Chiloquin City Hall photo
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 and News, and BasinLife.com, and powered by Mick Insurance. Call them at 541-882-6476.
Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024
Klamath Basin Weather
Today
Sunny, with a high near 85. Calm northerly wind to 5 mph. Overnight, clear with a low around 43.
Today’s Klamath Falls Headlines
Klamath River Renewal Corporation says it as completed the removal of the four lower Klamath hydroelectric dams.
Kiewit, the dam removal contractor hired by the Klamath River Renewal Corporation to complete the construction elements of the project, has finished all work in the river. Following the cofferdam breaches last month, a portion of the Iron Gate cofferdam and a temporary river crossing at Copco No. 1 were left in place to provide access to the far side of the river in order to remove diversion infrastructure.
With all the diversion infrastructure, temporary bridges, and dam materials now fully removed from the river, the dam removal portion of the Klamath River Renewal Project is now complete.
Restoration and recovery of the river will continue for the coming years. Together, the dams had blocked fish passage and impaired water quality for more than a century.
All four were hydroelectric dams that did not provide irrigation or drinking water and were not operated for flood control. Following decades of advocacy, led by area tribes and supported by conservation advocates, commercial fishing organizations, and the States of California and Oregon, federal regulators approved the removal of the dams in November 2022.
Ownership of the project was then transferred to the Klamath River Renewal Corporation (KRRC), the organization that was created to oversee the removal of the dams and related restoration of the previously submerged lands.
While the dam removal portion of the project is now complete, work will continue for several years restoring the 2,200 acres of formerly submerged lands. As the reservoirs drained in January, native seed mix was applied to the reservoir footprints. This initial round of seeding was intended to stabilize sediments and improve soil composition.
This fall, restoration crews will turn their attention to amending soil conditions and will then perform another round of seeding and planting. Restoration crews will be onsite until vegetation success meets predetermined performance metrics. Restoration work is likely to continue for at least the next several years.
The nonprofit healthcare provider Klamath Health Partnership (KHP) is undergoing some staffing changes in an effort to rectify funding problems.
On the condition of anonymity, a verified source spoke with the Herald and News to confirm rumors of a recent layoff of 25 staff members. None were care providers.
The KHP board of directors recently came under fire when former and current members of the executive staff threatened to resign if all members of the board did not appoint their replacements and step down from their positions.
The medical organization, which owns and operates Klamath Open Door low-income medical care facilities in Klamath County, was said to be in danger of losing more than $2.8 million in annual federal funding when the board fell out of compliance due to an insufficient number of members and failing to meet mandatory qualifications.
Near the end of July, the board achieved compliance after appointing seven new members, multiple sources confirmed. The source said during this same time, the head of the executive staff, former CEO Amanda Blodgett, had not provided the board with necessary financial reports, leaving the board allegedly unaware of a longstanding financial crisis that required immediate correction.
Former chief financial officer Charles Bland spoke to some of the serious financial concerns including a four year backlog of audits that had not been conducted.
The anonymous source also noted that, for a period preceding Blodgett, Bland and the majority of the current KHP board, previous staff had not paid a litany of bills.
Today, the debt incurred amounts to an estimated $2 million.
The source said Erich Koch is an experienced professional with the know-how to get the organization back on track, ensuring a continuation of care for more than 11,000 low-income patients in need.
A Go Fund Me account has been opened to help offset the costs of funeral expenses for a Klamath Falls woman who died in a house fire last week.
Iris Alvarez lived in a home on Applegate that became fully engulfed and she could not be rescued. The goal is five thousand dollars according to family. To donate, please go to Go Fund Me and search for the Iris Alvarez account, opened by Glen Alvarez. The family thanks you.
The Family Farm Alliance board of directors has announced that it has initiated a nationwide search for a new executive director.
