Rogue Valley News, Monday 9/16 – Medford Police Investigate Early Morning Stabbing at Delta Waters Car Wash, Suspects Arrested in Shooting Incident & Other Local and Statewide News…

Oregon election officials say data entry error added 306 noncitizens to voter rolls, two voted

State election officials and Gov. Tina Kotek stressed that the error was caught and won’t affect the 2024 election

The Oregon agency that issues driver’s licenses erroneously registered more than 300 non-citizens to vote, though state officials say only two people actually cast ballots.

State Elections Director Molly Woon told the Capital Chronicle that she received a call late Thursday afternoon from the administrator of the Driver and Motor Vehicle Services division of the Oregon Department of Transportation, telling her that DMV staff caught a data entry error that led to the division wrongly classifying some noncitizens as citizens. State election officials spent Friday reviewing that information and working with county clerks to ensure those people won’t receive ballots unless and until they prove they’re eligible to vote.

The error is not large enough to impact the outcome of the state’s elections – more than 3 million people are registered to vote in Oregon, and the 306 cases identified by state officials are 0.01% of the state’s voters.

Ben Morris, chief of staff to Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade, said the DMV is continuing to investigate whether there are any more issues, and there is time to rectify any additional mistakes. Ballots won’t be mailed to voters for another month.

“We can say that this error will not impact the 2024 election, and I want to emphasize that point as much as possible. This error will not impact the 2024 election,” he said.

The error, first reported by Willamette Week, resulted from DMV staff erroneously marking noncitizens who obtained driver’s licenses as citizens, such as by miscategorizing foreign birth certificates as U.S. birth certificates and foreign passports as U.S. passports.

Since January 2016, Oregon has automatically registered citizens to vote when they obtain or renew driver’s licenses, permits or nonoperating IDs. A 2019 state law, meanwhile, eliminated a requirement that applicants prove they’re citizens or legal residents when obtaining a driver’s license.

People applying for driver’s licenses need to bring proof of their identity – like a birth certificate, passport, naturalization documents or visa – as well as proof of an Oregon address, such as a utility bill or rental agreement. Only applicants who provide documents that prove citizenship, like a U.S. birth certificate, U.S. passport or certificate of naturalization, are supposed to be registered to vote.

DMV administrator Amy Joyce said in a statement that the DMV discovered the error while “proactively analyzing” its system ahead of the 2024 election. The erroneous registrations it identified were based on foreign passports being entered as U.S. passports. The department is continuing to go through registrations tied to birth certificates, and that may take another two weeks, she said.

The DMV added a new prompt on its data entry screen to ensure front desk staff accurately enter citizenship information and has begun daily auditing of all transactions to verify materials are accurate before sending them to the Elections Division, Joyce added.

Woon said the secretary of state’s office is continuing to look into the two people who were not citizens when they were automatically registered to vote and will forward the issue to the start Department of Justice if it appears they violated the law.

“I want to emphasize that these folks were registered by no fault of their own,” she said. “I think that will certainly be taken into consideration. The first order of business, however, will be to see if the citizenship status of these people has changed. Because these records date from 2021 to today, it’s possible that their status has changed, and perhaps they are citizens, and that’s why they have a voter record. We’ll need to do a little bit more digging to sort that out first.”

Gov. Tina Kotek said in a statement that she has been fully briefed on the situation and will continue to closely monitor it. She noted that it would affect 0.01% of the state’s registered voters and will not impact the 2024 election in any way.

“Oregon’s electoral system is one of the most secure, effective and accessible in the nation,” Kotek said. “The error in data entry which may have affected the voter eligibility of some Oregonian’s voter registration was discovered because the Oregon DMV and the secretary of state were doing their due diligence ahead of the 2024 election.”

Griffin-Valade said safeguarding the integrity of elections is her top priority, while praising automatic voter registration.

“When my office was made aware of this error, we moved quickly to update the voter rolls,” she said. “I am also personally calling on the DMV to take immediate action to improve its processes to ensure this doesn’t happen again. Automatic voter registration has been hugely beneficial for thousands of eligible Oregon voters to ensure access to our democracy. I’m confident the DMV is rectifying this error and improving their process, so it doesn’t happen again.”

Lawmakers call for investigations

Lawmakers and U.S. Rep. Andrea Salinas, D-Oregon, called for further investigations Friday evening.

