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
Thursday, February 16, 2023
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Human Remains Found in 1986 in Josephine County Finally Identified
In June, 1986, the Josephine County Sheriff’s Office responded to the Quartz Creek area regarding human skeletal remains being located on a homeowner’s property. The homeowner was in the process of putting in a new septic system when the owner discovered the remains in the ground approximately 4 feet deep and notified law enforcement. The homeowner had only owned the property for approximately 10 years.
With the remains, other items were located within the gravesite such as, fabric believed to be from a dress, a worn set of dentures and two rubber implements, believed to be from a walker or crutches.
At that time, law enforcement was unable to identify the decedent and forwarded the remains to the Oregon State Medical Examiner’s Office for further examination and DNA processing. It was believed based on the condition of the remains that the decedent may have been in the ground for approximately 15 to 25 years.
Between 1986 and 2016, the investigation into the identification of the remains was attempted multiple times by detectives and forensic examiners. No leads were ever discovered to help with the identification.
Ultimately, due to the poor condition of the remains, in 2018 the Oregon State Medical Examiner’s Office was awarded a grant allowing the office to send the remains to Parabon NanoLabs for further DNA and genetic genealogy processing. With Parabon NanoLabs assistance, it was discovered that the remains may be of a missing person from 1959 out of the Rogue River area named, Elsie Baker, who went missing under suspicious circumstances.
The circumstances were deemed suspicious after law enforcement learned that family and friends of Elsie Baker had not heard from her for a period of time. Law enforcement responded to Elsie Baker’s home and found her wheelchair but no sign of her. An investigation between 1959 and 1960 was started and numerous individuals were interviewed. It was discovered that Elsie Baker was being treated for cancer and would have needed assistance to leave her home as she was mainly wheelchair bound. It was also discovered that approximately $10,000 was missing from the home. Unfortunately, law enforcement was unable to come up with any leads regarding the missing person case.
In 2022, Parabon NanoLabs suggested that through combining genetic genealogy, DNA Phenotyping and kinship analysis, if the remains were Elsie Baker, she may have a living grandson who was believed to be in the Utah area. If this were true, the grandson would be the closest genetic match and would possibly solve the missing person case, identifying the remains.
Josephine County Detectives contacted the grandson and explained the case and circumstances leading law enforcement to contact him. With consent from the grandson and assistance from Emery County Sheriff’s Office, Utah, the grandson provided an oral DNA swab sample for comparison which was submitted for review. In early January, 2023, Parabon NanoLabs and the Oregon State Medical Examiner’s Office were able to positively identify the decedent as Elsie Baker based on the matching DNA from the grandson.
At the time of this press release, no further details are being released.
Possible Expansion To The Pipeline That Runs Through Southern Oregon
Canadian-based TC Energy is looking to expand the Northwest Pipeline that runs through Southern Oregon by adding new compressors in Oregon and Washington to increase its production potential.
Activists from Rogue Climate in partnership with other environmental groups hosted a community meeting Monday evening to inform residents about the project.
“There wasn’t a lot of opportunity for public engagement. Because it’s an expansion project and not a new pipeline, the timeline is very quick. A lot of people actually just don’t even know that this is happening and that this is being proposed,” said Maig Tinnin, spokeswoman for Rogue Climate.
The project has been opposed by both Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden and Sen. Jeff Merkley. Merkley spoke at Monday night’s meeting.
“The last thing we should do is continue building more fossil fuel infrastructure. In doing so, we’re not only creating infrastructure that will facilitate the burning of fossil fuels for a generation to come, but was also facilitating the donations that flow from that to corrupt our political system,” Merkley said.
Because it is an expansion of an existing pipeline and not the construction of a new one, the regulatory hoops are much smaller. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which will make the decision, downplayed the risks involved in an Environmental Impact Statement late last year, saying
“Staff concludes that modifying and installing the project facilities would result in limited adverse impacts on the environment. Most adverse environmental impacts would be temporary or short-term and would have minimal impact on existing land use.”
The Attorneys General from Oregon, Washington, and California are all in opposition to the project, while Republican legislators from Idaho have shown support.
