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.
Wednesday, March 10, 2021
Klamath Basin Weather
Today Morning snow showers, then partly sunny, with a high near 42. Southwest wind 6 to 8 mph. Total daytime snow accumulation of around an inch possible. More snow showers before 10pm possible with a low around 25 degrees.
Thursday Sunny, with a high near 50. Clear overnight, with a low around 23.
Friday Sunny, with a high near 53.
Saturday Sunny, with a high near 57.
Sunday A slight chance of snow before 10am, then a chance of rain. Partly sunny, with a high near 50.
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
There are five new COVID-19 related deaths in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll to 2,303, the Oregon Health Authority reported Tuesday. OHA also reported 517 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 Tuesday, bringing the state total to 158,007.
The new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases reported today are in the following counties: Baker (4), Benton (12), Clackamas (47), Columbia (5), Coos (27), Crook (1), Curry (11), Deschutes (14), Douglas (15), Hood River (1), Jackson (49), Jefferson (4), Josephine (29), Klamath (15), Lake (2), Lane (17), Lincoln (4), Linn (14), Malheur (2), Marion (61), Morrow (1), Multnomah (76), Polk (8), Tillamook (8), Umatilla (17), Union (7), Washington (56) and Yamhill (10).
Oregon has now administered a cumulative total of 1,179,510 first and second doses of COVID-19 vaccines. To date, 1,418,455 doses of vaccine have been delivered to sites across Oregon. The number of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 across Oregon is 134, which is 15 more than day prior. There are 31 COVID-19 patients in intensive care unit (ICU) beds, which is two fewer than day prior.
Klamath Falls City School Board hired a new superintendent on Monday evening, with board members voting unanimously to hire Texas native Keith Brown for the role.
Brown, 54, was selected last week to negotiate a compensation agreement with city schools, and was initially one of 14 applicants for the position. Brown visited Klamath Falls last month, participated in a virtual online forum with local residents and participated in an interview with Klamath Falls City School board members. He also toured the district and met with city school employees. He emphasizes every child can learn and said he will spend his first few months in Klamath Falls developing relationships in the local community.
Brown comes to the district with 17 years experience as a superintendent in Texas. In 2013, he was named Texas Association of School Boards Superintendent of the Year in Texas.
Sculpture students at Mazama High School are working with a prominent Klamath Basin artist to create a collaborative art piece highlighting nature, growth, and life.
The piece will incorporate the work of high school students around the Basin. The Mazama students, under the instruction of art teacher Catherine Nevala, began their part of the project last week with Becky Ross, a Klamath Falls-based artist who has been visiting and teaching students at schools throughout the Basin for the last 20 years. Ross and the students are working on a Community Collaboration Installation, an art piece that takes the individual works of multiple artists and combines them into a singular composition.
The Klamath Cultural Coalition granted funds for the project. For the piece, local high school art students are creating clay sculptures that Ross will collect and arrange into the piece. The focus is on personal expression, and the students get to keep their models at the conclusion of the event.
Klamath Community College will soon count northern Lake County residents among its service population, pending the passage of a bill by the Oregon Senate and Governor Kate Brown.
Carried by Representative E. Warner Reschke, the bill approves an order from the Oregon Higher Education Coordinating Commission that transfers the northern quarter of Lake County from Central Oregon Community College’s district to Klamath Community College’s district. The Oregon House of Representatives passed the bill on Monday. The HECC received a petition in 2019 from residents in north Lake to remove the area from the COCC district, saying COCC wasn’t adequately serving them.
The petitioners indicated that they preferred not to have their taxes go to a community college and instead contract directly with KCC, which had already been offering distance learning to some residents in northern Lake County.
The nonprofit Butte Valley Dream Builders Group is seeking $8.5 million in state funding to build a 9.5-acre park and recreation center in Dorris, with plans to feature walking trails, playgrounds and a dog park in the center of the small California town.
If built, the Butte Valley Recreation Center & Possibilities Park would include an 8,000-square-foot rec center for indoor and outdoor workout equipment, in addition to fitness classes like yoga and dance, according to organizers. California’s Statewide Park Program awards grant funding for new parks and recreation centers for underserved communities. Applications for the fourth round of funding are due March 12, and the there is nearly $400 million in funding available, according to the state’s website.
Klamath County Public Health will host a COVID-19 vaccine clinic in northern Klamath County on Wednesday, March 17. The clinic will be held from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Crescent Community Club, 420 Crescent Cutoff Rd in Crescent. Appointments are suggested and can be made by clicking here and entering the access code: 1111. For more information, call Klamath County Public Health at 541-882-8846.
Around the state of Oregon
The latest update of Oregon’s county-by-county COVID-19 risk levels includes some changes for southern Oregon counties, along with the dubious distinction of a two-week “caution period” for Medford and Ashland in Jackson County.
Effective Friday, Josephine County will move down one level to “High Risk” — an important development that mirrors Jackson County’s recent shift. Josephine County has been on Extreme Risk since the beginning of December. Under High Risk, Josephine County can begin allowing both inside and outside visitation at long-term care facilities, reopen indoor dining at restaurants, and increase capacity at theaters, gyms and other fitness establishments. Indoor dining, gyms, and theaters are limited to 25 percent of maximum capacity or 50 people, whichever is smaller.
