The latest news stories and stories of interest in the Willamette Valley from the digital home of Southern Oregon, from Wynne Broadcasting’s WillametteValleyMagazine.com
Friday, August 20, 2021
Willamette Valley Weather
Today– Mostly cloudy, with a high near 77. West wind 3 to 6 mph.
Saturday– Partly sunny, with a high near 78. Calm wind becoming northwest 5 to 7 mph in the afternoon.
Sunday– Mostly sunny, with a high near 79. Calm wind becoming north northwest 5 to 9 mph in the afternoon.
Monday– Sunny, with a high near 79.
Tuesday– Sunny, with a high near 83.
Eugene Sees Increase In Hate And Bias Incidents Over Past Year
Stemming from a recent report showing a 13 percent increase of cases since 2019, city leaders and law enforcement want to put a stop to the increase in hate and bias incidents in Eugene.
City leaders and law enforcement members took it to the Mims Historic House Thursday morning for the 9th annual report on hate and bias crimes in the city. The report shows 93 hate and bias cases occurred last year.
Going forward, law enforcement hopes these events will change that number around.
“It’s bringing this out of the dark and shining some light on it and acknowledging the problem we have,” said Captain Eric Klinko, with the EPD. “I think those are really important steps to try and eradicate hate and bias in our community.”
The report on bias and hate crimes says Asian hate crimes have gone up during the pandemic. But the hate, in general, doesn’t stop there.
We seem to have two pandemics going on right now. The first one with covid-19 and its army of variants. And the second filled with people against each other in terms of masks and vaccines, regardless of race. What are we doing to combat that hate?
“I always consider hate as a type of ignorance,” said Eric Richardson, the Executive Director of the Eugene-Springfield NAACP. “And we combat it through education. We continually talk about best practices and what we think as the right thing to do.”
A similar answer to what he feels needs to be done to combat bias and hate crimes in the community.
Richardson also says he’d like the recent report to go beyond Eugene and expand out to rural parts of the county.
Since January of last year, Oregon has had a hotline for people to report hate crimes and bias incidents to. You can reach that by calling this number: 1-844-924-2427.
You can also access the report here: https://www.eugene-or.gov/DocumentCenter/View/62912/2020-Eugene-Hate-and-Bias-Report
21-Year-Old Eugene Man Arrested For Online Sexual Corruption of A Child
A man was arrested and charged with Online Sexual Corruption of a Child in the First Degree, the Eugene Police Dept. said.
Anthony William Schilling, 21, of Eugene, agreed to meet with a juvenile female, who was actually a Eugene Police Department detective investigating online crimes against children, the report said.
“Schilling had initiated contact with the ‘teen’ without any solicitation from the undercover detective,” EPD said.
Schilling arranged to meet the juvenile at a location for sexual acts and, at 2:38 p.m. on August 18, when he showed up, he was met by detectives and arrested and lodged at Lane County Jail for Online Sexual Corruption of a Child in the First Degree, according to the report.
This comes a day after EPD reported multiple arrests over the past week that resulted in Online Sexual Corruption of a Child charges.
Detectives from the Eugene Police Department will continue to aggressively investigate online predators and hold them accountable for their actions.
Tips for Parents and Guardians:
- Monitor your child’s devices remotely and control access
- Be aware of communications between your child and others
- Beware of unexplained absences and behavior or sudden gifts or items they can’t afford or cash
- Understand cyber-crime and that “no one online is anonymous”
- If you child has a new game or app, spend time with them on it
- Set up an area where children can use their technology with a parents presence
- Consider not allowing your child to take a phone or computer with them into their room at night to sleep
- Understand appropriate protocols when a child discloses issues of sexting, or sextortion. Let your child know they can report concerns to you or another trusted adult
- Teach your child that it is o.k. to block users who make them uncomfortable
- Understand applications such as SnapChat, TikTok, Facebook, Google Hangouts, Instagram and more
Prefontaine Classic Starts Today
The Prefontaine Classic is Aug. 20-21 at Hayward Field.
The Pre Classic was postponed from its usual May time slot because of the pandemic. Now, it’ll give international athletes a chance to see the location of next year’s biggest event.
Jeff Oliver is a spokesperson for the event. He told KLCC, “A lot of these athletes, it’s kind of their first visit to Eugene, to the new Hayward Field. They’re going to put up good marks here this year in August, but obviously their goal is to come back, and next year it’s the World Championships, and do it again.”
Oliver said for professionals, the Olympics weren’t necessarily the end of the season. Medal winners Athing Mu, Ryan Crouser and Raevyn Rogers are on the start lists. Oliver said because the venue is outdoors, as of now there are no COVID restrictions. Ticket-holders can also attend Friday night’s women’s distance races. https://preclassic.runnerspace.com/
The Junction City Police Department is requesting assistance from the community in locating a missing teen.
