The latest and most comprehensive coverage of local News, Sports, Business, and Community News stories in the Klamath Basin, Southern Oregon and around the state of Oregon from Wynne Broadcasting’s KFLS News/Talk 1450AM / 102.5FM, The Herald & News, and BasinLife.com, and powered by Mick Insurance.
Monday, December 21, 2020
Klamath Basin Weather
Today A 30% chance of rain after 4pm. Patchy fog before 10am. Snow level 6400 feet lowering to 5400 feet. Otherwise, mostly sunny, with a high near 46. South wind 3 to 7 mph. Overnight a chance of rain mixed with snow showers between 10pm and 1am, then a chance of snow showers after 1am, with a low around 24. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.
Tuesday Sunny, with a high near 39. Light and variable wind, with an overnight low of 17.
Wednesday Patchy freezing fog before 7am. Sunny, with a high near 37. Overnight, clear, with a low around 13.
Thursday Mostly sunny, with a high near 43.
Friday, Christmas Day A chance of snow after 10am, mixing with rain after 4pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 42.
Saturday A chance of rain and snow. Partly sunny, with a high near 41.
See Road Camera Views:
Lake of the Woods
Doak Mtn.
Hiway 97 at Chemult
Hiway 140 at Bly
Hiway 97 at GreenSprings Dr.
Hiway 97 at LaPine
Today’s Headlines
COVID-19 has claimed one more life in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll to 1,341. Oregon Health Authority reported 1,153 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 as of this morning. Sunday bringing the state total to 102,930.
The new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases reported today are in the following counties: Baker (4) Benton (7), Clackamas (77), Clatsop (3), Columbia (9), Coos (5), Crook (5), Curry (7), Deschutes (43), Douglas (4), Hood River (17), Jackson (47), Jefferson (4), Josephine (16), Klamath (50), Lake (4), Lane (61), Lincoln (3), Linn (27), Malheur (6), Marion (203), Morrow (3), Multnomah (174), Polk (19), Sherman (1), Tillamook (1), Umatilla (44), Union (3), Wasco (17), Washington (261), Yamhill (28).
The number of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 across Oregon is 530, which is six fewer than yesterday. There are 121 COVID-19 patients in intensive care unit (ICU) beds, which is 17 more than Saturday. The total number of patients in hospital beds may fluctuate between report times. The numbers do not reflect admissions per day, nor the length of hospital stay. Staffing limitations are not captured in this data and may further limit bed capacity.
The Oregon Health Authority announced Thursday that its allocation of the Pfizer vaccine has been cut by nearly 15,000 doses for the week of Dec. 20.
More Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine deliveries are scheduled the weeks of Dec. 20 and Dec. 27, when allocations of 25,350 and 48,750, respectively, are expected to arrive in Oregon. That allocation of 25,350 doses is a reduction from the original amount of 40,950 Oregon was previously scheduled to have allocated during that week.
Federal officials notified the state about the change Thursday with seemingly no explanation. OHA officials said between 300,000 and 400,000 health care workers and long-term care facility staff and residents in Oregon are slated for vaccination against COVID-19 during the first phase of the state’s vaccination distribution effort. The remaining 19,500 doses from this week’s batch will be distributed to health care facilities around the state over the next several days.
At the beginning of December, staff at Sky Lakes Medical Center warned that Klamath County’s rising COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations were beginning to overwhelm hospital staff.
While things haven’t necessarily gotten worse since then, they haven’t gotten better either. Hospital leadership report that, over the past two weeks, there have been between 15 and 20 patients hospitalized for COVID-19, three to five of whom were receiving intensive care unit-level care, on any given day. That’s a huge increase from the summer and early fall, when Sky Lakes only saw about one or two COVID patients per day.
Dr. Grant Niskanen, the hospital’s vice president for medical affairs, said there’s been “no let-up.” Niskanen said Sky Lakes staff are grateful that the county didn’t experience an even steeper spike attributed to gatherings over the Thanksgiving holiday — daily new cases have hovered at an average of around 40 in the county since medical professionals met with the Klamath County Commissioners earlier this month. Corresponding hospitalizations have remained stable, but near a breaking point.
