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, your local health and Medicare agents.
Tuesday, May 31, 2022
Klamath Basin Weather
Today Sunny, with a high near 72. Cloudy overnight with a low of 43 degrees.
Wednesday Partly sunny, with a high near 78.
Thursday A 20% chance of showers and thunderstorms after 11am. Mostly sunny, with a high near 78.
Friday Partly sunny, with a high near 75.
Saturday A chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 69.
Sunday Showers and thunderstorms likely. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 68.
Six Klamath County School District seniors — including four from Lost River Junior/Senior High School — have been selected for four-year Ford Family Foundation Scholarships that will pay for 90% of their unmet college costs.
Recipients are Lost River seniors Aaron Reyes Rodriguez, Johan Ayala Macias, Jasmin Hernandez Aguilera, and Michelle Ruedas Chavarria; and Gilchrist Junior/Senior High School senior Samantha Spurlock. One of the recipients asked not to be acknowledged publicly.
The Ford Scholars Program is a highly selective scholarship that awards students from Oregon and Siskiyou County, California, who are planning to complete a four-year degree at a college in their home state. The renewable scholarship provides 90% of unmet need for each academic year.
Of more than 1,000 applicants, 130 were named as Ford Scholars based on exceptional academic and personal potential and motivation to succeed in college. Recipients are selected for their academic potential, work ethic, as demonstrated by paid employment or working in the household, commitment to community service, and leadership skills.
The director for the Crater Lake–Klamath Regional Airport, John Barsalou, has announced his retirement after a 44-year career in aviation, effective July 15, 2022.
Barsalou has served as the airport director in Klamath Falls since July 2015 and during his tenure has overseen the completion of over $27 million in capital improvements at the airport. He was awarded the 2016 President’s Award of the Oregon Airport Management Association (OAMA), 2020 Airport Manager of the Year by OAMA, and was appointed by Gov. Kate Brown in 2019 as an Oregon Department of Aviation Board member.
Prior to coming to Klamath Falls, Barsalou worked at both the Bishop International and Oscoda-Wurtsmith airports in Michigan, for the Alaska International Airport System (Anchorage and Fairbanks), and the State of Alaska, Department of Transportation’s airport system.
Fourteen-year-old Betsy has been coming to the Friends of the Children Clubhouse since she was 6.
After more than a dozen failed foster-care placements, the teenager lives in a residential care facility, and the small gray house on Altamont Drive is the only place she feels she belongs and can explore her skills and passion.
Betsy is one of 47 youth who regularly use the 1,392-square-foot Clubhouse to study, learn life skills, and bond with their mentors, also known as “Friends.” But it is crowded. This month, Friends of the Children kicked off a $1.5 million capital campaign to purchase and renovate a 3,700-square-foot house at 1515 Old Fort Road as its new clubhouse.
The new building will have more than enough space for the program’s youth, seven mentors and five administrative staff. Before its official kickoff, the campaign had already garnered community support and has secured more than $850,000 in grants and donations. Other grants are pending.
Friends of the Children hires paid professional adult mentors to advocate for school-aged children, supporting their academic, social-emotional, and health goals year-round through high school graduation.
Support so far has included in-kind donations from Cardinal Flooring, Absolute Tree Care, and ZCS Engineering & Architecture. Community volunteers and organizations, including Oregon Tech’s Circle K Club, Dragonfly Transitions, and Lithia Ford of Klamath Falls, volunteered and helped with extensive site clean-up.
Rapid response and an alert passerby helped save a building on Oregon Avenue Sunday morning in a fire that authorities deem suspicious in nature.
The fire began on the far back end of the radio studios at 1338 Oregon Avenue, the home of Wynne Broadcasting, and its affiliated business Sign Pro. Police and fire units were dispatched around 6am after a passerby saw flames coming from the building. Damage estimates are pending. The investigation into the incident continues.
A Henley High School sophomore has been honored at the state level as an Oregon Sources of Strength Showcase Peer Leader for his suicide awareness and prevention video, “We Have Purpose.”
Kai Crume was among 10 high school and college students honored Thursday in the virtual 2022 Oregon Sources Showcase event. The event celebrated students and adults working to create belonging and connection in their schools and communities through youth-led suicide prevention efforts.
Crume was nominated for “showing up as an agent of change and a connector to help in his school community, and for raising awareness around mental health and suicide prevention by spreading messages of hope, help and strength,” according to an announcement from Sources of Strength.