There was a chance that FERC was going to decide on Thursday. As of Wednesday, it’s not on the meeting agenda. The next possible decision point could be March 16th.
David’s Chair and Wild River Brewing Company Fundraising Event 2/20/2023
David’s Chair Outdoor Mobility Systems invites you to join them at the Wild River Pizza and Brewing Company on Monday, February 20th between 11am and 8pm at their Medford location for great food and beverages to support the David’s Chair mission.
Wild River Pizza and Brewing Company supports local organizations through their RAPIDS (Raising Awareness Positive Involvement Devoting Services) program.
They believe they are at their best when serving others while they encourage each of their restaurants to be fully involved in the communities in which they operate. Wild River believes that by helping others in turn will help strengthen our communities.
Wild River will donate a portion of their sales for the entire day on February 20th to David’s Chair. Grab your friends and family and head down to Wild River Brewing and Pizza for lunch, dinner or just to have a drink and support two great local organizations in their quest to make our community better.
Wild River will provide great food, beverages and excellent service in their usual fun atmosphere created by their amazing staff. David’s Chair will have SWAG, Raffles and giveaways. Come down to Wild River and see how you can help us make our community stronger and more inclusive.
David’s Chair is a 501 C(3) non-profit enriching the lives of the mobility impaired by giving them the use of track chairs so they can independently enjoy outdoor activities and go places regular wheelchairs cannot free of charge. In addition to track chairs David’s Chair has added paragolfers to their program. A Paragolfer is a specially designed mobility chair that supports a person with mobility impairments body and allows that person to stand and take a full golf swing.
About David’s Chair
David’s Chair got its start in 2017, after Medford man David Hartrick was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). An avid hunter and fisherman, David immediately began searching for a way to enjoy the outdoors in the confines of a wheelchair. With the help of CEO and Founder Steve Furst, the pair discovered Action Trackchairs and raised enough money to buy one. David recognized he wouldn’t be able to use it for long and dreamed of others benefiting from the chair as well; shortly after, the non-profit David’s Chair was born.
David passed away on January 11, 2018, just 11 months after his ALS diagnosis. However, David’s Chair continues to give the gift of independence and freedom to people with ALS and other mobility challenges. Both David’s original Action Trackchair, several newer chairs have been used by people with mobility challenges to go places and experience freedom they haven’t been able to, free of charge. In addition to providing track chairs, David’s Chair debuted their adaptive golf program in June of 2021 and now owns two ParaGolfers. This special golf chair allows individuals with many different mobility challenges to standup and take a full golf swing.
With the help of donations in the form of grants, sponsors and generous individuals, David’s Chair has taken people and their families on exciting outdoor excursions at locations that are inaccessible to regular wheelchairs. To learn more about David’s Chair, visit www.davidschair.org and like David’s Chair on Facebook.
Here’s the event page on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/650782650152117/?ref=newsfeed
Wild River Medford 2684 N. Pacific Hwy, Medford, OR 97501
(541) 773-7487
OLCC Board Approves Interim Director
The board of Oregon’s alcohol and cannabis regulatory agency OLCC, approved its new interim director at a hearing Wednesday as the criminal investigation into the ousted director moves forward.
Executive director Steve Marks was set to resign at the end of the day Wednesday after an internal investigation found that he and five senior managers diverted rare and expensive whiskey for their own personal use.
Craig Prins, who has been inspector general of the Oregon Department of Corrections, will take over as interim executive director after a unanimous approval vote from the board.
Things got heated during the hearing, and OLCC chairman Paul Rosenbaum expressed his frustration with media inquiries regarding the scandal.
“We have not dodged the press – we follow the rules. We follow our attorneys. We follow what we’re supposed to. So please, dear god stop asking us to make comments on this – it’s inappropriate until now. This is the right forum, this is the right place, this is the right opportunity,” Rosenbaum said.
He went on to say that he knew about the state police investigation into the OLCC director back in September, but that he was told the record was confidential.
Interim Director Prins says he knows he’ll be facing some challenges, but he hopes to restore the trust in the OLCC.
