Local News

You are invited to celebrate the New Year with Oregon State Parks free first day hike at Valley of the Rogue State Park as they hike sections of the Greenway and River's Edge trails. The Hike, led by Rangers or volunteers, is slated to begin at 11 a.m. and hikers should meet at the Amphitheatre. This hike is classified as easy at 1.5 miles Park staff will arrive 15 minutes early and depart 5 minutes after the begin time after providing instructions and additional information. Dogs are welcome on 6-foot leashes. Children must be accompanied by an adult. America’s State Parks sponsors the First Day Hikes program nationwide to encourage everyone to start the year outside and connect with nature. The Oregon Parks and Recreation Department has participated since 2012. The Hike is free and the $5 day-use parking fee is waived today

 

Oregon Driver and Motor Vehicles Services is warning Oregonians about a new scam using fake Manufacturer Certificates of Origin to obtain titles for stolen vehicles. That’s a document that certifies the original ownership of a vehicle, issued by the manufacturer when a vehicle is produced and contains information like the make, model, year and vehicle identification number. Crooks are creating fake VINs that appear to be legitimate and adding them to counterfeit Manufacturer Certificates of Origin created by either altering printed information on a genuine certificate or by creating a completely fake version. A fake certificate often lists the manufacturer’s name and an out-of-state dealer or distributor as the first buyer. To determine if your VIN is legitimate, you should first run the VIN through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recall site. If no VIN is found, you will get an error message meaning the VIN was not issued by that manufacturer. This search is free. Then check the vehicle history through the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System. Only use an approved National Motor Vehicle Title Information System data provider. These sites will generally charge a nominal fee. If you suspect the certificate or VIN is fraudulent, Oregon DMV recommends you contact the dealer that originally purchased the vehicle from the manufacturer to determine if the vehicle transaction, certificate and VIN are genuine. If the dealer or distributor cannot confirm they purchased the vehicle from the manufacturer, the certificate is probably fake.If you’re buying a vehicle from someone other than a certified dealer, take a photo of the seller’s identification and get their contact information. If they have another vehicle – write down or take a photo of the plate on that vehicle.DMV also warns of fraudulent dealerships being set up. The DMV website provides a look-up tool to verify if the business is a certified dealer. Check the website before doing any business with a vehicle dealer in Oregon. Verify the person you are dealing with is an employee of the dealership. For more information, visit Oregon DMV’s dealer web page.

 

A series of updates to the County’s administrative policies and procedures were approved by the County Commissioners during the last meeting of the year Tuesday morning and, likely the last decision by the current board. Commissioners approved order number 2024-078, updating Administrative Policy, and order number 2024-079, updating Personnel Policy.The Commissioners adjourned a short meeting and then convened in the Court House conference room for a workshop, with most of the new Board in attendance.The item concerning the replacement for a vacancy on the Board of Commissioners was dropped from a new agenda that was released Tuesday morning.

 

The Josephine County Board of Commissioners approved a series of updates to the County’s administrative policies and procedures during the last meeting of the year Tuesday morning and, likely the last decision by the current board. Commissioners approved order number 2024-078, updating Administrative Policy, and order number 2024-079, updating Personnel Policy.The Commissioners adjourned a short meeting and then convened in the Court House conference room for a workshop, with most of the new Board in attendance. The item concerning the replacement for a vacancy on the Board of Commissioners was dropped from a new agenda that was released this morning. The workshop lasted about an hour with no firm decisions made with the general consensus the let the new Board of Commissioners make those upcoming decisions.

 

A 43-year-old driver sped into Baker Park Monday evening passing Grants Pass Fire and a Firefighter who were blocking vehicles from entering the lower park due to the river overflowing. A Grants Pass Police Officer in a marked cruiser was flagged down by the Fire Department to investigate the 1999 silver Mercury Cougar that accelerated passed the Firefighter into the lower parking lot. The officer contacted Darren Louis Pierce, 43, and observed numerous signs of impairment. Pierce refused to perform field sobriety tests and his driving status returned as revoked, misdemeanor. Pierce was taken into custody after refusing to provide a breath sample and taken to the hospital for a legal blood draw. Then he was transported to the Josephine County Jail and lodged on three charges: reckless driving, driving while suspended and Driving under the influence. He remained in custody Tuesday morning. Pierce was also arrested in October for driving under the influence.

 

A parking complaint for a motor home parked in a cul-de-sac for over a week escalated into a trespass and other series charges for the motor home’s owner who eventually landed in jail. A Grants Pass Police officer responded to the parking complaint at 11:30 Monday morning and contacted 28-year-old Bailey Obryan Beck. Beck and the officer agreed the motor home would be moved and the surrounding trash cleaned within 30 minutes or it would be towed, and he would be trespassed. The officer returned two hours later and observed Beck throwing a garbage bag of trash onto the Church property with the motor home still in place. Beck was advised he was under arrest and became resistive. Beck was then placed into custody and lodged in the Josephine County Jail for offensive littering, trespass II and resisting arrest. He remained in custody Tuesday morning.

 

Grants Pass Police were alerted to a shoplift complaint at Walmart Monday morning just before 9 a.m. and responded to arrest the suspect. Arriving officers found the suspect had fled on a bicycle, taking his lifted Red Bulls and candy across the Parkway and was seen heading to Harbor Freight and Ross. The suspect had removed his baseball cap, gray jacket and hoodie in an effort to remain undetected. He was contacted in the Goodwill parking lot, identified as David Galen Hamilton, 39, and detained. He was found to have a felony probation violation warrant out of Jackson County. He was lodged in the Josephine County jail and remained in custody this morning facing a theft III charge in addition to the warrant. His total theft, less than $100.

 

Total payroll employment in Jackson County fell by 390 jobs in November, with several industries posting monthly job declines. According to the Oregon Employment Department, there were 102,189 people working in Jackson County last month for a seasonally adjusted jobless rate of 4.7%, up slightly from 4.6% in October and from 4.5% in November 2023. Leisure & hospitality showed the largest drop, down by 290 jobs. Others with estimated employment losses included financial activities, manufacturing, construction, and professional & business services. A couple industries added jobs in November. Health care & social assistance employment rose by 200, and transportation, warehousing & utilities gained 40 jobs over the month. Government employment slipped by 110 jobs, with losses in local, state and federal government.Over the past year, payroll employment in Jackson County dipped by 90 jobs, a decrease of 0.1%. Since November 2023, industries adding jobs were private education & health services (+970), transportation, warehousing & utilities (+70), and mining & logging (+20). Industries with over-the-year losses included retail trade (-500), manufacturing (-260), financial activities (-220), construction (-70) and information (-40). Jackson County government employment rose by 190 jobs over the year. Local government, state government and federal government all gained jobs over the past 12 months.

 

The final County Business Session of the year takes place this morning at 9 a.m. in the Anne G. Basker Auditorium. The agenda contains two administrative actions designed to update the administrative policies and procedures for the County. The first item will be the approval of order number 2024-078, updating Administrative Policy. The second will be order number 2024-079, updating Personnel Policy. Included in the agenda are Requests and Comments from Citizens, Board Review of Public Comments, approval of a consent calendar and Matters from Commissioners. The Commissioners will then move to their conference room in the Court House for an administrative workshop slated to begin at 10 a.m. That agenda contains, among other items, filling a vacant Board of County Commissioners position, the Private Structural Fire Service Providers Ordinance, moving the Risk Manager to Human Resources, the Josephine County Hiring Freeze and moving the OSU/4H Building into the Fairgrounds Master Plan. Both meetings will be live streamed on the County’s website.