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, June 16, 2023
Willamette Valley Weather
Annual Police K9 Competition at Silke Field this Saturday
Springfield police are gearing up for their annual K-9 competition, where teams of police dogs and their handlers from around the state will compete to be top dog.
Gates for the event open at 11 a.m., and admission will be free and open to the public.
There will be T-shirts, hats, and other Springfield K-9 unit merchandise available to buy.
Proceeds will go towards the purchase of equipment and training for K-9 units. MORE INFO: https://springfield-or.gov/event/spd-k9-competition/
Benton County Breaks Ground for New Crisis Center in Corvallis
The Benton County Commissioners were joined by nearly 60 dignitaries and invited guests at an event to break ground on the new Benton County Crisis Center at the site of the new facility at 240 NW 4th Street, in Corvallis. The Benton County Crisis Center is a voluntary walk-in treatment-centered facility that provides stabilization for individuals experiencing mental health crisis, along with referrals and support for ongoing behavioral health services.
The project is financed with $7.7 million in state and federal funding, which includes a two-story, 8,000 square foot building on Benton County-owned property. Benton County Health Department secured $5.45 million for the project from the Oregon state general fund through House Bill 5202. Oregon Representative Dan Rayfield helped secure $1.25 million of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Funds for the project, and U.S. Representative Peter DeFazio, along with U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkely, helped secure $1 million from a federal appropriations bill. Gerding Builders, a Corvallis-based company is the Design-build contractor for the project. Gerding Builders has worked closely with Mahlum Architects to ensure that the design meets Benton County’s goals, budget and design to meet the unique needs of Benton County residents.
“The Crisis Center will provide immediate assistance and support to individuals experiencing mental health crises,” shared Benton County Behavioral Health Director Damien Sands. “It will be a safe and non-judgmental environment where people can seek help when they need it most. This prompt intervention can prevent situations from escalating and potentially save lives. The facility will be staffed to handle various mental health crises, including suicidal ideation, severe anxiety or depression, substance abuse emergencies, and psychosis. We will have trained professionals who can assess the situation, provide appropriate interventions, and stabilize individuals in crisis.”
The crisis center will be staffed by the Benton County Health Department’s behavioral health crisis team and is an expansion of existing mental health crisis services offered by the County. Services will include 24/7 walk-in and mobile crisis services, 5-7 stabilization recliners, and 5-7 respite beds. With construction starting in June of 2023, the facility is expected to open in the summer of 2024.
The crisis center is a project of Benton County’s Justice System Improvement Program (JSIP), a multi-year effort to improve outcomes in our communities. Addressing mental health needs is a primary focus of JSIP’s vision for enhanced County programs and facilities. The crisis center may serve as a resource on calls to law enforcement that involve a mental health concern.
Crisis services are currently available from Benton County Health Department’s mental health crisis team by calling the Benton County Crisis Line at 1-888-232-7192. Benton County Health Department also offers walk-in mental health crisis counseling services for all ages. No appointment is needed. Simply stop at the front desk and ask “to see the Counselor of the Day”. The services are currently located at 557 NW Monroe Avenue, Corvallis, OR, Monday – Friday, 8:00 am – 5:00 pm.
Federal auditors have flagged problems in the Oregon Health Authority’s oversight of mental health grants, including the potential misappropriation of more than half a million dollars awarded to remodeling project in Eugene
Their review, obtained by the Capital Chronicle in a public records request, shows the agency has failed to adequately inform a federally-mandated advisory council where money for programs to help Oregon’s most vulnerable in communities across the state has gone.
The grant program run by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, known as SAMHSA, provides a prime funding source for Oregon’s behavioral health and addiction services, giving the state $13 million in the last two years.
The report found that the lack of oversight resulted in the health authority improperly awarding more than $570,000 in federal dollars toward the expansion and remodeling of a residential youth facility in Eugene. Using the money for major building improvements isn’t allowed under the federal mental health grant program, auditors said in their preliminary findings.
