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Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024
Klamath Basin Weather
Today
Sunny today with a high near 49 degrees. Overnight, increasing clouds with a low around 27. Light east winds to 6mph.
Today’s Klamath Falls Headlines
A change of command will take place Saturday, Nov. 2, 10:00 a.m. at Kingsley Field in Klamath Falls, Ore. Col. Adam Gaudinski, who has more than 21 years of military experience, will take command of the 173rd Fighter Wing during an official change of command ceremony.
Gaudinski has a wide range of experience, starting his career in the Active Component after graduating from the Air Force Academy, with assignments including Texas, Honduras, Mississippi, Florida, and Japan. He has been a member or the Oregon Air National Guard since 2012 and is a command pilot with over 3,500 flight hours.
Gaudinski is currently serving as the 173rd Maintenance Group commander. Gaudinski will replace Col. Lee Bouma, who has commanded the wing since 2022.
On Friday, President Joe Biden issued a formal apology for the federal government’s decades long policy of placing Native American children in boarding schools as part of forced assimilation.
The federal boarding school policies that began as early as 1819 and lasted until at least the 1960s. Throughout the boarding school era, the federal government took tens of thousands of Indigenous children from their homes and communities, forcing them into institutionalized residential schools usually operated by churches or government employees.
Children, sometimes as young as toddlers, endured rigid lives of strict discipline and harsh punishments as schools tried to erase students’ Native American culture and identity. Administrators cut the children’s long hair short, replaced their traditional clothes with uniforms and forbade them from speaking their native languages.
Klamath Tribes member Gabriann “Abby” Hall has been researching the impact of boarding schools on her own family and tribe. She says an apology is long overdue, “Why wait so long to apologize? It’s not like the government wasn’t fully aware of what had happened, their role in it and covering it up.” However, she adds, “I do feel that an apology is an acknowledgement and that’s the first step towards reckoning and healing.”
Records show that Klamath children attended religious schools in Klamath Falls, Mt. Angel, Beaverton and Medford, among others. Unlike federally run boarding schools, religious school records are generally considered private, and tracking them down can be challenging.
Sky Lakes General Surgeon Dr. Sarah Wonn of Klamath Falls was awarded the American College of Surgeon Fellowship.
It is a momentous achievement and a mark of her surgical experience and outstanding professional conduct. The FACS credential exists to foster the professional growth and development of surgeons, promote high standards and best practices in surgical care, and establish and maintain patients’ confidence in the ability and integrity of their surgeon.
Dr. Wonn is from Georgia and obtained a Bachelor of Science in Health Promotion from the University of Georgia. She obtained her Medical Doctorate from the Medical College of Georgia, with notable accomplishment of induction into the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society due to her excellent academic performance. She matched into surgical residency at OHSU in Portland where she worked for 6 years and completed a year of research in the department of surgical oncology.
At OHSU she won a service recognition award for outstanding patient care. Outside of the hospital, she is excited to live on the sunny side of the Cascades here, and enjoys hiking and biking with her family.
At their Klamath County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) meeting last week, they granted approval for a handful of county matters.
Klamath County Developmental Disabilities Services (DDS) was granted approval for the use of grant funds exceeding $10,000 to purchase qualified emergency response items.DDS Director Heidi Gaither said the grant funding was awarded through the Oregon Department of Human Services.
In other county business, Community Corrections sought and received approval for an amendment to an agreementbetween the Corrections and First Watch Wellness to extend the contract establishing training provisions for staff for another three years.
Klamath County Public Health (KCPH) received approval to enter another intergovernmental agreement with Oregon Health Authority to receive $21,400 for reproductive health provisions for reproductive health care in corrections facilities. KCPH also received approval for a facility use agreement with the Crescent Community Club to offer a free vaccination clinic to the northern portion of Klamath County residents on Nov. 13.
Total cost will be $400. Woodsy Kitchen ARPA agreement increases from $105,000 to $135,000. Prior approved during an administrative meeting on Oct. 5.
The rail crossing at Portland Street near Crater Lake Parkway is closed to all traffic through Friday.
Closure will be during daytime hours from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. through Friday, November 15, 2024.
Detours will be in place to direct traffic around the construction zone. Please travel with caution in this area. For more information, please contact City Public Works at 541-883-5363.
Students at Bonanza Jr/Sr High School are taking classes this year in a renovated shop with new state-of-the-art equipment, including nine welding booths, a CNC plasma machine, a laser engraver, ShopBot CNC router, new construction tools, and an updated small project/drafting room.
Last year, the school was awarded two grants — $250,000 from the Oregon Department of Education to revitalize its Career and Technical Education programs and $228,000 from the Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) Future Ready Oregon to start a pre-apprenticeship construction and carpentry program.