Oregon Bill Would Require Law Enforcement Officers To Have Higher Education
Amid a renewed national focus on police qualifications following the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols, an Oregon lawmaker has introduced a bill that would require law enforcement officers to complete at least two years of higher education.
Police departments have wrestled for years with officer education requirements. Many say that raising them would worsen current staffing shortages and make it harder to recruit candidates from diverse backgrounds. But reform advocates say that continuing education past high school can equip officers with critical life skills that could help improve their interactions with the public.
“You’re learning, you’re reading about other communities, you’re reading about other people, you’re getting a sense of respect for people who you do not know, communities that you do not know,” said Democratic Oregon state Sen. Lew Frederick, the bill’s chief sponsor.
The bill, which was introduced last month, would push back against the recent trend of lowering police hiring standards by requiring two years of higher education for departments with less than 50 officers and a bachelor’s degree for departments with more than 50. It would apply to police, corrections, parole, probation and reserve officers.
The bill would set police education requirements in state law. Generally, these requirements are determined by municipalities or individual departments.
Nationwide, about 80% of police agencies only require a high school or GED diploma, according to a 2016 survey of more than 2,700 agencies by the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics. The number requiring a two-year degree hovers around 10%, while just over 1% require a bachelor’s degree.
Many police agencies that do have college credit requirements waive them if a candidate has military or law enforcement experience. These include departments in major cities, such as New York City, Dallas and Washington, D.C. Tulsa’s police department is among the few requiring a bachelor’s degree.
Many agencies, however, have dropped degree requirements in recent years because of recruitment difficulties stemming partly from a crisis of public trust, according to the Police Executive Research Forum, a Washington-based think tank. Its executive director, Chuck Wexler, said that while many departments may want more educated entry-level officers, they can’t raise the bar when a shrunken hiring pool means they already have less applicants to choose from.
While a college education doesn’t automatically make a good officer, it can help people develop critical thinking and communication skills, Wexler said.
“I think merely requiring a high school degree is hugely inadequate for the complexities associated with a very complicated and important position in America,” he said.
The Portland Police Bureau in Oregon is among the agencies that have struggled to recruit. The city was gripped by months-long protests in 2020 following the racial justice demonstrations sparked by Floyd’s death, and has seen record numbers of homicides the past two years.
The police bureau only requires a high school or GED diploma. But that minimum requirement, it says, doesn’t necessarily result in hiring candidates with less education. While testifying against the Oregon bill on Tuesday, PPB Capt. Greg Pashley said that about 70% of the bureau’s sworn employees have a bachelor’s degree or higher, and that 46% of applicants have a two-year degree or higher.
Echoing other agencies around the country, he also said that requiring college courses excludes lower-income candidates who aren’t able to afford them and makes police forces less diverse. Another hearing for the Oregon bill has yet to be scheduled.
A group of seniors in Brookings are asking Oregon lawmakers to step in and adjust the rent cap increase formula.
The seniors live in a 55 and older mobile home park in Curry County, and all 44 of the spaces rented by a senior received a 14.6% rent increase last month. That is $100 per month increase this year.
“For senior citizens, you don’t expect to work so hard, this group, we have put in a lot of time, effort, research, talking, writing letters,” Robbin McMain said. “We are exhausted, but we are scared enough that we will keep going, we are fighting for our homes.”
The 68-year-old, along with 66-year-old John Canalin and a group of other seniors residing on the coast are advocating for lawmakers to pass Senate Bill 611.
The bill would drop the rate of allowable rent increase to 3% plus the consumer price index with a total maximum increase of 8% per year.
Currently, the law, which was passed in 2019 through Senate Bill 608, allows annual rent increases at 7% plus the consumer price index that adjust each year with inflation.
“We are looking at $100 just this year alone, we have several people that are already wanting to know what to do because social security gave us a little boost this year, which was nice, it got us through this year,” McMain said.
McMain explained although the slight increase in social security will help her and her husband survive this year’s rental increase, that isn’t the case for the seniors in the park living on a fixed income.
“Some people are now saying, although we got a small social security increase now that our rent is going up, they are now $12 in the hole, they lost the increase all to rent,” she said.