State Rep. Janelle Bynum, D-Clackamas and the Democratic nominee for the 5th Congressional District, was the first to issue a statement and called on the Department of Justice to conduct a “full-scale investigation.”

“Any errors in this process are unacceptable, and the office of the Secretary of State must be held responsible for any such lapses. I will relentlessly defend our laws and safeguard the integrity of our elections,” she said.

Salinas called the announcement “disturbing,” while emphasizing that it was not an attempt hurt the election system.

“This is total malpractice on the part of the Department of Motor Vehicles and is completely unacceptable,” she said. “I am calling on the state to act quickly to remove these individuals from the rolls, conduct a full and transparent investigation into how this occurred, and provide concrete steps they are taking to remedy this issue and prevent it from happening again. However, I want to emphasize that this was a bureaucratic error by the Oregon DMV and not a systemic attempt to cheat the system by organizations or individuals.”

House Republican Leader Jeff Helfrich, who in May publicly questioned the integrity of the state’s election system over hours-long delays delivering ballots, repeated his complaints that Oregon’s election laws are too weak.

“Republicans warned over and over that Oregon’s election laws were too relaxed, and Democrats dismissed our concerns,” he said. “Now, hundreds of noncitizens were found on Oregon’s voter rolls, and the state can’t say how many there are. This threat to election integrity is unacceptable. The Secretary of State must immediately inform the legislature as to the full extent of this problem and what is being done to fix it before ballots go out next month.” (SOURCE)

To register to vote, visit here.

Feds grant more than $9 million to Oregon for wildfire prevention

As wildfires continue to threaten homes, rangeland and communities in Oregon, the federal government has announced millions in new funding to prevent the blazes that have blackened a record amount of acreage.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Tuesday it has approved $100 million to reduce the threat of wildfires in 14 states, including Oregon. The money will be used for restoring forest health, prescribed burns and other wildfire prevention strategies in 18 national forests that border homes and communities. The USDA, which oversees the Forest Service, allocated $9.4 million to forests in eastern and southern Oregon and $345,000 for a project in the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area in Washington, which is also expected to benefit Oregonians.

The news comes as Oregon’s wildfire season roars on, with Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek announcing Wednesday she again invoked the Emergency Conflagration Act, this time for the Service Fire in Wheeler County, one of five blazes in the Fossil Complex northwest of Spray. The Service Fire has scorched nearly 22,000 acres and prompted the Wheeler County Sheriff’s Office to issue Level 3, or go-now, evacuation orders for local residents.

This was the 17th time this year that Kotek has invoked the conflagration act in what has turned out to be a record fire season, with more than 1.7 million acres burned. Analysts say the threat of devastating wildfires in Oregon, California and elsewhere in the West is likely to continue with warmer weather and an extended drought in the region.

The $100 million grant follows $500 million announced in February, including more than $38 million for Oregon, as part of the USDA’s wildfire prevention strategy from Oregon and Colorado to New Mexico and Tennessee.

In announcing the latest funding, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack noted that states are again confronting challenging wildfires this year, underscoring the “urgent need to continue to protect our communities and infrastructure by restoring forest health across the country.”

The biggest chunk of the Oregon grant – $4.9 million – will go toward a restoration project in the Elk Creek watershed in the Umpqua National Forest in southern Oregon. The project will build on an existing collaboration between the Forest Service and Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians and focus on prescribed burns and creating fire breaks in the watershed, which is a patchwork of private, tribal and national land.

Lindsay Campman, spokesperson for the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians, said in an email that after the Milepost 97 Fire, which burned more than 13,000 acres in 2019, the tribe has worked to prevent another fire in the area and that this money will help with that endeavor.

“We are thrilled to continue working with our partners in forestry on this project,” she said.

The USDA allocated another $4.4 million for a project in a watershed in the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest. The money will be used for planning, hiring of staff and forest restoration in an area of conifer trees that have not been hit by wildfires for much of the past 125 years. As a result, they have high levels of live and dead vegetation that could pose a fire danger.

The third Oregon project involves an allocation of nearly $133,000 for work in the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest. The money will allow officials to complete an environmental analysis in the La Grande Ranger District, paving the way for forest restoration work.

The Columbia River Gorge project in Washington will cover 5,000 acres now owned by the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, with the $345,000 going directly to tribal staff and businesses to foster their traditional work against wildfires and land maintenance.

