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, June 17, 2022
Rogue Valley Weather
Task Force Busts Black-Market Marijuana Grow Near Eagle Point; Seizes 12k Plants, 3k Lbs. Processed Cannabis; Code Enforcement Fines Total $67k
EAGLE POINT, Ore. – Illegal Marijuana Enforcement Team (IMET) detectives along with Jackson County Sheriff’s Office (JCSO) deputies served a search warrant on a marijuana grow site in rural Eagle Point at 6:45 this morning. The property, located on the 1500 block of Old Dry Creek Road in Eagle Point, contained approximately 12,287 illegal cannabis plants in 32 greenhouses, and 3,000 lbs. of processed black-market marijuana. On the property seven workers were detained, interviewed, and released.
This case was the result of a month-long investigation of an illegal/black market marijuana grow site. There was no licensing for any type of cannabis growing, handling, or processing at this location. The primary suspect has been identified. Investigators from the Oregon State Police Southwest Region Drug Enforcement Section team, Josephine Marijuana Enforcement Team (JMET) from Josephine County Sheriff’s Office, and Medford Area Drug and Gang Enforcement (MADGE) assisted with the operation.
In addition to the criminal investigation, Jackson County Code Enforcement and Oregon Water Resources Department District 13 Watermasters responded to the scene to conduct independent investigations. Each agency identified multiple violations that will be addressed by enforcing penalties and fines. Code Enforcement issued citations totaling $67,000 for unapproved greenhouse structures, unapproved marijuana production, and unpermitted electrical installations. Watermasters observed a complex array of water infrastructure. While the property does have water rights conveyed through the Medford Irrigation District canal, well water use for the irrigation of a commercial crop was observed. The well use is not part of the water right. The unauthorized use of water from the well is subject to both civil and criminal penalties.
While regulatory agencies investigate permitted cannabis operations, IMET is focusing on the black-market marijuana trade in the Rogue Valley. IMET is a multi-agency task force funded by a grant from the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission. The task force includes personnel from JCSO, Medford Police Department, and the Jackson County District Attorney’s Office.
Investigations are open and ongoing with detectives working additional leads. No further information is currently available for release. – MPD Case #22-9872 Jackson Co. Sheriff’s Office
Oregon State Police Arrest Josephine County Murder Suspect in Bend
On May 28, 2022, Josephine County Sheriff Office Deputies conducted a welfare check in the 7800 block of Old Redwood Highway. They located two deceased persons inside their residence. They were identified as Marilyn Janson (81) and David Janson (60) both of Wilderville.
The Oregon State Police Southwest Region Major Crimes Section were contacted to lead the investigation into their deaths. Investigators developed a suspect in the case and on June 8, 2022, arrested Timothy R. Olney (50) in the Bend area.
Olney was transported back to Josephine County and lodged in the Josephine County Jail on the following charges: Murder I x 2, Unlawful Use of a Dangerous Weapon x 2 and Unlawful Use of a Motor Vehicle x 1. Oregon State Police
UPDATE: Missing and Endangered Ashland Man Located
UPDATE: 6/16/22 2:20 p.m. Harold has been located and is now with family members. Thank you to all who assisted in the search.
JCSO Case 22-3074 — Jackson County Sheriff’s Office (JCSO) is searching for a missing and endangered man last seen on South Valley View Road in Ashland. Harold Marcrum, 26, from Pittsburg, Pennsylvania is described as a white male, 6’ tall weighing between 180-200 lbs. with blue eyes and blonde hair. He was last seen wearing a black shirt with black shoes.
Harold has been missing since Monday when he told his brother he was going for a walk on the Greenway from South Valley View Rd. to downtown Ashland. Harold left his wallet and cell phone behind but took his laptop.
JCSO Search and Rescue (SAR) is actively searching in the area. If you have seen Harold or know anything of his whereabouts, call SAR Sergeant Shawn Richards at (541) 591-1843.
Rogue Girls Fire Camp Hosts 3rd Annual Camp
Fourteen young women, ages 16-20, will get a chance to experience and learn about a career in fire service this weekend as they participate in the third annual Rogue Girls Fire Camp (RGFC). This year’s camp takes place June 17, 18 & 19th and is being held at the Regional Training Center in White City. New this year is the addition of a third full day and re-incorporating two overnight stays to simulate station life.
Putting on and taking off turnout gear with air packs will be just the beginning for the campers. Each day will be filled with a variety of skills including opening and using a hydrant, pulling hose, and some good basic fire and life safety knowledge like how to use a fire extinguisher and Hands-Only CPR. There will be guest speakers from other agencies who will discuss some of the other career possibilities in our area and how to prepare for those jobs.