Dan Keppen of Klamath Falls, who has served as the organization’s executive director since March 2005, intends to step down from his current position at the Alliance’s October 2025 annual meeting in Reno. He has served as president of his own water policy consulting firm, Dan Keppen & Associates, Inc. since 2005. Since that time, his primary client has been the Alliance, for whom he has served as executive director under contract.
During Keppen’s tenure at the Alliance, the organization testified 99 times before Congressional committees.
Keppen and the late Patrick O’Toole – who served as president of the Alliance for nearly 19 years before his passing last February – represented the Alliance at half of those hearings. During that time, the Alliance established a reputation for working across the aisle, avoiding stridency, and not alienating other groups with which they could potentially work.
Keppen and the Alliance helped lead the steering committee of a 230-organization coalition that secured $8.3 billion of Western water provisions for the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. He also co-founded the Western Agriculture and Conservation Coalition, which has influenced the conservation title of recent farm bills. The organization also worked with Congress and the Trump Administration to pass and implement legislation that facilitates title transfer of federal water facilities to local entities.
The Board of Klamath County Commissioners gave its final decision regarding a contract with the Klamath County Sheriff’s Office and the Bureau of Land Management.
First presented by KCSO Patrol Lt. Steve Lewis on July 30, the contract in question is a longstanding agreement between county law enforcement and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
In exchange for having a KCSO deputy on BLM lands within the county, the federal agency offers to reimburse the sheriff’s office up to $60,000 annually for their services. At the July meeting, the board denied KCSO’s re-entry into the agreement for the first time since its establishment more than a decade prior, citing frustrations with inadequate federal support and provisions as well as insufficient KCSO staffing.
Saying there are other ways to obtain funding for patrol services on BLM land outside of the proposed contract such as the use of Title III funds.
Commissioner Dave Henslee said Klamath County has access to $1 million in those funds, which can be used in reimbursement for search and rescue and other emergency response activities, including firefighting and law enforcement response. Henslee questioned the need for the contract.
Sheriff Chris Kaber told the Herald and News that having a deputy on those lands reduces response times to calls from neighboring rural communities. In addition to another KCSO deputy, Kaber said, the contract bolsters the working relationship between the federal and county agencies.
City of Chiloquin and Chiloquin Visions in Progress will host a “Candidates Forum” on Monday, October 7th, beginning at 6 pm in Chiloquin. Come meet and ask questions of the candidates!
The Candidate Forum will focus on the candidates running for Klamath County Commissioner Position 1 and the position of Klamath County Sheriff.
The candidates attending are Andrew Nichols and Rejeana Jackson for Klamath County Commissioner (Position 1) and Shane Mitchell and Brian Bryson for Klamath County Sheriff.
Hosted at the Chiloquin Community Center, this forum aims to provide a platform for candidates to articulate their visions, address community concerns, and answer questions from the community. The forum will be moderated by John Rademacher, CVIP Board President, who will pose questions submitted by the community.
The forum is sponsored by the City of Chiloquin, Friends of the Chiloquin Library, the League of Women Voters of Klamath County, and Chiloquin Visions in Progress.
Klamath County is said to be in dire straits this fiscal year after receiving far less in federal funding that had been expected, a hit that is expected to impact funding for crucial departments such as law enforcement.
Each year, the county receives roughly $900,000 from the Department of the Interior for Payment in Lieu of Taxes, or PILT. These dollars are provided to counties in which the federal government owns a portion of the land.
The Department of the Interior calculates the PILT total that a county will receive by multiplying the number of federal acres within the county by $3.35 (in 2024 dollars). The total is then “reduced by the amount of funds received by the locality in the prior fiscal year under certain other federal land revenue-sharing programs.”
Among those programs is the Secure Rural Schools (SRS) program, of which Klamath County has historically been a recipient.
In an effort to increase Klamath County’s PILT funding, Commissioner DeGroot said he and the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) spent three years working with municipalities to establish a countywide roads district. The idea, DeGroot said, was to “direct the SRS payments to a separate entity,” which, in theory, could’ve allowed for a higher number of PILT dollars to be appropriated to the county — about $2.5 million more than previous years. But when the 2024 PILT funds came in, the amount had not increased.
