Klamath Basin News Update and Stories from Paul Hanson of KFLS 102.5FM & 1450AM, Wynne Broadcasting & The Herald & News
MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2019
KLAMATH BASIN WEATHER
Today
Rain during the day, high of 45, and windy at times. Overnight, a chance of rain or snow flurries at times, low around 29.
Tuesday
A slight chance of rain and snow showers after 11am. Partly sunny, with a high near 46. Possible half inch of snow overnight.
Wednesday
Rain and snow showers. High near 45.. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.
Thursday
Snow showers likely before 11am, then rain and snow showers likely. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 46. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.
Friday
Mostly sunny, with a high near 49.
See Road Camera Views:
Lake of the Woods
Doak Mtn.
Hiwy 97 at Chemult
Hiwy 140 at Bly
Hiwy 97 at GreenSprings Dr.
Hiway 97 at LaPine
TODAY’S KLAMATH FALLS AREA NEWS HEADLINES & STORIES…
Oregon Tech Professor Appointed to National Editorial Board for Civil Engineering Education and Practice
Charles “C.J.” Riley, Ph.D., P.E., professor of civil engineering at Oregon Institute of Technology, “Oregon Tech,” was recently appointed to the editorial board of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice (JPI), a national journal for civil engineering education and practice.
Dr. Riley’s appointment begins immediately, refereeing three to six papers each year, reviewing up to three per year, and coordinating with the editorial board to facilitate the journal’s change in title from Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice (JPI) to Journal of Civil Engineering Education in January 2020. He will also be involved in coordinating advertisement of the journal and ensuring that papers accepted for publication meet the high scholarly standards of ASCE and the scope of the journal.
The Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice presents issues of broad professional interest and diverse views of engineering education and professional practice. Papers examine the relationships between civil engineering and other disciplines and professions, with emphasis on the engineer’s and constructor’s obligations and responsibilities. Topics include engineering education at all levels, professional practice issues, ethics, and history and heritage. The editorial board is made up of faculty from throughout the nation and also includes representatives from Saudi Arabia, Singapore and Ireland. Dr. Riley is one of 25 editors on the board.
“I am excited to be part of the editorial team at JPI,” said Dr. Riley. “It is a valuable continuation of my work as program chair for the Civil Engineering Division of the American Society for Engineering Education, in which I have refereed over 100 manuscripts for publication. Using that experience and continuing my service to the engineering education community is very important to me.”
Dr. Riley has worked at Oregon Tech for 11 years as a member of the civil engineering faculty and is a registered professional engineering in Oregon. He came to Klamath Falls by way of Fort Collins, Colorado, where he completed his Ph.D. at Colorado State University in structural mechanics, studying the nonlinear bulk properties of fibrous materials using the finite element method as well as beneficial use of fly ash based structural materials. He has two years of experience in bridge design, rating, and software development for transportation structures with the Wyoming Department of Transportation, and currently sits on the bridge aesthetics task force at the Oregon Department of Transportation.
His energy in the classroom and laboratory is contagious as he works to engage students in relating physical phenomena to the myriad mathematical models engineers use to describe structural and mechanical behavior. He also brings a passion for sustainability to the civil engineering faculty as a registered Envision Sustainability Professional (ENV SP) and is the faculty adviser to the American Society of Civil Engineers and Associated General Contractors (ASCE-AGC) Student Chapter and a mentor for ASCE’s Excellence in Civil Engineering Education (ExCEEd) Teaching Workshop.
Dr. Riley obtained his master’s degree from Colorado State University, Ft. Collins, and a bachelor’s degree from Swarthmore College.
KLAMATH WATER USERS ASSOCIATION REACTS TO FEDERAL WATER UPDATE
Klamath Water Users Association had mixed reactions to Friday’s public meeting at Klamath County Fairgrounds on the status of Endangered Species Act consultations and expected 2019 water supply for the Klamath Project.
“We greatly appreciate the hard work of the three involved agencies to get this done. That’s essential to getting out from under the Court injunction that made 2018 so terrible”, said Luther Horsley. “At the same time, the relative speed of the process made it difficult or impossible to engage with the agencies and others in the basin on some critical issues.”
