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
Wednesday, August 31, 2022
Willamette Valley Weather
Starbucks Fires Two Eugene Employees After August’s Union Strikes
Two Starbucks workers who helped unionize their stores in Eugene have been fired.
Jake LaMourie was with the Starbucks store on Willamette and 29th, the first in Oregon to approve forming a union. Reportedly fired for attendance issues, the six-year worker said he’s long felt in the sights of the Starbucks Corporation, and says anti-union management has sought to fire anyone for the slightest infraction.
“The typical playbook for a company that’s trying to stop a burgeoning union like this,” said LaMourie. “I mean, back in January when we filed, I remember saying to people, ‘I’m probably going to get fired for this at some point.’
“And they proved me right.”
LaMourie contested that his attendance record was at fault, and added that a federal judge recently ordered Starbucks to rehire seven workers in Memphis, who were fired after unionizing. He said he doesn’t expect to be unemployed for long.
“I might even be able to get rehired by appealing through Starbucks’ internal systems,” said LaMourie. “But our union has great lawyers, I’ve already been in contact with them, we’ll be going through the NLRB* as well. But yeah, I fully expect to get my job back. I don’t think it’ll be an easy process, but ultimately they’re not going to keep me out of there.”
Another Starbucks employee, James Anthony, was reportedly fired for locking up the West 11th Avenue store’s lobby without informing management after his co-workers walked out.
In a release, Starbucks Workers United shared Anthony’s remarks:
“To all the store managers and district managers and regional managers out there, you should be just as angry as we are. The company has no love for you, and they will continue to use you against us. You have a choice, no one is making you do what you do. If you care about your ‘partners’ you’d be fighting for and with us. At the very least, get out of our way.”
In an emailed statement, a Starbucks spokesperson told KLCC that the Eugene workers were let go due to store policy violations. They add they’ll continue enforcing policies consistently for all workers (or “partners” as they’re referred to by the company.)
“We have been clear from the beginning that we respect our partners’ right to engage in any legally protected activity or protest without retaliation,” the Starbucks spokesperson wrote.
Seven out of eight Starbucks stores in Eugene have unionized this year. The Oakway location remains the lone holdout.
As to whether people should visit or boycott Starbucks stores in the midst of the turmoil, LaMourie said supporters should make a point to buy from those that have unionized.
Eugene Councilwoman Files Lawsuit Against Recall Petitioners
Eugene city Ward 7 councilwoman, Claire Syrett, is filing a lawsuit against several people involved in a recall petition filed against her, calling it a waste of time. She filed the lawsuit less than a month after roughly 2,000 citizens signed a petition to get her out of office.
The recall was started over concerns with the previously proposed plans for River Road under the city’s Moving Ahead Project. Some community members expressed concerns about the potential blueprints for the area, however, councilors have publicly agreed to revisit the plans and nothing is official.
“The vote was a resolution [to move] forward [with] more defined options for the five corridors,” Syrett said.
Councilor Syrett voted ‘yes’ on the Moving Ahead Project, along with the rest of the council.
Among the petitioners is Mark Osterloh, who claims public feedback hasn’t been taken into consideration. He claims the draft blueprints include the removal of two lanes and an added Em-X line.
He, along with other petitioners, claim Syrett said during a council meeting that she received quote ”no negative feedback from business owners” about the plans for River Road. Osterloh said based on his research and the 2,000 people who signed the petition, that cannot be the case.
“When I talked to those people giving those signatures, virtually nobody knew anything about these plans,” Osterloh said. “They have been hidden. If you have an open process you do not hide the facts.”
Despite the council’s plans to revisit their approach, Osterloh doesn’t believe they will follow through. The proposed plans, in his opinion, would limit access to businesses and increase traffic congestion in the area.
“That’s a big promise and stuff. Maybe, maybe not. What we’re saying is ‘it’s time to stop, let’s define what the actual needs are for transportation,’” Osterloh said.
Syrett’s lawsuit is against a handful of organizers on the recall petition, the Lane County Elections Division, and the city’s recorder.
”Several statements that they made asserting what the nature of the vote on Moving Ahead would do are unfactual,” she said.
She says the process of a recall has been misused.
“The recall is designed to remove someone who may have been accused of illegal activity or unethical activity,” Syrett added. “If you’re just allowed to make things up or stretch the truth in order to circulate those petitions then that is a very dangerous precedent.”