The Klamath County School District and Bonanza Schools will host a grand opening ceremony at 1 p.m. on Friday, to celebrate the completion of a new 16,422-square-foot gymnasium on the Bonanza Schools campus.
The community is invited to attend. The free-standing building features two full-size courts, locker rooms, a concession area, and seating for more than 800 fans.
The school will host its first event, the Antler Classic Volleyball Tournament, in the new facility on Saturday, Oct. 5. Work started on the new gymnasium in August 2023. The lead contractors on the project were Soderstrom Architects and Kinsman Construction. The district used federal ESSER relief funds to pay for construction.
The Klamath County Veterans Service Office will accept nominations for Klamath County’s Oldest Living Veteran.
The Nomination form will be open through October 31, 2024. To nominate a veteran stop by the Veterans Service Office, 3328 Vandenberg Rd. or call 541-883-4274.
The chosen Veteran will be honored on Monday, November 11, 2024 during the Veteran’s Day Ceremony at Veterans Memorial Park.
The Lava Beds is great place to visit during the fall and winter, but there are a few things you should know before you visit.
Starting October 1, the Lava Beds Visitor Center will be open 9:30 am – 4:00 pm daily. Also starting October 1st, camping will now be $20 per night, per site. At least half of the campground stays open all year, with “B” loop of the campground and the group campsite typically close late-November.
When visiting Lava Beds National Monument, visitors are reminded that a cave permit and an entrance fee are required. While entrance fees can be handled via a self-pay station outside the visitor center, or online, a cave permit can only be obtained from the visitor center.
Visitors should arrive within visitor center hours if they are planning to visit a cave. Winter cave closures to protect hibernating bats, typically go into effect on October 15th. During the winter snowy season, the monument’s maintenance staff will keep the main park road open from the northern boundary entrances to Valentine Cave.
Forest Service Rd 49 going towards Medicine Lake and Forest Service Rd 10 between Lava Beds and Tionesta are not plowed during the winter and can become impassable.
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Around the State of Oregon
The state of Oregon’s 36 counties will need more than an additional $800 million per year to maintain roads and bridges, according to a new study from the Association of Oregon Counties.
The study, presented to the Legislature’s Joint Transportation Committee, comes as lawmakers start to craft a multibillion-dollar transportation package over the coming months.
The Oregon Department of Transportation this summer said it needed an extra $1.8 billion annually just to keep up with maintenance — let alone pay for high-ticket projects like a replacement bridge on Interstate 5 connecting Oregon and Washington.
Sen. Chris Gorsek, D-Troutdale and a co-chair of the joint committee, summed the main problem up simply in a meeting last week. The interstate highway system built in the 1950s and 1960s has essentially lived out its useful life, Gorsek added, and Oregon hasn’t kept up with maintaining and replacing roads, bridges and machinery, like snow plows and graders.
Lawmakers have seen the struggling road system firsthand on a 12-stop transportation tour this summer. Sen. Lynn Findley, R-Vale, said the tour made clear that local governments were struggling to keep up.
The Salem-Keizer School District is being sued by a special education instructional assistant who says she’s being assaulted by students and the district is just ignoring it.
Lauren Eriksen says she’s been bitten and suffered concussions as a result of the students she oversees. The School District says it can’t comment on the case. Previously, Superintendent Andrea Castañeda said the district needs more funding to hire additional teachers.
Oregon OSHA released a report saying more staff is needed at schools to care for students with extreme behavioral issues. Stay tuned.
A man died Tuesday afternoon after his car rolled over on State Route 96 near Sluice Box River Access in Siskiyou County.
According to California Highway Patrol, police found the man’s car several hundred feet down an embankment by the Klamath River bed.
“Based upon the physical evidence Officers deduced that the Hyundai had left the north embankment and had rolled several times before coming to rest,” the release said.