White Bird Clinic
We all need someone to lean on from time-to-time! Come visit NEST for our weekly Walk-In hours where our amazing staff offer multiple services to anyone who may need them.
Helping people with phone access, EBT card replacement, direct express cards, ID/ birth certificate assistance, rental and security deposit assistance, navigating housing lists, Social Security, OHP, addiction service referrals and more.
Hours are Tuesday through Thursday, 9:30am to 12:30pm and 2:00pm to 4:00pm at 323 E 12th Ave. Assistance is also available by phone; call us at 541-342-1295 (9:30am–3:00pm). Check in for walk-in hours on the porch of 341 E 12th Ave right next door.
Oregon Lawmakers Make Deal To End Senate Walkout After Key Bills Were Changed
Republicans in the Oregon Senate ended their six-week walkout on Thursday, after reaching a deal to water down Democratic bills on abortion and guns that the GOP has strenuously opposed.
Those changes — unthinkable if Republicans had not launched the longest walkout in state history — represent a win for the boycotting senators. But the party got far from everything it wanted in protracted negotiations with Democrats.
Senate President Rob Wagner, D-Lake Oswego, refused to excuse absences racked up by 10 conservative lawmakers since the walkout began May 3. That means all 10 are expected to be blocked from running for reelection under a ballot measure passed by voters last November.
“The framework that we have today is going to move Oregon forward, and there are obviously a whole bunch of legislators that aren’t gonna be able to come back to this building,” Wagner told reporters.
Democrats also balked at a larger “kill list” of legislation Republicans want taken out of consideration as lawmakers speed to a mandatory June 25 adjournment. The deal is contingent on the GOP agreeing to waive normal procedural rules, a step that will allow Democrats to fast-track hundreds of bills awaiting passage in the Senate.
“I think the Democrat majority yielded a lot,” Senate Minority Leader Tim Knopp, R-Bend, told reporters. “That really is what helped make this go … Essentially what happened is everybody got some of what they wanted, and everybody got some of what they didn’t want.”
After a planned 9 a.m. start was repeatedly pushed back Thursday morning, lawmakers began trickling into the Senate at 11 a.m. Among them were five Republicans — Sens. Knopp, Lynn Findley, Bill Hansell, David Brock Smith and Dick Anderson. Along with all 17 Democrats, the lawmakers gave the chamber a 20-member quorum for the first time since May 2.
How much the GOP presence will increase in the coming days was unclear. Knopp said that some of his colleagues still had “deeply held beliefs and concerns” about bills up for consideration.
“You’ll see more people coming back to the building,” he said.
As a result of the deal, hammered out over hours of negotiation since last Friday, many priorities both parties put forward for this session remain achievable. And the Legislature will be able to pass a new two-year budget that contains record funding for schools, new money for mental health services and funding to help address a crisis in public defense, among many other things.
But some of the session’s most controversial proposals will look very different when they head to the Senate floor for a vote.
While they have offered many reasons for walking out this year, Republicans have been most vocal about House Bill 2002. As it passed the House, the legislation would expand protections for abortion access and gender-affirming health, among many other provisions.
Republicans and their allies have railed against a provision in the bill that would allow children of any age to terminate a pregnancy without parental consent, a step they say is an affront to parents’ rights.
As OPB reported was likely on Monday, lawmakers have agreed to keep in place a legal requirement that parental permission is required for children under 15 to end a pregnancy. But that requirement can be overridden if two health providers in separate medical practices conclude informing parents would be harmful to the child, according to a briefing with key players engaged in the negotiations.
Democrats also agreed to nix portions of the bill expanding abortion access on university campuses and in rural parts of the state.
Other pieces of HB 2002 remain intact, including expanding what gender-affirming care must be covered by insurance plans and securing legal protections for providers who perform abortions for patients who come from states in which similar procedures would be illegal.