The Rogue Girls Fire Camp cadre of instructors include fire personnel who have a range of roles in fire service. They are Fire Captains, Engineers, Firefighters, a Deputy Fire Marshal, Volunteers and Student Firefighters from local fire agencies in Jackson and Josephine Counties. The mix of experience provides a depth of knowledge and an ability to connect with the young applicants. There are instructors who have recently been through the hiring process along with women who have worked in the fire service for over 25 years.
The free camp would have not been possible if it were not for the generosity of this year’s sponsors. We would like to say thank you to all of those who believe in our cause and the desire to bring more diversity to emergency services: Firehouse Five Foundation, PHD Studios, Firehouse Subs Medford, West Family Foundation, Texas Roadhouse, Crossfit Steelhead and of course our local fire departments.
For more information on the Rogue Girls Fire Camp, please visit us on Facebook – www.facebook.com/RogueGirlsFire If you would like to get involved in this event in the future, please send us an email: oguegirlsfire@gmail.com“>roguegirlsfire@gmail.com
The Oregon Housing and Community Services announced funding of more than $73 million to build 625 affordable homes in wildfire-affected counties across the state.
More than $30 million of those awards are earmarked for Jackson County, with plans to build 425 housing units.
Talent Mobile Estates will receive $7.5 million to rebuild 89 units for a resident-owned cooperative. The manufactured dwelling park was destroyed in the Almeda Fire in September 2020.
Many of the residents were Latino/a/x families who worked in agriculture and other low-wage service jobs. They have been displaced from their community for the past 20 months. The Phoenix-Talent School District reported that nearly 40% of its students lost their homes to the fire, causing a significant social, emotional and economic disruption.
OHA holds media briefing on COVID-19 tomorrow at 11 a.m.
PORTLAND, Ore. — Oregon Health Authority (OHA) is hosting its monthly media availability to give an update on the COVID-19 pandemic on Friday, June 17.
Dean Sidelinger, M.D. MSEd, health officer and state epidemiologist at OHA, will discuss the state of the pandemic, planning for the expected expansion of COVID-19 vaccines for younger children and answer reporters’ questions at 11 a.m. via Zoom. He will be joined by Dawn Nolt, M.D., professor of pediatrics (infectious diseases) in the OHSU School of Medicine, who will provide remarks regarding vaccines for young children.
Interested reporters can join via this link. A livestream will be available for the public on YouTube.
New rules that go into effect July 1 will require health care providers reimbursed with public funds to work with credentialed health care interpreters qualified or certified by Oregon Health Authority (OHA).
The rules drafted by OHA reflect changes in the requirement for health care interpreting services in Oregon that were made by the state Legislature’s passage of House Bill 2359 during the 2021 session. These new rules will ensure that people for whom English is a second language (those with limited English proficiency) or who use sign language can access high-quality interpreting services so they can receive health care like anyone else in Oregon.
This access is critical to achieving the state’s mission of eliminating health inequities by 2030. In addition to requiring publicly reimbursed health care providers to work with a qualified or certified health care interpreter listed on OHA’s 900-plus-member central registry, the law outlines recordkeeping requirements for health care providers and interpreting service companies when they work with a health care interpreter.
Among the requirements are that they document the interpreter’s name, central registry number and language
interpreted. The law also requires health care providers to supply appropriate personal protective equipment, or PPE, at no cost to a health care interpreter for onsite interpreting services.
And it directs OHA to develop policies and processes to improve the quality, consistency, availability and affordability of training, and qualification and certification standards, for health care interpreters, as well as accuracy and usability of the OHA central registry.
Oregon reports first case of potential hMPXV
Potential monkeypox in adult who traveled to affected area
PORTLAND, Ore. – Oregon Health Authority (OHA) is reporting the first case of probable hMPXV (denoting the human version of the monkeypox virus) in Oregon.
The individual identifies as an adult male and has traveled to a community with confirmed cases. He remains isolated and is following recommendations from public health officials and medical providers. Confirmatory testing is being done at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
OHA is working closely with the CDC, local public health and the patient’s health care providers to ensure appropriate actions are taken to identify individuals at potential risk for exposure.
“hMPXV does not spread easily between people, so the risk to other people is generally very low,” said Dr. Richard Leman, Public Health Physician with OHA. “Unlike COVID-19, which can be spread easily from person to person through the air over several feet of space, hMPXV spreads between people primarily through direct contact with infectious sores, scabs, or body fluids. Less commonly, it can be spread by respiratory secretions during prolonged face-to-face contact.”
Though hMPXV is in the same group of viruses as smallpox, it is not smallpox. hMPXV is much harder to catch, and it is not as severe. There are two strains of this virus, and the one that’s circulating now causes milder disease. Most people are recovering at home without any special treatment. Additionally, there have been no deaths reported nationwide.
Historically, people have become infected by handling wild animals, but hMPXV can also be transmitted person-to-person. This can happen through prolonged, close contact, either skin-to-skin, contact with fluid from hMPXV lesions, or less commonly from large respiratory droplets.
