The latest Klamath Falls News around the Klamath Basin from Wynne Broadcasting’s KFLS News/Talk 1450AM/102.5FM, BasinLife.com and The Herald & News.
Monday, October 21, 2019
Klamath Basin Weather
Today
Mostly sunny with a high near 63. Overnight should be clear with a low around 35 degrees.
Tuesday
Mostly sunny, with a high near 63.
Wednesday
Sunny, with a high near 65. Northeast wind 3 to 5 mph.
Thursday
Sunny, with a high near 68.
The Klamath County air advisory for today is Green until noon.
The state-appointed trustee of Eternal Hills Memorial Gardens Candace Amborn, on October 7th filed a settlement with the Oregon Bankruptcy Court to allow for the cemetery property to be sold.
The settlement provides that Robert Gordon, owner of the cemetery deed back to the estate the parcels of the property he’d previously deeded to six different parties so than Amborn can list the property for sale to a new owner. Gordon has until October 31 to object to the settlement. Once that date has passed the attorney for the trustee Tim Solomon said they can begin the listing process.
Solomon said they’re “cautiously optimistic” about the sale, “but it’s premature to have any specific expectations about how long it will take, who will buy it, that kind of thing” “Now that the settlement is filed we can begin moving that process forward,” . If the property sells, the estate and Gordon will split the money made from the sale.
Work continues on the City of Klamath Falls Geothermal Mainline Replacement Project in the alley between Klamath and Walnut avenues as well as a portion of Fourth Street and Klamath Avenue.
This week crews will be working in Fourth Street between Klamath Avenue and Walnut Avenue and in the 300 block of Klamath Avenue. That portion of Fourth Street will be closed, and motorists can expect one lane of traffic in the 300 block of Klamath Avenue. Crews will also be working in Sixth Street and motorists can expect one lane of traffic to be closed between Walnut Avenue and Klamath Avenue.
A trial in a $1.4 billion breach-of-contract lawsuit brought against the state of Oregon by 150 counties and other taxing districts over the issue of forest management is finally scheduled to begin Thursday.
The lawsuit which was filed nearly four years ago claims the state has not managed forests for the most long-term, sustainable income as required in a decades-old contract. A trial is expected to last three weeks. The breach-of-contract lawsuit has its origins in the Great Depression.
Thousands of acres of timberlands were harvested by privately owned companies. Many landowners determined it would be more cost-effective to let the lands go back to the counties for unpaid taxes rather than replanting millions of trees and waiting up to 60 years to harvest them. Counties did not want the properties and could not afford to reforest them. Working with the state, the counties turned the timberlands over to the Board of Forestry through the Forest Acquisition Act. The state agreed to replant timberlands and upon harvest, would share the income with the counties based on the forests’ “greatest permanent value.”
The lawsuit claims that means timber management that provides the most annual income on a sustainable basis over the long-term. The 15 counties in which state forests cover more than 1,093 square miles (2830 sq. kilometers), known as the forest trust counties, have seen their annual share of revenues decrease by $35 million per year.
If you’ve been to any of the local high school football games this fall or last month’s Benefit for the Basin, you may have seen the Klamath County Transition Program’s newest business venture – the JO2GO mobile coffee cart.
JO2GO’s new coffee shop on wheels made its debut in late August at Klamath County School District’s teacher in-service. Since then, it’s been traveling around the county on the JO2GO Touchdown Tour, offering espresso drinks at high school football games from Lost River and Henley to Bonanza and Chiloquin. It also was at Henley’s Homecoming powderpuff football game and bonfire.
For customers, JO2GO is a place they can buy their favorite drink. For transition program students who make, serve and sell the coffee, it is a place to learn the skills they need to live independently and work outside the program. The transition program is for young adults ages 18 to 21 with special needs. The program operates two business – JO2GO coffee carts and Clean Sweep, a janitorial service. According to Laura Blair The mobile coffee cart is probably the closest experience we can give them to a real job.
The four road closures for culvert and bridge replacement on the Bly and Paisley Ranger Districts of the Fremont-Winema National Forest have been officially lifted.
Most of the work was completed on the bridge replacement and two of the culverts – also known as aquatic organism passages. The third passage will require significant work next summer.
It is expected that the bridge will be paved and the road regraded at the two completed culvert projects in July 2020. There will be a brief closure to finish the projects.
The closure orders were for the Deer Creek Culvert Replacement Project on Forest Roads 3428 and 3428014, the North Fork Sprague River and Watson Creek Culvert Replacement projects on Forest Road 3372, and the Boulder Creek Bridge Replacement on Forest Road 28. The closure orders are being lifted more than a month before the scheduled expiration date of November 30.
“We appreciate the public’s patience during the construction work over the past two months and are happy to be able reopen the roads earlier than planned,” said Fremont-Winema National Forest Supervisor Barry Imler.
For more information on the Fremont-Winema National Forest, visit www.fs.usda.gov/fremont-winema, follow the Forest on Twitter @FremontWinemaNF or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/R6FWNF.
…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.