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
Wednesday, November 30, 2022
Rogue Valley Weather
Local Warming Shelters Need Volunteers
Local Warming Shelters are extending days of operation due to colder weather on the way this week. For these shelters to stay open they’re asking for volunteers.
The Medford Severe Weather Shelter, which is run through Access, just announced it will be extending its days of operation. They will now be open from Wednesday, November 30th through Friday, December 2nd from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 a.m. The shelter is located at 332 W. 6th Street. (https://accesshelps.org/medford-severe-weather-shelter)
Matthew Rogers, Outreach Support Supervisor with Access, says they served around 50 people Monday night and expect to serve around 70 to 80 individuals Tuesday.
“If all they want to do is come in get warm or get food or hang out for a bit and leave, they totally can. Everybody has different abilities and different understanding of what they’re comfortable with,” says Rogers.
The Ashland Warming Shelter is open tonight as well, Avram Sacks the head volunteer says they saw 25 people Monday night and also expect their numbers to go up Tuesday as well.
“I would imagine we would get a few more every day. Looking at the weather it looks like we’re going to stay open at least till Monday morning but that’s not official yet. Based on the weather predictions, it looks like it’s going to be cold with possible snow through the weekend,” says Sacks.
Both shelters said they are happy to provide this service to people who need it, however, the only way they are able to stay open is if they have enough volunteers.
Rogers says their issue isn’t having the space or money to have the shelter open, “The big barrier is needing people to be there to help.” Sacks says they still need people who are willing to spend the night, “We also need more people that are willing to prepare and bring a warm meal,” says Sacks.
The shelter is looking for as many volunteers as they can get, ideally so people only need to do it once or twice a month. “Plus a lot of our volunteers are older – they’re from the churches, they’re in their 70’s and 80’s. It’d be nice to get some younger people in there, maybe 50’s and 60’s and younger,” Sacks said.
Anyone interested in volunteering can visit the shelter at Pioneer Hall in Ashland, or reach out to Sacks at 541-220-7307.
Both shelters also accept donations of warm clean clothing and blankets. You can contact Access’s Donor Support Team at (458) 488-1220 for information about dropping off donations. You can text MED4SHELTERS to 888777 for the latest shelter updates. For Ashland’s warming shelter, people can drop off donations at the Pony Espresso in Ashland.
Flu Cases Spiking In Southern Oregon
According to the latest influenza data from the state, flu cases are spiking in Southern Oregon.
Southern Oregon healthcare providers recorded 295 confirmed flu cases Nov. 13-19, according to the latest Oregon Health Authority Flu Bites report issued Monday.
The 295 cases more than tripled the 97 cases reported the week prior, according to the OHA report, which draws from data voluntarily submitted to the Centers For Disease Control from healthcare providers including Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center Laboratory in Medford, Sky Lakes Medical Center in Klamath Falls and Mercy Medical Center in Roseburg.
The 295 confirmed cases stem from 1,544 tests in the region this flu season, giving the region a test positivity rate of 19.1%. All but one of those 295 cases were found to be the Influenza A strain.
The test positivity rate more than doubled that week. For comparison, the week of Nov. 6-12 had a rate of 9.7% based on 97 cases out of 1,005 tests, according to last week’s report, which draws from CDC data submitted through the National Respiratory and Enteric Virus Surveillance System.
Southern Oregon’s 295 cases constituted 20.15% of the state’s 1,464 confirmed cases as of Monday. Three of those statewide cases were found to be Influenza B, with the remaining cases confirmed to be the Influenza A strain.
Calls and emails to Jackson County Public Health were not immediately returned Monday afternoon.
Statewide, health officials tracked 10 influenza outbreaks that week, up from four the previous week, according to the latest report. Some 3.1% of the 1,464 cases across the state were emergency room visits for influenza-like illness.
The region with the most positive tests was the Portland Metro area with 646 cases — 13.6% of the 4,738 tests submitted, according to the state report. The highest percentage in the state was the Columbia Gorge area, with 27.8%, some 160 cases out of 575 tests.
Statewide, the latest data from the CDC’s Influenza-like Illness Surveillance Network data shows Oregon at “High” levels of activity, with neighboring states Washington and California both at “Very High.”