Oregon’s Democratic U.S. senators, Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, said the region needs the funding.

“Oregonians know all too well the threat of climate chaos, which is fueling increasingly frequent and severe wildfires that threaten our homes, businesses and way of life,” said Merkley, who chairs the Senate subcommittee that funds the Forest Service.

Wyden added: “Protecting lives and property from these destructive wildfires demands an all-out approach.”

Wyden has repeatedly pushed for wildfire funding, including in June, when he and Democratic U.S. Rep. Kim Schrier of Washington state introduced the National Prescribed Fire Act of 2024. The act would direct hundreds of millions of federal dollars to the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Department of the Interior for prescribed burns. This was Wyden’s third attempt to get the legislation passed after it died in the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources in 2020 and 2021. (SOURCE)

With around 5,000 firefighters currently dispatched across the state, they have worked for almost two months straight and are experiencing fatigue.

Kotek said that the state has been able to protect a lot of communities but the team has been pushed to the brink this season. She also predicts that fire seasons are not going to get easier and Orgeon must figure out how to have consistent funding to do the necessary work.

Kotek confirmed that Oregon received approval for seven FEMA grants that will provide help in the form of significant levels of reimbursement. Other states and even other countries like Australia and New Zealand have sent help to Oregon.

Wildfires have burned more than 1 million acres across the state, making Oregon by far the worst off out of all the states in terms of acres burned this summer.

Preventing wildfires requires a collective effort from everyone—help mitigate the risk of human-caused wildfires and protect our forests and communities.

Monitor Fires in Oregon – Updated Daily

Large Fires in Oregon Past 2 Weeks 9/16/24 9:00am per INCIWEB

https://app.watchduty.org/

Please Help Prevent Wildfires!

In these dry conditions, a single spark can cause a lot of damage. Learn how you can prevent wildfires by visiting the Oregon State Fire Marshal’s wildfire prevention page.

U.S. Forest Service Hiring in Oregon

The U.S. Forest Service is looking to shore up its wildland firefighting force in the Pacific Northwest.  Recruitment events will take place across Oregon next month, with stops in Bend, Sandy and La Grande on September 12th, in an effort to hire a couple hundred permanent seasonal positions.

“That’s our goal, is to hire up to 200, maybe even a little more if we can, into these what we call entry level, perm-fire-hire positions, which are typically your six to nine-month timeframe employment within the agency,” said Jason Heinz who works in regional workforce development for the Forest Service.  He added those jobs are spread around Oregon, Washington and Alaska, and in most cases fill a currently vacant position.  Heinz says several factors make it more difficult to recruit wildland crews.

“We are increasing the number of individuals that work for the agency, our fire seasons are getting longer, burnout is a real thing. And so, we’re trying to work on adding more capacity to our crews so that we can have a better work-life balance.”  — Applications can be submitted now through September 24th. Visit USAJobs.gov to apply.

Oregon Farm Bureau — Thanks to the generous support of our agricultural community, we are now receiving both monetary and feed donations through our Wildfire Relief Fund. If you are a farmer or rancher affected by the wildfires, please take a moment to complete our short application for relief. https://www.oregonfb.org/

OSP asking for the public’s help to locate wanted man —  Oregon State Police 

Suspect wanted for sex crimes in Oregon and Alabama

WASCO COUNTY, Ore. 9 Sept. 2024 – Oregon State Police and the Mobile (Alabama) Police Department are seeking the public’s help to locate Adam Renk (39) who is wanted in both states for sex crimes against child victims.

On June 21, 2024, OSP detectives responded to a sexual abuse disclosure made by a minor. The minor disclosed Renk as the perpetrator. Renk has since been indicted on multiple crimes against a child victim under the age of 12. He is charged with Unlawful Sexual Penetration in the First Degree, Sodomy in the First Degree, and Sexual Abuse in the First Degree.

As part of their investigation, OSP detectives learned Renk had been charged in another case involving a minor victim in Mobile, Alabama. The Alabama charges include Child Sexual Abuse and Torture involving an 11-year-old victim. The victims in the two states are not related. Alabama law enforcement agencies and the U.S. Marshals Service are attempting to locate Renk who posted bond in Alabama and was released from pre-trial custody.

Renk was last seen leaving Alabama on August 7, 2024. He has ties to Oregon and Wasco County. He is believed to be traveling in a converted Ford Ambulance that is now painted two-toned white over gray. Renk is a white male, 6 ft. 1 in. tall, 175 pounds, with blue eyes and brown hair.

