Willamette Valley News, Monday 4/25 – Police Respond to Large Rowdy Off-Campus Party in Eugene, Albany Woman Arrested In Murder Of Her 3-Year-Old Child

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

Monday, April 25, 2022

Willamette Valley Weather

Today– A chance of rain before 11am, then a chance of showers after 11am. Cloudy, with a high near 59. Light and variable wind becoming west northwest 5 to 10 mph in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 40%.

Tuesday– Showers likely, mainly after 11am. Snow level 2500 feet rising to 3500 feet in the afternoon. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 55. Light and variable wind becoming southwest 5 to 9 mph in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.

Wednesday– Partly sunny, with a high near 57. Calm wind becoming west northwest around 5 mph in the afternoon.

Thursday– A 50 percent chance of showers, mainly after 11am. Snow level 3000 feet rising to 3500 feet in the afternoon. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 56.

Friday– A slight chance of showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 60.

Albany Woman Arrested In Murder Of Her 3-Year-Old Child

Albany Police arrested 32-year-old Rebekah Gasperino Saturday for allegedly murdering her 3-year-old child.

Police said officers conducted a traffic stop on a car occupied by Gasperino around 2:30 a.m. 

During the course of the traffic stop, police said they learned Gasperino may be a danger to herself or others and needed to check the wellbeing of her 3-year-old child immediately.

When officers responded to her home on 2000 block of Sun Place SE in Albany, they found Gasperino’s 3-year-old child deceased, police said.

Gasperino was transported to Albany Police Department and taken into custody for first degree murder.

The community is shocked and flowers are being placed in front of the home.

The child’s father and other family members have been notified, according to police. The investigation is ongoing.

Police Respond to Large Rowdy Off-Campus Party in Eugene

Police in Oregon are calling an off-campus drinking party an “embarrassment” after responding officers were pelted with bottles and cans. 

Eugene officers responded to the very large party, estimated to have up to 1,000 people, Saturday. Cops said the party started at 10 a.m. and officers came on the scene more than an hour after. 

Authorities said hundreds of people were reported to be blocking the entire roadway, spreading into travel lanes and onto neighboring properties. 

They said many of the guests were underaged drinkers, college-aged individuals and middle-aged parents. 

When police responded, officers said they had glass bottles and canned food thrown at them as they were trying to disperse the crowd. 

“Something like this is a complete embarrassment for the people who engaged in that party,” Chief Chris Skinner said on the department’s Facebook page. “We all understand the excitement Spring brings but these irresponsible individuals, including parents and their college-aged children should be ashamed. What they did was force our operations to go into what is termed ‘priority calls.’ This means that much of the rest of the community has to have their individual calls for service placed on hold while we deal with people who are not able to self-regulate or observe our community’s standards of behavior. I commend our officers for showing tremendous restraint” 

“The attempted assault on our police officers is inexcusable,” he continued. 

Officers said the crowd dispersed at 1:16 p.m. local time without any arrests. 

The party occurred as the University of Oregon was hosting “Duck Day,” a fan festival named after the school’s mascot that includes an intra-squad football game and other events

Following the football game, the city called in 10 officers on overtime to patrol the area around the university. The officers intervened in numerous house parties and issued more than two dozen citations for alcohol possession by minors and open container violations, police said.

Three Men Arrested For Stealing Catalytic Converters In Eugene

Three men were arrested Sunday for stealing catalytic converters, according to the Eugene Police Department.

Early Saturday morning, at around 4:50 a.m. a resident of 2500 Lakeview Drive reported going outside to confront two or three man who were in the process of stealing catalytic converters. The suspects ran and drove off in a white minivan.

The resident got in his car and began to follow them, but stopped when he heard gunshots.

The next morning, just before 3 a.m., another resident at 4300 Goodpasture Loop heard a car alarm go off and people near the car who drove off in a white minivan.

After searching, police located the white minivan and followed it. Police arrested the three suspects and took them into custody.

The three men, Warran Tavares Duckworth, 22, Dedrian M. Richardson, 21, and Malik O Smith, 18, are all being held at Lane County Jail on robbery and aggravated theft charges.

Search warrants led police to find multiple stolen catalytic converters, power tools, firearms and electronic devices.