The report noted declines in influenza immunizations across the state compared with the prior seasons, which it partly attributes to an overlap in COVID-19 booster recommendations with the peak flu immunization times.
“Generally those getting a COVID-19 immunization by itself are unlikely to return later for a missed influenza immunization,” the report states.
Medford Police Investigate Discharge of a Firearm at Tinseltown
On November 23, 2022 at approximately 11:05 p.m., Medford Police Officers were dispatched to Tinseltown located at 651 Medford Center for a report of a self-inflicted gunshot wound inside the movie theatre. Officers responded and located the involved male outside the theatre with an apparent gunshot wound to his thigh. The male was transported to a local hospital for treatment.
The involved male was under the influence of alcohol and other substances and was not cooperative with the initial investigation. Witness reports of the incident and the evidence on scene helped to confirm this was self-inflicted.
The involved male has been discharged from the hospital and does not have a current address. This case is still under investigation and will be referred to the District Attorney’s Office for consideration of criminal charges.
There is no further information available for release at this time. Medford Police Dept.
Forecast for Blustery Winter Weather in Pacific Northwest Makes Preparation Top Priority
Check your emergency outage kit, keep mobile devices charged, revisit family storm prep plans
Forecasters are calling for a cold and windy next few days for the Pacific Northwest, which means you should update your household outage kit.
“Wintery blasts can be unpredictable and lead to power outages,” said Allen Berreth, vice president, operations. “We are always prepared to respond with crews at the ready to repair damage as fast as possible and reduce the amount of time any customer is without service.”
Pacific Power’s meteorology team is forecasting periods of wind, rain and snow from late tonight through Thursday. Gusty winds may lead to a few power outages for coastal areas, the Willamette Valley, Pendleton and Walla Walla Wednesday morning. Elsewhere, heavy snow could cause power outages in portions of far southern Oregon and northern California on Thursday, including in and near Klamath Falls and Mount Shasta City. Another round of cold, unsettled weather is expected to arrive late in the week.
To ensure that you are prepared for outages, we ask that every home maintain an Emergency Outage Kit that includes the following:
- Flashlight
- Battery-operated radio and clock
- Extra batteries
- Non-perishable foods
- Manual can opener
- Bottled water
- Blankets
If a power outage occurs, Pacific Power encourages customers to first check their fuses and circuit breakers. If the power failure was not caused inside the home or business, customers should report the outage to Pacific Power at 1-877-508-5088 or by texting OUT to 722797.
Get the App. The Pacific Power App for mobile devices can become invaluable during an outage. You can report and track an outage affecting you from your mobile device. The app is free and can be downloaded on the App Store or Google Play.
Pacific Power suggests these safety precautions once a storm has hit:
- Stay away from all downed power lines and utility lines. Even if the lines are not sparking, they could be energized and extremely dangerous. Call 911 immediately, then report it to Pacific Power at 1-877-508-5088.
- Extensive rain may cause floodingor landslides. Be especially careful of any standing water or even soggy ground. A live down wire may seem to be a safe distance away, but it is still extremely dangerous due to wet conditions.
- Don’t drive over downed power lines.
About Pacific Power — Pacific Power provides safe and reliable electric service to more than 764,000 customers in Oregon, Washington and California. The company supplies customers with electricity from a diverse portfolio of generating plants including hydroelectric, thermal, wind, geothermal and solar resources. Pacific Power is part of PacifiCorp, one of the lowest-cost electricity producers in the United States, with 2 million customers in six western states. For more information, visit www.pacificpower.net.
With the upcoming storm, snow is expected down low and could be close to valley floors
Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) says it has been preparing for extreme winter since the end of summer. But because the department is short-staffed, it’s asking residents to be patient.
“We don’t want to give the impression that we are neglecting roads or neglecting people or anything like that. It’s just we need to prioritize,” said Matt Noble, spokesperson for ODOT. “So we’re asking people to be patient with us, the plow will come by the roads near you just maybe not as often.”
Along with plowing the main roads, ODOT is using other methods to help with the storm.
“We can put down cinder to help with traction, and then especially with lower temperatures later this week deicer will be a very good tool that prevents ice from forming,” Noble said. “We’re confident that we can meet the weather that’s coming in this week.”
