The latest News around the Klamath Basin from Wynne Broadcasting’s KFLS 1450AM/102.5FM, BasinLife.com and The Herald & News.
Tuesday, September 3, 2019
Klamath Basin Weather
Today
Sunny, with a high near 86. Calm wind becoming west southwest 5 to 9 mph in the afternoon. Clear overnight with a low in the basin of 52.
Wednesday
Sunny, with a high near 88. Overnight, a slight chance of showers. Low around 57.
Thursday
A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, otherwise partly sunny with a high near 85.
Friday
Sunny, with a high near 82.
Saturday
Partly sunny, with a high near 82.
Today’s Headlines…
Local Schools are back in session. Be careful in school zones and near schools where many children will be walking and entering and departing school buses.
Law enforcement was busy over the Labor Day weekend. Police arrested Mickey Pete Cummings of Klamath Falls Sunday on numerous charges.
Cummings was being held on two hundred thousand five hundred dollars bail for second degree rape, second degree burglary, second degree sexual penetration with a foreign object, online sexual corruption of a child and other charges. However, jail records show he was released yesterday.
Also Sunday police arrested a Chemult man on numerous charges including criminal impersonation of a police officer. Ronald Wayne Patterson is also being held on menacing, unlawful use of a weapon and disorderly conduct charges, and is lodged in the Klamath County Jail.
Highway 97 was closed yesterday around noon after a head on collision near mile market 213. No further information was immediately available from the Oregon State Police.
In the early morning yesterday Medford Police Officers were dispatched to a mobile home at 1500 S. Peach Street for a shooting. Upon arrival, officers found two subjects suffering from gunshot wounds.
The shooter was on scene and cooperating. The initial investigation indicates that the 17 year old shooter was involved in a dispute with a 15 year old aquaintance. The dispute went on throughout the evening at a different location. The 17 year old came home to his mobile home alone as his parents were out of town. Shortly thereafter the 15 year old aquaintance arrived at the house with his 22 year old brother. Both subjects either forced entry, or somehow entered the home to apparently assault the 17 year old. One of the subjects may have been armed with an object similar to a tire iron.
The 17 year old obtained a 30-30 rifle and shot both the 15 year old and the 22 year old brother. The 15 year old sustained non life threatening injuries and the 22 year old is in critical condition. Alcohol is a factor in this case. This is not gang related and the case remains under investigation.
Starting next year, Oregon Institute of Technology will launch a bachelor’s degree in Data Science, a program created to answer the quickly growing need for analysts of “big data,” and the first undergraduate program of its kind at a public university in Oregon.
First announced in January, the Higher Education Coordinating Commission recently approved the degree for fall 2020 enrollment at the Oregon Techs Klamath Falls campus. Data scientists use skills from the fields of computer science, applied math and statistics to extract insights from data, helping companies and organizations to make well-informed decisions. In addition to technical skills, data scientists must be able to work as part of a team and communicate effectively.
During the first two years of the program, students will build foundational skills in computer programming and logical reasoning in mathematics, with some introductory topics in databases and data science workflows. Advanced skills are taught in the last two years.
Community members, as well as officers and directors of People’s Bank, came out to TimberMill Shores in Klamath Falls for the ceremonial groundbreaking of the bank’s sixth branch location.
A canopy with refreshments and seating was set up in the downtown TimberMill Shores development, the future home of the Klamath Falls People’s Bank. Executives gave speeches and attendees viewed a rendering of the soon-to-be bank.
Steve Erb, executive vice president and chief banking officer, warned that the Klamath Falls location will probably not look like the rendering.
“We wish we had something to share with you conceptually what that’s going to look like. But just know, it’s probably going to be a two-story building, it’s probably going to have some apartments above it to honor what TimberMill was about,” he said.
TimberMill Shores is a mostly vacant 50-acre mixed-use development along the shore of Lake Ewauna, where the former Modoc Lumber Co. mill used to operate.
“The idea behind mixed-use is to foster a live-work-play type environment,” the release stated.
People’s Bank is employing Outlier Construction from Medford and architect Matthew Small from Ashland to build the Klamath Falls branch.
“We’re really excited about partnering with both of those folks to plant our home in Klamath Falls because it means a lot to us. And we’re excited. We wish we were already open,” Erb said.
The bank will offer full-service banking, including new accounts and teller service, as well as consumer, mortgage and business loans.
The tax burden in Klamath County is among the lowest in Oregon.
SmartAsset calculated the amount of money a specific person would pay in income, sales, property and fuel taxes in each county and ranked the lowest to highest tax burden. Klamath County was ranked number four in this years study. Only Gilliam, Lake and Malheur showed a lower tax burden than Klamath County in the state of Oregon.
Red Rock Biofuels, a producer of renewable, low-carbon jet and diesel fuels, will open a new plant in Lakeview with production beginning in January of 2020.
In an effort to recruit and hire for 24 open positions, Red Rock Biofuels, in conjunction with WorkSource Klamath and Klamath Community College, will host a series of job fairs at 513 Center Street in Lakeview.Job Fair Dates are Friday and Wednesday, Sept. 13 and 18, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 14 from 9 a.m. to noon and Thursday, Sept. 19 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Positions available include: operation manager, environmental health and safety manager, plant operators, accounting clerks, lab technician, logistics operators, utility operators, maintenance technicians, electrician, custodian and environmental health and safety technician.
This summer marks a rare occasion at the 173rd Fighter Wing as the 50-foot-tall main fuel tank stands empty while maintenance crews swarmed over it in preparation for decades of future operations.
Approximately every 10 years tanks like this one are taken out of service for inspection, maintenance, and upkeep.
This tank is very large and stores over 600,000 gallons of fuel which means taking that capacity offline is the product of lengthy planning. They brought in 100,000 gallons of temporary storage before they took the main tank down. The estimate is that crews will complete the work in mid-September, thus paving the way to renovate the smaller 150,000-gallon tank next summer.
A floating Oregon tourist attraction is set to close after more than 50 years in business. The Undersea Gardens in Newport is scheduled to end operations Sept. 8.
Owner Mariner Square announced the closure of the attraction in Newport’s Historic Bayfront on social media Sunday. The Undersea Gardens will be open for free public tours September 3rd through the 8th however its dive shows will end September 2nd. Undersea Gardens opened in 1966 as a floating “people-quarium” allowing visitors inside the attraction to look out and view sea life in Yaquina Bay. Mariner Square says it is renovating its other two attractions, The Wax Works and Ripley’s Believe it or Not!
The Canyon 66 prescribed burn, which will treat just over 5,000 acres between Ochoco Ranger Station and Walton Lake is tentatively planned to begin Wednesday pending favorable weather and fuels conditions.
Ignitions for the Canyon 66 prescribed burn are expected to last two to three days. The interior will be burned using aerial ignition devices delivered from a helicopter. Forest Service Road 22 will remain open to public travel but all roads within the unit and some nearby dispersed camping sites will temporarily close during burn operations to allow for public and fire fighter safety.
Smoke will impact nearby recreational facilities at Ochoco Forest Camp and Walton Lake during ignitions and for several days after. Fire managers will work to divert smoke away from residents using predicted winds but smoke will be present and settle in adjacent communities overnight.
…For complete details on these and other stories see today’s Herald & News. Wynne Broadcasting and the Herald and News…stronger together to keep you informed.
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