Wagner, who said repeatedly in recent weeks that HB 2002 was not up for negotiation, told reporters that Democrats were able to keep portions of the bill they believe are most important, saying he “couldn’t be prouder” of protections that remain. Advocacy groups backing the legislation had forcefully opposed changes, lawmakers said, but issued a release saying Democrats had kept “crucial portions” in tact.
Democrats have also agreed to kill Senate Joint Resolution 33, which would have asked voters to enshrine protections for abortion, same-sex marriage and transgender care in the state Constitution. Republicans said they offered support for the same-sex marriage portion of the resolution.
Republicans also appear to have won big concessions on the session’s major gun control bill. House Bill 2005 would have implemented three major changes: outlawing untraceable “ghost” guns, increasing the age to purchase and own most guns from 18 to 21, and allowing cities to ban concealed weapons in public buildings. Under the deal, only the ghost gun provision will survive.
Shortly after the Senate recessed on Thursday afternoon, lawmakers on the Senate Rules Committee met in a brief hearing to amend both HB 2002 and HB 2005 with the agreed-upon language.
Democrats will also agree to kill Senate Bill 348 and a handful of other gun bills that would put some provisions of Measure 114, a gun safety law approved by voters last year, into statute. The ballot measure is currently on hold amid court challenges. It banned the sale or transfer of extended capacity magazine clips and required a permit to purchase a gun, among other restrictions.
The agreement includes changes to a bill that will expand the availability of treatment for opioid addiction, which had been a key concern for Sen. Cedric Hayden, R-Fall Creek.
Democrats will also waive the $325 daily fines they began levying on absent lawmakers last week. And lawmakers will address Republicans’ insistence that the Senate has not followed a law that requires bill summaries to be written at roughly an eighth-grade level.
As the Senate resumed normal operations following the six-week break Thursday, senators began reading summaries that met that readability requirement prior to a bill being considered. Knopp said Democrats had committed to following the statute in the future.
The two parties didn’t only cut deals on what bills should be diluted. Democrats also are allowing a Republican-led resolution that would ask voters to allow the Legislature to impeach statewide elected officials to head to a floor vote, though its passage isn’t guaranteed. And the deal ensures that there will be enough Republican votes to pass an increase in taxes on telephone services in the state, in order to fund the 9-8-8 suicide prevention hotline.
Republicans have also committed to waiving a Constitutional rule that all bills be read in full before a final vote — a necessary step if the Legislature hopes to finish its business by June 25, as required. But crucially, the GOP is only granting that rules suspension on a day-to-day basis instead of taking one vote to do so for the rest of session, Knopp said.
That would give Republicans continued leverage to slow down proceedings if difficulties between the parties reemerge.
The agreement reached Thursday marked a notable change in Democrats’ stance toward the walkout. Again and again since the boycott began, Wagner and other leading Democrats insisted they would refuse to bargain over HB 2002 and HB 2005. But with the possibility of losing hundreds of other pieces of legislation becoming more urgent, the party changed tactics.
Democrats cast the agreement in positive terms. Rather than highlighting the concessions made in HB 2002, for instance, Wagner’s office said the bill had been “clarified to ensure the bill affirms standard abortion care that has been in place for 50 years under Roe v. Wade.”
“We have achieved major bipartisan victories already this session, and I expect that to continue now that we have returned to the floor,” Wagner said in a statement. “I am grateful for all the senators who listened to each other and sought an end to this walkout while protecting Oregon priorities and values.”
Meanwhile, Knopp talked up the policy changes his caucus achieved.
“We have said from the very beginning that we cannot allow the Senate to operate in an unlawful, uncompromising, and unconstitutional manner,” Knopp said in a statement. “We repeatedly urged Democrat leaders to put the critical needs of all Oregonians first instead of prioritizing an extreme agenda that does nothing but divide us. I am pleased to say that we were able to hold the Democrat Majority accountable and accomplish all these things.”
Gov Tina Kotek, whose attempts to end the walkout fizzled last month, issued a brief statement.
