC) unit, which investigates and prosecutes predators who use the Internet to target and sexually exploit children. The unit works with 160 district attorneys, law enforcement agencies and regional task forces that investigate online predators. ICAC is the only program in Oregon that is equipped with the necessary resources to catch sex predators throughout the state. Recent budget cuts threatened to end the program in Oregon, but Attorney General Kroger made restoring the funds a top public safety priority.

 This spring, Kroger announced that the Oregon Department of Justice had received a $665,000 federal stimulus grant to keep the program operating. Since 2005, more than 100 Internet predators who targeted Oregon children or operated in Oregon have been convicted as a result of ICAC investigations. Attorney General John Kroger leads the Oregon Department of Justice. The Department’s mission is to fight crime and fraud, protect the environment, improve child welfare, and defend the rights of all Oregonians.¤

The Junior Class won the Airband Contest at the Pep Assembly on Friday.
They did a routine featuring Michael Jackson singing his hit song, Thriller.

Cory Courtright continues her quest for justice in the murder of her daughter, Leah Freeman, even as she faces another painful anniversary on Thursday, Oct. 29 – the day that would have been Leah’s 25th birthday. Freeman’s life was cut tragically short when, at fifteen years old, she disappeared while walking home in Coquille, Oregon, the night of June 29, 2000. Her body was discovered in Fairview, a wooded town eight miles outside of Coquille, more than a month later on Aug. 3, 2000.

 After an autopsy was performed, it was determined that Freeman died from homicidal violence. Nearly a decade after her death, the murder remains unsolved, and Courtright is making a plea to local law enforcement, “I am simply asking Coos County District Attorney Paul Frasier to dedicate a cold case team to re-investigate Leah’s murder. I don’t feel like the agencies handling the case have ever been in sync and with all of the personnel changes at the Coquille Police Department. I fear that crucial details of the investigation could very well have fallen through the cracks.” Courtright says she was aware of an active investigation before her daughter’s body was found, but has heard very little about other developments in the case since that point in time.

 Legal documents that were released to the public several years ago detail the initial investigation and can be found at http://www.leahfreeman. com/documents.ht m. In June, Coos County District Attorney Paul Frasier explained to local media that while the case is considered “cold,” investigators remain active following any and all tips they receive. Courtright doesn’t feel like this is enough, “They need to do more than follow-up on tips. They need to have a dedicated team go back and look through all of the files again, re-interview everyone involved and re-examine all of the evidence.” Anyone with information regarding Leah’s murder is encouraged to contact the Coquille Police Department at (541) 396-2114, or Coos Stop Crime at (541) 267- 6666. Courtright’s family is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction. For more information please visit Justice for Leah on Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/pa ges/Jutice-for- Leah/143634984432, or at http://www.leahfreeman.co m.

Bob Sullivan of the Fairview Community Church recently received this letter of appreciation and photo from local soldier, Tom Little, after he received a care package from the Fairview Community Church. Bob, I want to thank you for the Care Package. My team and I greatly appreciated your kindness. I have enclosed a signed picture of everyone you and your church have touched. Thanks once again. OOHRAH & Semper F1. Tom Little, USMC Kabul, Afghanistan