Syrett is asking the courts to put an end to the recall so she can focus on other issues. As she awaits a decision, the election will go on as planned, with several ballots already in the mail.
White Bird Clinic Expands Mental Health Counseling Department
The White Bird Clinic announced it is expanding its mental health counseling department after years of the pandemic have made the need for those services even more urgent.
“Every one of us, the reader that is running your eyes across these words, you’ve had a pretty tough two or three years,” Chris Hecht, executive coordinator at White Bird Clinic, said. “We all have.”
But for those with less support, resources, and income, additional stressors made it even harder to cope, Hecht said.
White Bird Clinic is responding to the need by hiring three new mental health clinicians on staff, which will create openings for about 40 new clients. In the spring, counseling services will move from 341 E. 12th to 1910 Pearl St., which will give counselors more space to work. For now, all mental health counseling sessions take place remotely via Telehealth.
The new clinicians’ areas of interest and expertise include working with the LGBTQ+ community, helping those who struggle with addictions, crisis intervention as well as therapeutic treatment services to living organ donor candidates, recipients and their families.
The new space will be designed to try to communicate a sense of calming, grounding and reassurance through aspects such as the color, light and décor, Hecht shared. The goal of its trauma-informed design is to make sure the people who are receiving care are given it in a way that recognizes past traumatic interactions with authority, family or anything else that makes accessing care harder.
“That’s one of the things we understand much better now than even five years ago,” Hecht said. “The way the space lays out, even just how it’s decorated, can either be a grounding, calming and reassuring thing, or the opposite.”
Around the county, demand for counseling services grew under the strain of the last few years. A 2021 American Psychological Association survey found many psychologists reported increases in demand for treatment of anxiety and depression as well as increased workloads, longer waitlists and low capacity for new patients. Care already could be hard to find prior to the pandemic. In 2018-2019, 8.9% of adults in Oregon, 291,000 people, reported an unmet need for mental health treatment in the past year, which was higher than the U.S. share of 6.2%, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation analysis.
Patients on the Oregon Health Plan or Medicare often have even less services available and more barriers in the way. Among the adults in Oregon who reported an unmet need for mental health treatment in the past year, 38.2% did not receive care because of cost, according to KFF.
“We already had a situation that made it tough to get Medicare, Medicaid, and then this happened,” Hecht said. “And what we saw was an increase to the already too-long waitlist and a fair amount of providers saying ‘We’re not adding to our waitlist’ and or ‘We’re not going to take new OHP patients anymore.’ “
White Bird serves adults on OHP, but due to increased patient volume, it may be a few weeks before a counseling intake is scheduled.
Hecht hopes the expansion will get more people the help they need. “We identified this need and said we got to do something and we got to do it as fast as we can,” Hecht said.
White Bird Clinic invites anyone 16 and older to visit the White Bird website and fill out the mental health counseling screening form to request an appointment at https://whitebirdclinic.org/counseling.
We want to keep you informed about COVID-19 in Oregon. Data are provisional and change frequently. For more information, including COVID-19 data by county, visit our dashboard: http://ow.ly/quNq50KwaqP
Governor Kate Brown has declared a state of emergency due to the imminent threat of wildfires across Oregon. (http://ow.ly/TlPk50Kwbn7) Wildfires and smoke can be harmful to health, and exposure may lead to symptoms that look similar to COVID-19. Click here to learn how to tell the difference between symptoms of COVID-19 and wildfire smoke exposure. http://ow.ly/Ntgs50Kwbn8
City of Bend Police Department – Shooting UPDATE: Bend Safeway Worker is a Hero
View the City of Bend Police Department’s press conference live from Muni Court at 12:30 p.m.: https://youtu.be/gPp2QWbk5yU
The city of Bend is still reeling from the shooting at a local Safeway store that left three dead Sunday night.
A Safeway employee who previously served in the U.S. Army for two decades attacked a gunman in the produce section of the Bend, Oregon, supermarket, police said Monday, possibly preventing more casualties from a shooting that left the employee and one other person dead.
Police hailed the employee, 66-year-old Donald Ray Surrett Jr., of Bend, as a hero and said his actions may have saved shoppers at the store in the high-desert city ringed by mountains in the central part of the state. Customer Glenn Edward Bennett, 84, of Bend, was also killed Sunday evening, police spokeswoman Sheila Miller said.