“Oregonians are demanding progress on many urgent challenges,” Kotek said through a spokesperson. “I’m glad to see the Senate is back to doing the work of the people.”
Now that they’re back, Republicans face another challenge: Trying to salvage their political careers.
Knopp said Republicans attempted to convince Wagner to excuse their absences during the walkout, which would ensure they didn’t run afoul of Measure 113. The measure, passed overwhelmingly last year, penalizes any lawmaker who receives more than 10 unexcused absences in a legislative session.
“Our members, I think, were willing to make the sacrifice,” Knopp said. “As we went into this, I think we knew what the potential consequence was. We were obviously going to have legal action to follow.”
Republicans have said they will sue to challenge Measure 113, the law that could prevent them from seeking reelection. They also argue that the measure’s sloppy wording might grant them another term, even if they’re eventually blocked from running.
“We knew the risk we were taking, but we feel our challenge to Measure 113′s constitutionality is strong,” state Sen. Lynn Findley, a Vale Republican who played a leading role in negotiating the deal, said in a statement. “Some of our colleagues may disagree, but that is a battle for another day. Today, we are happy to deliver this win for Oregonians.” (SOURCE)
UPDATE: Crews continue to make progress on Hat Rock, Mount Hebron fires in Umatilla County
Sharing on behalf of the OSFM Green Incident Management Team
Fire Update: Thursday, June 15
Some fire activity was spotted yesterday on both fires. In mid-afternoon on the Hat Rock Fire, a flare-up was spotted near the southwest corner of the original fire. It was quickly put out by crews and kept within containment lines. A similar situation occurred in the Mount Hebron Fire; the fire made a small run on the west side within the original fire footprint. Crews engaged and stopped further fire progress. Extinguishing flare-ups immediately is a priority for crews as prevailing winds continue to be a potential instigator for the fires finding new life.
The OSFM Green Team assigned to the incident remains committed to a successful transfer of the contained fires back to local jurisdictions. Incident Commander Lance Lighty said, “Our job is not complete until we have confidence in the lines holding. Crews have been tested with unfavorable weather conditions and dry fuels, but favorable weather and the hard work of crews are putting us on a successful path to complete fire containment.”
Crews worked throughout the day and night to build upon existing containment lines around the entirety of each fire. Work is continuing to protect buildings near or in the fire perimeter by providing 100’ containment.
The OSFM continues to work in coordination with the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) in firefighting efforts. Helicopter bucket drops were used in the Juniper Canyon area where rugged terrain held hot spots. ODF has also a provided hand crew, two dozers with personnel, and a unit leader from the Pendleton Unit to coordinate ODF support.
Infrared flights yesterday gathered vital information and a better visual on the full scale of the rapid fire growth that occurred on Tuesday. The flight records heat signatures inside the fire perimeter and gives a better look at the size of the fire. The data is being used to coordinate crews and engage them in priority areas. Updated numbers are now estimating acreage to be 15,843 acres for the Hat Rock Fire and 370 acres for the Mount Hebron Fire.
Evacuation orders are still in effect for a portion of the Hat Rock Fire. Please refer to the Umatilla County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page.
Oregon DMV Hacked – Millions of Driver’s License and Identification Card Files Compromised
The Oregon Department of Motor Vehicles confirmed Thursday that an estimated 3.5 million driver’s license and identification card files were compromised when the agency was hacked two weeks ago.
Agency spokesperson Michelle Godfrey said Thursday that the agency realized on Monday — four days ago — that the breach had extended to about 90% of the state’s driver’s license and ID card files.
Agency spokesperson Michelle Godfrey said Thursday that the agency realized on Monday that the breach had extended to about 90% of the state’s driver’s license and ID card files.
The Oregonian first made inquiries about the security breach on Wednesday; DMV officials took nearly a day to respond with answers. Godfrey said the agency planned to wait until Friday to go public because officials are still preparing agency employees for how to respond to Oregonians’ questions and concerns about how to protect themselves.
