The latest news stories of interest in the Rogue Valley and around the state of Oregon from the digital home of Southern Oregon, Wynne Broadcasting’s RogueValleyMagazine.com
Friday, March 11, 2022
Rogue Valley Weather
Today– Sunny, with a high near 67. Calm wind.
Saturday– A 30 percent chance of rain after 4pm. Snow level 4500 feet. Increasing clouds, with a high near 69. Light and variable wind becoming southwest 9 to 14 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 21 mph.
Sunday– A 30 percent chance of rain before 10am. Snow level 3200 feet rising to 3800 feet in the afternoon. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 56. West wind 3 to 7 mph.
Monday– A 50 percent chance of rain, mainly after 10am. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 63.
Tuesday– Rain, mainly before 10am. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 58.
The West is far from the only region experiencing remarkably dry weather so far this year. According to Thursday’s report from the US Drought Monitor, more than 61% of the contiguous US is in some classification of drought. It is the largest portion of the country in a state of drought since 2012, the year when the continental US saw an all-time record of 65% during September.
And in recent weeks, drought has increased significantly. In the last month alone, the percentage of the continental US in drought has jumped from 55% to more than 61%, an increase of nearly 170,000 square miles; an area larger than the size of California. California’s snowpack, which had been at 160% of normal in December, is down to around 90% due to the lack of new accumulation and some midwinter melting. A recent snow survey from the state Department of Water Resources (DWR) showed reservoirs across the state will likely not fill up again this year.
Jackson and Josephine Counties Declare State of Emergency Over Cannabis
Two counties in Southern Oregon have declared states of emergency related to cannabis, paving the way for a moratorium on new hemp licenses.
Jackson County commissioners declared a local state of emergency Thursday while Josephine County commissioners declared one Wednesday. A new Oregon law requires the state to deny applications for new hemp licenses in counties that declare a cannabis emergency.
The moratorium on new hemp licenses is retroactive to Jan. 1, meaning pending applications since then will be denied. It extends to Dec. 31, or the end of the growing season for industrial hemp as determined by the Oregon Department of Agriculture, whichever comes later, said Jackson County Senior Deputy Administrator Harvey Bragg.
An explosion of hemp and marijuana grows in southern Oregon has overwhelmed regulatory agencies and law enforcement. Last year, state agriculture inspectors found 53% of licensed hemp grows they tested in Jackson and Josephine counties were growing marijuana under the guise of hemp. Hemp and marijuana look alike, but testing THC levels allows inspectors to tell them apart.
Law enforcement agencies found a slew of problems at illegal marijuana grows they busted in 2021, including workers living in squalid conditions, water theft in a region hard-hit by drought, improper use of pesticides and other chemicals, garbage, electrical wiring hazards and evidence of illegal drug trafficking.
Agencies believe organized criminal networks, including foreign drug cartels, are financially backing many of the illegal grows.
UPDATE: Selma Man Arrested After Officers Find Two Dead Men In His Yard
Two men found dead in Selma on Sunday apparently shot and killed each other, according to Lisa Turner, Chief Deputy District Attorney with Josephine County District Attorney’s Office.
According to court documents, Josephine County Deputies and Oregon State Police Troopers responded to a report of a shooting at 3425 Lakeshore Dr. in Selma on Sunday afternoon, March 8, 2022.
When officers arrived, they found Kenneth Ward and David Wonderling dead. One was on the ground next to the driveway, and the other was inside a vehicle parked in the driveway.
As officers attempted to render aid and secure the scene, they were confronted by Thomas Rockholt, who lived on the property and had a gun holstered under his left arm.
For nearly an hour, officers tried negotiating with Rockholt. During that time, Rockholt yelled at officers, slapped his gun, and threw rocks and 2x4s at them.
In addition to threatening officers, Rockholt poured gasoline over the body on the ground and the vehicle in the driveway with the other deceased man. He also said he was going to get a lighter. Eventually, officers shot at Rockholt, hitting him in the abdomen and elbow.
Rockholt, 44, was arraigned Wednesday in Josephine County Circuit Court, charged with two counts of Unlawful Use of a Weapon, one count of Attempt to Commit a Class B Felony, and seven counts of Attempt to Commit a Class C/Unclassified Felony. He is lodged in Josephine County jail, with bail set at $100,000. Rockholt’s next court appearance is scheduled for March 16, 2022.
Roseburg Heroin/Fentanyl Arrest
During the late night hours of Wednesday, March 9th, 2022, detectives with the Douglas Interagency Narcotics Team made an arrest of a local man on suspicion of several drug related crimes.