Immunity: key terms. Antibodies are proteins produced by the body to destroy or neutralize toxins or disease-carrying organisms when they enter your body. Memory B-cells are build during the month after vaccination or infection. Stand guard, ready to produce antibodies quickly. T-cells are white blood cells that attack other cells that have been infected by the virus.

The fact that people can still test positive for COVID-19 after being vaccinated may make some people question why they should get vaccinated or receive a booster dose.It’s ideal when a vaccine prevents infection, but the primary purpose of vaccines is to prevent severe illness, hospitalization and death.

The current COVID-19 vaccines remain highly effective at preventing severe illness and death.The two mRNA COVID-19 vaccines (Pfizer and Moderna) accomplish this by introducing your immune system to the spike protein from the SARS-CoV-2 virus, allowing you to build up antibodies against it. When somebody has enough antibodies, they may be able to immediately fight off the virus and prevent infection. As immunity wanes the number of antibodies decline, and that’s when our memory B- and T-cells take action.

Those memory B- and T-cells immediately recognize the virus and quickly build more antibodies. This process may be too slow to prevent infection. But it helps explain why people who are vaccinated against COVID-19 experience not only lower rates of infection, but significantly lower rates of hospitalization and death compared to those who aren’t vaccinated.

Even as immunity wanes and new variants mutate to evade immunity (leading to more breakthrough cases), the vaccines remain impressively effective.

The latest data from the CDC show people age 12 and older who received no vaccinations were 20 times more likely to die from COVID-19 and 7 times more likely to be hospitalized compared to those who received primary series and booster vaccine doses.

Additionally, recent studies have found potential connections between COVID-19 and diabetes, heart disease and cognitive decline. Studies also suggest COVID-19 vaccines reduce the risk of long-term health complications.To learn more, visit our blog: http://ow.ly/rqZZ50IQmrx

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Tuesday Is Voter Registration Deadline For May Primary In Oregon

Tuesday is the voter registration and party choice deadline for Oregon’s May 17 primary election.

New Oregon voters with a valid state driver license, driving permit, or ID can register online at oregonvotes.gov until 11:59 Tuesday night – marking three weeks until election day.

If you do not have a valid oregon driver’s license or ID, you will need to fill out a paper voter registration card.

The cards are available at the post office, county libraries, or county elections buildings. Those must be mailed with a USPS postmark of April 26.

Oregon Has $10Million Dollars to Help Wildfire Victims Rebuild

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The Oregon Department of Energy has ten-million dollars available to help wildfire victims rebuild their homes in a way that’s more energy efficient.

Oregonians lost five-thousand homes in the 2020 wildfires. The incentives range from three-thousand to 18-thousand dollars. The more energy efficient items that are added to a home, the more money that can be received. Low to moderate income residents can also receive more money.

You are eligible if you are rebuilding a structure deemed by state or county officials as destroyed or damaged in the wildfires ​between August 1 and September 30, 2020, and you have completed or are in the process of completing a local jurisdiction permit process. Eligible structures include:

  • Site-built residential homes
  • Manufactured homes
  • Commercial Buildings
  • Multi-Family Buildings
  • Public Buildings

These incentives are available to structure owners who have already rebuilt, are in the process of rebuilding, or will soon rebuild their structure. Program incentives are tied to structures and are focused on rebuilding communities so owners may change, but the incentive is to support construction costs of the property owner that is rebuilding.
Some manufactured home parks destroyed in the fires may not return. Eligible replacement manufactured homes may be relocated outside of disaster areas in Oregon.

Details are available at the Oregon Department of Energy’s website: https://www.oregon.gov/energy/Incentives/Pages/EEWR.aspx

Oregon Civil Air Patrol Training in Grants Pass Focuses on Finding Missing Aircraft

More than 50 Civil Air Patrol members from the Oregon Wing gathered in Grants Pass this weekend to train and practice for missions to help Oregon pilots and communities.

 Gathering at the facility near Grants Pass Airport, cadets and adult members of squadrons from many parts of Oregon trained to operate radios, work in the Command Post, serve as aircrew and to move and fuel aircraft.  Five CAP aircraft from around Oregon responded to assist.

