Grants Pass 4 M IC H E P255/70 L IN L T X T IR E R Call 541- 18s, 85% trea S A S ra d ia ls , d, asking 218-7111 $150. December 11, 2014 Thursday 75 cents Government funding deal drops timber payments Weather A few showers Calm after the storm? We may see just a few showers on Friday. See Page 2A. Overnight low Friday’s high By Jeff Barnard Associated Press 42 52 What’s inside Grocery break-in Someone ransacked the Southern Oregon Outreach Foundation’s discount grocery store, stealing money and merchandise and leaving behind a big mess. Page 3A TIMOTHY BULLARD/Daily Courier Hottest movies Two major film organizations announced their awards nominees this week — the Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild. So we’re having a look at the top films of the year and the coming awards season. ENTERTAINMENT / Page 1B Carl Wilson watches as Lee Horn collects trash left in the bushes near Northwest F and Dimmick streets. Horn says he has been living there for about a year. “I’m gonna start another burn pile,” Horn said. “I clean up around here when no one else takes the time to pick up their stuff.” Are we too friendly toward street people? Some believe wealth of social services makes it easy for transients to set up camp in GP By Jim Moore Back in the swing Former North Valley golf standout Ryan Melnychuk is hoping to make the cut in a golf tournament in Hawaii after missing it last year. SPORTS / Page 5B OSU gets a coach Oregon State hired Wisconsin’s Gary Andersen to replace Mike Riley as its new football coach. SPORTS / Page 5B What’s online Web highlights Videos, photo galleries, even a Fun Finder. There’s always plenty going on at ... thedailycourier.com A look ahead of the Daily Courier Is it possible to be too generous? Do the various charitable services such as soup kitchens, free clothing and shelter that are available in Grants Pass attract undesireable characters to town and keep them here? Depends on who you ask. “They know we’re an easy mark,” says City Councilor Jim Williams, one of several civic leaders who believes the city’s panoply of social services are a magnet for street people. “It’s amazing how the word gets around.” Carl Wilson, the owner and general manager of KAJO/KLDR Radio, agrees. Wilson, who was recently elected to the state Legislature, is also a member of the Gospel Rescue Mission board of directors. “They have an intel network that would make the military blush,” he says of transients. Carl Raskin owns a business called Elegance on Sixth Street in the heart of downtown and has had plenty of brushes with street people over the years. He also volunteers every Monday at the St. Vincent de Paul dining hall, which is located on Southeast Seventh Street in downtown and is a busy place during TIMOTHY BULLARD/Daily Courier A volunteer makes his way towards the St. Vincent de Paul kitchen as people wait outside for the lunch line to open so they can have a meal. meal times. Raskin believes transients are aware of the services that are available in Grants Pass before they get here. “We treat them pretty good and they know that,” he says. And just how do they know that? “It’s a communication thing. It’s passed along,” he says. City Council President Dan DeYoung echoes the sentiment, although he’s not sure of the mechanics of it. “I don’t know whether there is something on social media or somewhere,” he says. DeYoung says he recently spoke to a man who was sleeping in a large trash bin. “He said he picked Grants Pass b e c a u s e everybody here is very friendly and giving.” As much DeYOUNG as those four men can read the pulse of the town, there are others equally in tune who have a different perspective. Grants Pass police Lt. Todd Moran says an informal survey conducted by city police in 2012 determined that the availability of services does not attract transients to town. Officers spoke to 25 men and women ages 19 to 70, none of whom had a permanent residence or even any shelter they could depend on. The purpose of the survey was to determine the reasons people were on the streets so that officers could guide them to appropriate services. Turn to FRIENDLY, Page 7A More than 900 homeless in county Pastor pauses After 28 years at Bethany Presbyterian Church, the Rev. Steve Parker is ending his tenure with the congregation and deciding on a next step. FRIDAY Where to find it Abby . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6A Classified . . . . . . . . . .1-6C Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . .8B Entertainment . . . . . . .1-4B Obituaries . . . . . . . . . . .3A Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . .4A Police . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5A Sports . . . . . . . . . . . .5-7B Stock markets . . . . . . . .8A Call us at 541-474-3700 email [email protected] Volume CV No. 60 Issue 31542 3 Sections, 22 Pages TODAY: Are social services in Grants Pass attracting street people? FRIDAY: City’s social service net explained; downtown merchants weigh in SUNDAY: Transient hot spots; civic leaders offer solutions Street people and the homeless are not interchangeable terms. Meanwhile, Grants Pass police estimate a small minority of troublemakers cause most of the problems associated with street people. Regardless, what is often overlooked is the sheer number of homeless people in Josephine County. The United Community Action Network began its effort to count homeless in the county in 2007. That year the total was 326. It jumped to 802 in 2008 (most likely in con- junction with the beginning of the Great Recession) and has hovered in that neighborhood since. THE UCAN HOMELESS COUNTS 2007....................................................... 