“An ill person who coughs or sneezes on someone else could possibly spread the infection. However, most transmission in the current outbreak appears to be from prolonged, skin-to-skin contact,” Dr. Leman said.
What are the symptoms?
Initial symptoms of hMPXV often include fever, headache and muscle aches. These symptoms are followed in one to three days by a rash, often on the face, spreading to the limbs. The rash starts with flat patches that then form large, firm bumps, which then fill with fluid or pus. These then scab and fall off, usually over two to four weeks. Symptoms usually start within seven to 14 days after exposure, with a range of five to 21 days.
When can a person ill with hMPXV spread it to others?
Ill people can potentially transmit the infection from when symptoms start until the rash has resolved. However, this is not an easy infection to catch. hMPXV typically requires prolonged, close contact. People at increased risk include sexual partners of an ill person, or family members and healthcare workers caring for someone ill with hMPXV.
Are there vaccines for hMPXV?
There is a vaccine specifically for hMPXV and smallpox called Jynneos. It could be used to protect people with high-risk exposure to someone ill with hMPXV. There is another vaccine, ACAM2000, that is approved to prevent smallpox. It could be used under special arrangements with CDC, but it is more likely to cause adverse effects.
Vaccines would be used to protect people who have known exposure to someone ill with hMPXV infection. It works to prevent or decrease disease even after someone was exposed. Members of the public who haven’t been exposed don’t need this vaccine.
How is OHA responding to the outbreak?
Currently, there are 84 cases across 18 states, no deaths and one case in Oregon.
OHA is working with community partners to share information about hMPXV, the outbreak and infection prevention strategies with people who might be at increased risk of infection. OHA is sharing information with clinicians about the outbreak, how to recognize and test for hMPXV illness and how to prevent spread.
For more information on hMPXV, visit this FAQ page.
Click here for CDC information on hMPXV, social gatherings and safer sex.
Here are images of hMPXV.
Federal and local law enforcement agencies announced two dozen arrests following a weeklong warrant sweep across the Portland metro last week dubbed, “Operation Safer Multnomah.”
The U.S. Marshal Service said they targeted and arrested people wanted for charges including murder, attempted murder, armed robbery, and assaults.
During the week, Marshals also arrested a second suspect in the theft of more than 30 guns from a North Portland parking lot, Alexander Barber. Police arrested the first suspect in May after a chase and crash on the I-5 bridge.
The operation also led to the arrest of Jimmy Pearce, charged in a 2017 homicide that occurred at the Xpose Club in
Washington County.
The operation ended with 24 arrests, an agency spokesperson said. Marshals said they also recovered 21 guns, including nine that were reported stolen and three that were ghost guns. The agency said marshals also found various drugs during arrests and search warrants.
Senator Merkley Speaks Out On Interest Rate Hike And Gas Prices
The Federal Reserve announced the biggest interest rate hike in 28 years: by three-fourths of a percentage point.
Senator Jeff Merkley says the rate hike will lead to higher costs on buying a home, a car, and paying down your credit card debt.
In bringing down consumer prices, the senator listed a couple of possibilities, including getting the grain out of Ukraine and passing legislation that would support families with the cost of childcare.
He also mentioned ways to bring down gas prices. — “There are several steps. The first is you can do a massive release from the strategic petroleum reserve, which the President is doing,” Sen. Merkley explained.
“The second, is we could pass here in congress a windfall profits tax. The price isn’t just driven by the world price of oil, it’s driven by the gouging of oil companies. And this is really hurting families when it’s taking $60 or more to fill up your gas tank.” The senator would like to see a faster transition off fossil fuels.
Klamath Basin Drought Affects Everyone
The Klamath Basin has been plagued by drought and a lack of water for years. Last year, the region faced one of the worst droughts on record, and this year Gov. Brown declared a drought emergency in Klamath County for the third year in a row.
The effects are far-reaching for tribes, ranchers, farmers, waterfowl advocates and people who rely on residential wells.
Salmon numbers remain low. Last year, the Yurok Tribe in Northern California faced a catastrophic fish kill. The losses will affect salmon populations for years to come. But this year, salmon numbers are faring better,
said Barry McCovey, the Fisheries Department director for the Yurok Tribe.
Klamath County is facing another year of a drought emergency, leaving residents with wells that have gone dry. The county has received help from the state to truck in water.
Kelley Minty Morris is the chair of the Klamath County Board of Commissioners. She said the county remains in a tough spot, even with some precipitation from earlier in the year. Some farmers and ranchers in Southern Oregon have been contemplating their future as a lack of water continues to plague the region.
Oregon Farmers Coping With Fertilizer Shortage
Oregon farmers are coping with a fertilizer crisis along with the rest of the agriculture community across the
country, brought on by soaring fossil fuel prices and industry consolidation.