A Klamath Falls man died after being ejected from his car after the driver’s side of his vehicle careened into several trees in Palermo, California, just before midnight Wednesday.
The fatal crash occurred at approximately 11:55 p.m. May 25, according to the California Highway Patrol.
The victim was 27 year Josey Hardwick. Hardwick traveled back and forth between Oroville and Klamath Falls, Oregon where he served as a member of the Army National Guard. CHP said in a statement on the incident the Oregon man was driving a Lexus “at a high rate of speed” on Palermo Road near Wyman Avenue in Butte County.
On Thursday, June 2nd Klamath Promise will conduct the Graduation Sensation Parade for graduating high school seniors.
The participants will stage at Klamath Commons Park then proceed down Main Street to Veterans Park. The parade will take place from 11:30AM to 12:30PM. Expect Main Street to be closed to motorists from approximately 11:00AM to 12:30PM.
Any questions can be directed to Jessie at (541) 281-9722.
The next Klamath IDEA Talk will be held on June 15and will feature the story of Brevada Brewhouse founders Seth Gretz and David Murphy.
Additionally, the local student innovators and entrepreneurs who will be representing the community at the statewide InventOR competition will be pitching their concepts. Gretz and Murphy founded Brevada Brewhouse in 2017 as they were both completing their degrees at Oregon Tech.
In line with their vision, the business has grown into more than just a great place to grab a cup of coffee and into a place of community and gathering. Before the story of Brevada Brewhouse is presented teams from both Klamath Community College and Oregon Tech will pitch the concepts they are using to compete at the 2022 InventOR statewide collegiate innovation competition.
The event will be held at Brevada Brewhouse from 5:30-8:30 pm. Food and one non-alcoholic drink ticket is included in the $25 per person price. Beer and wine will be available for purchase. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. for networking and the Talk will start at 6:15 p.m. Attendance will be limited to 40 and tickets can be purchased in advance at Facebook.com/KlamathIDEA or at KlamathIDEA.org on the calendar page.
Trolley Tours return this summer with an exclusive backstage tour of the historic Ross Ragland Theater!
Presented by the Klamath Museum, take a unique tour through the history of the Ragland theater and downtown Klamath Falls. For reservations call the Klamath Museum at 541-882-1000, or stop by the museum during operating hours.
The Klamath National Forest values the assistance of local resources during natural disasters, such as wildfires, and is urging all local vendors, equipment rentals, and landowners to register at SAM.gov ahead of fire season. When natural disasters like wildfire occur, the Klamath National Forest relies on the support of the local community. If you have a service you might be able to offer to contribute to our collective response, we could use your help but can only do so if vendors are registered in SAM.gov.
Free registration assistance is available at www.aptac-us.org/find-a-ptac/ or www.norcalptac.org/. Once registered, please email Emily Towers at emily.towers@usda.gov with the items or services available to be added to the Forest’s local supply plan.
Around the state of Oregon
BANK ROBBERY SUSPECT ARRESTED
ARRESTEE:
Donald L. Denney, 41 year old male Resident of Rogue River, Or.
CHARGES:
Robbery in the Third Degree
Theft in the First Degree
DETAILS:
On 05-28-2022, at approximately 1:16 pm, the suspect in the bank robbery which occurred on 5-23-2022 at First Interstate Bank on Union Avenue was arrested and lodged in the Josephine County Jail.
After the press release was sent out, numerous tips about the identity of the suspect were received. Detectives continued to follow up leads and utilized numerous video and photos to positively identify the suspect as Donald Denney. The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office was in the process of looking for Denney to assist with the case when Denney called and surrendered. Once Denney was detained, he was turned over to Grants Pass PD officers and transported back to Josephine County.
Denney was lodged at the Josephine County Jail on the listed charges. The department would like to thank the public for their assistance in identifying the suspect in this case and the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office for assisting with locating him and ultimately his surrender.
Anyone with additional information is asked to call the Grants Pass Police Department at 541-450-6260.
Fire Season on lands protected by the Oregon Department of Forestry’s (ODF) Southwest Oregon District begins Wednesday, June 1, 2022 at 12:01 a.m.
The fire danger level will be “Low” (green) and the Industrial Fire Precaution Level (IFPL) will be I (one). Lands affected by this declaration include 1.8 million acres of state, private, county, city and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) forestlands in Jackson and Josephine counties.
Beginning Wednesday, the burning of debris piles and the use of burn barrels for burning debris will no longer be allowed in Jackson and Josephine counties. Even with recent rains, landowners are encouraged to check their previously burned piles from this spring and confirm that they have been extinguished.