Outdoor dining capacity can increase to 75 people maximum, including individual dining pods. For both indoor and outdoor seating, there is a six-person per party maximum, limited to two households. Takeout is still “highly recommended.”
Updates to county risk levels to take effect Friday, March 12th
County risk levels under the state’s public health framework to reduce transmission and protect Oregonians from COVID-19 have been updated. The framework uses four different risk levels for counties based on COVID-19 spread — Extreme, High, Moderate and Lower — and assigns health and safety measures for each level.
Beginning this week, counties may be given a caution period if they reduced their COVID-19 spread enough to move down in risk level in the previous two-week period but their numbers went back up in the most recent two-week period. The caution period will allow counties to refocus efforts on driving down creeping case numbers and give local businesses additional certainty on their plans for operating. If, at the end of the caution period, case rate data still puts the county at a higher risk level, the county will move to that level.
Effective March 12 through March 25, there will be two counties in the Extreme Risk level, nine at High Risk, 12 at Moderate Risk, and 13 at Lower Risk. Two counties have been given a two-week caution. A complete list of counties and their associated risk levels is available here.
January unemployment edged down slightly in Oregon to 6.2% but remains significantly higher than pre-pandemic levels, according to numbers released by the state on Tuesday. Oregon’s unemployment rate dropped by close to four-tenths of a percentage point in each of the last three months of 2020, following more rapid declines during the prior five months. The peak unemployment in the state was 13.2% in April 2020. Non-farm payroll employment rose by 8,300 jobs in January, following a loss of 27,500 in December, with retail trade, leisure and hospitality and private educational services leading the gains — although employment in all industries remains well below pre-pandemic levels. The only industry to add jobs in Oregon in the past 12 months was transportation, warehousing and utilities, which added 4,100 jobs, or 5.6%.
ShakeAlert® Earthquake Early Warning System, an earthquake detection tool operated by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), goes live in Oregon on March 11, 2021. No sign up is required to receive ShakeAlert notifications, and the only action needed is to enable emergency alerts through a cell phone’s settings. For instructions on where to find these settings, visit ORShakeAlert.us. ShakeAlert uses science and technology to detect significant earthquakes quickly and sends a real time alert to people via their cell phone before shaking arrives at their location. These important alerts come automatically on most cell phones, making a distinctive sound and displaying a text message that reads, “Earthquake detected! Drop, cover, hold on. Protect yourself.” This message is also available in Spanish for phones set to receive alerts in that language.
Medford’s Sister City Alba Donates to Phoenix-Talent Wildfire Victims Scholarship
Medford’s city sister in Alba, Italy is helping students who lost everything in the September wildfires. Alba’s Sister City Committee started fund raising to help raise money for fire victims of the Phoenix-Talent School District.
“The fire was so devastating we were really shocked by it and that’s why the crowd funding started.” said Luisella Vernone, Alba’s Sister City Committee President.
Raising a total of $4,870, this donation will go along side the Phoenix-Talent Alumni Association to fund scholarships to students who have lost their homes in the Almeda Fire.
This past year the city of Medford and Alba celebrated its 60th anniversary of being a sister cites.
Traffic Stop in Reedsport Leaves One Dead in Officer Involved Shooting
Negotiators with the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office Crisis Negotiations Team had been negotiating with the armed suspect in the vehicle attempting to de-escalate the situation for several hours. At 10:44 p.m., shots were fired at the scene. The suspect, whose name is being withheld at this time, was pronounced deceased by EMS personnel.
This all started at 5:43 p.m. when Douglas County deputies conducted a traffic stop in the area of Highway 101 and Winchester Avenue. One individual was detained and the other remained in the vehicle and became hostile. Officials say the individual was armed.
The Crisis Negotiation Team negotiated with the suspect in the vehicle for several hours to try to de-escalate the situation before officials say shots were fired at 10:44 p.m. The suspect was pronounced dead at the scene.
The name of the individual is being withheld at this time and the Douglas County Major Crimes Unit is taking over the investigation. Douglas Co. Sheriff’s Office
Oregon’s First Tribally-Run Opioid Clinic to Open in Salem
The opioid epidemic has hurt Native American communities more than any other demographic. A CDC study shows a more than 500 percent spike in opioid-related deaths for native people between 1999 and 2015. To fight this trend, the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde is opening Oregon’s first tribally-owned opioid treatment program.
The Great Circle Recovery Opioid Treatment Program will open in downtown Salem. Operations director Jennifer Worth said they’re going to be seeing people who are, “in the deep end of the pool.”
“We’re going to be seeing people who are really struggling, they might have multiple systems involved in their lives: criminal justice, child welfare, they may have a lot going on.”
Someone who has seen the problem firsthand is Kelly Rowe, executive director of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde.
“The tribe has invested millions of dollars in sending our members to treatment programs, and there’s a lot of recidivism and a lot of relapse,” Rowe said. “We’ve lost tribal members through opioid use disorder. And it’s devastating to small communities, and for our tribal community, we’re all related. We are a family. This is heartbreaking.”
