Make the McKenzie Connection!
Make the McKenzie Connection!
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The winner of Sunday's McKenzie Holiday Light Business Parade was Ike's Pizza in Leaburg designed by Tina, an employee. Runners-up were the Leaburg Fire Station, Craig's Lucky Logger Restaurant, and the Walterville Grange. Despite the rain and cold, about 65 people showed up to enjoy bonfires, hot chocolate, cookies, and lots of other treats, according to McKenzie Chamber of Commerce president Nadine Scott; "The businesses all did a great job of displaying the Holiday Cheer," she said. "And it...
Where two million gallons of water is going remains a mystery for the Blue River Water District. The suspected leak, however, wasn’t behind the water board‘s vote to charge residential customers a $25 monthly fee in addition to $3.50 per thousand gallons for the water they use. Although the missing amount might seem alarming, it’s down a million gallons from a year ago thanks to improvements made to the system. In fact, Blue River isn’t alone, according to Jason Carman, with the Rural Community Assistance Corporation. Carman told the board i...
CLEAR LAKE CUTOFF: An accident last Friday near Milepost 13 sent two people tp hospitals. Oregon State Police reports say a Toyota Yaris traveling eastbound shortly after noon made a quick left turn and was t-boned by an eastbound Chevy Tahoe that was attempting to pass. The driver of the Toyota, 66-year-old David Babb, was transported to St. Charles Hospital in Bend by Lifeflight with serious injuries. A passenger in the Toyota, 68-year-old Penelope Scott of Walterville, was transported by...
With the majority of dangerous trees now removed, plans are moving ahead to invite people back onto the grounds of the Blue River Park. At last week’s meeting of the park’s board of directors, the consensus was to keep vehicles out but let people in - as soon as informational signs are in place. The signs, now on order, are intended to make people aware of newly planted delicate trees and shrubs. On November 6th over 70 volunteers spent the day establishing over a half dozen varieties including Oregon grape, salal, wild roses, and huc...
FALL CREEK: State Representative Dr. Cedric Hayden (R-Fall Creek) announced this week that he will be seeking election to the newly-configured Senate District 6. The district is comprised of many of the Lane County communities Hayden currently represents, including the McKenzie Valley, Cottage Grove, Fall Creek, Oak Ridge, and Creswell. Additionally, the new district adds other Lane County communities like Junction City, Coburg, and Springfield, while also drawing in significant communities in...
THURSTON: For Jen Nimmo, the month that's often been on her mind when looking at a calendar has arrived. Inside her Thurston Pack N' Ship store the reason for her interest in December is clear as a variety of people approach her counter. It's hard to predict what might be inside the packages they're carrying. Quite often it could be a golf bag. Depending on the season, some of the outgoing shipments have included a variety of foodstuffs - like blueberries, salmon, rhubarb, or tuna. "And just the...
How much and how long a severely burned Pacific Northwest mountain landscape stays blanketed in winter snow is a key factor in the return of vegetation, research by Oregon State University and the University of Nevada, Reno shows. "Assessing the Role of Snow Cover for Post-Wildfire Revegetation Across the Pacific Northwest" can be found here. "As wildfire activity continues to increase and intensify in the Northwest, understanding what shapes revegetation on severely burned forested landscapes...
BLUE RIVER: The search is still on for a man missing since November 3rd. According to the Lane County Sheriff’s Office Shane Sprenger, 47, was believed to be picking mushrooms near Blue River Reservoir when he disappeared. That morning, around 7:30 a.m., he told a family member he’d lost the keys to his truck and needed a ride home. Cellphone pings indicated Sprenger had been in the Blue River Reservoir area, but his phone was turned off on November 4th. The next day family members found his...
EUGENE: One of two suspects connected with robberies com-mitted during the Holiday Farm Fire evacuations of 2020 has been sentenced to 30 months in prison. Appearing in Lane County Circuit Court on November 3rd Lorrie Marie Hockerd was convicted of Burglary in the First Degree and sentenced to 30 months prison with 3 years post-prison supervision. She was also convicted of Theft in the First Degree (3 counts) and Mail Theft (2 counts). She was sentenced to 13 months prison on each count of...
VIDA: Over a half-dozen, new homes near the Goodpasture Covered Bridge have been generating a lot of interest, along with false assumptions. "The majority of people who stop in think we're a sales lot," says Steve Shefcheck with a laugh. Instead, the eight factory-fresh manufactured homes he and his wife, Diana, bought are key to the couple's plans to restore some rental options to the McKenzie River area. From the time he was 21 until his mid-40's, Steve owned an insurance agency in...
LEABURG: Operations weren't normal for the Oregon Dept. of Fish & Wildlife teams counting salmon at Leaburg Dam this year due to a camera malfunction that lost some of the early data from March. In addition, the fish ladder was shut down a good portion of the summer when fish sorting was underway, causing all the fish to go through the left bank ladder. During June 1st to mid-September, "We passed through somewhere in the neighborhood of 400 wild fish upstream through the fish sorter and were ab...
MARCOLA: Two armed robbery suspects were taken into custody by a Lane County Sheriff's Deputy on Saturday. According to Sheriff's Office reports, the theft victim alerted police at 10:51 a.m. that he'd just been confronted by a man and woman at the Hayden Bridge Boat Landing. The male pointed a handgun at his head and struck him with it. The pair who committed the crime left the location in separate vehicles. The deputy located both suspect vehicles together in Eugene at about 12:16 p.m, near...