The funds were used to purchase the much-needed equipment and renovate the interior of the decades-old shop building. The shop floor plan was redesigned, allowing for better use of space and a small woodshop was created in one section.
This school year, students are reaping the benefits, learning workplace ready skills to use industry-standard equipment and tools.
In an advanced manufacturing class last week, students spent time figuring out how to program computer software to operate the new CNC plasma machine and an OMTech laser engraver cutting machine.
By the end of the class period, one student had fixed an issue that was reversing the laser design on the machine and another used the CNC plasma machine to create metal art with the words Bonanza Football.
In the shop’s loft area, another student was creating a mini baseball bat with the new wood lathe.
Construction and ag mechanics teacher Nick Sparks was hired fall 2023 to revitalize the school’s ag mechanics and construction programs. He has done that and more, said Jordan Osborn, principal of Bonanza Junior/Senior High School.
The City of Klamath Falls looks to tackle housing availability with proposed updates to development codes and housing production incentives.
As discussed during a work session meeting last week, Klamath Falls city councilors met with city development services staff who spoke on the dire need for housing in Klamath Falls. Announced by the director, the state of Oregon will soon be setting housing targets for cities with populations over 10,000.
For Klamath Falls, that number is expected to be around 300 units per year, a figure that even across Klamath County has not been met since the 2006/2007 fiscal year. For fiscal year 2023/2024, countywide, 125 housing permits were issued with an estimated 30 of those having been built inside the city limits.
Using Bend as an example, one challenge that Klamath Falls is facing regarding homebuilding is that homes can be sold in other areas for more money. He said construction costs between Bend and Klamath Falls are fairly similar, but a house that sells for $400,000 locally could easily sell for $1 million in Bend. Recognizing this, the director proposed creating a $1 million housing reserve fund program that would be used to cover system development charges (SDC).
As explained by city planning manager Joe Wall, SDCs are a one-time impact fee required for all home-building projects that are used to fund community services, utility improvements and water treatment services. The cost of SDC can be anywhere above $14,500 depending on square footage, with apartments paying $8000 and up.
The city council was receptive to the pitched ideas with councilor Terra Russo having said that good housing is hard to find in Klamath Falls and to get people to stay and be dedicated to it, that home purchasing has to get more affordable.
The next step is for city development staff to meet and get approval from the city planning commission for their proposals before moving on as agenda items for future city council meetings and public comment.
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.
A history of natural and human events in the Klamath River Basin will be discussed in a presentation at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 29, at the Klamath County Museum.
Author Stephen Most will discuss the recently released second edition of his book, “River of Renewal — Myth and History in the Klamath Basin.”
Most’s book covers everything from the headwaters of the Upper Klamath Basin to the mouth of the Klamath River on the Pacific Ocean, and from Indigenous cultures to removal of four dams on the river earlier this year. The book was released earlier this month by Oregon State University Press. Copies of the book will be available for sale at Tuesday’s program.
The free presentation will be given in the back meeting room of the Klamath County Museum, 1451 Main St. in Klamath Falls. To request an invite to watch the program live on Zoom, send a request to [email protected]. For more information call (541) 882-1000.
Around the State of Oregon
The presidential election and the race for control of the closely divided U.S. House are expected to dominate attention in Oregon on election night on Nov. 5th.
Voters will also decide a ballot measure to establish ranked-choice voting. At the top of the ballot, Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican former President Donald Trump will compete for Oregon’s eight electoral votes. The state had one of the closest vote margins in the 2000 presidential election but was overshadowed by the Florida recount.
Since then, liberal Oregon has moved sharply towards Democratic candidates in presidential elections, so much so that neither ticket has stepped foot in the state since becoming their parties’ nominees.
In the U.S. House, Republican incumbent Lori Chavez-DeRemer faces a tough reelection bid for a second term in a district where voters preferred President Joe Biden over Trump by almost 10 percentage points in 2020. The Democratic nominee is Janelle Bynum, a state representative. Three third-party or independent candidates are also on the ballot.
Chavez-DeRemer was first elected in 2022 by a 51%-49% margin. Republicans are targeting two first-term incumbents in Democratic-leaning districts covering the Salem and Eugene areas. Both Reps. Val Hoyle and Andrea Salinas won their seats in 2022 with a fraction more than 50% of the vote, although Hoyle enjoyed an 8-point margin of victory over her Republican opponent.
Biden carried both Hoyle’s 4th District and Salinas’ 6th District with 55% of the vote.