The price of synthetic fertilizer has more than doubled since 2021, causing great stress in farm country.
This crunch is particularly tough on those who grow corn, which accounts for half of U.S. nitrogen fertilizer use. The National Corn Growers Association predicts that its members will spend 80% more in 2022 on synthetic fertilizers than they did in 2021. A recent study estimates that on average, this will represent $128,000 in added costs per farm.
In response, the Biden administration announced a new grant program March 11 “to support innovative American-made fertilizer to give U.S. farmers more choices in the marketplace.” The U.S. Department of Agriculture will invest $500 million to try to lower fertilizer costs by increasing production. But since this probably isn’t enough money to construct new fertilizer plants, it’s not clear how the money will be spent.
One reason U.S. fertilizer prices have spiked is that farmers are beholden to imports. COVID-19 disrupted supply chains, especially from China, a major fertilizer producer. And the war in Ukraine has cut off access to potash, an important potassium source, from Russia and Belarus.
Explorers Have Discovered Part Of The Real “Pirate” Ship That Inspired The Movie “Goonies” Filmed in Astoria
According to National Geographic, state officials confirmed that timbers from the shipwreck of the 17th-century Spanish galleon were found in sea caves earlier this week.
The legend of the Santo Cristo de Burgos reportedly inspired filmmaker Steve Spielberg to dream up the idea for the 1985 movie — about a group of kids out to seek a sunken ship’s pirate booty and save their family homes from foreclosure.
For 300 years, tales of the shipwreck spread, with the area’s indigenous tribes passing down the legend of a ship that had vanished off the Oregon coast around 1693, carrying porcelain, beeswax and pricey Chinese silk. The Santo Cristo de Burgos disappeared around the Manzanita, Oregon, coast
The new discovery “confirms that our ancestral people knew what they were talking about,” Robert Kentta, cultural resources director for the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz and a member of the Siletz Tribal Council, told National Geographic.
The recovery required a team of archeologists, law enforcers and search-and-rescue specialists, who have been searching for the past 15 years. According to National Geographic, powerful tides made for a tricky and dangerous operation that had to be perfectly timed. Scott Williams, an archeologist who had been searching for the ship, told National Geographic, “I’m impressed and relieved.”
The legend of the ship reportedly inspired Steven Spielberg’s 1985 classic “The Goonies.” Steven Spielberg had reportedly seen a newspaper story about the legendary ships and its precious booty, which inspired him to co-write and executive produce the cult-favorite film, starring Sean Astin, Corey Feldman and Josh Brolin.
It, in turn, inspired Craig Andes, a local commercial fisherman who, according to Nat Geo, “belonged to a ‘Goonies gang’ of kids” growing up in the area. As an adult, in 2013, he came across timber remnants that he thought might have once been part of the Santo Cristo de Burgos.
Andes contacted the all-volunteer Maritime Archaeology Society (MAS) and urged them to test a sample of the wood. “I was convinced it was driftwood,” MAS president Scott Williams told National Geographic. “To think that 300-year-old ship timbers could survive the Oregon coast was just crazy.”
Archaeologists, law officers, and search-and-rescue personnel executed the risky emergency recovery of 17th-century shipwreck timbers from the Oregon coast earlier this week. They are believed to belong to the Santo Cristo de Burgos, a Spanish galleon that disappeared en route from the Philippines to Mexico in 1693.
But a lab analysis confirmed the tropical Anacardiaceae hardwood was of the variety and age that would have been used for the Santo Cristo, prompting the recovery efforts. The ship’s timbers are currently stashed at Columbia River Maritime Museum, in Astoria, Ore., where they are being scrutinized by historians and experts.
As archeological investigator Jim Delgado, the senior vice president of cultural resource management firm SEARCH, Inc., told National Geographic: “These timbers are physical evidence for the stories that have been known and passed down through generations.”
The “Goonies” ship will never be found though. The 105-foot-long Inferno, built for the movie, was destroyed after production.
Oregon State Police Remind Motorists It Is Road Construction Season
Oregon State Police are reminding motorists it is the road construction season, and in many cases, that means slowing down when necessary. Construction zones are there to protect our highway workers, so they can also go home at the end of the workday.
BeAlert and #PayAttention
Inattentive driving is the leading cause of work zone crashes. Work Zones can have narrow lanes, closed lanes, closed shoulders, and workers very close to live traffic.
When possible, #MoveOver and #SlowDown for highway workers – Give workers more room between you and them. Obey all speed zone signs. Speeds may be reduced for your safety and the safety of workers.
Orange is Your Clue! OSP says, when you see orange signs, barrels, cones, and barricades – slow down and watch for highway workers. Traffic fines double and sometimes triple in work zones.
ODOT PROJECTS: https://www.oregon.gov/odot/projects/pages/default.aspx — Check TripCheck: https://www.tripcheck.com/
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