Make the McKenzie Connection!
Make the McKenzie Connection!
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LEABURG: Two candidates - Michelle Emmons and Darin Harbick - are vying to represent the 68,000 residents of Oregon’s House District 12. Each had an opportunity to outline their background and plans for governing during a McKenzie River Chamber of Commerce-sponsored event last Thursday at Ike’s Pizza. An Oakridge resident, Emmons said she’s been involved in outdoor recreation and environmental stewardship for the last 40 years. Part of her resume includes working on a national level for the outd...
LEABURG: A two-vehicle crash on Monday near Milepost 24 of the McKenzie Hwy. took the life of a California man. According to the Oregon State Police (OSP), their preliminary investigation indicated that around 12:20 p.m., an eastbound Dodge Ram 3500, operated by Colton Lane Wellette (20) of Monroe, was pulling a gooseneck trailer loaded with bales of hydroseed. As the Dodge negotiated the curve around Leaburg Lake, the trailer overturned, spilling the load into the westbound lane. A westbound...
VIDA: "We've structured what we've presented tonight not just to take a position but to look at the whole decision that has been made by EWEB to see what is the right thing to do," was how Bob Weeks summed up the purpose of a meeting that drew more than four dozen people last week. The gathering at the Vida McKenzie Community Center last Tuesday was sponsored by Neighbors For Neighbors, which grew out of the Save Leaburg Lake group. "It isn't for us to say the dam should stay," Weeks explained....
Residents of the McKenzie School District could change how school board elections are decided in the upcoming May 2025 election. If approved, petition 20-2024-75 would allow voters to rank candidates in order of preference on a single ballot in an at-large election. Sometimes referred to as “instant runoff voting,” ranked-choice voting (RCV) was not on a statewide ballot until this year. While Measure 117 will decide if Oregonians adopt RCV statewide, Benton County has already implemented the system, and Portland voters approved it for loc...
BLUE RIVER: After years of work, the Blue River Water District’s (BRWD) new well house is scheduled for a final electrical inspection next week and will be completed by the end of the month. Officials said the completion of the well houses marks a significant milestone in the district’s ongoing efforts to restore and modernize the water system following the devastation caused by the 2020 wildfires. The new well house is expected to safeguard the community’s water supply, ensure more effic...
Rural voters in Oregon and across the U.S. tend to be swing voters and may decide the outcome of this year's presidential election. Their biggest concerns are the economy, threats to democracy, and abortion - according to a new Rural Democracy Initiative poll. Sarah Jaynes, executive director of the initiative, said these voters want elected leaders to prioritize lowering costs and increasing wages for working people, not cutting taxes for the rich or deregulating corporations. "They're very focused on working people as kind of the heroes of...
On Saturday, October 12th, around 1:30 p.m., McKenzie Fire & Rescue crews were dispatched to a motor vehicle accident at McKenzie Highway and Leaburg Dam Road. They arrived to find a single vehicle submerged in Leaburg Lake, approximately 20 yards off the shoreline. The single occupant was able to get to shore safely and declined medical assistance. Crews remained on scene until Lane County Sheriff's Office deputies arrived....
The arrival of new modular homes at Lazy Days Park is becoming an ongoing sight. By Tuesday, four had already been delivered, and more were coming. The remaining ten homes are scheduled for delivery in November. Over the next month, homes will be transported from on-site temporary placements to permanent foundations. Transport on-site will result in short highway closures, with the Oregon Department of Transportation responsible for the logistics and communications of all highway-related...
BLUE RIVER: On October 2nd, the Lane County Clerk verified four recall petitions for members of the Blue River Water and Sanitation District and the Blue River Park and Recreation District. Tony Casad and Josh Cloke, who hold seats on both boards, were named in the petitions. Shannon Goodpasture-Lehr of Vida filed the petitions. In her filing for the water district, Goodpasture-Lehr claimed Casad had “been observed by multiple residents going onto private property, taking pictures, harassing family members while acting as the acting s...
The Lane County fall outdoor burning season, which typically starts on October 1st, has been delayed a second time due to persistent dry conditions and heightened fire risk. For all Lane County residents, the earliest possible outdoor burning start date is Friday, November 1. For Eugene, Springfield, and Oakridge residents, there will not be an outdoor burning season this year. The spring outdoor burning season will be the next opportunity for outdoor burning in these areas. The decision to delay was made jointly by the Lane County Fire...
EUGENE: Eugene Water & Electric Board commissioners received a dam safety update for their three hydroelectric plants this month. Part of their October 1st meeting detailed the utility’s efforts to comply with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) regulations for facilities they’ve classified as having a high or significant hazard potential. On FERC’s list are the Carme-Smith, Leaburg, and Walterville projects. The first is currently generating electricity, while the canal powerin...
A Rainbow area man was seriously injured in a single-vehicle accident last Thursday night. According to a 911 caller, the motorcycle accident occurred shortly after 7 p.m. on October 3rd near milepost 50 of Hwy. 126. Now listed in critical but stable condition at Riverbend Hospital is Paul Vernon Lloyd. Reports from an Oregon State Police investigation weren’t available at press time, but a witness reported seeing some firewood in the westbound lane....