The public meeting was hosted by the Bureau of Reclamation and attended by Reclamation’s Regional Director, Ernest Conant, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Regional Director Paul Souza, and Regional Administrator Barry Thom of the National Marine Fisheries Service. They and their staffs gave an overview of the nearly finished Endangered Species Act consultation intended to guide Klamath Project operations for the next five years as well as the projected water supply for 2019 under that process. KWUA met with these senior federal officials on Friday morning before the public meeting. Mr. Souza is the leader that was designated under an October 2018 memorandum from President Trump to coordinate and streamline the work of the agencies.
KWUA board member and Klamath Irrigation District Manager, Gene Souza said that “there are positive and negative things about what we heard. We assume 2019 should work out, although there shouldn’t be any doubt about that in such a wet year. Over the next four years we will need wet conditions to not to have major negative impacts to the Klamath Basin, its people and economy.” The anticipated water supply for the west side of the Klamath Project from the Klamath River system (referred to as Project Supply) is 325,000 acre-feet. This does not include any water that might be available to the west side from the Lost River system or any recirculated water in the Klamath Straits Drain.
“I’m glad we seem to be getting past the injunction that just doesn’t work under the 2013 biological opinion”, said Tulelake Irrigation District Manager Brad Kirby. “But I hope we’ll have a chance to get into some details with the agencies about the future. I also believe we have re-established some good relationships in the basin and I want those to hold up.”
KWUA is a non-profit private corporation that has represented Klamath Reclamation Project farmers and ranchers in its current form since 1953. The Association’s membership includes rural and suburban irrigation districts, other public and private entities and individuals who operate on both sides of the California-Oregon border. These entities and individuals typically hold water delivery contracts with the United States Bureau of Reclamation. The Klamath Project is home to over 1200 family farms and ranches and encompasses over 170,000 acres.
KWUA is governed by an 11-member board of directors who are appointed from Klamath Project member districts.
Klamath Falls Educators and School Boards are Standing Up and Speaking Out for Students
Local educators leading Oregon’s Red4Ed effort
Klamath Falls – If you noticed a sea of red on your way to the Starbucks on South 6th Street on Wednesday, you weren’t alone. For two hours that evening, nearly 60 Klamath Falls educators took to the streets in bright red t-shirts that said “Stand with Students,” and “Keep Calm and Fund Education,” among other student-focused messages. They were there to hold a rally and draw attention to the state’s chronic under investments in public education. The rally is the first local action after the historic public education march on Salem on Presidents Day last month that brought nearly 5,000 people from the state – including Klamath Falls – calling for state lawmakers to fully fund education. And earlier this year, both the Klamath Falls city and county school boards passed resolutions echoing the educators’ claims: after decades of disinvestment, Oregon at the bottom of the country for per student funding and at the top of the country for large class sizes. It’s time for full school funding.
“From school boards to classroom teachers to education support professionals we are coming together because our schools are in crisis. I started teaching in 1990 and I’ve witnessed cut after cut. I’ve seen classroom teachers cut, school nurses cut, counselors, music teachers, and reading specialists cut. We do not have the resources we need to help students who require a higher level of care,” says Cori Swan, a kindergarten teacher at Henley Elementary. “Every student I have taught over the last 29 years deserves better than this. It is time for our legislators to step up and fully fund education.”
The educators also say that the issue of disrupted learning is becoming more acute as there are fewer adults in the classrooms or in the schools. At the same time, they are encouraged after the successful efforts to increase support for schools and educators in Oklahoma, Virginia, Arizona and other states over the past year.
“Our kids need counseling, they need help, and they are not getting it,” says Cindy Landrum, a fourth grade teacher at Mills Elementary. “We are teachers, not counselors and too many of our students are not getting the help that they need. As we’ve seen in other states, when educators stand together and speak out, lawmakers listen. We’re excited that this movement has come to Oregon.”
Klamath Falls educators say that they are planning more public actions in April and May and until the state legislature invests in public education at the level students need to be successful. Meanwhile, every Wednesday you will see them in their classrooms wearing “Red4Ed.”
