Oregon Beach News, Wednesday 8/31 – Coast Popular Destination for Labor Day, Coos Bay Gets $32K Grant For Firefighter Equipment And Training, Florence Area Chamber of Commerce Photo Contest

The latest news stories across the state of Oregon from the digital home of the Oregon coastal cities, OregonBeachMagazine.com

Wednesday, August 31, 2022

Oregon Beach Weather

Coast Popular Destination for  Labor Day

According to Marie Dodds with AAA Oregon, the Oregon Coast is one of the most searched destinations for Labor Day.  It beat out Las Vegas for the number 4 spot. 

Dodds says despite weeks of falling prices for gas Oregon travelers this weekend will pay the most they have ever paid for gas over this particular weekend. 

Oregon prices dropped another 5 cents over the previous week, but are still at $4.78 a gallon for regular. 

The only other time that Oregon was above $4.00 was Labor Day 2012 when the price was $4.02.  average price for a gallon of regular gas in Florence is $4.49 a gallon.  Lower pump prices this week mark the 9th straight week of falling prices.

Boating Safety Reminder

Labor Day weekend marks the unofficial end to the travel season, but families and individuals will be out in droves.  The Oregon Marine Board is reminding those who choose water activities as part of their weekend should remember to wear your life jacket, familiarize yourself with the stretch of water you will be adventuring, and know the rules that apply for your type of equipment. 

Boating safety Program manager Brian Paulsen with the Oregon State Marine Board also reminds boaters that there is a hefty fine for those that choose to drink and operate a watercraft which can include up to 3 years jail time.

Coos Bay Get $32K Grant For Firefighter Equipment And Training

The city of Coos Bay announced it is getting more than $32,000 for firefighter equipment and training thanks to a federal government grant.

Coos Bay will receive $32,380 in federal Assistance to Firefighters Grant money, Oregon senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley announced on August 30. This grant money will be used for the city to replace outdated thermal imaging cameras which help firefighters see through smoke and low-light environments.

Coos Bay’s Fire Chief says grants like these and partnerships with FEMA provide the support they and other fire departments need to serve communities.

Coos Bay is not the only community to receive grant money for firefighters. The Siletz Rural Fire Protection District is slated to receive over $34,000, and the Sheridan Fire District will get more than $35,000. In total, the three communities will be receiving over $100,000 for firefighter equipment and training.

Florence Area Chamber of Commerce Photo Contest

Florence Area Chamber of Commerce | Chamber of Commerce - Oregon State  Chamber of Commerce, OR

If you are an amateur or professional photographer the Florence Area Chamber of Commerce has announced its annual contest with a cash prize of $250.00.  the Chamber is looking for views of popular destinations along Oregon’s Coastal Playground. 

The deadline for submissions is October 31st.  in order to be eligible photos must have been taken within 25 miles of Florence.  Specific details about the contest are available at http://florencechamber.com

TO SUBMIT YOUR PICTURE – YOU MUST USE THIS LINK https://bit.ly/2022FlorenceORPhotoContest

Friends of the Siuslaw Public Library Annual Labor Day Book Sale

The annual Labor Day book sale held by the Friends of the Siuslaw Public Library is returning this year. 

May be an image of book and text that says 'Friends of the Library BooksALE BIG LABOR DAY Book Sale Saturday September 3rd- 10 to 4 pm Sunday, September 4th -10 to 3 pm ($3 per plastic grocery bag Sunday only from noon 3pm) Friends of the Library Members are invited to a Pre-Sale on Saturday from 9-10am Bromley Room Book Sale Siuslaw Public Library 1460 Ninth Street, Florence, Oregon Cash and checks only accepted All proceeds benefit the Siuslaw Public Library. Sponsored by the Friends the Siuslaw Public Library, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization'

It opens to the public at 10 AM Saturday and Sunday, but dues-paying members of the Friends Group will get early access on Saturday.  They’ll be able to shop early, beginning at 9 AM according to “friends” spokesperson Annie Schmidt.

“And, people can actually pick up a membership, right there at the sale.”

Family memberships are only $15.  Schmidt says the variety up for sale is broad.

“Hundreds of books.  Fiction, non-fiction, biography, travel, cookbooks, kids books, thrillers, romances, thrillers.”