At approximately 11:00 PM, 33 year old Roseburg resident Alex Childs was detained by Roseburg Police pursuant to a traffic stop in the 400 block of SE Stephens St in Roseburg. At the same time, DINT detectives were executing a search warrant at Childs’ residence in the 500 block of W. Umpqua Street, also in Roseburg.
Childs was lodged at the Douglas County Jail on the following charges:
- Unlawful Possession of heroin
- Attempted Delivery of Heroin
- Unlawful Possession of Schedule II Controlled Substance (Fentanyl)
- Attempted Delivery of Controlled Substance (Fentanyl)
A search of Childs’ residence revealed dealer level quantities of drugs. Detectives located approximately 94 grams of suspected heroin, and approximately 80 grams of suspected fentanyl. Douglas Interagency Narcotics Team (DINT)
Oregon Poison Center Issues Public Health Warning That Opioids, Counterfeit Pills May Contain Deadly Fentanyl
Local health experts are warning the public that pills meant to mimic oxycodone tablets may contain illicitly manufactured fentanyl or other harmful contaminants. These counterfeit pills may be difficult to distinguish from legitimate prescription drugs and are especially dangerous because of their unknown contents.
Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is 50 to 100 times stronger than morphine, is used by doctors to treat severe pain. Fentanyl is pressed into pills that are stamped with “M30,” “E7” or other markers to mimic real oxycodone tablets. Unlike prescription pills, the amount of fentanyl may vary from pill to pill—and the amount in a single pill can be deadly for some people. In addition to fentanyl, these pills may contain a variety of other medicines, including fentanyl analogs, sedatives and anesthetics that may cause overdose. The presence of fentanyl in fake pills is impossible to detect unless it is tested.
The Oregon Poison Center at Oregon Health & Science University is available to provide medical advice and information to the public, and to provide medical consultation for health care workers with patients who may have been exposed to these pills.
Prevent opioid overdoses — The key advice from Oregon Poison Center: Only consume pills and other drugs that have been obtained from a pharmacy and have been prescribed to you. These prescriptions should be taken exactly as prescribed by your doctor. It is not safe to consume someone else’s prescription drugs or anything purchased online or on the streets. Pills from these non-prescribed sources may be counterfeit and contain dangerous ingredients like fentanyl.
The center also recommends active communication—talk with your teens about the risks of substance use. Discuss the risks associated with consuming drugs purchased off the internet, from social media sites or from anyone who is not their health care provider. Look for changes in their behavior, including irregular eating or sleeping patterns, loss of interest in usual activities, or signs of depression or anxiety.
People who use illicit drugs, or whose loved ones use illicit drugs, should take precautions against overdoses, including carrying multiple doses of naloxone, the opioid reversal drug. Naloxone is available at pharmacies in Oregon without a prescription.
Signs that someone is experiencing an opioid overdose include small, constricted “pinpoint” pupils; pale, bluish skin; vomiting or foaming at the mouth; slow, shallow breathing; or, they may appear sleepy or lose consciousness. Call 9-1-1 right away if someone is unconscious, not breathing or if naloxone has been given. Medical experts at the Oregon Poison Center can help if you or a loved one is experiencing unwanted symptoms after taking pills or using illicit substances.
If you or a loved one is experiencing a poison emergency, call the Oregon Poison Center at 1-800-222-1222. A trained health care provider is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The call is free and confidential.
Oregon reports 433 new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases, 54 new deaths
PORTLAND, Ore. — There are 54 new COVID-19-related deaths in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll to 6,854, Oregon Health Authority (OHA) reported at 12:01 a.m. today.
OHA reported 433 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 as of 12:01 a.m. today, bringing the state total to 698,982.
The new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases reported today are in the following counties: Baker (2), Benton (25), Clackamas (25), Clatsop (3), Columbia (5), Coos (14), Crook (4), Curry (3), Deschutes (15), Douglas (14), Grant (6), Hood River (3), Jackson (33), Jefferson (10), Josephine (13), Klamath (2), Lane (37), Lincoln (3), Linn (15), Malheur (3), Marion (32), Multnomah (65), Polk (10), Umatilla (1), Union (1), Wasco (3), Washington (78) and Yamhill (8).
Oregon and Washington will lift mask mandates for most indoor public spaces and schools on March 12, but in accordance with federal requirements, masks must still be worn in some settings including public transit and health care facilities. Under both states’ latest guidance, businesses, individual school districts and local governments and public health authorities can decide whether to extend mask requirements.
Here’s a look at where masks must continue to be worn, or where they could still be required, after March 12.