Police said Monday the shooter died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound; his body was found by police near an AR-15-style weapon and a shotgun. Police identified the gunman as Ethan Blair Miller, 20, of Bend.
The gunman lived in an apartment complex behind The Forum Shopping Center. Witnesses said he began shooting Sunday evening as soon as he left the complex and continued firing as he entered the shopping complex’s parking lot and then went into the Safeway.
Bennett was killed at the store’s entrance, police said, and the shooter then moved through the aisles “spraying shots” from the assault rifle until Surrett confronted him. The entire incident — from the first 911 calls to officers discovering the suspect dead in the store — unfolded in four minutes, Miller said. Police entered the supermarket from the front and rear as shots were still being fired.
Authorities later found three Molotov cocktails and a sawed-off shotgun in the shooter’s car. The Oregon State Police bomb squad was called in to sweep the store, the car and the suspect’s apartment for explosives, authorities said, forcing the evacuation of eight surrounding apartments on Monday morning. Miller said reports that there was a second shooter were not true.
It Was Also a Deadly Weekend In Salem And Portland
Two people are dead and a woman was injured in three separate shootings in Salem over the weekend. Police say Friday night, a man who tried to force his way into a home was shot and killed by his former domestic partner. Early Saturday morning, a dispute at Geer Park involving people in a camp ended with a man being fatally shot.
Then, Sunday night on 24th Street Northeast two women standing in front of a home got into an argument with two
men and shots were fired. A woman suffered non-life-threatening injuries. The investigations continue. No arrests have been made.
Three people were killed and nine were injured in shootings over the weekend in Portland. Police say it pushed them to their limits investigating the incidents.
A man was killed in a shooting on Northeast Broadway. Another man died in a shooting on Southeast 148th Avenue. And a woman was killed in a shooting involving domestic violence. 33-year-old Mohamed Adan is charged with murder. In another incident, a ride-share driver was held at gunpoint. After leaving the car, the suspect fired a shot into the air. Police say they weren’t able to respond to lower priority calls, including several incidents of street racing.
OSP Northwest Region Marijuana Team and the Clackamas County Interagency Task Force Serve Warrants at Two Woodburn-Area Illegal Marijuana Grows
On Friday, August 26, 2022, Oregon State Police, Drug Enforcement Section, Northwest Region Marijuana Team (OSP NWR MJ) and the Clackamas County Interagency Task Force (CCITF) served search warrants at two nearby locations on South Schneider Road north of Woodburn, OR.
The investigation began after law enforcement was alerted by businesspersons working in the regulated cannabis industry. Investigators with NWR MJ and CCITF began following up on the information provided and found 57 greenhouses not registered to grow hemp or licensed to grow marijuana.
During the search warrant operation, investigators seized 11,179 marijuana plants for destruction and found a large amount of harvested marijuana in various stages of drying and trimming.
Also discovered during the operation were over two pounds of methamphetamine, 510 imported pills that were various Schedule II Controlled Substances, 15 firearms and one home-made firearm suppressor. A significant number of stolen vehicles were recovered including a tractor, two motorcycles, a side-by-side ATV, a quad ATV, a trailer full of an electrician’s equipment, a flatbed-gooseneck equipment trailer and a small enclosed trailer taken from a McMinnville area church.
Several suspects were contacted, interviewed, and released. The case and potential charges will be referred to the Clackamas County District Attorney’s Office.
NWR MJ and CCITF were assisted in the operation by the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, the Woodburn Police Department, the Keizer Police Department, the Westside Interagency Narcotics Team, the Linn Interagency Narcotics Enforcement Team, the Portland Police Bureau, and the Salem Police Department.
Information about a body found over a week ago in Klamath Falls has finally surfaced from city police officials.
The body of a 65-year-old Caucasian man, local to Klamath Falls, was discovered Tuesday, Aug. 23, in the field behind Fred Meyer grocery store, according to Capt. Ryan Brosterhous of the Klamath Falls Police Department (KFPD).
Initially, “unusual circumstances” led officials to suspect foul play and possible involvement of a third party. Further investigation revealed details that took the case in a different direction, he said. “The investigation is still open,” Brosterhous said, “but all signs point to no foul play.”