And, she adds, a selection of CDs and DVDs.  Proceeds from the weekend sale go to support programs at Siuslaw Public Library. ( https://www.facebook.com/Friends-of-the-Siuslaw-Public-Library-135950443158301/ )

We want to keep you informed about COVID-19 in Oregon. Data are provisional and change frequently. For more information, including COVID-19 data by county, visit our dashboard: http://ow.ly/quNq50KwaqP

Screen shot of linked dashboard shows a decrease trend in cases, test positivity, and hospitalizations. Vaccinations have plateaued. Please visit healthoregon.org/coronavirus for more.
May be an image of 1 person and outdoors

Governor Kate Brown has declared a state of emergency due to the imminent threat of wildfires across Oregon. (http://ow.ly/TlPk50Kwbn7) Wildfires and smoke can be harmful to health, and exposure may lead to symptoms that look similar to COVID-19. Click here to learn how to tell the difference between symptoms of COVID-19 and wildfire smoke exposure. http://ow.ly/Ntgs50Kwbn8

City of Bend Police Department – Shooting UPDATE: Bend Safeway Worker is a Hero

View the City of Bend Police Department’s press conference live from Muni Court at 12:30 p.m.: https://youtu.be/gPp2QWbk5yU

The city of Bend is still reeling from the shooting at a local Safeway store that left three dead Sunday night.

 A Safeway employee who previously served in the U.S. Army for two decades attacked a gunman in the produce section of the Bend, Oregon, supermarket, police said Monday, possibly preventing more casualties from a shooting that left the employee and one other person dead.

Police hailed the employee, 66-year-old Donald Ray Surrett Jr., of Bend, as a hero and said his actions may have saved shoppers at the store in the high-desert city ringed by mountains in the central part of the state. Customer Glenn Edward Bennett, 84, of Bend, was also killed Sunday evening, police spokeswoman Sheila Miller said.

Police said Monday the shooter died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound; his body was found by police near an AR-15-style weapon and a shotgun. Police identified the gunman as Ethan Blair Miller, 20, of Bend.

The gunman lived in an apartment complex behind The Forum Shopping Center. Witnesses said he began shooting Sunday evening as soon as he left the complex and continued firing as he entered the shopping complex’s parking lot and then went into the Safeway.

Bennett was killed at the store’s entrance, police said, and the shooter then moved through the aisles “spraying shots” from the assault rifle until Surrett confronted him. The entire incident — from the first 911 calls to officers discovering the suspect dead in the store — unfolded in four minutes, Miller said. Police entered the supermarket from the front and rear as shots were still being fired.

Authorities later found three Molotov cocktails and a sawed-off shotgun in the shooter’s car. The Oregon State Police bomb squad was called in to sweep the store, the car and the suspect’s apartment for explosives, authorities said, forcing the evacuation of eight surrounding apartments on Monday morning. Miller said reports that there was a second shooter were not true.

It Was Also a Deadly Weekend In Salem And Portland

Two people are dead and a woman was injured in three separate shootings in Salem over the weekend. Police say Friday night, a man who tried to force his way into a home was shot and killed by his former domestic partner. Early Saturday morning, a dispute at Geer Park involving people in a camp ended with a man being fatally shot.

Then, Sunday night on 24th Street Northeast two women standing in front of a home got into an argument with two
men and shots were fired. A woman suffered non-life-threatening injuries. The investigations continue. No arrests have been made.

Three people were killed and nine were injured in shootings over the weekend in Portland. Police say it pushed them to their limits investigating the incidents.

A man was killed in a shooting on Northeast Broadway. Another man died in a shooting on Southeast 148th Avenue. And a woman was killed in a shooting involving domestic violence. 33-year-old Mohamed Adan is charged with murder. In another incident, a ride-share driver was held at gunpoint. After leaving the car, the suspect fired a shot into the air. Police say they weren’t able to respond to lower priority calls, including several incidents of street racing.

OSP Northwest Region Marijuana Team and the Clackamas County Interagency Task Force Serve Warrants at Two Woodburn-Area Illegal Marijuana Grows

On Friday, August 26, 2022, Oregon State Police, Drug Enforcement Section, Northwest Region Marijuana Team (OSP NWR MJ) and the Clackamas County Interagency Task Force (CCITF) served search warrants at two nearby locations on South Schneider Road north of Woodburn, OR. 

The investigation began after law enforcement was alerted by businesspersons working in the regulated cannabis industry. Investigators with NWR MJ and CCITF began following up on the information provided and found 57 greenhouses not registered to grow hemp or licensed to grow marijuana.

 During the search warrant operation, investigators seized 11,179 marijuana plants for destruction and found a large amount of harvested marijuana in various stages of drying and trimming. 

Also discovered during the operation were over two pounds of methamphetamine, 510 imported pills that were various Schedule II Controlled Substances, 15 firearms and one home-made firearm suppressor.  A significant number of stolen vehicles were recovered including a tractor, two motorcycles, a side-by-side ATV, a quad ATV, a trailer full of an electrician’s equipment, a flatbed-gooseneck equipment trailer and a small enclosed trailer taken from a McMinnville area church. 