The man – who was not named in the release because officers are pending next of kin – was found dead in the driver’s seat with his seatbelt on, the release said. The airbags had been deployed at some point in the wreck.
Oregon Governor Tina Kotek is moving forward with Oregon’s part of the Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative.
The goal is to restore salmon and steelhead runs in the Columbia and Snake Rivers. Last December, the Biden Administration agreed to several parts of the plan.
It calls for developing clean, reliable, and affordable replacement power before considering removal of Snake River dams. Kotek is telling state agencies to move forward with Oregon’s commitments to the plan.
1 in 8 Oregonians Lives Below the Poverty Line
On the flip side of the coin is poverty and, in Oregon, one in eight people live below the federal poverty line.
Lehner says one fact that has stood out in recent years is ‘the number of Oregonians in deep poverty,’ some whose income ‘is less than half of the official poverty level.’ This translates to an annual revenue of $7,000 per person, or $15,000 for a family of four.
The poverty threshold set by the government is a yearly income of $15,480 per person or $31,200 for a family of four.
While Oregon’s poverty threshold remains relatively steady, Lehner says there is an increase in people living in deep poverty.
Poverty Has Been Steadily Increasing Among Hispanic and Latino Residents
The biggest change in the racial poverty gap in recent years has been a steady increase in poverty among Hispanic and Latino residents. However, historically low poverty was recorded in 2023 among Black and American Indian population groups. Poverty among Oregon Blacks is close to 25%, more than double the statewide level.
Clackamas County has the lowest poverty rate in Oregon at 6.6%, while Multnomah County, the largest in the state, has the highest poverty level of 12.9% in the metro area. Although Crook County’s poverty is below 8%, it has one of the highest unemployment rates in Oregon.
Overall, the 2023 survey shows that Oregon household incomes are continuing to rise, although poverty rates among some groups, in some locales, are much higher than statewide. (SOURCE)
The North Bend Police Department in Coos County (NBPD) recently launched its new virtual policing platform, MyPDConnect, that’s designed to help citizens quickly and easily report certain crimes from the comfort of their computer or mobile device.
According to NBPD’s Police Chief Cal Mitts, MyPDConnect specializes in online reporting for property crimes like theft from vehicles, stolen bicycles, fraud or scams, damaged property, shoplifting, graffiti and more.
Chief Mitts says the app works across all devices and will automatically adjust to any screen size as well as allow users to upload photos and videos directly with their reports. It is hoped the system will help reduce hold times and will aid in law enforcement to focus on urgent needs in the community. Due to the budget shortfall and recent staffing shortages, Chief Mitts says the platform will help ease the jobs of dispatchers.
Another feature of the platform is its real-time heat map technology, which will track down criminal activity throughout North Bend and translates into languages provided by Google translate including English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Chinese, and Korean and this will also allow the public to communicate with local officers directly.
Chief Mitts says that the public can scan a QR code that is available for quick access to the system from any mobile device and is accessible through the department’s website at northbendpd.mypdconnect.com.
Snap Benefits provided through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program are set to increase this week.
The Cost of Living Adjustment impacts the maximum allotments for those who receive SNAP, commonly known as food stamps. The changes will take effect on Oct. 1 and last until Sept. 30, 2025. SNAP eligibility depends on household income and assets and is adjusted yearly.
Some 42.1 million people – roughly 12.6% of people in the U.S. – benefited from SNAP each month in 2023, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The average benefit was $211.93 per month. State-by-state participation rate ranges from a low of 4.6% in Utah to 23.1% in New Mexico.
Wishing to control power and change the Supreme Court for democrats, Oregon Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., announced Thursday he’s introduced legislation that he said would ” restore balance among the three branches of government”.
Wyden wants more Supreme Court justices.
Wyden says his bill “would increase transparency to improve public trust in America’s courts, and modernize the courts to ensure greater access to justice for more Americans,” including the phased-in addition of six Supreme Court justices, for a total of 15.