Godfrey advised the public to monitor credit reports for signs of fraudulent activity.
Godfrey said state officials became aware on June 1 that the agency’s system had been hacked. Two hours later, the systems were locked down, she said.
“But we didn’t have any information about what data may have been affected at that time,” she said. “It’s taken days of analysis” to determine that the hack compromised the state’s driver license and ID records.
“That took it to a whole new level,” she said.
After the news organization’s inquiry, the state Department of Transportation issued a press release saying the agency was among many organizations affected by the breach as a result of a “global hack of the data transfer software MOVEit Transfer.”
Sensitive personal information on millions of holders of driver’s licenses and ID cards were compromised, the agency said.
The agency has used the popular file sharing tool since 2015. On June 1, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency issued a zero-day vulnerability alert that said the software had a “vulnerability which could allow an attacker to ‘take over an affected system.’”
A third-party security specialist determined that multiple files had been accessed by unauthorized actors before the agency received the official alert.
“We do not have the ability to identify if any specific individual’s data has been breached,” the agency said in a statement. “Individuals who have an active Oregon ID or driver’s license should assume information related to that ID is part of this breach.”
19-Year-Old Oregon Woman Faces Federal Charges for Running Social Media Drug Distribution Service Targeting Minors
Defendant is part of a drug distribution network responsible for multiple juvenile overdoses
PORTLAND, Ore.—A Clackamas County, Oregon woman is facing federal drug charges for using social media to advertise, sell, and distribute illegal drugs to minors in and around Portland.
Averi Rose Dickinson, 19, a resident of Damascus, Oregon, has been charged by criminal complaint with conspiring to distribute and distributing controlled substances and possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
According to court documents, in January 2023, the FBI began investigating Dickinson after learning she ran a drug distribution service called “Kiki’s Delivery Service” that advertised and took orders for illegal narcotics on various social media applications including Instagram, Snapchat, and Telegram. Investigators soon discovered that Dickinson had been operating the service for up to three years, taking and fulfilling orders for cocaine, LSD, MDMA, ketamine, marijuana, and various forms of pills, both real and fake. Investigators also identified Dickinson as a source of supply within a larger drug distribution chain responsible for several juvenile drug overdoses.
On June 14, 2023, investigators executed federal warrants on Dickinson’s Damascus residence and vehicle. They located and seized quantities of cocaine, ketamine, marijuana, and counterfeit Xanax bars; $3,000 in cash; a Glock 9mm handgun with extended magazine; an AR-style assault rifle; and a bullet proof vest. Dickinson told investigators she believed approximately 50% of her drug distribution clients were minors and that she used several minors as runners to deliver drugs.
Dickinson made her first appearance in federal court today before U.S. Magistrate Judge John V. Acosta. She was ordered detained pending further court proceedings.
This case was investigated by the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Clackamas County Interagency Task Force (CCITF), and Portland Police Bureau. It is being prosecuted by Scott M. Kerin, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon.
A criminal complaint is only an accusation of a crime, and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Oregon Man Indicted for Role in the Torture, Mutilation, and Murder of Monkeys
EUGENE, Ore.—On June 14, 2023, a federal indictment was unsealed charging a Prineville, Oregon man with administering an online animal abuse group and illegally possessing firearms as a dismissed military officer.
David Christopher Noble, 48, has been charged with conspiring to engage in animal crushing and creating and distributing animal crush videos, creating animal crush videos, and illegally possessing a firearm as a dishonorably discharged person.
According to court documents, from an unknown date but no later than January 19, 2022, and continuing until February 2, 2023, Noble is alleged to have knowingly conspired with others to view, encourage, and fund animal crush videos as part of an online group using an encrypted chat application. As a group administrator, Noble paid for the creation of and celebrated videos depicting the torture, sexually-sadistic mutilation, and murder of adult and juvenile monkeys. Noble further managed the group’s membership and repeatedly changed the group’s name to evade detection by law enforcement.