Anyone with information about Renk’s whereabouts or information about possible additional victims is asked to contact the Wasco County Sheriff’s Office at 541-506-2580 or OSP Detective Cassie Bantz through dispatch at 800-442-0776 or by dialing OSP (677) on a mobile phone.

Oregon State Police investigating officer involved shooting in Polk County

Polk County, Ore. 13 Sept 24- Oregon State Police investigating officer involved shooting in Polk County.

At approximately 4:30 a.m., September 13, Salem Police officers responded to the call of a woman reporting she was being kidnapped at 585 Wallace Rd NW (Salem).  Officers located the suspect vehicle with the woman inside. As officers attempted to stop the male driver, he turned into the parking lot of an apartment complex in the 300 block of Glen Creek RD NW.

The suspect vehicle stopped in the complex parking lot. The woman got out of the car as officers approached the involved vehicle. The suspect exited the car armed with a knife and was shot by two of the responding officers.

The 34-year-old suspect, Daniel Lewis Garcia, was provided immediate medical aid by officers prior to being transported to Salem Health where he is currently being treated.

The involved Salem police officers have been identified as: Officer Nathan Bush (7 yrs.), Officer Colten Ruyle (1 yr.), and Officer Faith Hovenden (1.5 yrs.). No officers were injured during the incident.

The Polk County Law Enforcement Use of Deadly Force Plan under Senate Bill 111 has been initiated for this incident, and the Oregon State Police will be conducting the primary investigation in coordination with the Polk County District Attorney’s Office.

Free Lunches For Truckers This Week At These Oregon Scale Houses

The Oregon Trucking Association (OTA) is celebrating National Truck Driver Appreciation Week (TDAW) by treating truckers to free lunch at scale houses.

The OTA is partnering with the Oregon Department of Transportation to show professional drivers some thanks for the essential work that they do every day by bringing them free meals at scale house locations this week.

Here’s where truckers traveling in Oregon can find a free meal this week:

September 16 | 11:30 a.m  — Cascade Locks Port of Entry – Columbia River Region

September 17 | 11:30 a.m  — Juniper Butte Scale

September 18 | 7:00 a.m  — Klamath Falls Port of Entry – Eastern Cascades Region

September 18 | 11:30 a.m. — Ashland Port of Entry – Siskiyou Region

September 19 | 11:30 a.m  — Woodburn Port of Entry – Willamette Valley Region (SOURCE)

Oregon Employment Department Resumes Taking Monday Calls As Hold Times Ease

The Oregon Employment Department reopened its phone lines on Mondays this week, declaring it has made progress on a large backlog of issues that were holding up jobless claims and paid leave benefits.

The agency stopped taking inbound calls on Mondays last June and cut the number of hours the phones were open by one hour each in the mornings and afternoons. At the time, it was facing a growing backlog of jobless claims and jammed phone lines as laid-off workers sought information about their stalled benefits.

By reducing phone hours, the employment department said it could devote more time to processing claims and resolving issues that stood in the way of it paying benefits. The change affected both jobless insurance claims and the new Paid Leave Oregon benefits program, which is also administered by the employment department.

The shorter phone hours confounded some unemployed Oregonians, who couldn’t get through on the phone lines to find out why they weren’t receiving their aid.

In June, more than a third of callers to the employment department spent over an hour on hold. Many others couldn’t get through at all.

Hold times began dropping, though, as the employment department finally began making progress on unresolved claims. The number of people on hold for an hour or more fell to 25% in August, the lowest point in a year — though some callers still get a busy signal or are immediately disconnected when lines are especially slammed.

The employment department blamed its declining performance on a falloff in federal pandemic funding, which prompted a steep reduction in the number of staffers processing claims.

August was the first month that the employment department had 70 new staff to process claims. Their positions were funded out of a $45 million allocation from the state Legislature this year.

Meanwhile, the employment department has resumed paying the vast majority claims within three weeks. That’s the federal standard for timely payments. Oregon paid 76% of unemployment claims within three weeks in August, according to the latest federal data, up from just 54% in April.

The employment department said this week that it is resolving issues with claims much faster than it did in the spring and is confident that it will continue making progress.   Daily hours remain shorter, though; the phone lines are open daily from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.   (Source)