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Turbaned Sikhs in B.C. contest mandatory hard hat rule at sawmill Posted by Michael Rollins, The Oregonian April 01, 2008 06:59AM   Kalwant Singh Sahota Sikhs in Canada have won several key battles over religious attire. For example, Sikhs can wear turbans instead of the familiar Royal Canadian Mounted Police hats. But what about a sawmill? Isn't this easily a safety issue? It might be, except the two Sikhs who filed a human rights complaints have been working there for years without hard hats and have suddenly been required to don them. The Vancouver Sun's Kim Bolan is expert...

COOS BAY - A timber company expansion, in Coos Bay? Unthinkable. But just last month, Southport Lumber Co. announced that it had forsaken the Interstate 5 corridor in favor of its hometown. It will plunk $15 million to $20 million into a sawmill and 65 jobs on the fertile grounds of the North Spit, the focus of the county's dreams for an economic rebound. This wouldn't have happened if the Oregon International Port of Coos Bay hadn't agreed to run a $5.5 million rail line to the spit. But it also wouldn't have happened without the impending arrival of natural...