City of Klamath Falls, Public Works Department
| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
PERMITTING
Trees LLC will be trimming and pruning trees for Pacific Power in the Conger and Pelican Schools neighborhoods.
There will be posted sidewalk and parking lane closures in the immediate area where crews are working. This will be a mobile work zone. Work is scheduled to take place in these neighborhoods from March 21, 2019 to April 30, 2019.
Hunter Communications will be installing aerial fiber optic service on Klamath Avenue. Work will take place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on March 27 and 28, 2019. The eastbound lane of Klamath Avenue will be closed for the aerial crossing. Signs and flaggers will be in place.
To facilitate work being done on the building on March 22, 2019, the City has issued an obstruction permit to Ross Ragland Theater for closure of the sidewalk, parking lane and travel lane closest to the theater on Pine Street between 6th and 7th Streets. Work will take place from 5:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Flaggers will route motorists around the work zone.
Klamath County Museum Events -Native plant sales, walks planned
A series of events designed to encourage use of native plants in landscaping and restoration projects will be offered in Klamath Falls this year.
The events are cosponsored by the Klamath Soil and Water Conservation District, the Klamath County Museum and the Klamath Basin Chapter of the Native Plant Society of Oregon.
“We had a series of native plant events that were very well received last year, and we’re hoping to do even more this year,” said Todd Kepple, manager of the Klamath County Museum.
A sale of low-cost bare root native tree seedlings and shrubs is planned for 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, March 30, at the museum, 1451 Main St.
Oregon ash, vine maple and Oregon white oak tree seedlings will be available. The list of shrubs expected to be available include redosier dogwood, serviceberry, Douglas spirea and mockorange. All plants will be sold for $1.50 each.
Because the trees are bare root, they should be planted within a day or two, Kepple said.
All of the plant species being offered have been growing for several years in a native plant garden at the museum, and can be viewed before the March 30 sale.
Anyone interested in ordering 10 or more of one species can make a prepaid reservation by stopping by or calling the Soil and Water Conservation at 1945 Main St., or calling (541) 883-6924.
Other events planned for later in the spring include native plant walks at the museum on April 27 and May 11, and a sale of wildflowers and shrubs on May 18.
Klamath County Museum – Program features women in local history
Five women who have played significant roles in Klamath Basin history will be featured in a program Sunday, March 30, at the Baldwin Hotel Museum, 31 Main St.
The program will be presented at 1 p.m., and repeated at 3 p.m. Admission to the hour-long is free. Refreshments will be served.
Sister Mary Paschalis, a nun at Sacred Heart School in Klamath Falls, is among the women to be featured in the program. Paschalis taught art and music at the Catholic school from 1924 to 1944.
Other featured women who lived in the area include Enola Hawkins, who served as a librarian in Klamath Falls for 34 years; Beulah Elliott, a longtime teacher in Klamath County schools; Hattie Lewis, a hide buyer and property developer, and Vera Moore Jones, theater operator and owner of the Baldwin Hotel.
Sunday’s event is the fifth annual program on women in local history, offered in recognition of March being women’s history month.
For more information contact the Klamath County Museum at (541) 882-1000.
Klamath County Historical Society – ‘Infamous Crimes’ subject of program
“Infamous Crimes and Criminals of Klamath, Part Two,” is the title of a program to be presented Thursday, March 28, at the monthly meeting of the Klamath County Historical Society.
The program begins at 7 p.m. in the back meeting room of the Klamath County Museum, 1451 Main St. Admission is free.
Among the criminal incidents to be discussed is the murder of Fred Peterson, for whom Peterson Elementary School in Klamath Falls was named. Peterson had retired from a career as a school superintendent and was volunteering as a welfare commissioner when he was killed by a gunman at the Klamath County Courthouse in 1957.
The program will also review the crime fighting work of Klamath Falls Constable Fred Morley in the early 1900s, and the killing of Klamath Falls insurance agent Fred Dunbar at a remote lake in northern Klamath County in 1930.
Presenters of the program will be Carol Mattos and Todd Kepple.
For more information contact Mattos at (541) 884-4032.