Voters will also consider Measure 117, which would establish ranked-choice voting. If passed, the measure would represent a significant shift in Oregon’s voting system. It’s one of five statewide questions on the ballot. Oregon’s first reports typically focus on votes cast before Election Day, as the state primarily uses mail-in ballots. Oregon allows ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted if they arrive up to seven days later. This means initial results can shift as later ballots are processed.
areas to watch include Clackamas and Deschutes counties, which are often pivotal in close races. Ballots were mailed out starting Oct. 16.
Locally, a new sheriff and one new Klamath County Commissioner are up for grabs, among other local races.
Authorities, including the FBI, were investigating Monday after early morning fires were set in ballot drop boxes in Portland, Oregon, and in nearby Vancouver, Washington, where hundreds of ballots were destroyed.
The Portland Police Bureau reported that officers and firefighters responded to a fire in one ballot drop box at about 3:30 a.m. and determined an incendiary device had been placed inside. Multnomah County Elections Director Tim Scott said a fire suppressant inside the drop box protected nearly all the ballots; only three were damaged, and his office planned to contact those voters to help them obtain replacement ballots.
A few hours later, across the Columbia River in Vancouver, television crews captured footage of smoke pouring out of a ballot box at a transit center.
Vancouver is the biggest city in Washington’s 3rd Congressional District, the site of what is expected to be one of the closest U.S. House races in the country, between first-term Democratic Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez and Republican challenger Joe Kent.
In a statement, the FBI said it is coordinating with federal, state and local partners to actively investigate the two incidents.
After a record-breaking year, all Oregon Department of Forestry districts have terminated fire restrictions, marking the end of the 2024 Oregon fire season declaration.
With over 1.9 million acres burned across the state, firefighters and resources experienced extreme strain. Throughout May and June, the state experienced an average, even below average, season. However, early July brought the beginning of peak season with a heat wave followed by several lightning and wind events that primarily affected Central and Eastern Oregon.
Meteorological events combined with lightning-and human-caused fire brought immense strain on Oregon’s in-state resources. In response, the department leaned heavily into its interstate relationships. Firefighters and resources from about 20 states and Canada were brought to Oregon through state-to-state mutual aid agreements and the Northwest Compact.
Year to date, there have been 1,003 fires on ODF-protected lands resulting in 314,181 acres burned. ODF Type 1 Incident Management Teams (IMT) have been mobilized 11 times to wildfires this year. An ODF team was also deployed earlier in the year to assist Lane County and Springfield in their ice storm response. The department also mobilized a Complex IMT comprised of North Carolina and Florida firefighters through state-to-state mutual aid agreements.
Statewide, regardless of jurisdiction, there have been 1,956 fires that have burned 1,937,512 acres. Due to the agency’s aggressive approach to initial attack to preserve natural resources, protect communities, and increase firefighter safety, many fire starts that happened this year were never heard about.
Overall, the department put out 93 percent of fires on ODF-protected land at 10 acres or fewer this year. Fighting alongside ODF and other wildland firefighters this season were members of Rangeland Fire Protection Associations.
Rangeland Fire Protection Associations (RFPAs) are independent, non-profit, volunteer fire organizations that provide local fire protection in rural Oregon, usually in areas outside of local fire district protection.
With deer and elk migrating to their winter ranges, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) is urging drivers to remain vigilant on the roads.
October and November are critical months for wildlife crossings, leading to an increase in animal-vehicle collisions. This seasonal shift means more wildlife may be spotted near roadways, posing risks to both animals and drivers.
To enhance safety, the ODFW recommends several precautions: Be Cautious in Dense Vegetation: Wildlife often hides in thick brush, making them hard to see until it’s too late. Drivers should be particularly attentive in these areas. Slow Down Around Curves: Curves can limit visibility, making it difficult to spot animals. Reducing speed in these sections allows for more reaction time. Expect More Animals: If one deer or elk is seen, be prepared for others to follow, as these animals often travel in groups.
The ODFW also highlights that collisions are a risk not just for large vehicles; smaller animals can pose hazards as well. Accidents involving wildlife can lead to serious injuries for both humans and animals.
Drivers are encouraged to report wildlife sightings and any collisions to local authorities, which can help improve wildlife management and road safety initiatives. As the season changes, the ODFW urges all motorists to prioritize safety to protect both themselves and Oregon’s wildlife during this critical migration period.
Razor clam harvesting is now closed along a portion of the southern Oregon coast due to a high level of a marine biotoxin.
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife made the announcement and says the closure, which ranges from Cascade Head to the California border, comes after recent razor clam samples showed levels of domoic acid above the safety threshold.
