Make the McKenzie Connection!
Make the McKenzie Connection!
Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 1812
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...
An incoming storm system means crews will close the west side of the Old McKenzie Pass, OR 242, this coming Friday, Oct. 25. Crews will close the gates on the west side of the pass near the junction with OR 126 and also the gates near the summit at Dee Wright Observatory on Friday morning. Gates on the east side are expected to stay open a bit longer, with the latest possible closing date scheduled for Nov. 7. Weather on each side of the pass varies, and it's not uncommon to close or open each...
On the morning of October 25th, the Springfield Police Department received information from a Mental Health assistance hotline regarding a reportedly active threat to Thurston High School. SPD responded, began immediately investigating the threat, and shared this information with the Springfield School District. As SPD could not immediately verify the credibility of the threat, the decision was made to place Thurston High School in a lockdown status, while officers remained on site. A short time later, out of of caution and after discussion...
FINN ROCK: “The spill drill is helpful to keep our partnerships working well so that we’ll be ready in the case of a real incident,” according to Eugene Water & Electric Board Water Resources Supervisor Susan Fricke. The annual exercise brought together close to 50 members of the McKenzie Watershed Emergency Response System (MWERS) last Wednesday. They came from more than a dozen local, state, and federal agencies participated, including McKenzie and Upper McKenzie fire departments, Eugen...
BLUE RIVER: There was good news this week for revitalization efforts, thanks to a $750,000 grant awarded by the Oregon State Parks Department. This funding was earmarked for the recreation site’s much-anticipated reconstruction, which has been a long-standing community goal. Josh Cloke and Tony Casad, who developed the grant proposal, said Lori Roach of Studio 6 Consulting and the National Park Service provided invaluable assistance. In addition to the major grant from Oregon State Parks, B...
The Cascade Homeschool Club is hosting a 4-week science unit at the Vida McKenzie Community Center and a small science fair with a raffle for the VMCC community social at 3 pm. on November 3rd. Prizes include family passes to the Eugene Science Center, the Raptor Center, and more. The raffle will be held just before 5 p.m., although you don’t have to be present to win. To purchase tickets ($1/each) you can pay at the fair or email [email protected]. Entries from outside the club a...
BLUE RIVER: The public is invited to the ribbon-cutting of the new McKenzie River Clinic at noon on October 25th. The new building replaces the original one that was lost in the 2020 Holiday Farm Fire. Established as Oregon’s first rural health clinic around 1977, the McKenzie River Clinic is the only medical clinic in the McKenzie River Valley. It was spearheaded by local residents who wanted to address the lack of primary healthcare services in their isolated area. Following the Holiday F...
Oregonians have become increasingly dissatisfied with our systems of representation at the state and local level and are interested in ways to restructure our elections to better reflect their interests, according to surveys by the Oregon Values and Beliefs Center. These sentiments would appear to set the stage for their approval of Measure 117, which would establish systems of ranked choice voting for federal, state and local elections that promise more choices for voters and fewer obstacles fo...
No man-made machine on Earth can better capture planet-warming carbon dioxide from our atmosphere than a healthy forest. And the most effective carbon-storing forests in the world are the wet, dense, giant conifer forests of the Northwest. The forests in Oregon’s Coast Range absorb and store more carbon per acre than almost any other forests in the world – including the Amazon Rainforest. For more than a century, these forests have been heavily logged, supporting a vast timber industry wor...
The Lazy Days Mobile Home and RV Park, rebuilt by Homes for Good after the Holiday Farm Fire, has twenty, two-bedroom modular homes available as replacement housing for fire survivors. Priority is given to people living at Lazy Days at the time of the fire, followed by other people who lost their homes. Applicants should be at no more than 80% of the Area Median Income (or 120% for former Lazy Days residents). For example, 80% AMI means: Two people = $57,050 annual income. Four people = $71,300...
Oregon was the first state in the U.S. to pass a law capping greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, and the first to create the prototype of a state-mandated carbon exchange. In 1997, the Oregon Legislature passed House Bill 3283, requiring all newly built energy facilities to keep their carbon dioxide emissions 17% below the cleanest power plant in the country. If unable to reach that target, the companies could pay to offset their emissions by investing in activities that would absorb...
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...