On Wednesday, nurses and providers were so swamped with patients that Sky Lakes had to transfer some critically ill, non-COVID patients to other hospitals.
Those who follow Klamath County on Facebook may have noticed a series of videos officials are rolling out concerning the local impact of COVID-19. The short clips feature Klamath Falls medical professionals discussing topics related to the coronavirus pandemic, from disease prevention measures to the status of cases and hospitalizations in Klamath County. In one video, family physician Dr. Stewart Decker explained the importance of underlying conditions in the context of COVID-19’s severity, emphasizing that the term is extremely broad and can apply to people whose lives may not necessarily be severely impacted by their conditions prior to contracting COVID-19.
In Klamath County, 10% of adults have diabetes, 20% have chronic kidney disease, a third have prediabetes and 64% are overweight or obese.
Klamath County Sheriff Chris Kaber & Klamath County Commissioner Derrick DeGroot have presented Oregon State Sheriff’s Association Award of Valor to Klamath County Sheriff’s Office Deputies, Deputy Shasta Petersen, Deputy Maria Gray, Deputy Levi Justman, and Deputy Jimmy Leach.
In April, Klamath County 911 Communications District received a report of a disturbance in the 1700 block of Fargo Street. The suspect was believed to have taken his 6-year-old child with him and he had a semi-automatic rifle in the front seat of the vehicle. Oregon State Police Sergeant Austin Hopson located the suspects vehicle as it traveled northbound on Crater Lake Parkway. A short time later officers began to pursue the suspect who attempted to elude them. The suspect exited the vehicle and immediately began firing at officers on scene.
The vehicles of Trooper Henrick, Deputy Petersen and Deputy Gray, along with OSP Trooper Kameron Gordon all sustained damage from gunfire. Deputy Petersen then rescued the 6-year-old child from the vehicle who was unharmed, and moved to a safe location. OSP Trooper Gordon sustained a gunshot wound during the firefight
Mazama High School’s #LoadtheBoatMHS, a two-week food drive and virtual social media challenge, collected 2,605 pounds of food and more than $1,000 for the Klamath Lake Counties Food Bank.
Food bank staff collected the donations Thursday afternoon, Dec. 17 from the school, loading the food into a truck to transport to its facility on Maywood Drive. Donors dropped off canned food items at the Viking’s wooden boat in the school’s front parking lot. At that point, they were asked to inspire others to donate as well.
Every year, Mazama students volunteer to help the food bank with Supermarket Saturday and other events. However, those events couldn’t happen this year because of Covid-19 restrictions.
The last meal drive-through pick-up of 2020 at all Klamath Falls City schools included at each of the elementary schools: meals, class work and gifts.
Santa, alias Jack Thom, greeted parents and kids at Conger elementary school. “Jack has been our Santa forever,” said Principal Julie Bainbridge. Jack has been Santa at Conger since his son, who is now a junior at KU attended. “I love doing it,” said Thom. At Conger families were asked to vote for the best decorated table as teachers held a friendly completion between grades.
A special thanks goes out to Tom Collier and Pet Smart in Bend for donating stuffed animals for the second year to our K-5 students. Ponderosa Middle School sponsored a Giving Tree where staff provided holiday support for 50 kids. KU’s Key Club sponsored “Be a Santa to a Student” where 46 kids will receive gifts this weekend from generous donations from the KUHS community. KU also focused their December Give back to our community fundraiser: Bowling for CASA,” said Dan Stearns, KU’s CTE media design teacher.
Pacific Crest Federal Credit Union was the recent recipient of a plaque presented on behalf of the Klamath Freedom Celebration.
The Klamath Freedom Celebration/Foundation honored Pacific Crest for their support, being the 2020 Series Sponsor for events. The Klamath Freedom Celebration coordinates multiple community events throughout the year honoring veterans and championing veterans issues.