 Saturday activities included four aircraft conducting Cadet Orientation Ride.  Many cadets also took part in Orientation Rides, which teach them the functions of the aircraft and its equipment and the duties and tasks of pilots.  The flights took off and landed at Grants Pass Airport, (designated as 3S8). Each cadet gets five flights in CAP powered aircraft during their time as a youth member.  Lt Col Vivi Wells, project officer, said facilities were shared by Pacific Aviation and Josephine County. 

Sunday activities included more Orientation Rides for cadets and two aircraft searching for a simulated missing airplane, which is a familiar mission for Civil Air Patrol, which serves as the Volunteer Auxiliary to the U.S. Air Force on searches for missing or significantly delayed aircraft.  In this instance, CAP used a test beacon to send out a signal similar to those transmitted by aircraft in trouble.  The aircrew, utilizing special equipment on the aircraft, were able to triangulate on the beacon, determining its location.  The second aircraft was given instructions to search for a simulated crashed aircraft by visual search techniques.   

Personnel traveled by vehicle and aircraft from the Medford Composite Squadron, Grants Pass Composite Squadron, High Desert Composite Squadron (Bend/Redmond), Washington County Composite Squadron (Hillsboro), McMinnville Composite Squadron, Mahlon Sweet Composite Squadron (Eugene) and Columbia Composite Squadron (Portland). Leaders and trainers from about the Oregon Wing lead the classes.   

 Many volunteers from the Grants Pass squadron made the event possible by being chaperones, preparing food, setting up radios and antennaes.  Several days of planning and preparation were needed. 

Established in 1941, Civil Air Patrol is the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force and as such is a member of its Total Force. In its auxiliary role, CAP operates a fleet of 560 single-engine Cessna aircraft and more than 2,000 small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS) and performs about 90% of continental U.S. inland search and rescue missions as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center. Often using innovative cellphone forensics and radar analysis software, CAP was credited by the AFRCC with saving 130 lives in fiscal 2020. CAP’s 54,000 members also perform homeland security, disaster relief and drug interdiction missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. As a nonprofit organization, CAP plays a leading role in aerospace education using national academic standards-based STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education. Members also serve as mentors to over 20,000 young people participating in CAP’s Cadet Programs. One of the premier public service organizations in America, CAP benefits the nation with an estimated economic impact of $209 million annually. Visit www.CAP.News or www.GoCivilAirPatrol.com for more information. 

Winston Man Dies In Motorcycle Crash

Winston man dies in motorcycle crash

A Winston man is dead following a motorcycle crash on Saturday.

Douglas County Sheriff’s Office said deputies responded shortly after 4:30 p.m. in the 1000 block of Brockway Road.

When deputies arrived, they learned a Harley Davidson motorcycle, operated by 41-year-old Michael Poole, had been traveling at a high rate of speed and lost control, officials said. Poole was pronounced dead at the scene. Officials said next of kin has been notified.

US Coast Guard Rescues Teens Stranded On Coast Near Whale Cove

The U.S. Coast Guard rescued two teenagers Saturday evening who were stranded along the Oregon coast.

Coast Guard crews spotted the teens – a female and a male – in the water near Whale Cove, south of Depoe Bay.

A helicopter crew from the Coast Guard’s North Bend station pulled them both to safety. Emergency crews were on standby at a nearby beach.

They were reportedly unhurt after the incident, authorities said.

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Grants Pass Missing Person

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The Grants Pass Police Department is seeking assistance from the public in locating 30 year old Noah Baker.  Baker was despondent after an argument and left his residence in Grants Pass driving a silver Ford Fiesta with Oregon Plate 671MUR.  

Baker is described as a white male adult, 5’09”, 170 lbs, brown hair and blue eyes and was last seen wearing black sweats, black shirt, black shoes and a black hat.  

If anyone knows of his whereabouts or sees Baker, please call your local law enforcement agency or the Grants Pass Police at 541-450-6260. Reference case #2022-14203 Grants Pass Police Department 

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Klamath County Sheriff’s Office Asks for Public’s Help in Search For Trucker Suspect

The first real clue to come in on all the missing person cases in the area. Help Klamath Falls Oregon Sheriff Office ID this trucker. He was the last to see this woman alive and could be the key to not only solving this woman’s disappearance but a number of the hundred other women missing in PNW. IF you have any information, please call (541) 883-5130

https://www.facebook.com/pg/Have-You-Seen-Me-Southern-Oregons-Missing-People-161249961222839/posts/

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