Keeping chains in your car this winter is advised along with, warm clothes, chargers, medicine if needed, a shovel, lights, and water. ODOT is advising everyone to use tripcheck.com before leaving the house.
New state law allows all 241 cities in Oregon, as well as Multnomah and Clackamas counties, to apply for the authority to designate speed limits on roadways under their jurisdiction
Currently, all changes in speed limits go through Oregon’s state traffic roadway engineer. But the process can be lengthy. ODOT has only one investigator for each of its five regions, creating a case backlog extending as long as six months to a year.
Providing local governments with the authority to set their own speed limits should make the process quicker, more effective and more responsive to local needs, ODOT said.
Under the new law, any of Oregon’s 241 incorporated cities or the two Portland area counties may seek this new authority from the state. They would then get training in state speed zone practices, state rules and laws and would produce a quality control plan.
Speed is a major factor in road crashes. ODOT says making it easier and quicker for communities to lower their local speed limits will help reduce deadly crashes and reduce the impact on communities of color, which often bear an outsized brunt of highway crashes.
Oregon roads have statutory and designated speed limits. Statutory speed limits are set by state law, such as 25 mph in residential districts, 20 mph in school zones and 65 mph on most interstates. Designated speed limits, set by an engineering investigation, differ from the statutory speed limits.
If a statutory speed limit is not appropriate, a designated speed limit can be established through an engineering study. That study is based upon nationally accepted standards and includes a review of roadway characteristics and the type of users. These characteristics include traffic volume, crash history, roadside development and density and operating speeds.
Safety is the most important factor in establishing speed limits. The posted speed should inform motorists of maximum driving speeds that are considered safe and reasonable for a roadway section under favorable weather and visibility conditions. All designated speed limits, whether set by ODOT or by an agency granted the delegated authority, will follow the same procedures and guidelines.
Drug Dealing Husband and Wife Sentenced to Federal Prison
EUGENE, Ore.—A Douglas County couple known for distributing drugs was sentenced to federal prison today after they were linked to the overdose death of man to whom they had sold drugs to for more than a year.
Brian Joseph Ramos, 49, and Christine Marie Ramos, 41, residents of Yoncalla, Oregon, were sentenced to 70 and 51 months in federal prison, respectively. The Ramoses must also serve five-year terms of supervised release following the completion of their prison sentences.
According to court documents, in May 2018, detectives from the Douglas Interagency Narcotics Team (DINT) learned that an adult male stopped by the Ramoses home in Yoncalla after his release from a residential drug treatment program. Later the same day, the man tragically died of fentanyl poisoning. The next day, investigators interviewed the Ramoses who confirmed the man was at their residence the day prior, but denied giving him drugs. Christine Ramos, who was at work when the man stopped by their residence, admitted to selling the man pills for up to two years prior to his overdose. At one point after learning the man was injecting the pills she sold him, Christine Ramos stopped selling him drugs, but resumed thereafter.
Detectives searched the Ramoses’ residence and found several dozen grams of methamphetamine, 260 pills, drug paraphernalia, and digital scales. Several pills that later tested positive for fentanyl were found in the Ramoses’ vehicles. Evidence recovered from Brian Ramos’s phone revealed that he had in fact sold a pill to the man who succumbed to the fatal overdose.
On August 30, 2018, the Ramoses were charged by criminal complaint with conspiring with one another to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, oxycodone, and hydromorphone. On March 29, 2021, both waived indictment and pleaded guilty.
This case was investigated by DINT and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. It was prosecuted by Jeffrey S. Sweet, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon.
Formed in October 1989, the Douglas Interagency Narcotics Team is a special investigative unit formed to combat illegal narcotics activity in Douglas County. DINT member agencies include Douglas County, including the Douglas County Sheriff and District Attorney’s Offices, the Oregon National Guard, Oregon State Police, and Roseburg Police Department. U.S. Attorney’s Office – District of Oregon
Construction At Oregon Capitol Cancels Annual Christmas Celebration
Most years, the Tuesday after Thanksgiving means a grand party at the Oregon Capitol, with Santa Claus, other dignitaries, visiting choirs, free cookies and a 30-foot tree. But this year, an ongoing construction project did what even COVID couldn’t do: Cancel Holidays at the Capitol.
