The latest Klamath Falls News around the Klamath Basin and the state of Oregon from Wynne Broadcasting’s KFLS News/Talk 1450AM/102.5FM, BasinLife.com and The Herald & News.
MONDAY, JANUARY 20, 2020, Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Klamath Basin Weather
Monday, Martin Luther King Jr. Areas of freezing fog before 10am. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 43. Overnight, rain and snow with a temperature near 34 degrees. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.
Tuesday Rain mixed with possible snow showers at times, with a high near 39. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New snow accumulation of less than one inch possible. Overnight a chance of snow with a low of 29.
Wednesday A chance of snow in the morning then a chance of rain and snow. Cloudy, with a high near 41. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.
Thursday Cloudy, with a high near 44.
Friday A slight chance of rain. Snow level 5500 feet. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 45.
Today’s Headlines
Sunday, a Chiloquin man was arrested and remains in custody after a prolonged standoff where Klamath County Sheriff’s Office deputies were shot at, and a home set fire, according to a sheriff’s office news release.
Highway 97 was closed for quite a while during the nearby incident.
In custody is Steven Earl White, who is being held at the Klamath County Jail.
At approximately 1:30 p.m. Sunday, Klamath County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to a call of shots fired in the 37000 block of Highway 97 near Chiloquin. Upon arrival deputies were fired upon from a subject inside the residence.
Deputies made several unsuccessful attempts to encourage the suspect to give himself up, and at approximately 9:30 p.m. deputies prepared to make entry into the residence in order to take the subject into custody. The subject had started a fire in the residence in an attempt to evade arrest. White was arrested at is being lodged at the Klamath County Jail.
Law enforcement officers from Klamath Falls Police Department, Oregon State Police, USFS Law Enforcement assisted KCSO in taking White into custody. There were no injuries sustained by responders or White and light damage to one KCSO patrol vehicle when it came under fire from the suspect.
Highway 97 and side streets in the Chiloquin area were closed for several hours. In addition, KCSO was assisted in the area by Chiloquin Fire & Rescue, Klamath County Emergency Management, Klamath County Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), and Oregon Department of Transportation.
KCSO wishes to thank all the agencies who assisted as well as the Chiloquin Community for their assistance and support.
Alex Spenser, a Klamath Falls activist and writer is running to represent Oregon’s Congressional District 2 in the U.S. House of Representatives in the race for retiring Greg Walden’s seat.
Spenser began her involvement in this election as a campaign strategist for Raz Mason, a woman running for the seat from The Dalles, but when Mason withdrew from the race, she suggested Spenser take her place. Spenser has lived in Klamath Falls for 10 years after growing up near Dallas, Texas and living throughout the country from New York City to Arkansas to California.
Her platform consists of working toward comprehensive healthcare from head to toe, energy reform, pharmaceutical reform, gun responsibility and fair water rights. Her time in Klamath Falls has given her a glimpse at how crucial an issue water is to the region, but she sees the Congressional District 2 as a potential example for the rest of the country should she be able to accomplish successful water legislation.
The Klamath Falls City Council will discuss proposed changes for the Oregon Department of Human Services building planned for the TimberMill Shores development at tomorrow night’s council meeting.
The building is a $20 million project, three-stories and 92,000-square-feet, to house 265 state employees and was originally planned to lease some offices to Klamath Basin Behavioral Health. The downtown project near Lake Ewauna is being developed by Rubicon Investments of Medford.
At Tuesday night’s meeting, the council will have a public hearing regarding a written request which Rubicon submitted December 19th. The hearing will address whether the development meets a mixed-use zoning definition, and whether the applicant’s traffic study accounts for all employees in the building.
Rubicon is also seeking a modification that would make a 1,060-square-foot professional office space within the building a separate tenant. According to the agenda, this modification to add a commercial service use satisfies the zoning requirement for a mixture of uses and no longer relies on KBBH or other community partners to sublease from DHS.
Grange Co-op’s Klamath Falls store recently donated $9,000 to the Klamath County 4-H Association. The donation was part of $70,000 total in regional donations to 4-H and Future Farmers of America programs.
The amount donated came from a “Round-up for Change” program initiated by Grange Co-op, along with a partial funds match from Grange to support youth in 4-H and FFA programs. According to Grange Co-op Marketing Manager Jason Wall they are proud to be a part of such great communities that help with our overall mission to strengthen our community through programs such as our Round-Up program.
4-H and FFA students are a core part of the Grange way of life and are pivotal to the success of the farming communities we serve
Around the region
Pacific Power restored power to approximately 1,900 customers during the night with additional crews and equipment coming in from across the region to assist with clearing downed trees and restoration efforts.
Vegetation crews continue to focus on clearing away hundreds of felled trees and clearing debris from roads so line crews can safely make repairs to restore power to the remaining 6,000 customers impacted by the outages caused by the Jan. 16 winter storm that at its peak left more than 18,000 customers without power.
Crews have made steady progress during the night and expect to continue to restore more customers throughout today and into the evening. Restoration efforts have been hampered by the sheer number of outages spread across vast, difficult to access terrain and hundreds of felled trees.
More than 300 Pacific Power personnel and contractors are working around the clock in the area. Pacific Power estimates between 1,500 and 2,000 customers could be restored by this evening, but cautions some customers could remain without power into next week. Red Cross has opened emergency shelters in areas that are experiencing extended outages.
…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.