Make the McKenzie Connection!
Make the McKenzie Connection!
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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...
After reading this week’s issue of the River Reflections, I saw that you had included another letter to the editor (is it the third one in less than 2 months?) written by a rep from The Cascade Policy Institute, a PAC I have researched extensively. Out of concern, I sent you a note, wondering why you are allowing this far-right organization to get free advertising for its singular intent on spreading disinformation funded by wealthy individuals and organizations connected to the fossil fuel industry (mostly Koch Bros. in this case). Had you don...
As public schools grapple with lagging student literacy, chronic absenteeism, and classrooms without air conditioning, they are now being pitched to bulletproof their school buildings and students. The reason is obvious – more than 230 school shootings in the last decade and a growing threat of online ideation to shoot teachers and classmates. The solution seems equally obvious – restrict access by minors to firearms and take online threats of violence seriously. But in a capitalist eco...
If a Cottage Grove logger had been bonked on the head in January 1926 and woke up six months later, he would have scarcely recognized his hometown. There was a whole new Main Street built way out east of Main Street, with businesses and boardinghouses and banks and everything. Meanwhile, back on the old Main Street, everyone in town was clustered around the Bartell Hotel, dressed in weird, archaic outfits like it was Civil War times. And there were a pair of old steam logging locomotives,...
As the gardening season winds down and you pick the season’s last vegetables, let some plants go to seed and harvest them for planting next year. Saving seeds can be fun and is a great way to learn about plants. If you choose the right types of vegetables, you can keep them going year after year without buying them again. The key to saving seed is selecting open-pollinated or heirloom plants, which produce offspring with the same traits. Hybrids are bred from two different varieties for characte...
Sept. 24: 12:42 a.m: Incomplete 911 Call – 90700 blk, Hill Rd. 6:24 a.m: Disturbance, Dispute – 40700 blk, McK. Hwy. Caller advised male chased him with a firearm from the caller’s residence. Deputies responded and determined no crime was committed. 11:18 a.m: Burglary - 91000 blk, Hill Rd. Caller advised that landlord was illegally in her residence. Deputy contacted caller and took report. 11:49 a.m: Theft of Mail - 39800 blk, Deerhorn Rd. 12:16 p.m: Theft – 51100 blk, Blue River Dr. 12:44 p.m: Reckless Endangering – 39200 blk, McK. Hwy. Call...
Sept. 23: 13:25: McK. Hwy. Milepost 41. Medical, Heart. 3 Patients Assessed, 1 Transported. Sept. 25: 13:05: 90000 block, Leashore Dr. Medical, Heart. 3 Patients Assessed, Patient Refusal. 16:49: 90000 blk, Gale Creek Medical, General. 3 Patients Assessed, 1 Transported. 19:32: 38000 blk, McK. Hwy. Medical, General. 3 Patients Assessed, Patient Refusal. Sept. 26: 3:32: 42000 blk, McK. Hwy. Medical, General. 1 Patient Assessed, Patient Refusal. 8:02: 38000 blk, Cress Creek Rd. Medical, Heart. Deceased. 17:17: 88000 blk, Tiki Ln. Medical,...
Sept. 27: 14:26: Motor Vehicle Accident, Unknown Injury - McK. Hwy. Milepost 32. Sinhle vehicle rollover, tan Mada pickup. Sept. 28: 16:09: MVA, Unknown Injury - McK. Hwy, Mp. 36. Semi and school bus. Sept. 30: 10:19: Medical – 54000 block, McK. Hwy. Male, Conscious, Breathing. The Upper McK. Fire District’s board of directors will hold its monthly meeting at 7 p.m. on Monday, October 21st, at the Blue River Fire Station 2, 51730 Echo St. in Blue River....
I am the oldest of three kids. I am 28, and my brothers are 24 and 16. I wish I could say the years of sibling rivalry are over, but I'd be lying if I did. My 24-year-old brother still lives at home. We used to get along, but things changed when he turned 16. He developed a violent temper that was directed only toward me. It started with the typical bickering from any brother and sister and evolved into cursing, name-calling, and insults. That further evolved into spitting on me, throwing food...
A day before Satrupa Kagel's flight from Tokyo to San Francisco, she finds out American Airlines canceled her ticket. Is she on the hook for the $3,548 she had to spend for a last-minute ticket? I'm an American Airlines frequent flier, and I recently booked an award ticket with Japan Airlines, an American partner, from New Delhi to Haneda, Japan, and on to San Francisco. A few days before my flight, I called American Airlines to upgrade the Japan-to-U.S. leg to business class. Unfortunately,...
The mobility scooter Tom Kay orders from Amazon never arrived -- yet the tracking number says it's been delivered. Is his $2,650 lost, too? I purchased a mobility scooter last month from Amazon. The vendor contacted me through Amazon and said that the color I ordered was not available and asked if I would take another one. I told them no and to cancel the order. The vendor said they could not cancel the order. Then I received another response through Amazon that my scooter had shipped. I have...
ACROSS 1. To grab meat off a grill 5. Tire meas. 8. Flock member 11. Hollywood sidewalk mark 12. Architect's drawing 13. Muhammad's teachings 15. *Leaning Tower city 16. Co-eds' military org. 17. a.k.a. Pleasant Island 18. *Angkor Wat country 20. Like some Christmas sweaters 21. Walt's Mickey 22. Blunder 23. Emerge 26. "Midsommar" flower arrangements 30. *Avenue des Champs-…lysÈes, technically 31. Plural of stria 34. Prescribed food selection 35. On pins and needles 37. Knee-related acronym 38...