 Several suspects were contacted, interviewed, and released.  The case and potential charges will be referred to the Clackamas County District Attorney’s Office.

NWR MJ and CCITF were assisted in the operation by the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, the Woodburn Police Department, the Keizer Police Department, the Westside Interagency Narcotics Team, the Linn Interagency Narcotics Enforcement Team, the Portland Police Bureau, and the Salem Police Department. 

Information about a body found over a week ago in Klamath Falls has finally surfaced from city police officials.

The body of a 65-year-old Caucasian man, local to Klamath Falls, was discovered Tuesday, Aug. 23, in the field behind Fred Meyer grocery store, according to Capt. Ryan Brosterhous of the Klamath Falls Police Department (KFPD).

Initially, “unusual circumstances” led officials to suspect foul play and possible involvement of a third party. Further investigation revealed details that took the case in a different direction, he said. “The investigation is still open,” Brosterhous said, “but all signs point to no foul play.”

After conducting witness interviews and reviewing statements that were made “prior to” the incident, the case is now cautiously presumed to be a suicide.

According to Bosterhous, the deceased man was currently “in transition” in terms of housing, frustrating efforts to determine and subsequently notify next of kin.

For this reason, and for the sake of avoiding “pouring salt in wounds” of grieving families, the name of the subject has not yet been released. The official cause of death will be determined, pending the results of an autopsy.

District attorneys from Washington, Clackamas, and Marion counties are fighting an effort to reduce the time the Oregon State Hospital has to evaluate and treat defendants before trial.

Disability Rights Oregon and Metropolitan Public Defenders have asked a federal judge to address capacity issues at the hospital. The attorneys general argue it will allow people with dangerous mental health issues to be released on their own.

The judge has approved the motion but will allow the district attorneys to present more information. The Oregon Health Authority and Oregon State Hospital are not challenging the reduced time limits.

Oregon’s Attorney General Warns Of Bank Scam

Last week, Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum received a text from her bank asking if she’d recently spent $750 at Walmart. She hastily texted back “NO,” and almost immediately her phone rang.

Rosenblum, who’s made consumer protection a priority, spent 10 minutes on the phone.  She grew increasingly suspicious. The caller, frustrated with her questions, hung up.

The call was typical of fraudsters who have stolen billions of dollars a year from Americans. Rosenblum said she opted to go public with her account to warn Oregonians that if it can happen to her, it can happen to anyone.

“You feel embarrassed, like, how could I not recognize the signs of a scam? And here I am, I actually teach people about how to avoid getting scammed. And initially, it didn’t even cross my mind,” she told the Capital Chronicle. “I just want to get people’s attention.”

First elected in 2012, Rosenblum is involved in several consumer protection initiatives. For years, she and her office’s consumer education director have traveled the state presenting to groups of primarily older Oregonians about how to avoid getting scammed. 

In 2019, she formed the Consumer Privacy Task Force to recommend legislation to protect consumer privacy. It is currently devising a bill that would require the registration of data brokers who sell personal information, allowing consumers to opt out.

Rosenblum is optimistic the legislation, which is similar to California’s Consumer Privacy Bill, will gain bipartisan support in the state Legislature.

Rosenblum, 71, says she tries to stay up on the latest swindles.

“I know a lot about scams and frauds, and I gotta tell you, this particular one is really, really devious.”

On Wednesday, the Department of Justice’s “Scam Alert Network.” posted a notice by Rosenblum urging Oregonians to beware of phony bank scammersThe Oregon Department of Justice has reports from consumers who, like Rosenblum, had received calls and text messages purporting to be from their financial institution.

Several factors set this new scam apart, according to Rosenblum. For one, the text she received asked her to reply back “YES” or “NO,” but it also included another option: text ‘STOP’ to prevent future text messages. That little detail helped the scammer slip past her initial defenses, she said.

There was another factor new to Rosenblum: The scam featured both a text and a phone call. The scammers start with a text. In one version of the scam – the one that targeted Rosenblum – the message asks the victim if they’d made a large purchase on a particular date. In another version, the text says changes have been made to the victim’s bank account. And once on the phone, the scammer tries to extract as much personal information from the victim as possible.

Most scams bear several telltale signs, according to the attorney general’s office. Scammers often try to impart a sense of urgency in their victim, and they ask for information they should already have. The attorney general’s office advises a person who receives suspicious calls or texts claiming to be from a financial institution to call their bank and report what happened.

Rosenblum and her husband, Richard Meeker, who share a bank account, have received new bank cards and PIN numbers. She suspects her scammers acquired her data through a corporate hack. 

One red flag that the purported bank representative was not legit was that he kept referring to her as “Mrs. Rosenblum.”