326 2008....................................................... 802 2009....................................................... 747 2010....................................................... 846 2012....................................................... 998 2013....................................................... 865 2014....................................................... 916 * No count was conducted in 2011 Congress won’t be giving timber counties more logging on federal lands or renewed federal subsidies to make up for logging cutbacks. And there will be no grand bargain to solve the Klamath Basin’s water woes. None of Oregon Democrat Sen. Ron Wyden’s bills addressing those issues made it onto the last major spending bill emerging from a lame-duck session of Congress. That doesn’t mean the issues are dead, and the political bickering remains high. Oregon Republican Rep. Greg Walden said Wednesday that House leaders have committed to make each of them a priority in the next session. “If the Senate would have acted on federal forest policy reform, it would have gone a long way toward providing a longterm solution to actively managing our forests to grow jobs and revenue,” he said in a statement. Wyden expressed outrage that for the first time since he wrote the Secure Rural Schools Act in 2000 giving subsidies to timber counties, the House would be linking its continuation to their efforts to increase federal timber harvests. “Rural Oregonians deserve better than to have politicians put on hold their priorities,” he said. The White House threatened a veto on the last bill from House Republicans calling for a sharp increase in logging across all national forests, saying it would jeopardize the habitat of endangered species, increase lawsuits and limit the president’s ability to create national monuments. It included a section from members of the Oregon delegation to increase logging on the socalled O&C lands in western Oregon that would have taken half the lands from of federal control. Walden spokesman Andrew Malcolm said they hoped to come up with something that could become law. “I think it’s way too early to get into any details, but you are going to see proposals from both the House and the Senate, and at the same time recognizing the White House opposition to the (previous) bill. We want a viable solution and are going to be looking for the best way forward,” Malcolm said. Secure Rural Schools has sent a total of $2.8 billion to Oregon timber counties since 2000, including $107 million last year. Some counties have struggled to provide sheriff’s patrols and jails since voters refused to approve tax increases to make up for declining payments under Secure Rural Schools. On the Klamath water deals, Walden has said removing dams from the Klamath River — a key part of the agreements — is a non-starter, though Malcolm said some of the agreements could move forward. Wyden’s Klamath bill would implement three different agreements. It included one agreement from dam owner PacifiCorp to remove four dams from the Klamath River to help salmon. A surcharge on electric rates in Oregon and a California water bond have raised money to pay for it. Ranchers and the Klamath Tribes agreed to share water in the Upper Klamath Basin during drought. The agreement came after ranchers lost irrigation when the tribes exercised newly granted water rights to protect fish. A third agreement covers allocations of water to a federal irrigation project and endangered fish during drought. Stormy weather conditions expected to last through today By Jeff Duewel of the Daily Courier High winds and rain blew into Southern Oregon overnight, and even stronger winds were expected to hit around midday today — especially in the mountains. A 117 mph wind gust was recorded this morning on Squaw Peak west of Mount Ashland near Applegate Lake, according to Tom Wright of the National Weather Service. “We’ve had reports of tree damage and power outages all over the place,” Wright said. Widespread power outages began Wednesday afternoon and continued this morning, with more than 12,000 customers without power in Jackson County and about 2,500 in Josephine County, according to Monte Mendenhall of Pacific Power. The crests of the Cascades and Siskiyous were expected to be hit with winds of over 60 mph by 1 p.m. today, as forecasters issued a warning for a “damaging wind event.” Gusts could reach higher than 80 mph. Two flights from Medford to San Francisco were canceled this morning, along with two more headed from San Francisco to Medford, said Kim Stearns, spokesperson for Rogue Valley International Medford Airport. The problem was more San Francisco than Medford, Stearns said, adding “They’re taking a bigger beating down there.” She advised travelers to keep a close eye on schedules online throughout the day. Turn to WEATHER, Page 5A SHAUN HALL/Daily Courier A car splashes through a pool of water Wednesday afternoon at J and Mill streets. Today’s forecast called for rain and stronger winds, especially in the mountains.
© Copyright 2024