Search suspended for missing man near Newport, Oregon jetty

SEATTLE - The search for a 23-year-old man who was swept from a jetty near Newport, Ore., was suspended at 5:47 p.m. Sunday.

Members of the Coast Guard, Oregon State Police and Newport Fire Department scoured the area by foot, boat and helicopter for six hours before suspending the search.

“Searchers looked for this man longer than the estimated survivability time,” said Jeff Griffin, a watchstander at the Coast Guard Command Center in Seattle.

The missing man and a friend were knocked into the water by a wave while both were out on the jetty. The man’s friend made it back to shore and waved down a Coast Guard motor lifeboat crew from Station Yaquina Bay who immediately began to search. Searchers later found a white hoodie matching the description of one worn by the missing man but no other sign of him. Both men are from the Portland area and were camping in the area with their girlfriends.

Signs posted at the entrance to the jetty warn of the dangers of creeping waves.

Creating the Coast Guard Community College

By Petty Officer Kelly Parker, D13 Public Affairs

SEATTLE - It’s widely known that the Coast Guard will respond on a moment’s notice to help a disabled vessel twenty miles off shore, or a stranded flood victim twenty miles inland. They take pride in educating a young first grader through a tour of a small boat station or volunteering hours of their time picking up trash at a local beach.

What’s not widely known are those who volunteer countless hours of their time to help these Coast Guardsmen.

Dr. Robert Smith, director of the Coast Guard Community College, was honored June 19 with a Public Service Award during the Coast Guard Cutter Henry Blake’s college graduation ceremony.

Smith had just retired from the Marine Corp Historical Society in San Diego and moved to Newport, Ore., when he noticed the Coast Guard small boat station at Yaquina Bay. He had never been aboard a Coast Guard facility and thought he would introduce himself.

“He had written to the station saying basically ‘this is who I am, if you’re interested, then maybe we could get a [college] program started at the Coast Guard station,” said Chief Warrant Officer Michael Mahoney, who was the executive officer of Coast Guard Station Yaquina Bay in 2003.

Smith mentioned to Mahoney that he was involved with the accredited Vincennes University located in Indiana and, if anyone at the station was interested in getting a diploma, he would help them achieve that.

Soon, five members were enrolled into the college program, including Mahoney. Smith recruited local teachers from the community including an elementary school teacher who taught math and a retired psychologist, who was the head of the local Red Cross.

“It was about a year later when the first group of five people graduated,” said Mahoney. “What started off as a very small program has mushroomed into something much bigger.”

In fact, the program is now being used by 16 small boat units and Coast Guard cutters across the United States. The program currently has 16 members working on their bachelor’s degree and four on their master’s.

“We started the program in 2003,” said Smith. “By August of this year we’ll have graduated, with diplomas in hand, one-hundred and thirty-one people.”

“He expanded it out on his own,” said Mahoney. “He approached Station Siuslaw River, Umpqua River, and Tillamook Bay. A bunch of different Coast Guard units.”

“We help them all the way through,” said Smith. “We help them with their bachelor’s at Fort Hayes State University in Kansas. We offer a master’s degree program through California State University, Dominguez Hills.”

“I have a tremendous faculty,” added Smith. “We’re small but we’re good and very dedicated. They understand what it is to teach young people at motor lifeboat stations and cutters when they’re heavily tasked.”

The Coast Guard Community College caters to the long hours that it takes to complete different Coast Guard missions, which are normally not on a set schedule.

“Each student is provided with a powerpoint that clearly lists fifteen classes that he will be taking,” said Smith. “He also receives a syllabus along with that, and on these powerpoints are all of his lectured reading materials.”

“So if he’s on watch, or if he’s on leave, he has no excuse for not keeping up with the course material,” added Smith. “We meet with each student group via site speed internet communication twice a week. Or we meet with them via telephone conferencing.”

For any Coast Guardsman who has ever wanted to further their education by getting a college diploma, Smith couldn’t have made it any easier. The Coast Guard pays for the complete tuition to Vincennes and Vincennes supplies the books for free. Nothing is paid for out of pocket.

The mission statement on the Coast Guard Community College’s blog, says the program’s available to Coast Guard members for the sole purpose of serving and graduating students.

Smith made it quite clear that if you’re going to take one of his classes, you have to be taking the necessary steps towards graduation. He gives fourteen months to graduate and he has yet to have anyone not graduate.

“He’s a very determined individual,” said Mahoney. “He’s impacting people‘s lives everyday. Whether it’s through college classes, or track and field, or one of the advisory boards for [Newport,] he’s always doing something that makes a difference.”

“I’ve asked him, why do you do this? He said, ‘what I do today is important,’” added Mahoney. “This is really a very educated, well-traveled person, who has this incredible depth of knowledge, and he’s willing to share it with anybody who has an interest.”