Rowe said her tribe serves a six-county area, which includes Marion County. She said officials wanted a site for the opioid recovery program that’d be accessible, so people wouldn’t have to travel all the way to the tribal clinic in Grand Ronde.
“It was exciting for us because we’re very close to areas that a have homeless population,” continued Rowe, describing the location in Salem. “Union Gospel mission is building their new facility a couple of blocks over. So being able to make partnerships with any of those agencies or non-profits that also serve the same populations, it was huge for us.” )
The Grand Ronde Tribe is awaiting final certification from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Once approved, they expect to open by month’s end.
Back at Great Circle Recovery, Kelly Rowe acknowledged the challenges ahead. A report in the American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse shows Native Americans are twice as likely to become addicted to drugs and alcohol than the general population, and three times more likely to die of an overdose.
Complicating things is the COVID-19 pandemic, which can leave addicts feeling isolated and vulnerable.
“You need to be able to talk about things, you need to be able to have that back and forth,” explained Rowe. “And isolation…it helps the addiction take over. There’s this sense of losing hope again. And so with COVID, we’ve seen rates of everything going up.”
But the Grand Ronde Tribe is intent on making this program work, to better protect their members and their community. “We want people to be able to seek these services and know that there is hope,” added Rowe.
Young Oregonian Survives 100 Foot Fall Down Ocean Cliff Near Cannon Beach
A Portlander now has an incredible story to tell after falling 100 feet off an oceanside cliff and surviving. And no less, a twenty-fifth birthday tale for Portland resident, Gil Tighe who set out Friday for the Oregon coast, hoping to celebrate the milestone a day early with a partner.
By the end of the celebration, Tighe was in the hospital after falling 100 feet off a cliff. After a challenging rescue and two helicopter rides, Tighe is happy to be alive and telling the story.
Tighe said the couple arrived at Hug Point, a state recreation site just south of Cannon Beach, in the afternoon. The two hung out on the beach, ate cake and took pictures.
Around 4 p.m., the pair decided to explore. From previous visits, they knew of an area at Hug Point that, at low tide, allows hikers to get to the other side of the cove.
The tide was too high to access it, but the couple found what appeared to be some human-made trails through the grass that looked as if they might lead to the same place. Tighe went first because the trails looked a little slippery.
For the first few feet, Tighe was holding onto a wall along the trail for support. But a few steps in, Tighe suddenly lost footing and skidded on dirt and rocks for about 10 feet, trying to stop before a sudden drop.
“I lost my footing and I slipped, and I remember there was about ten feet or so of dirt and roots that I tried to catch myself on and then just a sudden drop,” Tighe said.
It was a drop of 100 feet in less than three seconds at roughly 40 mph. “I think at one point during the drop is when I lost consciousness and I woke up on the rocks and I was covered in blood and did not believe what had just happened was not a dream,” Tighe recalled.
Tighe’s partner called for help and rescue teams and a paramedic were able to get to Tighe and stabilize them on a back board. From there it took a Coast Guard helicopter to complete the rescue and get Tighe to the hospital.It took rescue crews from the Seaside Fire Department several minutes to find a way down the cliff. Once they arrived, they gave Tighe basic first aid. A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter arrived to help, but it took about 25 minutes to get into a position to hoist Tighe up and onto the helicopter.
Tighe was flown to Astoria, then transferred to a helicopter ambulance for the trip to Legacy Emanuel Medical Center in Portland.
Now out of the hospital and at home recovering, Tighe said the experience feels surreal, although the pain and hassle of the casts definitely bring them back to reality.
Amazingly, Tighe didn’t suffer any brain or spinal damage. “I feel really fortunate and I feel really grateful for all the hospital staff at Emanuel (Hospital). They took really good care of me and obviously toward the paramedics who came and were able to save my life,” Tighe said.
Tighe was discharged Sunday and has several weeks of recovery ahead, with a broken right arm and a fractured left elbow, eye orbit and ribs. Tighe said they expect to get surgery on their arm this coming week but is expected to make a full recovery.
Eugene Police has New Fleet of Electric Vehicles
The Eugene Police Department is introducing a new fleet of eco-friendly vehicles that we will start to see around town in the coming weeks. According to EPD, nine 2020 hybrid police SUVs were purchased as part of the philosophy to move toward a more eco-friendly equipment model that goes along with the town’s belief in environmental preservation.
“These SUVs help move EPD’s fleet toward the City’s Climate Recovery Ordinance goals as well as reduced maintenance and fuel costs,” EPD’s Melinda McLaughlin wrote in a press release.
EPD also purchased a GEM to be used downtown, which is a four-door electric vehicle that is street-legal. It can travel up to 25 m.p.h. and offers flexibility to get around downtown, provide a visible presence, while having a smaller profile than a patrol vehicle.
The EPD Downtown Team also has four E-bikes. The bikes are power assist, meaning that the officer still needs to pedal the bicycle to engage the motor. They can travel up to 28 m.p.h. on flat ground and provide a significant power assist when climbing hills.