Garrison Xiarhos was last seen on Monday, August 16th in the Junction City area. He was last seen wearing blue jeans and a blue hoodie. He is approximately 6’01” and 170 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes.
If you have any information about Garrison please contact the police department at 541-998-1245.
Oregon reports 2,971 new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases, 19 new deaths
There are 19 new COVID-19 related death in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll at 2,994 the Oregon Health Authority reported 2,971 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 bringing the state total to 250,835 – as of today, more than a quarter-million Oregonians have contracted COVID-19.
The new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases reported today are in the following counties: Baker (14), Benton (14), Clackamas (269), Clatsop (26), Columbia (25), Coos (38), Crook (12), Curry (34), Deschutes (171), Douglas (238), Gilliam (4), Grant (9), Harney (4), Hood River (11), Jackson (345), Jefferson (15), Josephine (188), Klamath (53), Lake (1), Lane (319), Lincoln (57), Linn (82), Malheur (23), Marion (218), Morrow (22), Multnomah (225), Polk (67), Sherman (5), Tillamook (44), Umatilla (70), Union (64), Wallowa (16), Wasco (17), Washington (207) and Yamhill (64).
OHA releases new pediatric dashboard
Today, OHA published a new dashboard report of pediatric COVID-19 case data in Oregon. This dashboard replaces the previous report and will be published weekly on Thursdays with the most recent full week’s data. Here are some key findings:
- There have been 31,394 confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 among people under 18 years old (12.7% of the total cases).
- As with COVID-19 cases overall, weekly COVID-19 pediatric cases have increased dramatically since July 2021.
- Pediatric case rates are highest among some communities of color and Tribal communities: people who identify as Pacific Islander, American Indian/Alaska Native, Black or Hispanic.
- The report indicates that while pediatric case counts have increased, severe outcomes among pediatric patients are rare:
- 0.9% of pediatric patients have been hospitalized at some point during their COVID-19 illness.
- There have been two reported deaths with COVID-19 among people under 18 years.
Governor Kate Brown’s office and Oregon Health Authority hold News Conference
COVID-19 hospitalizations
The number of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 across Oregon is 845, which is five fewer than yesterday. There are 226 COVID-19 patients in intensive care unit (ICU) beds, which are two more than yesterday.
As of this morning, there are 41 available adult ICU beds out of 667 total (6% availability) and 310 available adult non-ICU beds out of 4,182 (7% availability).
| 8/19/2021 | Statewide | Region 1 | Region 2 | Region 3 | Region 5 | Region 6 | Region 7 | Region 9 |
| Adult ICU beds % available | 41 (6%) | 6% | 2% | 15% | 2% | 0% | 5% | 12% |
| Adult non-ICU beds % available | 310 (7%) | 4% | 4% | 14% | 7% | 18% | 11% | 39% |
The total number of patients in hospital beds may fluctuate between report times. The numbers do not reflect admissions per day, nor the length of hospital stay. Staffing limitations are not captured in this data and may further limit bed capacity. More information about hospital capacity can be found here.
More than 2,900 Oregonians have died from COVID-19 since the pandemic began. Nearly all of them, 92%, have had underlying conditions.
Here are the top 10 deadliest conditions, according to the Oregon Health Authority:
- Cardiovascular: 51% of deaths.
- Neurological conditions*: 32%.
- Other chronic illnesses: 29%
- Diabetes: 28%
- Chronic lung disease: 23%
- Kidney disease: 21%
- Obesity: 14%
- Former smoker: 13%
- Immunocompromised condition: 8%
- Liver disease: 4%
- Current smoker: 3%
*Neurological conditions include cerebral palsy, stroke, chronic mental illness, intellectual disabilities, multiple sclerosis, seizure disorders and Parkinson’s disease, among others.
The total of percentages exceeds 100% because some individuals may have had more than one underlying condition. The median length of illness for those who have died is 14 days.
Of those who have died as of the week of Aug. 8:
- 1,458 were age 80 or older.
- 704 were age 70-79.
- 456 were age 60-69.
- 206 were age 50-59.
- 81 were 40-49. Just under a quarter of those have occurred since May.
- 29 were 30-39. About a third of those have occurred since May.
- 15 were 29 or younger. More than half of those have occurred since May.
Yesterday, seasonal temperatures and moderate humidity with gusty winds in the cascade gaps. Light scattered
precipitation in western Washington, northwest Oregon and far northeast Washington overnight with good humidity
recoveries across the region. Moderate lightning in far northeast Washington. Light initial attack with low to moderate growth on existing large fires.