The tradition, which began in the early 1980s, is on hold until 2025 because of an ongoing $506 million construction project to make the Capitol seismically resilient. The construction also includes upgrading mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems and making the 1938 building and its 1977 addition comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
The Capitol has largely been closed since the summer, though legislators’ offices have remained open. Starting in December, the public will be able to use the State Street entrance on the south side of the Capitol across from Willamette University to access committee hearing rooms and the House and Senate chambers ahead of the legislative session that begins in January.
Before the pandemic struck in 2020, the Capitol holiday event was a month-long celebration that brought school and community choirs and visitors from all over the state. The Oregon Department of Forestry would bring a 30-foot Christmas tree from the Clatsop State Forest to serve as the rotunda’s main focal point, with many smaller trees throughout the building. A lighted garland and poinsettias surrounded the state seal in the center of the rotunda.
About 1,000 people typically attended the tree-lighting ceremony on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, said Stacy Nalley, the Capitol’s public outreach coordinator. They’d listen to performances from a local high school choir stationed on the grand staircase outside the House chamber, then hear from a few speakers – maybe the governor, Senate president or House speaker. And the arrival of Santa Claus, coming down the grand staircase instead of a chimney, would signal that it was almost time to light the big tree.
“It’s really magical and special,” Nalley said. That event would start a month of festivities at the Capitol, with school and community choirs traveling to perform on the House steps Monday through Saturday. Historically, about 10,000 people would visit the Capitol for its holiday programming, including about 5,000 performing schoolchildren, Nalley said.
In December 2020, the Capitol was closed to the public because of COVID. That year, Capitol staff, Senate President Peter Courtney, then-House Speaker Tina Kotek and Santa Claus recorded a virtual tree-lighting video and reruns of the 2019 choir performances ran on public TV.
In 2021, the Capitol was open to the public but COVID cases were on the rise as the omicron variant whipped around the state. There was no lighting ceremony or live choir performances, but the building was decorated and a large TV in the rotunda played video submissions from some choirs.
This year there will be nothing.
Oregon Gas Prices Falling But Still More Expensive Than Last Year
The price of gas in Oregon continues to fall at a rapid pace after reaching record highs five months ago. But Oregonians are still paying plenty more than they did a year ago.
AAA says the average price of regular unleaded in Oregon has fallen 19 cents in the past week to $4.42. Oregon has the fifth-largest weekly drop and second-largest monthly drop for a state in the nation.
But that price is still 62 cents higher than this time in 2021.
In Bend, the average is $4.46 a gallon. That’s down nine cents in a week, but up 56 cents from last year.
AAA says “Crude oil prices are at their lowest prices since December 2021, below $80 per barrel, and that’s helping to push pump prices lower. Extreme coronavirus restrictions in China and concerns over a global recession are the major driving factors behind the lower crude oil prices.”
As usual, the West Coast has the most expensive gas prices in the country. AAA says this is due to consistently tight supplies — people buying as much as is produced — and due to a relative lack of nearby refineries compared to the rest of the nation.
The national average is $3.52 a gallon, down 12 cents in the past week.
Oregon State Parks offers $5 off annual parking permit purchases in December
SALEM, Oregon— Give the gift of the outdoors and save this season with the Oregon State Parks 12-month parking permit sale through December.
The permit hangtag once again features whimsical designs from Portland artist El Tran. Holiday shoppers can buy the annual parking permits for only $25, which is a $5 savings starting Dec. 1 and running through Dec. 31. The pass is good for 12 months starting in the month of purchase.
Purchasing passes is easy. Buy them online at the Oregon State Parks store. Parking permits are also sold at some state park friends’ group stores and select local businesses throughout the state. For a complete list of vendors, visit stateparks.oregon.gov.
Parking costs $5 a day at 25 Oregon state parks unless you have a 12- or 24-month parking permit or a same-day camping receipt. The 24-month pass is $50 and is also available at store.oregonstateparks.org. The permits are transferable from vehicle to vehicle.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1109674113319848