McMain and Canalin explained they are both lucky enough to have a spouse, but not everyone in their mobile home park can rely on more than one income.
The group is pleading with lawmakers, including Governor Tina Kotek to change the trajectory rental prices are headed before it is too late.
“If you want to talk about dealing with the homeless issue in the state, this is a way to not add more to it, if they can somehow adjust the rent increases and adjust the eviction reform,” Canalin said.
If the rent cap increase formula is not adjusted, the two said it will lead to more seniors becoming homeless across the state or force them to move and lose the life they have created.
“We are barely getting by this year, but next year could be devastating to many people, things need to be done this year.”
Both, McMain and Canalin, said many of the mobile homes are owned by the individual who rents the space from the park.
They said a majority have added to the manufactured home, including adding porches, garages, and an additional room. All the additions would be lost if the tenants were forced to relocate due to the rent increases.
“We would lose quite a bit of money that we invested in our home to come here,” Canalin said.
One thing the two said would be irreplaceable, is the community they have created during their retirement years.
“We already have a lot of senior citizens who are homeless,” McMain said. “We need to stop the rent increases here or see the consequence all elderly people living in tents, or living with their kids that is then a burden on their children, or going to head and getting rental assistance which is a burden on the state, so all the way around the state is losing, the state is not winning anything, the owners and their profits are going up.” (source: https://ktvl.com/news/local/seniorsmobilehomepark-oregon-lawmakers-adjustrent-capincrease-formula-senatebill611-oregonlaw-rentallaws-housingcrisis-seniorhousing-renterrights-renters)
Free Fishing Weekend This Weekend In Oregon
Make fishing part of your three-day weekend plans. Everyone can fish, clam and crab for free in Oregon on Saturday and Sunday of President’s Day Weekend, Feb. 18-19, 2023.
No fishing/shellfish licenses or tags (including a Combined Angling Tag or Columbia River Basin Endorsement or Two-Rod Validation) are required those two days. Both Oregon residents and nonresidents can fish for free.
All other fishing regulations apply including closures, bag limits and size restrictions. See the Oregon Sport Fishing Regulations for rules and remember to check for any in season regulation changes at the Recreation Report especially for salmon and steelhead fishing. Click on the zone where you want to fish and then click the “Regulation Updates” tab to see the in-season changes.
The Recreation Report is updated weekly and features the best bests for fishing for the upcoming week. For beginners, Easy Angling Oregon is a great guide to getting started fishing in Oregon, and if you live near Portland, Bend, Medford, Roseburg or in Lane County, there are lots of nearby options.
Prefer to crab or clam instead? MyODFW has all the information you need to get started clamming or crabbing. Remember to check ocean conditions and take safety precautions—always clam with a friend and never turn your back on the ocean.
As of Feb. 14, crabbing is open coastside but razor clamming is closed along the entire Oregon coast due to biotoxin levels.
Remember to call the ODA Shellfish safety hotline at 1-800-448-2474 or check their Shellfish page before you go clamming or crabbing. The Oregon Department of Agriculture regularly tests shellfish and closes areas when naturally occurring biotoxins get to levels that make crabs and clams unsafe to eat. MORE INFO: https://myodfw.com/articles/2023-free-fishing-days-and-events
BLM Waives Day Use Fees For Washington’s Birthday
In honor of George Washington’s birthday and to increase recreational access to public land, the Bureau of Land Management is waiving recreation standard amenity and day-use fees for visitors on February 20th.
A release said the BLM is inviting the public to visit unique and diverse natural landscapes and visitor facilities on BLM-managed lands to celebrate the life of the first U.S. President George Washington.
This marks the second of the BLM’s fee-free days of 2023. Fee-free days refer to the waiver of standard amenity fees and day-use fees, such as visitor centers, picnic/day use areas, and National Conservation Land units where fees are charged. Expanded amenity fees and other fees, like group day use, overnight camping, cabin rentals and individual special recreation permits, will remain in effect unless the authorized officer determines it is appropriate to waive them.
MORE INFO: Winter adventure in the Pacific Northwest – Our top locations for recreation in the snow, rain, or ice https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/766c58075f574db2b52f3d2e13b75bb8