An upper trough moving into the region from the Pacific will bring showers and wet thundershowers to sections of the Washington Cascades, eastern Washington, and northeastern Oregon today and Saturday. Showers could be heavy at times over northeastern Washington.
Elsewhere expect increasing clouds and cooler temperatures with some drizzle possible in western Oregon. Conditions will gradually clear on Sunday and Monday with increasing westerly winds. Temperatures will be below average through the weekend.
Cooler and wetter weather has dropped fire danger over much of the geographic area. More showers and continued cool temperatures will add to the moderating effect through the weekend. Thunderstorms over sections of the Washington Cascades, eastern Washington, and northeastern Oregon will create some fire starts but the cooler and wetter environment is not ripe for rapid growth of new starts into large fires.
Crews worked overnight to increase and secure containment lines on the Patton Meadow Fire, while rising humidity complicated operations to burn out fuels in the area around Patton Meadow. The rind along the edge of containment lines in several areas was increased from 50 feet up to 150 feet, while crews checked for hotspots to prevent flare ups in the interior of the fire.
The Rough Patch Complex and Jack Fire are being managed under a full suppression strategy using containment and confinement tactics to minimize fire spread to prevent loss of valuable resource. Leaders’ intent is to not allow the fire to progress to the west and to protect private structures by using the PACE model – Primary, Alternate, Contingency and Emergency control Lines and to keep the fires as small as possible while working toward full containment.
On the Bull Complex Fire crews will utilize an Unmanned Air craft System (UAS) or drone, to perform reconnaissance and gather information on the location of the fire and potential anchor points for burn operations. A spike camp will be setup for firefighters near the City of Detroit. A spike camp is a temporary camp that is set up closer to the fire to decrease travel time to and from the fire. This increases productivity and decreases risk of accidents as firefighters travel along mountain roads early in the morning or late in the evening.
The limited resources available to the Middle Fork Complex are being utilized where they will be most effective in providing for life-safety and protection of communities; shifting to priority areas as needed.
Kwis Fire: The remaining crews and equipment on Kwis continue to mop-up and complete alternate fire lines. Hazard trees that could fall and compromise fire lines by carrying fire into unburned areas are being removed. Crews are expecting similar fire behavior to what occurred yesterday with unburned islands of vegetation naturally consuming well within the fire perimeter and producing smoke, but with no increase to the size of the fire perimeter. Please continue to respect the closure area as there are still hazards in the area, as well as fire personnel and equipment.
Gales and Ninemile Fires: The strategy for the Gales and Ninemile fires involves connecting roads and ridgetops to serve as containment line. For those containment lines to be effective, depth needs to be added. This is accomplished by burning ground vegetation between the edge of the fire line and the advancing fire. Burnout operations to strengthen the fire line down into the Portland Creek drainage have progressed well and firefighters, supported with aviation assets, continue to work along the edge to ensure the fire stays within containment lines.
After burning for 39 days, the Bootleg Fire is now under the full containment of fire crews. The determination Sunday night marked the likely end of growth on Oregon’s third-largest wildfire since 1900, which burned over more than 400,000 acres of national forest and grazing allotments in Klamath and Lake counties.
Here are links to be able to see updated info on the larger fires in Oregon:
- Black Butte InciWeb
- Bootleg InciWeb
- Bruler InciWeb
- Bull Complex InciWeb
- Devil’s Knob Complex InciWeb
- Elbow Creek Inciweb
- Fox Fire InciWeb
- Jack Fire InciWeb
- Rough Patch Complex InciWeb
- Middle Fork Complex/Knoll Fire InciWeb
- Skyline Ridge Complex InciWeb
This public lands link is super helpful to check before you head outdoors. The Keep Oregon Green website carries ODF’s public use restrictions. Click the link for up-to-date information:
https://keeporegongreen.org/current-conditions/
Governor Brown Sends National Guard to Help Hospitals with Covid Patients
Oregon officials have reported 93 percent of local hospital beds for adults, and 90 percent of all intensive care unit beds, are full, due to Oregon’s increase in COVID-19 infections.
Before August, Oregon’s record for hospitalizations was 622 in November 2020, during a winter Covid surge when vaccines were still unavailable. However, 838 people are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, surpassing the previous record set the day before.
The Oregon Health Authority said, on Tuesday, that only 66 ICU beds and 275 adult non-ICU beds remain available throughout the state.
Due to the more transmissible delta variant that is rapidly spreading in southern Oregon where vaccination rates are low, a new daily record was also set with 2,941 new cases.
“If you are healthy today, you may not think this impacts you. But when our hospitals are full, all Oregonians are at risk,” tweeted Governor Kate Brown on Tuesday.
Brown announced measures during the past month aimed at decreasing cases and hospitalizations and accelerating vaccinations, including requiring healthcare workers and state employees to be vaccinated.