One tool the ODF Southwest District has is the detection center. In one room, they are able to monitor their entire network of cameras throughout the district. At any one time, four people could be scanning for fires. The detection center allows crews to know what type of situation they’re arriving to on scene. It also gives them the ability to notify other agencies they work with. The goal is to find fires as early as they possible can, so they can be more proactive than reactive.
(Salem) – The Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS), Child Welfare Division, is thankful for the community support to find Trenton Yellowtail.
Trenton, age 14, is a child in foster care who went missing from Portland on May 26. He was found May 29.
A small number of children in foster care may be in significant danger when they run away or have gone missing. As ODHS works to do everything it can to find these missing children and ensure their safety, media alerts will be issued in some circumstances when it is determined necessary. Sometimes, in these situations, a child may go missing repeatedly, resulting in more than one media alert for the same child.
Report child abuse to the Oregon Child Abuse Hotline by calling 1-855-503-SAFE (7233). This toll-free number allows you to report abuse of any child or adult to the Oregon Department of Human Services, 24 hours a day, seven days a week and 365 days a year.
A new bird flu infection has been confirmed along the Oregon/Idaho border south of Ontario, Oregon, and a regional quarantine has been established.
The Oregon Department of Agriculture says it means all avian species are quarantined along with transportation of birds in an area that’s about six miles around the location. Oregon currently has two other regional quarantines in the Corvallis and Eugene areas.
The Life Flight Network headquartered in Aurora is adding a 24/7 helicopter critical care transport base in Salem, to augment its existing air medical services in the Northwest and Intermountain West.
Chief Executive Ben Clayton says it brings mobile ICU-level care to rural communities in the valley and the surrounding area, reducing emergency response times. Life Flight is the nation’s largest non-profit air medical transport service.
The Oregon Department of Agriculture has approved a permit for a massive chicken farm in Linn County.
J-S Ranch plans to build a facility that can raise over 580-thousand broiler chickens, which means they’re sold for food. The permit has been reviewed, with public comments, over two years. The facility can’t leak waste or feed into the ground. Drinking water wells will be tested on a regular basis for contamination.
ODA will monitor construction to make sure they follow requirements of the permit.
May 31, 2022 – Salem, Ore. – For two Clackamas County residents, May 18 will now be counted as one of their favorite days.
Kathleen Whitney of Wilsonville and Larry Meissel of Milwaukie both came away with big Lottery wins from drawings held May 18 – with Kathleen winning the $5.6 million Megabucks jackpot, while Larry won the Win for Life top prize of $1,000 a week for life!
$5.6 Million Megabucks Jackpot
On the evening of May 18, Kathleen was working on her mother’s celebration of life, as she had recently passed away.
“I had just wrapped up making the invitation when I remembered my Megabucks ticket,” Kathleen said. “So, I pulled up the Lottery’s app and scanned the ticket. There were all these Hollywood lights and balloons on the screen. I told my husband, ‘I think I won $5,600!’ and showed him the screen. He looks at the screen and says, ‘No. You won $5.6 million!’ I can’t help but think that my mom was part of us winning.”
Kathleen chose to take the one-time lump sum option making her prize $1,904,000.24 (after taxes). She plans to pay some bills, do some home remodeling and travel.
Kathleen bought her Megabucks ticket at the Wilsonville Safeway on Wilsonville Road and her winning numbers were 1-3-18-20-31-34.
One bit of Lottery advice Kathleen shared, “You can’t win, if you don’t play!”
$1,000 a Week for Life
Win for Life top prize winner Larry Meisel has been diligently playing the same numbers over the past five years.
The only number he’s changed over that time is his age. Having turned 73 this year, Larry replaced the old number with 73 and he’s happy he did.
The winning numbers drawn were 11-28-47-73.
By matching all four numbers drawn, Larry won the Win for Life jackpot of $1,000 a week for life. Win for Life offers players 46 ways to win and the ability to win multiple times on each ticket.
Win for Life jackpot winners can choose to receive a once-a-year $52,000 prize or $1,000 a week for life. Larry chose the weekly payment option.
Larry bought his winning ticket at Morrow’s Serv-U Market on SE McLoughlin Boulevard in Milwaukie.
Since the Oregon Lottery began selling tickets on April 25, 1985, it has earned nearly $14 billion for economic development, public education, Outdoor School, state parks, Veteran Services, and watershed enhancements. For more information on the Oregon Lottery visit www.oregonlottery.org