Public transportation: On March 10, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced it will extend its mask mandate for public transit through April 18. That means people will need to wear masks on planes, buses, trains and in transit hubs. The mandate was originally set to expire on March 18, but was extended by a month to allow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to develop a revised framework for when, and under what circumstances, masks should be worn.
Health care settings: The Oregon Health Authority (OHA) and the Washington state Department of Health (DOH) will uphold mask requirements for health care settings including:
- Hospitals
- Doctor offices
- Dentist offices
- Urgent care
- Dialysis centers
Schools: The Oregon Department of Education (ODE) and the DOH will not require masks in K-12 schools, colleges and universities past March 12, but individual school districts can choose to mandate them.
Both the ODE and the DOH have said students, teachers and staff who test positive for COVID-19 should isolate for five days, then wear a mask around others at home and in public for an additional five days after the end of isolation.
Several colleges and universities, including Oregon State University and Portland State University, have released updated guidelines and will require masks in student health care centers, childcare settings and public transportation.
Businesses: Restaurants, gyms, grocery stores and other private businesses in Oregon and Washington can continue to require masks after the statewide mandates lift.
Woman Gives Birth on Portland Sidewalk Then Walks Away
Police say a woman gave birth on a sidewalk in downtown Portland and then walked away. Bystanders who saw it happen covered the baby and called 911.
Police found the mother several blocks away. Officers say she was suffering a mental health crisis. They say the baby girl appeared to be in good condition. The mother was taken to a hospital and the newborn was taken to a children’s hospital for treatment.
$162 million dedicated specifically for Klamath Basin restoration projects in the infrastructure law
Oregon’s U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden announced that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will begin accepting grant proposals for restoration activities in the Klamath Basin. Over the next five years, project proposals that are approved will receive federal funding to address longstanding water problems in the Basin.
As Chairman of the Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, Merkley secured this pool of $162 million dedicated specifically for Klamath Basin restoration projects in the infrastructure law. USFWS invites restoration project proposals from Tribes, local and state agencies, non-governmental organizations, and other conservation partners who are committed to finding long-term solutions that will move the Basin forward.
Project proposals must demonstrate how planned restoration activity will improve conditions and achieve habitat restoration for native fish and other aquatic species throughout the Klamath Basin. These project grants are intended to support or help improve river, riparian, lake, and wetland habitats, which historically supported millions of fish and water birds.
Applicants are encouraged to submit project proposals that seek out or build upon opportunities for collaboration with other conservation partners in the Klamath Basin. Senator Merkley has also used his position on the Appropriations Committee, along with Senator Wyden as a senior member of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, time and again over the years to fight for funding as the Klamath Basin has faced severe drought challenges.
The Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission voted to discontinue all of the 18 Russian distilled spirits they sell at liquor stores.
OLCC Commissioners voted to delist Russian distilled spirits; that means those products will no longer be for sale at Oregon liquor stores, and the OLCC will no longer carry the products in its warehouse. The OLCC had carried or “listed” 18 Russian distilled spirits products, all of them vodkas.
The OLCC regularly discontinues, or “delists”, items for sale if they don’t sell well. In 2021, OLCC discontinued the sale of 260 items but added more than 100 new products.
Last week, in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Commission voted to ban the sale of Russian distilled spirits and directed liquor stores across the state to remove them from their shelves. The supply of Russian vodka still in the OLCC warehouse is being returned to suppliers.
The Commission undertook both actions as part of the state’s commitment to supporting Ukraine and aligns with similar measures taken by other states. https://www.oregon.gov/olcc/Docs/news/news_releases/2022/nr030922-March-Commission-Meeting-Special.pdf
Green Crabs Becoming Severe Problem Along the Coast
European green crabs have been in Oregon’s coastal waters for quite some time. The voracious and habitat-destroying invasive species has been here for more than a quarter-century.
But spiking numbers now have state officials poised to take action to address a problem that’s severe enough in neighboring Washington that the state’s governor has issued an emergency order calling for eradication.
“It’s serious business,” said Mitch Vance, shellfish project leader for the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife in Newport. “We’ve monitored this for many years, but the numbers we’ve seen in the last couple of years are certainly higher than in the past.”
One proposal expected to be approved as early as this spring calls for increasing the number of green crab that recreational crabbers can take in any given day. Currently, that number is 10 – the same number of native Dungeness crab that constitute a day’s “limit.”
While no new number has yet been agreed upon, state officials and marine biologists are looking at something close to 35.
Vance noted that crabbers who find green crab in their pots currently are in a quandary because green crab are on the state’s prohibitive species list. That listing prohibits anyone from putting a banned species back into the water.