Gatherings to view a rare conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn will be offered this month by the Klamath County Museum, according to a news release.
The gatherings will be held in the parking lot of Calvary Chapel at 1201 South Alameda Ave., just west of the YMCA. The main gathering is slated for 5 p.m. today, when the two planets will appear at their closest. The two planets are prominent in the southwest part of the sky immediately after sundown.
Around the state of Oregon
Salem, OR — The first long-term care facility residents and staff will begin to receive COVID-19 vaccinations in Oregon today, Monday, Dec. 21st.
To protect facility residents from the risk of infection, Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS), Oregon Health Authority (OHA) and partnering facilities and pharmacies will provide all media with video footage and photographs of the roll out.
A press release with more information will be sent on Monday. This release, which is expected to be issued midday, will include updated information on the availability of photos and video along with contact information for the participating partners who are supplying the content.
Oregon has received its full scheduled supply of 35,100 Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine doses for the week of December 13-December 19, 2020.
A total of 685 health care workers received their first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine by the end of Thursday December 17, 2020. Of that total, 433 health care workers were vaccinated yesterday.
OHA Director Patrick Allen said, “The sprint to the starting line is over. Now the hard work begins to vaccinate the critical mass of adult Oregonians needed to end this pandemic. Thanks to all the front-line health care workers who literally rolled-up their sleeves to take their first doses of this safe and effective vaccine. By taking this vaccine, they’re not only getting the protection they need and deserve to care for patients, they’re also showing the rest of us that the vaccine is safe to take and it works to stop the virus.”
Shortly after Cliff Bentz won his November election, longtime representative Greg Walden said they both agreed “to make this transition as smooth as possible.”
Walden, who did not seek re-election after serving 22 years, is pleased that Bentz, who is also a Republican, is moving into the job. Bentz is a third-generation Oregonian with a ranching and law background, who specializes in water and agriculture. Walden said he announced his decision to not seek re-election in October 2019 to allow potential successors time to prepare their campaigns.
Bentz, who’ll turn 69 in January, served in the Oregon Senate from 2018-2020, and represented District 60 in the Oregon House of Representatives from 2008-2018. “He proved in Salem how important it is to work with people regardless of party,” Walden said. “He’s one of those people who is focused on getting results, focused on solving problems.”
On December 18, 2020, an OSP from the St. Helens worksite stopped a vehicle operated by Richard Gundy-Hampton in the 33000 block of Sequoia St. in Scappoose, Oregon.
The stop occurred next to the residence where Gundy-Hampton lived. Gundy-Hampton was a subject of interest in a domestic violence incident that occurred in Clackamas County.
During the contact with Gundy-Hampton, Troopers discovered evidence of methamphetamine possession, weapons possession and that he had been potentially manufacturing a destructive/explosive device. Detectives from OSP Criminal Investigative Division responded to the scene and obtained a search warrant for the residence and vehicle.
Soon after beginning their search, Investigators located suspicious items in the garage indicating that Gundy-Hampton had been manufacturing highly explosive materials inside the garage of the residence. The search of the scene stopped and explosive experts from Oregon State Police, the FBI, Portland Police Bureau and Gresham Police Department responded to the scene to assist. Explosive experts and investigators continued their investigation Saturday and Sunday, identifying 6 items containing explosives, which were disposed of on scene.
Numerous other items were also transported from the scene by the OSP Explosives Unit for later disposal off site. The safe disposal of the items discovered in the residence required approximately 10 neighboring residents to be evacuated from their homes during the day Saturday and Sunday. In addition to the explosives, Investigators seized a large number of firearms, illegal firearms parts and illegal drugs from the scene.
Gundy-Hampton was lodged December 18, 2020, at the Columbia County Jail. Gundy-Hampton is currently being held at the Columbia County Jail on $5,000,000 bail.
As of this release all the residents displaced by the investigative activities and explosives disposal have been allowed to return to their homes. The investigation into this incident is ongoing.