“A guy could possibly before I die, have in his hand a PhD,” said Smith. “And say it all started at the Coast Guard Community College in Newport, Ore.”

In many ways Smith shares the same principles as the Coast Guard, by dedicating his life to helping others. Coast Guardsmen who are trying to better their lives’ through obtaining a higher education.

Those interested in the program can reach Smith at, rainstorm@newportnet.com.

More information about Vincennes University is available at http://www.vinu.edu/cms/opencms.

The Coast Guard Community College blog can be viewed at http://coastguardcommunitycollege.blogspot.com/

Rescue above Yaquina Bay

By Petty Officer Kelly Parker. D13 Public Affairs

SEATTLE - On a bitter December night, just after sundown, an all too familiar call was made from a local bar to Coast Guard Station Yaquina Bay. A jumper was headed to the Yaquina Bay Bridge, which runs along Oregon’s Highway 101.

At a height of 129-feet, this ominous 3,223-foot long bridge, flanked by identical 350-foot high steel arches, looms above the bay. If a person were to jump they would not only have to survive the fall, they would also have to endure the frigid Oregon waters.

The search-and-rescue alarm was sounded at Station Yaquina Bay. Boat crews quickly prepared to head to the bridge, which could be seen not far from the station. They hastily moved out in hopes that if the person did jump they would arrive in time to recover the individual before it was too late.

While all of this commotion was taking place, Seaman Christopher Seevers was washing dishes in the galley. He decided to head over to the communications room to find out if there was anything he could do to help.

At that same time Seaman Daniel Naylor had just left his college studies to see what he could do to contribute to the rescue. That’s when he decided that he would take the beach rig, the station’s full-size sports utility vehicle, to the bridge.

As soon as Naylor grabbed the keys, Seevers entered the communications room. Naylor quickly asked if Seevers wanted to ride along with him.

With Naylor behind the wheel and Seevers riding shotgun, they headed directly to the bridge with a sense of urgency.

As the boat crews arrived on scene, so too were Naylor and Seevers. A description of the person had just gone over the radio; a woman wearing a red sweater and a red bandana.

“We saw one person walking onto the north end of the bridge,” said Seevers. “But from the initial information we thought that the person was already on the bridge, ready to jump.”

“As we came around the corner,” said Naylor,” I noticed a female walking towards the bridge, but she was wearing a black coat with a black backpack. She didn’t meet the description.”

“We went all the way across the bridge and didn’t see anyone,” said Seevers. “We got to the south end of the bridge and got another description of the person over the radio. It sounded like the person we initially passed could have been her.”

Naylor instantly turned around and started back across to the center of the bridge, flipping on the truck’s siren and lights.

“I slammed on the brakes,” said Naylor. “I had enough room to swing the tail-end out and was able to stop traffic with the truck.”

“The vehicle was put into park right in the middle of the bridge,” added Seevers. “At the last minute, Naylor saw her climbing over the railing.”

“Me and Seevers came running out to the rail,” said Naylor. “She was standing on the other side and we were yelling ‘don’t jump, don’t jump!’ As soon as we get to the rail, she let’s go and jumps off.”

In that moment of time, as the woman lets go of the rail, the turn of events that were about to unfold would highlight training in a job that deals with saving lives on a daily basis.

“It was just kind of all instinct,” said Seevers.

Seevers instantly grabbed through the rail as she jumped. He grasped onto the woman’s arm while Naylor jumped over the rail, reaching for her left leg.

“I was hanging over the rail, hanging onto her,” said Naylor. “She was in free fall when I grabbed her.”

“We really didn’t say anything to each other,” said Seevers. “We just kind of grabbed her and then pulled her over the railing.”

Both Seevers and Naylor played a large role in saving the woman’s life, but so too did the boat crews.

“The (boat crews) were both out there shinning spotlights up,” said Seevers. “Without them shinning spotlights up … we wouldn’t have seen her.”

After the rescue, another part of Coast Guard training had to be utilized. Both Naylor and Seevers said the woman was still distraught, so they spent a few moments calming her down.

“We got her to calm down a little bit,” said Seevers. “We put her in the back of the beach rig. Seaman Naylor sat in the back with her, trying to calm her down.”

“I drove us back,” added Seevers. “We were met here (at the station) by the local police, who took her from there.”

Station Yaquina Bay’s commanding officer, Chief Warrant Officer Mark Allstot, made it a priority to acknowledge the heroic acts of these two Coast Guardsmen.

On the next duty day everyone from the station gathered on the mess deck to watch as these two individuals were rewarded the Coast Guard Commendation Medal. This medal is given to those who distinguish themselves by heroism, outstanding achievement or meritorious service above what is normally expected.

It was partially because of training. It was partially because of luck. But there’s no denying that it was also the bravery of Seevers and Naylor; when they risked their lives to save another.