In 2006, Noble, a former United States Air Force Officer, was dismissed from the Air Force and ordered to serve six months in military custody following a court martial for fraud and an unprofessional relationship. Despite these offenses, Noble is alleged to have illegally possessed multiple firearms, including a Colt M4 carbine assault rifle.
In January 2023, Noble relocated from Prineville to Henderson, Nevada after a federal search warrant was executed on his Prineville residence. On June 13, 2023, he was arrested in Henderson. On June 14, 2023, Noble made his first appearance in federal court in Las Vegas and was ordered detained pending his transfer to the District of Oregon.
Creating animal crush videos is punishable by up to seven years in federal prison and three years’ supervised released. Illegally possessing a firearm as a dishonorably discharged person is punishable by up to 15 years in federal prison and three years’ supervised release.
This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). It is being prosecuted by William M. McLaren and Adam E. Delph, Assistant U.S. Attorneys for the District of Oregon.
An indictment is only an accusation of a crime, and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
A 1-year-old male wolf was struck and killed by a vehicle Tuesday morning on Oregon 138, about 30 miles north of Crater Lake.
The gray wolf, known as OR 143, had “lost its wariness of people and did not have normal wolf behaviors,” said Meghan Dugan, a spokesperson for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.
“It did not react to people’s voices, honking horns, traffic noise or vehicle noise,” Dugan said Wednesday. “Our biologist believes that the loss of wariness was because people were feeding it.”
OR 143 was born in the spring of 2022 and was one of 178 wolves documented by state wildlife officials in Oregon in 2022 — three more than the year before. Wildlife officials documented 20 wolf deaths last year.
People killed 17 of the wolves, including seven illegally, while the rest died naturally, according to an annual wolf conservation report by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Environmental groups are worried that a high number of wolf deaths in the past two years is affecting the recovery of wolf populations in the state.
Poaching has been on the rise in recent years, straining the population even further.
BLM waives day use fees in observance of Juneteenth
— To honor Juneteenth National Independence Day and increase recreational access to public land, the Bureau of Land Management is waiving recreation standard amenity and day-use fees for visitors on June 19, 2023. The BLM invites the public to explore the unique and diverse natural landscapes and visitor facilities on BLM-managed lands for a day of reflection and celebration.
The holiday is the third fee-free day of 2023 and the first fee-free Juneteenth for the BLM. 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 Lands 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.
BLM’s public lands offer spectacular beauty in the summer months throughout Oregon and Washington.
Hidden gem recreation recommendations:
- Loon Lake Recreation Site provides excellent boating, fishing, and water play opportunities. Or spend the day relaxing on the sandy beach.
- Smith River Falls Campground offers an ideal place to picnic, wade, fish, and watch bald eagles.
- Take a scenic day hike on the Threemile Creek Trail. Plan for a moderate, out and back, canyon creek walk with the option of ending in a small meadow or winding your way up the mountain side to the rimrocks above Catlow Valley. Look for wildlife and sweeping views!
- Chukar Park Recreation Site provides a quiet spot to camp and picnic with nearby hikes, boating, and birdwatching.
- Chase wildflowers in bloom throughout Oregon and Washington.
- Find a full list of public land locations to explore here.
Know before you go:
- Check with local offices and Oregon Department of Transportation’s TripCheck for current conditions, including closures and travel restrictions.
- Practice Leave No Trace principles and leave your public lands cleaner than you found them.
- Be fire aware. Check for localfire restrictions and active fire closures. Carry extra water to put out accidental sparks.
In 2023, BLM will waive recreation standard amenity and day use fees for visitors on:
- August 4 (Great American Outdoors Day)
- September 30 (National Public Lands Day)
- November 11 (Veterans Day)
For more information about the BLM’s recreation fee program, please visit https://www.blm.gov/programs/recreation/permits-and-fees.
-BLM- The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land located primarily in 12 western states, including Alaska, on behalf of the American people. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. Our mission is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of America’s public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations.
