Cheers to 70 years of Cranberry Festivals!

Cranberry Bop - 2015

Cranberries are a perennial crop grown commercially in man-made wetlands or bogs in primarily five states in the U.S. Americans consume nearly 400 million pounds of cranberries per year, 20 percent of them during Thanksgiving week. The U.S. per capita…

Friday, Sept. 9

Take a walk down memory lane in the 70th annual Bandon Cranberry Festival titled, “Cheers to 70 Years: A Toast to Seven Decades of Cranberry Festivals.” Festival events start Friday, Sept. 9 and continue through Sunday, Sept. 11.

From 1948 to 1975, the Food Fair was staged in Old Town at the former American Legion Hall, according to the "Cranberry Cookbook" published by the Veterans of Foreign Wars Auxiliary 3440 in 1991 for Bandon's centennial. The Bandon Auxiliary…

For the 70th annual Cranberry Festival, "Cheers to 70 Years!" the Chamber of Commerce has brought back the Treasure Chest that used to be a regular festival event. The chest holds more than 60 items donated by local businesses that…

Morgan Alexander, who has visited and played in Bandon previously, will perform live for the Saturday night Cranberry Festival Street Dance, which begins at 7 p.m. on the Main Stage in Old Town. The dance is free and family friendly.

The third annual Cranberry Cruise-In will be held in Old Town on Saturday, Sept. 10.

Winners in the Port of Bandon Boardwalk Art Show "Slice of Life" will be announced Saturday, September 10. The public is invited to stop by to congratulate the artists and discover the theme for the 15th annual boardwalk show in…

The annual Blessing of the Harvest will be held at 11 a.m. Friday, Sept. 9.

The annual VFW Ladies Auxiliary Craft Bazaar and Bake Sale will be held from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Friday, Sept. 9 and Saturday, Sept. 1, at the VFW Hall on Bates Road off Highway 42S.

Bandon Historical Society Museum

The following streets will be closed during the 2015 Cranberry Festival:

Cheyanne Ornelas

The Bandon Parks and Recreation Commission will hold a Cranberry Festival Disc Golf Tournament beginning at 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 10, at Bandon City Park.

You can make a splash at the Cranberry Festival’s dunk tank, sponsored by the Bandon Community Aquatic Center Board from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 10 and 11. The dunk tank will be set up in…

WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 7

The Bandon Tigers will host the Rogue River Chieftains for the 2016 Cranberry Bowl. The game begins at 4 p.m. at Tiger Field on 11th Street SW.

ALBANY, Ore. — A judge has denied the State of Oregon’s motions to dismiss a lawsuit by Linn County that seeks $1.4 billion over state forest management practices.

Linn County Circuit Judge Daniel Murphy also said he’s inclined to certify the case as a class action — which would include other counties in the litigation — though he’s postponed ruling on that matter.

According to Linn County’s lawsuit, filed earlier this year, insufficient logging on state-owned forestland has cost 15 counties more than $1.4 billion.

The complaint claims the counties turned over ownership of forestlands to the state in the early 20th Century with the expectation that it would maximize timber revenues, but since 1998, forest managers have instead prioritized wildlife habitat, water quality and recreation values.

More than 650,000 acres were donated to the state by Benton, Clackamas, Clatsop, Columbia, Coos, Douglas, Josephine, Klamath, Lane, Lincoln, Linn, Marion, Polk, Tillamook and Washington counties.

In his ruling, Murphy rejected arguments by the state’s attorneys that he lacks jurisdiction over the case and that Linn County’s pleadings were insufficient for the lawsuit to move forward.

According to the Sept. 6 ruling, the judge “could only dismiss this claim now if the court could find it impossible for the plaintiff to prove the claim and thereby prove that best grazing and forest management practices/greatest permanent value at the time the contract was entered into included the maximization of revenue.”

Without “reciting in detail the court’s reasoning,” Murphy also held that he believed the lawsuit meets the requirements for a class action, but he agreed with Oregon’s attorneys that ruling on the issue now would be premature.

If the lawsuit survives further motions, then it’s “entirely appropriate and should go forward promptly” as a class action, he said.

During a hearing last month, Scott Kaplan, an attorney for the state, said the problems in managing the case as a class action would be “enormous.”

The counties donated 183 separate parcels to the state, each of which contains different slopes, tree types, waterways and federally protected species, he said.

Determining how much timber could have been generated from each parcel would devolve into 183 mini-trials, he said.

“How can we decide if revenue has been maximized on a particular parcel unless you consider all of those issues?” Kaplan said.

Linn County is also an inadequate representative of the other counties for multiple reasons, he said.

The litigation costs are currently being paid for by timber groups and lumber companies — the Oregon Forest & Industries Council, Sustainable Forests Fund, Stimson Lumber and Hampton Tree Farms.

Linn County is simply lending its name to a lawsuit that actually represents private interests, the state’s attorneys argue.

“It’s not a public interest case. It’s a case to benefit one particular group,” Kaplan said.

Unlike the counties, which appreciate tourism and other benefits from uses besides logging, the timber interests funding the lawsuit primarily want to change the state’s “greatest permanent value” rules for forest management to emphasize harvesting, he said.

Much of the alleged damages are for lost future timber revenues, which may force the state to change its logging policies, he said.

“That would directly challenge the interests of the other counties,” Kaplan said.

The case also doesn’t qualify as a class action because of the lack of “commonality” among the counties, which donated their land to Oregon during different times and under specific terms, he said.

Chris McCracken, an attorney for Linn County, rejected the argument there’s a lack of commonality among the counties.

They all face the same issues, such as whether the state has violated its contract to maximize timber revenues, he said.

“We have common questions in droves,” McCracken said.

The Oregon Department of Forestry does not manage each parcel individually but instead treats them according to regional forest plans, he said.

Deciding the counties’ contractual rights collectively is more efficient than trying separate cases with potentially conflicting verdicts, he said.

McCracken also disputed that the lawsuit’s funding mechanism should disqualify it as a class action.

The Davis Wright Tremaine law firm would be entitled to 15 percent of any financial award in the case.

Contingency fees aren’t unusual in class action lawsuits, particularly since the counties are strapped for cash and could not afford such litigation on their own, McCracken said.

“There are no disabling conflicts between Linn County and the class members,” he said.

It’s irrelevant whether some counties prefer the forests to be managed for ecological or recreational benefits, McCracken said.

The lawsuit’s outcome won’t affect these priorities, he said.

“All that is sought here is money damages,” he said. “This lawsuit is not seeking to change the management of the forests.”