News
Honored and never forgotten
The City of Canyonville held its annual Veterans Day ceremony on Wednesday, November 11, in the parking lot in front of the Veterans Memorial. This year’s ceremony honored long time area resident and veteran Roy Brogden (CENTER). His wife, Mary (LEFT) and daughter Jennifer (RIGHT) are seen here with Brogden. His daughter, U.S. Army Colonel (ret.) Megan Brogden, spoke about the accomplishments of her father and the accolades given him over the years. See more photos of the ceremony on Page 3 of the e-edition.
Canyonville; Morgan defeats Mayfield for Mayor; council seats finish close
CANYONVILLE — The race for Mayor of Canyonville between incumbent Chris Morgan and challenger Jeremy Mayfield was very close although Morgan came out on top by a 15 vote margin, 316 (51.05 percent) to 301 (48.62 percent) advantage as of Wednesday, November 11, and is headed to a third term as Mayor.
The race for the three open city council positions was also real close.
Michael Hogue came in first with 264 votes while the other two positions were very close with Paige McMahon finishing with 205 votes, Michael Sprague with 201. Jeannie Weakley came in at 195, Craig Gully, 188 and Stephen Morgan 187.
It was a family affair
The annual downtown Halloween celebration was once again a family affair. (ABOVE) Mayor of Myrtle Creek Luke Dillon and his wife, Julie, and daughter, Ariyah, turned out in costume for the event.
See more photos in the e-edition
Mayfield, Morgan to close to call, Duncan unseats Larson
MYRTLE CREEK – In some very hotly contested local races several seats exchanged hands on Tuesday night.
The race for Mayor of Canyonville between incumbent Chris Morgan and challenger Jeremy Mayfield is still to close to call although Morgan holds a 268 (52 percent) to 245 (47.5 percent) advantage as of Wednesday, November 4, and appears to be headed to a second term as Mayor.
The race for the three open city council positions is also to close to call.
Michael Hogue looks like he is in with 210 votes while the other two positions are very close with Paige McMahon with 167 votes, Craig Gully with 161, Jeannie Weakley with 159, Michael Sprague with 154 votes, Stephen Morgan has 152 votes and Luke Suhr has 148
In Myrtle Creek Tyson Duncan unseated incumbent Diana Larson in Council Position #4. Duncan garnered 60.43 percent of the vote to Larson’s 38.57 percent
Luke Dillon, the incumbent Mayor of Myrtle Creek, ran unopposed for Mayor and now will serve four years in the set that he was appointed to in September of 2025.
The other council seat, Position #2, saw the incumbent Jamie McElmurry retain the position as she ran unopposed.
In Glendale incumbent Mayor Crystal Martin was running unopposed as was the incumbent in Riddle Aaron Christensen
Glendale also had three council positions that were up with all three having only one candidate; Audina Jephson, Position #3; Ginger White, Position #4; and William Woodard, Position #6.
The same thing happened in Riddle with Debbie Carnes, Position #1; Shira Randall, Position #4; and Jane Mitchell, Position #5
On the county level incumbent Douglas County Commissioner Chris Boice retained his seat after facing fierce opposition from Steve Hammerson in the primary causing the race to be ran in the November election.
Boice took 54.5 percent of the vote to Hammerson’s 44 percent.
On the state level Tina Kotek is Governor for another four years as she narrowly defeated Christine Drazan for the second time. Although Drazan did receive 69 percent of the vote in Douglas County. Kotek took 51.7 percent of the vote to Drazan’s 45.4 percent
Senator Jeff Merkley also retained his seat. Cliff Benz also was re-elected to the U.S. House from the 2nd District, the only Republican to win a House or Senate seat in the state.
The turnout for this year’s mid-term elections saw 49.89 percent of voters cast their ballot.
Everything was pumpkin
Douglas County Mail Courtesy photo/Dawn Cartwright
The reprisal of the pumpkin festival in Canyonville, now billed as Everything Pumpkin, was held saturday, October 24. According to organizers, there was a really good turnout. Taking top honors with a pumpkin that weighed in at 400 pounds was Gary Cooper of Shady Cove. (See picture of the pumpkin on page 4) (ABOVE) This youngster took some time to enjoy some of the pumpkin inspired goodies available at the festival while still maintaining her makeup.