After conducting witness interviews and reviewing statements that were made “prior to” the incident, the case is now cautiously presumed to be a suicide.
According to Bosterhous, the deceased man was currently “in transition” in terms of housing, frustrating efforts to determine and subsequently notify next of kin.
For this reason, and for the sake of avoiding “pouring salt in wounds” of grieving families, the name of the subject has not yet been released. The official cause of death will be determined, pending the results of an autopsy.
District attorneys from Washington, Clackamas, and Marion counties are fighting an effort to reduce the time the Oregon State Hospital has to evaluate and treat defendants before trial.
Disability Rights Oregon and Metropolitan Public Defenders have asked a federal judge to address capacity issues at the hospital. The attorneys general argue it will allow people with dangerous mental health issues to be released on their own.
The judge has approved the motion but will allow the district attorneys to present more information. The Oregon Health Authority and Oregon State Hospital are not challenging the reduced time limits.
Oregon’s Attorney General Warns Of Bank Scam
Last week, Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum received a text from her bank asking if she’d recently spent $750 at Walmart. She hastily texted back “NO,” and almost immediately her phone rang.
Rosenblum, who’s made consumer protection a priority, spent 10 minutes on the phone. She grew increasingly suspicious. The caller, frustrated with her questions, hung up.
The call was typical of fraudsters who have stolen billions of dollars a year from Americans. Rosenblum said she opted to go public with her account to warn Oregonians that if it can happen to her, it can happen to anyone.
“You feel embarrassed, like, how could I not recognize the signs of a scam? And here I am, I actually teach people about how to avoid getting scammed. And initially, it didn’t even cross my mind,” she told the Capital Chronicle. “I just want to get people’s attention.”
First elected in 2012, Rosenblum is involved in several consumer protection initiatives. For years, she and her office’s consumer education director have traveled the state presenting to groups of primarily older Oregonians about how to avoid getting scammed.
In 2019, she formed the Consumer Privacy Task Force to recommend legislation to protect consumer privacy. It is currently devising a bill that would require the registration of data brokers who sell personal information, allowing consumers to opt out.
Rosenblum is optimistic the legislation, which is similar to California’s Consumer Privacy Bill, will gain bipartisan support in the state Legislature.
Rosenblum, 71, says she tries to stay up on the latest swindles.
“I know a lot about scams and frauds, and I gotta tell you, this particular one is really, really devious.”
On Wednesday, the Department of Justice’s “Scam Alert Network.” posted a notice by Rosenblum urging Oregonians to beware of phony bank scammersThe Oregon Department of Justice has reports from consumers who, like Rosenblum, had received calls and text messages purporting to be from their financial institution.
Several factors set this new scam apart, according to Rosenblum. For one, the text she received asked her to reply back “YES” or “NO,” but it also included another option: text ‘STOP’ to prevent future text messages. That little detail helped the scammer slip past her initial defenses, she said.
There was another factor new to Rosenblum: The scam featured both a text and a phone call. The scammers start with a text. In one version of the scam – the one that targeted Rosenblum – the message asks the victim if they’d made a large purchase on a particular date. In another version, the text says changes have been made to the victim’s bank account. And once on the phone, the scammer tries to extract as much personal information from the victim as possible.
Most scams bear several telltale signs, according to the attorney general’s office. Scammers often try to impart a sense of urgency in their victim, and they ask for information they should already have. The attorney general’s office advises a person who receives suspicious calls or texts claiming to be from a financial institution to call their bank and report what happened.
Rosenblum and her husband, Richard Meeker, who share a bank account, have received new bank cards and PIN numbers. She suspects her scammers acquired her data through a corporate hack.
One red flag that the purported bank representative was not legit was that he kept referring to her as “Mrs. Rosenblum.”
“I cannot stand it when people call me, ‘Mrs. Rosenblum,’ because I kept my birth name and I never go by ‘Mrs. Rosenblum,’” she said. “I kept telling him, ‘Please do not refer to me as ‘Mrs. Rosenblum.’ You can call me ‘Ellen’ if you want.’ And he just couldn’t quite handle that. He couldn’t bring himself to do it.”
Tips to avoid scams:
- Do not give anyone you don’t know personal information, including your Social Security number and credit card and bank account information information.