LEABURG: What some call "That god awful sound" did its job last Saturday when an emergency alert went out to mobile phones and landlines during a test conducted by McKenzie Fire & Rescue, Lane County Emergency Management, and Central Lane 9-1-1 conducted in the McKenzie Valley area. In addition text messages were also part of the practice exercise. Apparently, it worked, with 1,615 people responding. "Within the first hour after the test, we had more than 1,300 of those responses, According to...
Supporters of the Build Back Better Act are touting the benefits it will bring to families in Oregon and across the country. A number of provisions in the legislation would directly help families, such as extending the Child Tax Credit. The credit went into effect during the last round of pandemic aid from Congress, providing cash directly to families monthly. Loren Naldoza, legislative and communications manager for Neighborhood Partnerships, a housing and economic policy organization in...
After nearly ten months of negotiations, a last-minute agreement last weekend between conservationists and owners of private forest will significantly change Oregon’s 1971 Forest Practices Act and add new protections for sensitive fish and wildlife species on over 10 million acres of private forest land in the state. Oregon Gov. Kate Brown announced an agreement Sunday, Oct. 31, that she had brokered between private forestry representatives, small forestland owners, conservation leaders, and fishing organizations. The proposal, according to a...
South Dakota foster kids find homes with Native families; a conservative group wants oil and gas reform; rural Pennsylvania residents object to planes flying above tree tops; and poetry debuts to celebrate the land....
MARCOLA: A Marcola woman with a gunshot wound is fighting for her life in a Portland hospital this week. Lane County Sheriff's Office deputies, Oregon State Police backup troopers, and paramedics responded to the 39000 block of Woods Road shortly after 5:30 p.m. on Friday after 911 dispatch received a report from a man advising that a female had been "inflicted with a gunshot wound." Steven Illmann, 57, made the call and reportedly told dispatchers his wife had shot herself. When police arrived...
The flight to rural America could cause housing headaches; better broadband is coming; children's advocates campaign for free school lunch post-pandemic; and a wily turkey escapes the Thanksgiving platter....
FINN ROCK: "Lots of people don't like government and might be a little bit intimidated by FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency)," Dametrice Muhammad feels. She's a disaster case manager supervisor for Catholic Charities of Oregon (CCO) and was part of a wide-ranging group of agencies and officials who spent last Saturday offering to help people recover from the effects of the Holiday Farm Fire. Since wildfires destroyed entire towns around the state in September of 2020, CCO has been...
Ethyria, a women's garment line, and Orchid Health, a rural health care provider, both burned up over a year ago. Flames in Blue River did not destroy them despite consuming their physical assets. Anna Bjornsdotter, raised in the world of costume design, had started her "contemporary classics" clothing company over a decade ago. After relocating to the River she had been working out of a studio in the upriver town, while her husband Jose's fine art studio was at their house in Vida. "It has been...
LEABURG: A test of the emergency alert system in the McKenzie Fire & Rescue service area is scheduled for noon on Saturday, November 20th. Residents in the McKenzie River Valley may receive a test alert on their mobile phones, landlines or via email. The messages will include “TEST ALERT” to reduce any potential confusion. Residents should not call 9-1-1 in response to the test alert. “People are more aware than ever before of the need to be prepared for an emergency or disaster,” said McKenzie Fire & Rescue Chief Darren Bucich. “We want to h...
FINN ROCK: Coarse political confrontations devolved from sparring on the national stage to grappling with free speech at a local high school in 2021. And like the big time, the Internet was a weapon of choice in the McKenzie Valley. Devon Lawson, a ninth-grade student at the McKenzie River Community School, says his interest in politics was sparked two years ago when he realized he was unhappy with what was going on at the federal level. “I decided if something was going to happen, I was eventually going to change it,” he recalls. Typically, st...
BLUE RIVER: Holiday Farm Fire recovery efforts got a boost last week when dozens of volunteers spent a Saturday digging into the dirt. Over the course of the day, 70 community volunteers helped plant 1,200 native plants and shrubs. For himself and other park board members Tony Casad, said, "We are so grateful to all of the amazing volunteers who showed up and for the leadership of the McKenzie Watershed Council and the Upper Willamette Soil and Water Conservation District in helping to make...
Security, food, health, construction, gifts, rentals, clothing, and graphics may not seem to have a lot in common. But they all got a boost this month thanks to the Oregon Community Credit Union Foundation and the Springfield Chamber of Commerce. Under a micro-grant program fifteen small businesses and non-profits impacted by the Holiday Farm Fire received checks ranging from $500 to $1,500. Some businesses, like the Indigo Café, are well known. Others, including George R Kruse Excavation, are...
BLUE RIVER: The Lane County Sheriff's Office is requesting the public's assistance in locating Shane Eldor Sprenger. The 47-year-old Springfield man was last believed to have been in the area of the Blue River Reservoir area, possibly picking mushrooms. Family members say they had been able to talk with with Sprenger until approximately 7:30 a.m. last Wednesday, November 3rd. At that time, he said he'd lost his keys to his truck and needed a ride home. Sprenger's truck was located by family on...