See more photos in the e-edition
DFPA announces the end of fire season for the Douglas District
OSEBURG – The Douglas Forest Protective Association (DFPA) officially ended the 2026 fire season Monday, October 26, for lands under their protection and management. The end of fire season is a result of recent wetting rains and an overall cooling trend that has returned to the area.
With the end of the fire season, the public and industrial fire restrictions implemented through DFPA will no longer be in effect.
Calling it quits
Longtime Myrtle Creek Municipal Airport caretaker Bruce Harlow is calling it quits after 16 and a half years. He formally gave notice to the city earlier this fall and he is planning on heading south to be near family. His last day is October 21. The City on Tuesday, October 13, held a luncheon honoring him. (ABOVE) City Administrator Zach Potter (RIGHT) presents Harlow with a plaque denoting the city’s appreciation for his many years of dedicated service.
The annual Challenge of the Heroes was held Thursday evening throughout the county. Locally the Myrtle Creek food truck array saw three participants; Grub Slingers, The Lemon Wrangler and Thunderstruck BBQ. The Myrtle Creek area event was sponsored by Grocery Outlet. Last year the entire event, which is sponsored overall by Mercy Foundation, netted close to $3,300 throughout the county. Those funds went to Douglas County Child Abuse Prevention initiatives. Those agencies on hand at Thursday night’s event in Millsite Park included Myrtle Creek Police, Myrtle Creek Fire, Riddle Fire and Canyonville-South Umpqua Fire. (ABOVE) The Myrtle Creek Police and Canyonville-South Umpqua Fire squared off in a push up challenge for a donation.
Sports
Wolves into quarterfinals
DAYS CREEK — A big 40-13 win over visiting Eddyville last Friday, November 6, has sent the Days Creek football team into the quarterfinal round against Griswold, a team that they lost to the first game of the season.
On Friday against Eddyville the Wolves came out a little sluggish and didn’t find the end zone until the 6:38 mark when Emmitt Allert took off on a 50 yard scamper for the score. With the conversion the Wolves led 7-0.
That’s how the first quarter ended but the second saw Days Creek score three times starting with a 22 yard run by Quintin Halstead to go up 14-0.
Jayden Young found pay dirt on a 8 yard burst but the conversion failed and the Wolves lead was 20-0.
They capped the scoring with just nine seconds left in the quarter when Isaac Hartzell hit Bryan Malone from 23 yards out. The conversion was good and Days Creek took a commanding 27-0 lead at the halfway point.
In the third quarter the Wolves finished off their scoring with a pair of touchdowns.
First Lucious Young scooped up a fumble by Eddyville and returned it 50 yards for a score to put Days Creek up 33-0. The Wolves followed that up with a 1 yard plunge by Sunny Losey to take a dominating 40-0 lead.
In the fourth quarter Eddyville found the end zone twice to bring the final score to 40-13.
Leading the Wolves on offense was Allert who had eight carries for 119 yards and a TD. Halstead also had a good day with four catches for 121 yards. He also had two rushes for 39 yards including a score.
Malone finished with four grabs for 39 yards and a score while Hartzell went 5-for-6 for 55 yards and a TD.
On defense the Wolves were led by Halstead’s seven tackles and one interception while Lucious Young had six tackles and three fumble recoveries.
Hartzell added five tackles.
The Wolves game against Griswold is at Weston McEwen High School on Saturday, November 14. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.
Days Creek pulls out victory in final seconds
ESTACADA – The Days Creek Wolves season was on the line on Friday in the final game of the regular schedule as they traveled to Estacada to take on Country Christian.
The Wolves opened the scoring on a 32 yard pass from Liam James to Quintin Halstead to take a 6-0 lead.
Little did anyone know that this connection would reverse roles and end up tossing the winning touchdown with only seven seconds left in the game.
See full story in the e-edition
Wolves win way into playoffs
DAYS CREEK – The Days Creek Wolves volleyball team qualified for the O.S.A.A. 1 volleyball playoffs this last week with victories over Camas Valley 3-0 on October 22 in the Skyline League playoffs and then in the tournament they lost to Elkton 3-0 but turned around and beat Powers 3-1 for the final playoff spot.