- Do not click on links from someone you don’t know in an email. You could end up with an electronic virus.
- If you get a call from someone who says they work at your bank, hang up and call your bank. Do not call a number they give you because it’s likely to be phony.
- Ignore instructions to text “STOP” or “NO” to prevent future texts.
- If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
To file a complaint or report a scam, visit oregonconsumer.gov or call 877-877-9392.
Labor Day Boating Fun and Friendly Reminders
Labor Day Weekend traditions are rooted in the outdoors, and to keep things fun and safe, the Oregon State Marine Board suggests taking the time to plan your on-water getaway with the following tips:
Wear your life jacket. Each boat (including canoes and kayaks, inflatable boats, and stand up paddleboards) must have a properly fitted life jacket for each person on board and at least one sound-producing device. Life jackets need to be in good shape and readily accessible – not under a hatch or in their packaging. All youth younger than 13 must wear a life jacket when in a boat that’s underway. Since storage space is limited on paddlecraft, it makes the best sense to just wear a life jacket. So far this season, most of the victims of recreational boating fatalities were paddlers not wearing life jackets.
Know your waterway. “Take the time to get familiar with the waterway and know the dangers,” says Brian Paulsen, Boating Safety Program Manager for the Marine Board. “Look out for wood, other debris, and shallow gravel bars with low water levels.” Find out more about low water impacts on boat ramps by subscribing to the Marine Board’s Opportunities and Access Report.
Know what rules apply. There are all types of watercrafts on the market; some are considered boats and others are pool toys. Boats are designed differently, and by state law, have specific equipment requirements. “If you plan to float in a river, keep in mind that pool toys are designed for use in a swimming pool, have no directional control, and can puncture easily. Float in a watercraft designed for a river; one which won’t easily puncture and comes equipped with a paddle so you can maneuver away from obstructions.” Paulsen adds. It’s state law that any boat with a motor, even temporarily mounted, must be titled and registered. Paddlecraft (including stand up paddleboards) 10 feet and longer are required to carry a Waterway Access Permit.
Boat Sober. Boating is a great social activity, and the Marine Board encourages boaters and persons floating on the waterways, to leave the alcohol on shore. It’s safer for everyone. If arrested for Boating Under the Influence of Intoxicants (BUII), violators can be fined up to $6,250; can lose boating privileges for up to three years and even serve jail time. Intoxicants include marijuana, illicit drugs, and even some prescriptions.
Sit on the seat inside the boat. Many boaters are tempted to ride on the swim platform, stern, sides, and the bow of open motorboats. The stern can be a dangerous place for exposure to carbon monoxide and a prop-strike safety hazard. It is illegal to ride on the bow, decks, gunwales or transoms of a motorboat when the boat is underway. Sitting on designated seats is the safest option – especially when the boat is towing someone. Just because new boats have seats on the transom or swim step doesn’t make them legal for use when the boat is underway.
Slow down, keep scanning, and be courteous. Know the boating regulations for your area of operation. Boaters, including personal watercraft, are responsible for damage caused by their wake. Remember to slow down within 200 feet of a dock, launch ramp, marina, moorage, floating home or boathouse, pier or swim float, even if they don’t have a “Slow No-Wake” buoy or sign. Paddlers should stay closer to shore, crossing busy channels at right angles only when it is safe and allow motorboats to pass in deeper water. Be courteous, share the waterway, and recreate responsibly.
The top boating violations this summer include expired motorboat registration, no life jackets, and not carrying a waterway access permit. So far this year, there have been 12 recreational boating fatalities involving four motorized boats (PWC and open motorboats) and eight nonmotorized boats (kayaks, SUP, canoe, and raft).
For more information about equipment requirements, boating regulations, and ideas on where to go boating, visit the Marine Board’s website.
https://www.oregon.gov/osp/missing/pages/missingpersons.aspx
This is just a small compilation of missing women and their pictures in the area. There are of course women missing all over Oregon and men and children missing too. We don’t mean to dismiss that, however, there is an inordinate amount of women who go missing each week and there could possibly be a connection with an anomaly or two here and there. Sadly most of them never get any attention. Family and friends must keep any information going and lead investigations so that they aren’t just forgotten.
https://www.facebook.com/pg/Have-You-Seen-Me-Southern-Oregons-Missing-People-161249961222839/posts/