Devon McCourt filed an initiative with the Lane County Clerk that would prohibit members of the McKenzie School Board from serving more than two consecutive four-year terms or more than eight straight years. Members who served two successive terms would be ineligible to return for two years if approved. The initiative would also make board members subject to recall for failing to fulfill their responsibilities. Recalls could be initiated for reasons ranging from failure to attend meetings to engaging in unethical behavior or not “responding t...
Do you like walking for fun, exercise, or errands? Do you wish you had more reasons to walk? Walktober 2024 is a month filled with more than 35 walks and tours, including art walks, nature walks, historical walks, coffee shop walks, walk challenges, and more in Lane County. Whether art, horticulture, exercise, or making friends is your thing, you’ll find a range of guided tours, group walks, and self-guided options to suit your tastes. The Coffee Shop Hop is returning for chances to walk, s...
Each year, the Oregon Department of Forestry responds to about 1,000 wildfires across the 16 million acres of land it protects. It investigates the cause of every fire, and if a person or group is found to have been negligent or malicious in starting or spreading a significant fire, the agency pursues reimbursement for its firefighting costs. The agency has not been very successful in recouping those costs, according to a report discussed at a March meeting of the four-member Emergency Fire...
Oregon’s 36 counties will need more than an additional $800 million per year to maintain roads and bridges, according to a new study from the Association of Oregon Counties. The study, presented to the Legislature’s Joint Transportation Committee, comes as lawmakers start to craft a multibillion-dollar transportation package over the coming months. The Oregon Department of Transportation this summer said it needed an extra $1.8 billion annually just to keep up with maintenance – let alone pay f...
FISH LAKE: Buckskins and burros were among the sights, while the Crazed Weasels and a curved dash Oldsmobile provided background sounds to round out Saturday’s Santiam Wagon Road Exhibition. The event offered opportunities to learn more about a unique route between Albany and Bend that sent settlers eastward to reach the rich pasture lands of Central Oregon and marketplaces in Idaho. Native people had long been accessing the area to hunt, forage, or trade long before Andrew Wiley, John Gray, a...
MCKENZIE BRIDGE: Successful firefighting efforts and favorable weather conditions, combined with the Oregon Dept. of Transportation’s decision to reopen Hwy. 242, have boosted Fall access to many recreation sites. Willamette Forest officials this week announced that the Linton Creek Fire Closure area has been reduced into four smaller closures around the Boulder Creek, Linton Creek, Young Grasshopper, and 374 fires, which sparked from a lightning storm on September 6th. The updated closure order...
Some new members have joined the Springfield Public Schools (SPS) facilities landscaping team - a herd of five goats. Officials say the goats will mitigate weeds in bioswale, easement, and other areas away from student playgrounds. They add that “environmental guidelines for removing weeds in bioswales make goats an efficient, cost-effective, and sustainable method of maintaining these areas.” “Hand-pulling the weeds is costly and time-consuming,” says Assistant Director of Facilities and Ope...
Lane County residents will have to wait until Tuesday, October 15, 2024, at the earliest for the opening of the fall outdoor burning season. The season is typically scheduled to start on October 1 each year. However, the decision to delay has been jointly made by the Lane County Fire Defense Board and the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF).” The recent rainfall and cooler weather are not enough to declare the end of fire season,” said Lane Regional Air Protection Agency (LRAPA) spokesperson, Matt Sorensen. “Lane County and statewide fire...
A proposed corporate tax hike to send every Oregonian a check could end up costing the state more than $1 billion annually, legislative revenue analysts told lawmakers this week. Voters will decide in November whether to approve Measure 118, which would increase by 3% the corporate minimum tax on sales above $25 million and distribute proceeds to all Oregonians. In 2026, the average rebate could range from about $1,000 to $1,300, according to an analysis released this week. State fiscal analysts...
Oregon’s forest and fire leaders were brief in describing this year’s wildfire season to a group of Oregon senators. “It just won’t quit is essentially where we’re at, and our folks are really tired,” Kyle Williams, deputy director of fire operations at the Oregon Department of Forestry, told the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Wildfire on Tuesday. Williams and two others – Doug Graffe, Gov. Tina Kotek’s wildfire and military advisor, and Travis Medema, a chief deputy for the Oregon...
A group of Oregon conservation advocates is asking the state’s Department of Environmental Quality to restore the provisions of a 2021 Climate Protection Program that had been invalidated by the courts. The Oregon Just Transition Alliance wants the state to adopt a 2024 version of the plan that restores most of its goals and protections. Xitlali Torres, coordinator of the Air Quality and Climate Program for the group Verde, a member of the alliance, said they want to fix the objective of a...
The Oregon Department of Forestry is getting help from the state's general fund to pay its bills after a record wildfire season. The Legislative Emergency Board voted Wednesday to send $47.5 million to the forestry department to help cover the costs of the 2024 wildfire season. Spending on wildfires this year has topped nearly $250 million, about 2.5 times the amount budgeted for the forestry department and the State Fire Marshal's Office for wildfire response. "The Department of Forestry has...
An Emergency Response Team of scientists and resource specialists began field surveys and assessments this week for the burned areas of the Boulder, Chalk, Coffeepot, Ore, and Pyramid fires in the Willamette National Forest. The Boulder Creek Fire is 523 acres in size and 51% contained. The Chalk Fire covers 5,996 acres, the Coffeepot Fire is 6,203 acres, and the Pyramid Fire totals 1,312 acres and is also contained. These four fires resulted from lightning strikes and continued to smoke within established lines. The Ore Fire, which is 3,484...