The Oregon Department of Agriculture will continue to test for shellfish toxins twice per month. The area can reopen after two consecutive test show levels are back below the closure limit. Before heading out to harvest shellfish, folks are encouraged to call the Shellfish Safety Hotline at 1-800-448-2474 or visit the ODA Recreational Shellfish Biotoxin Closures webpage.
On Sunday, October 27th, 2024 at approximately 2:53 a.m. Medford Police were dispatched to the report of a shooting in the 2600 block of Bullock Rd. Multiple agencies responded to assist.
Upon arrival, it was determined the shooting occurred at a private event attended by approximately 80 people.
The unidentified suspects fired rounds towards the security guard, striking the security guard and a juvenile in attendance. Both were transported to local hospitals with non life-threatening injuries. The juvenile has since been treated and released.
This case is currently under investigation and further details will be released as they become available. MPD is asking anyone with information to contact Detective Dennis at 541-774-2242
The Oregon Driver and Motor Vehicle Services Division needs to do a better job translating its online web portal for people who don’t speak English and making sure customer data is secure, a mostly positive audit found.
The report released Wednesday by the Audits Division of the Secretary of State’s Office doesn’t address the DMV’s latest high-profile data issue: revelations that it wrongly sent information for 1,561 people who didn’t prove citizenship to election officials to automatically register them to vote.
At least 10 of the incorrectly registered voters went on to vote, though election officials have since determined five of those 10 were citizens when they voted.
Gov. Tina Kotek ordered a pause to the automatic voter registration program until an independent external audit is completed. That report is expected by the end of the year. The audit also didn’t address a May 2023 hack that put at risk personal information, including birthdates, addresses and driver’s license numbers, for approximately 3.5 million Oregonians.
The hack of the file transfer service MOVEit affected more than 2,700 other agencies and organizations and more than 95 million individuals throughout the world.
Two Oregonians, Caery Evangelist and Brian Els, filed a class-action lawsuit in Marion County Circuit Court in April over the 2023 hack. The state is seeking to dismiss the lawsuit, and a judge has scheduled a call in November to set a date for a hearing on that motion. Instead, the state audit looked at how the DMV — which has nearly 900 employees and a two-year budget of $311 million — assesses and collects fees and how well its recently expanded online services are working.
Auditors found that the DMV and its computer systems are accurately assessing fees for the roughly 200,000 new drivers’ licenses and more than 350,000 renewals it processes each year, as well as for vehicle registrations, titles and license plates.
Police are investigating an incident that occurred last Wednesday night, during which a woman was shot several times in a Mount Shasta subdivision.
According to the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office, sheriff’s deputies along with CHP officers responded to reports of a shooting in the Mount Shasta Vista Subdivision around 9 p.m. Upon arrival police found a 36-year-old woman with multiple gun shot wounds, to which they provided life saving measures until medical personnel arrived.
The woman had reportedly been shot during a confrontation with a group of armed individuals. Police say witnesses describe the shooter “as an Asian adult male, short and stocky, who wore glasses and a grey beanie type hat.”
Two vehicles associated with the incident and person or persons involved were seen leaving the location immediately after the shooting. One is described as a newer Ford pickup truck, similar to a Raptor. The second is an older SUV, similar to a Honda Pilot. Anyone with information on this incident is asked to contact Detective Sergeant Towers with the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office at 530-841-2900.
Troopers seized more than a combined 10 pounds of suspected fentanyl and heroin in a traffic stop in Douglas County last week according to Oregon State Police officials.
An OSP trooper stopped a vehicle for speeding on northbound Interstate 5 near Sutherlin. OSP said the trooper saw signs of criminal activity during the stop, and called in a drug detection K-9.
OSP said the dog detected traces of drugs in the car, and the vehicle was searched. According to OSP, the search of the vehicle turned up 5.8 pounds of fentanyl and 5 pounds of heroin which was suspected to also have traces of fentanyl.
The driver, Dago Rodrigo Rodrigues, 22, of Oakland, California, and the passenger, Mateo Marin Peraza, 20, also of Oakland, were arrested. They were sent to the Douglas County Jail on charges of unlawful possession and delivery of fentanyl and heroin.
The BLM Oregon & Washington, Lakeview Field Office, plans to conduct a prescribed fire operation starting November 1 through May 1, to burn hand piles resulting from a sagebrush restoration projects.
The prescribed fire activities will focus on burning approximately 3,627 acres of hand piles in the North Warners and Picture Rock Pass area. This project removed juniper to promote the health of native grasses, sagebrush, Mule deer and Sage grouse habitats.
The North Warner prescribed fire will be adjacent to Highway 140 east between Lakeview and Adel and along the Plush Cut-Off Road and is 2,245 acres. The Picture Rock prescribed fire will be located along Highway 31 between Summer Lake and Silver Lake, OR and will be approximately 1,382 acres.