“I cannot stand it when people call me, ‘Mrs. Rosenblum,’ because I kept my birth name and I never go by ‘Mrs. Rosenblum,’” she said. “I kept telling him, ‘Please do not refer to me as ‘Mrs. Rosenblum.’ You can call me ‘Ellen’ if you want.’ And he just couldn’t quite handle that. He couldn’t bring himself to do it.”

Tips to avoid scams:

  • Do not give anyone you don’t know personal information, including your Social Security number and credit card and bank account information information.
  • Do not click on links from someone you don’t know in an email. You could end up with an electronic virus.
  • If you get a call from someone who says they work at your bank, hang up and call your bank. Do not call a number they give you because it’s likely to be phony.
  • Ignore instructions to text “STOP” or “NO” to prevent future texts.
  • If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

To file a complaint or report a scam, visit oregonconsumer.gov or call 877-877-9392.

Labor Day Boating Fun and Friendly Reminders

Labor Day Weekend traditions are rooted in the outdoors, and to keep things fun and safe, the Oregon State Marine Board suggests taking the time to plan your on-water getaway with the following tips:

Wear your life jacket. Each boat (including canoes and kayaks, inflatable boats, and stand up paddleboards) must have a properly fitted life jacket for each person on board and at least one sound-producing device. Life jackets need to be in good shape and readily accessible – not under a hatch or in their packaging. All youth younger than 13 must wear a life jacket when in a boat that’s underway. Since storage space is limited on paddlecraft, it makes the best sense to just wear a life jacket. So far this season, most of the victims of recreational boating fatalities were paddlers not wearing life jackets. 

Know your waterway. “Take the time to get familiar with the waterway and know the dangers,” says Brian Paulsen, Boating Safety Program Manager for the Marine Board. “Look out for wood, other debris, and shallow gravel bars with low water levels.” Find out more about low water impacts on boat ramps by subscribing to the Marine Board’s Opportunities and Access Report

Know what rules apply. There are all types of watercrafts on the market; some are considered boats and others are pool toys. Boats are designed differently, and by state law, have specific equipment requirements. “If you plan to float in a river, keep in mind that pool toys are designed for use in a swimming pool, have no directional control, and can puncture easily. Float in a watercraft designed for a river; one which won’t easily puncture and comes equipped with a paddle so you can maneuver away from obstructions.” Paulsen adds. It’s state law that any boat with a motor, even temporarily mounted, must be titled and registered. Paddlecraft (including stand up paddleboards) 10 feet and longer are required to carry a Waterway Access Permit

Boat Sober. Boating is a great social activity, and the Marine Board encourages boaters and persons floating on the waterways, to leave the alcohol on shore. It’s safer for everyone. If arrested for Boating Under the Influence of Intoxicants (BUII), violators can be fined up to $6,250; can lose boating privileges for up to three years and even serve jail time. Intoxicants include marijuana, illicit drugs, and even some prescriptions. 

Sit on the seat inside the boat. Many boaters are tempted to ride on the swim platform, stern, sides, and the bow of open motorboats. The stern can be a dangerous place for exposure to carbon monoxide and a prop-strike safety hazard. It is illegal to ride on the bow, decks, gunwales or transoms of a motorboat when the boat is underway. Sitting on designated seats is the safest option – especially when the boat is towing someone. Just because new boats have seats on the transom or swim step doesn’t make them legal for use when the boat is underway. 

Slow down, keep scanning, and be courteous. Know the boating regulations for your area of operation. Boaters, including personal watercraft, are responsible for damage caused by their wake. Remember to slow down within 200 feet of a dock, launch ramp, marina, moorage, floating home or boathouse, pier or swim float, even if they don’t have a “Slow No-Wake” buoy or sign. Paddlers should stay closer to shore, crossing busy channels at right angles only when it is safe and allow motorboats to pass in deeper water. Be courteous, share the waterway, and recreate responsibly.

The top boating violations this summer include expired motorboat registration, no life jackets, and not carrying a waterway access permit. So far this year, there have been 12 recreational boating fatalities involving four motorized boats (PWC and open motorboats) and eight nonmotorized boats (kayaks, SUP, canoe, and raft). 

For more information about equipment requirements, boating regulations, and ideas on where to go boating, visit the Marine Board’s website.

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https://www.oregon.gov/osp/missing/pages/missingpersons.aspx

This is just a small compilation of missing women and their pictures in the area. There are of course women missing all over Oregon and men and children missing too. We don’t mean to dismiss that, however, there is an inordinate amount of women who go missing each week and there could possibly be a connection with an anomaly or two here and there. Sadly most of them never get any attention. Family and friends must keep any information going and lead investigations so that they aren’t just forgotten. 

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https://www.facebook.com/pg/Have-You-Seen-Me-Southern-Oregons-Missing-People-161249961222839/posts/

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