Last Friday, a statewide indoor mask mandate was reimplemented, covering everyone in Oregon above 5-years old, regardless of their vaccination status.
Last month, Brown confirmed that masks must be worn in K-12 schools, regardless of vaccination status, but some education leaders pushed back.
On Tuesday, she urged educators to follow her mask mandate. “I have heard much about personal freedom when it comes to masks at school board meetings and on social media. I have not heard as much about personal responsibility,” Brown wrote in a letter.
She also announced that she is sending up to 1,500 National Guard troops to 20 hospitals to assist healthcare workers.
Without health and safety interventions, coronavirus hospitalizations would far exceed the state’s health system capacity in the next several weeks, according to state health officials.
On Monday, Oregon’s congressional delegation asked the Federal Emergency Management Agency for assistance in dealing with the increase in Covid cases and hospitalizations.
Oregon Refugee Resettlement Programs Prepare For Fleeing Afghans
Governor Kate Brown said Oregon welcomes any refugees from Afghanistan and is ready to help them. Catholic Charities of Oregon expects there could be hundreds of people with special immigrant visas coming here over the next several months.
This week, many Oregon state legislators and Governor Brown offered their support and welcome to refugees and called on the Biden administration to lift refugee admission caps and take emergency actions to save lives. The refugee crisis in Afghanistan is growing as the Taliban take over the country.
In a statement, Brown said: “It’s critical that the United States take steps to evacuate as many people in danger from Afghanistan as quickly as possible, including expediting the visa approval process, particularly for those Afghans and their families who have risked their lives in service of this country.”
Catholic Charities of Oregon is one of several refugee resettlement agencies here. The visas allow people who are targeted because of their work for the U.S. to relocate here.
“We have to find them safe and secure housing, help the kids get enrolled in school, make sure their medical needs are being met, employment services,” Matthew Westerbeck, the Director of Refugee Services for Catholic Charities of Oregon, said. “This is a way for them to come to the United States, be safe, rebuild their lives, pursue their dreams and have that opportunity after working alongside us overseas.”
Alzubidi went through that process and was at one point a case manager himself. He said it’s like starting over. “It’s not an easy process,” he said. “It needs patience, time and someone who can work with you to guide you on the right path.”
You can find more about services at the following links:
• Catholic Charities of Oregon
• Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon
President Biden is nominating an Oregonian to become director of the National Park
Service. Biden announced yesterday he intends to nominate Chuck Sams, making him
the first Native American to be nominated to the job. Sams has worked in state and
tribal governments as well as the non-profit natural resource and conservation
management fields over 25 years. He’s currently a member of the Northwest Power
and Conservation Council. He’s the former director of the Confederated Tribes of the
Umatilla Indian Reservation. His nomination needs to be approved by the U.S. Senate.
Oregon Department of Education Partners With Google Offering Training and Support Program for Oregon Teachers
The Oregon Department of Education (ODE) announced a new collaboration with Google to provide free professional training and certifications to Oregon public school teachers who successfully apply for the program.
The partnership will offer courses for Google for Education Level 1 Certification, which equips teachers with skills and tools to manage coursework, inspire learning and boost collaboration to improve student outcomes further using Google’s digital tools.
“We’re excited to welcome back all Oregon students this fall, and digital learning is now an even larger part of our education system,” said ODE Digital Innovations Lead Carla Wade. “At no cost to teachers, this training can increase their effectiveness at using online tools in the classroom, improving learning outcomes and saving time.”
The Google for Education training program is intended for teachers across Oregon, especially those in smaller districts with fewer professional development and training opportunities. Google for Education Level 1 Certification seeks to help teachers utilize the latest classroom management platforms and show how those tools can be used to create even more meaningful learning experiences for students.
“I use all the different collaboration and communication components of Google Workspace for Education in my daily work with colleagues,” said Portland Public Schools Technology Integration Specialist Melissa Lim, who has attained Google for Education Level 1 Certification. “The training offers a great opportunity for professional development, and helps teachers integrate the technology in our classrooms.”
Level 1 Certification areas of study include:
- Latest features of Google Classroom and all applicable tools from Google Workspace
- Workflow efficiency and the creation of paperless classrooms
- Growing data and feedback collection from students and colleagues
- Connecting and collaborating with educators around the globe
- Building students’ digital literacy
“Teachers in Oregon and around the country have excelled in the face of incredible challenges this last year,” said Regional Head of Data Center Public Affairs in Oregon Kate Franko. “We hope this training opportunity provides teachers with new tools that can make their work easier and even more impactful.”
Publicly employed K-12 teachers interested in participating can apply by September 15, 2021. Teachers will be asked to complete a brief assessment and ODE will select final candidates to participate in the program, which teachers can complete based on their own schedules.
More information and details on the application process can be found online.