Since adult green crabs are considerably smaller than Dungeness, a limit of only 10 doesn’t leave anyone who catches them much to work with.
But since green crab are fine to eat – several cookbooks devoted to green crab recipes are on the market – the idea is to set the daily limit at a high enough figure to make catching them worthwhile.
Vance said he is not a proponent of unlimited harvest, however, because green crabs, despite their colorful name, aren’t always green when they come out of the water.
“They aren’t perfectly identifiable,” he said. “Depending on conditions and time of the year, you’ll find different sizes in different areas and different colors.”
What is agreed upon is that green crabs present threats to both native habitat and existing ocean species.
“Green crabs are predators and ecological engineers,” Sylvia Yamada, an Oregon State University biologist and a long-time leading researcher on green crabs, said during a recent presentation. “They can decimate cockles, mussels and urchins.”
In addition to feeding on young Dungeness, their habit of sifting through sandy sediment in search of food is lethal to the eelgrass meadows that are to numerous ocean creatures what old-growth forests are to myriad on-land species, she said.
“They can transform an eelgrass meadow to bare sub-strait,” Yamada said. “Remove that ell grass and you remove a whole community.”
A report released late last year sounded alarm bells about the growing European green crab population throughout Coos Bay. The report, part of an ongoing study by scientists at South Slough Reserve and OSU researchers, found that, on average, 73.3 percent of crab species trapped at 13 sites around Coos Bay were green crabs.
“Green crab numbers have reached a critical point where we can begin to expect negative impacts on surrounding coastal and estuarine habitat and other organisms,” Shon Schooler, lead scientist and research coordinator at South Slough Reserve, said in a statement accompanying release of the report. “This in turn may impact our local fisheries.”
At this point, green crabs are so well established in many West Coast estuaries and sloughs that any long-term goal of ultimate eradication may no longer be possible, Yamada said.
If ocean temperatures were to remain as cool as they have been historically, nature might take care of the problem, she said, noting that green crabs, with their short, five-year life span, might die out entirely if immersed in the cool temperatures they don’t prefer.
But given a decided trend toward a warming ocean, that sort of natural extinction is becoming less and less of a possibility, she said.
That certainly seems to be the case in Washington, where more than 70,000 green crab were trapped and removed last year from the Lummi Nation’s Sea Pond near Bellingham.
Those numbers have sounded alarm bells there, where Gov. Jay Inslee has issued an emergency order addressing the “exponential increase” in the European green crab population.
The order directed state fish and wildlife officials to implement emergency measures to “effect the eradication of or to prevent establishment and expansion of the European green crab.” It also asked the state Legislature to provide emergency funding as soon as possible to aid the effort.
The Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission is among a growing number of groups in this state urging closer attention to the green crab invasion.
“They are definitely on our and a lot of peoples’ radar,” said Tim Novotny, the commission’s communications manager. “Right now there’s not a lot that can be done about it, but with the uptick in crab numbers we’ve been seeing the past few years, I think this is going to get a lot more attention.
“It’s a potential threat to the Dungeness crab population. And anytime there’s a threat to the stock, there’s a concern for the fishery.”
Police Ask for Public’s Help in Search For Victim’s Roommate In Albany Homicide – A 42-year-old woman, the roommate of a 75-year-old man whose death was ruled a homicide, is wanted for questioning in the case, Albany police officials said.
Elvin “Al” Pierce was found dead by officers around 9:10 p.m. Friday after a 911 caller reported a man was unconscious and not breathing. Investigators at that time said the circumstances surrounding his death were suspicious.
APD said Pierce’s roommate, 42-year-old Elizabeth Nicole Tyler Jimenez, wasn’t there at the home when officers found Pierce dead and they don’t know where she is. Authorities did not specifically state whether Jimenez is a suspect or if there are any charges against her.
Pierce’s car, a tan 2004 Buick Park Avenue with Oregon license plate 081FAX, is also missing.
Jimenez, who investigators believe is currently without a job, is described as often visiting local soup kitchens. She also has skills as a masseuse and a seamstress, officials said.
Anyone with information is urged to contact APD at 541-917-7680 or APD Lt. Buck Pearce at 541-917-3209.
Klamath County Sheriff’s Office Asks for Public’s Help in Search For Trucker Suspect
The first real clue to come in on all the missing person cases in the area. Help Klamath Falls Oregon Sheriff Office ID this trucker. He was the last to see this woman alive and could be the key to not only solving this woman’s disappearance but a number of the hundred other women missing in PNW. IF you have any information, please call (541) 883-5130
https://www.facebook.com/pg/Have-You-Seen-Me-Southern-Oregons-Missing-People-161249961222839/posts/