In the wake of recent rulings upending decades of precedent and evidence of unethical behavior, Wyden’s Judicial Modernization and Transparency Act would modernize the courts by expanding the Supreme Court to 15 justices over three presidential terms, prevent political inaction from bottling up nominations to the Supreme Court, and restore appropriate deference to the legislative branch by requiring a supermajority to overturn acts of Congress, among other modernizing provisions to improve access to justice.
According to Wyden’s news release, which continues in full below: The bill would also implement much-needed reforms to bring more accountability to the Supreme Court recusal process and improve transparency around potential financial conflicts and other unethical behavior.
In July, as part of his ongoing efforts to reform and restore fairness to our country’s judicial system, Wyden introduced legislation to restore much-needed checks on Donald Trump’s right-leaning Supreme Court by providing Congress with new authority to overturn judicial decisions that clearly undermine the congressional intent of laws following the Loper Bright decision.
Wyden also introduced legislation to bring an end to the controversial practice of “judge shopping,” in which plaintiffs cherry-pick judges they know will hand down favorable rulings, leading to sweeping rulings that wield undue power over millions of Americans. Stay tuned.
As daylight hours get shorter this time of year, Valley of the Rogue staff would like to remind visitors that the seasonal hours for the day-use area are 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. starting October 1, and the hours will continue to change throughout the season based on daylight hours.
Posted signs will reflect changes as they occur at the park, which is located at milepost 45B near Grants Pass. Park staff will close and lock the gates at the park’s entrance at 7 p.m. and reopen them at 8 a.m. starting October 1.
The park is no longer a rest area with 24-hour access as of fall 2023. Overnight parking is prohibited in the day-use area and restrooms will not be available when the day-use area is closed.
There is no space in the day-use area for semi-trucks to turn around while the gates are closed. The park does include a campground with 175 campsites including full hook-up sites, tent sites, group sites and yurts. Overnight parking in the campground is only for visitors with a reserved campsite. Showers and overnight facilities are for registered campers only.
The day-use area includes two restrooms, a fenced area for dogs off leash, access to the Rogue River Greenway Trail, a boat launch for the Rogue River, picnic tables, an Applegate Trail interpretive kiosk and interpretive and wood carving displays.
The Portland Trail Blazers will honor basketball legend Bill Walton with a special band on their uniforms this season.
Walton passed away May 27th at the age of 71. The jersey band features a uniquely Walton tie-dye design with his “32” number in white.
The Blazers will hold Bill Walton Tribute Night on March 9th. Fans are encouraged to wear tie-dye and will receive a special tie-dye headband, in Walton’s classic style.
The cost of camping is going up in Oregon. The Oregon Parks and Recreation Department is increasing camping, parking and reservation fees to keep pace with inflation.
Most of the increases range from two to five dollars. On October 15th, base camping fees will increase. On January 1st, reservation fees increase from eight to ten dollars. Parking fees will increase from five to ten dollars. On July 1st, the out-of-state 25 percent surcharge on RV campsites will be expanded to all camping.
Utility costs for example have increased by 28% over the last 4 years, but most fees have remained the same. Depending on the fee, the last increase was anywhere from seven to 15 years ago for base fees.
OPRD will increase its base camping fees for the first time since 2017. The increase applies to all camping reservations for 2025. Starting on October 15, 2024, all reservations made for 2025 stays will include the fee increase. OPRD has three main sources of funding: a little less than half comes from constitutionally dedicated lottery funds, about 15% comes from recreational vehicle license plate fees and roughly 35% comes from park fees from visitors. OPRD is not funded by taxes.
Portland is being listed in the top five U.S. cities for UFO sightings. The online gambling company BetUS crunched the numbers from the National UFO Reporting Center to come up with a list of cities were you have the best odds of possibly spotting an unidentified flying object. Portland was ranked fourth. Phoenix, Arizona ranks first, followed by New York City. In at number three is Las Vegas – notably not far from the famous Area 51. Tucson, Arizona rounds out the top five.
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