Public and firefighter safety is always the number one priority in burning operations Wind helps disperse smoke created during pile burning operations. Seeing flames and smoke, even after dark, is part of normal operations.
Prescribed fire is one way to reduce the buildup of fuel on the landscape under the safest conditions. Conditions are evaluated each day to determine if ignition will take place. Precipitation, wind, temperature, fuel moisture, and staffing all play a part in when and whether ignition occurs. Firefighters monitor the area after burning is complete. Fire spread from pile footprints occurs and can often be anticipated within the treatment area.
No road or trail closures are planned as part of the prescribed fire. However, during operations, fire personnel and vehicles may be visible to the public. Motorists are reminded to slow down and drive with heightened awareness when passing through active project areas.
The Salem-Keizer School District will become the first in Oregon to install weapons detectors at all six of its comprehensive high schools at a cost of at least $1.5 million, Superintendent Andrea Castañeda announced today.
The district is likely to expand the technology to its middle schools as well, she said. About half of the cost will be covered by money from a settlement with the vaping company Juul, with the remainder coming from Salem-Keizer’s risk management fund.
Conversations about school security and safety systems have been a sensitive topic in Oregon for nearly 30 years, since a 15-year-old student at Thurston High School outside of Springfield opened fire in the school’s cafeteria in 1998, killing two classmates and wounding 25 others. But until now, no school district in the state has installed weapons detection systems — familiar to anyone who has been to the airport, a concert or major league sporting event — at all of its high schools.
Only about 6% of high schools nationwide use the technology, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, and most are large urban high schools serving a high percentage of diverse students from low-income backgrounds.
A push to bring floating offshore wind technology to the Southern Oregon coast was gaining momentum but local tribes have sued the government.
The Oregon Department of Energy saw floating offshore wind playing a critical role in the state’s — and the region’s — renewable energy goals.
The Biden administration had ambitious national goals for developing offshore wind, and the Oregon Coast played a key role. For the U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, or BOEM, the years-long process of identifying areas for development and selecting potential bidders to see if the technology would work off the coast was coming to a close. And then, in a single week in late September — after years of effort, and less than three weeks before BOEM officials expected to choose a company to develop offshore wind — everything fell apart.
Tribes sued, seeking a delay and more information on impacts. Developers backed out. Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek raised concerns. And on Friday, Sept. 27, BOEM called everything off.
Some say it was a combination of many factors — including upfront costs, a lack of market, concerns from local impacted residents, and a lack of state-level support — that led BOEM to cancel its October auction.
JCSO Searching for Missing Woman
PROSPECT, Ore. – Jackson County Sheriff’s Office (JCSO) deputies along with Search and Rescue (SAR) are attempting to locate a woman missing out of Prospect since early Sunday morning, October 20.
April Larson is described as a 41-year-old white woman, 5’6” tall, weighing 120 lbs. She has purple and blue dyed hair with brown eyes.
April was last seen around 1:00 AM going for a walk in the 1st Street area of Prospect. She had a flashlight and is believed to be wearing dark clothing and blue shoes. April was with a friend visiting the area. It is believed that she does not know anyone in the area.
If you have any information on April’s whereabouts, call ECSO dispatch at (541)776-7206 and reference case 24-5775.
Authorities are warning the public about homemade spike strips and booby-trap devices being placed along U.S. Forest Service roads in southwestern Oregon.
People have reported encountering spiked boards on roads in the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest, with some hidden beneath leaves, making them nearly impossible to spot.
“We are saddened to report that someone has been ‘spiking’ Forest Service roads in the Taylor Creek and Shan Creek areas,” the U.S. Forest Service said in a statement on Facebook.
The agency said that, along with finding spikes, people have come across wires strung across roads and trails in the area.
Anyone with information about the spiked boards or other such items is urged to contact the Grants Pass Interagency Office at 541-471-6500 or the Wild Rivers Ranger District at 541-592-4000.
FALL BACK ONE HOUR…starts this Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024.
In a little less than a month, it will be time to set your clocks back to standard time.
Daylight saving time will end at 2 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. Most devices these days will adjust automatically to the time change, but don’t forget to set any traditional clocks back by one hour.
Despite several efforts to end seasonal time changes, we will be falling back in November and springing forward in March for the foreseeable future. Oregon, Washington and California have all made multiple attempts to permanently switch to either standard or daylight saving time — but none of the efforts have stuck.
Changing to daylight saving time requires congressional approval — and that approval doesn’t appear to be likely, despite bipartisan efforts to allow states to make the change.
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