Local News

A wanted felon out of Riverside California was arrested and lodged in the county jail following the burglary of a local gun store. On Wednesday, just after 6:00 pm, Grants Pass Police Officers responded to a Firearms Retail Store in the 200 block of Redwood Hwy regarding an alarm. Officers discovered the front doors of the business had been smashed open, and multiple firearms had been stolen. Store surveillance showed a white pickup truck backing through the doors and a lone suspect taking multiple firearms. Grants Pass Police Detectives responded to the scene and began their investigation. An image of the suspect from the surveillance video was distributed to local police officers, and a Grants Pass Police School Marshall advised detectives he had seen a subject matching the description at a local grocery store the day of the burglary. Further investigation by Grants Pass Detectives, Oregon State Police, Medford Police Detectives, the Rogue Area Drug Enforcement team, U.S. Marshals, and ATF identified the suspect as Antone W. Bayard, a 27-year-old from Southern California, was tracked to a VRBO rental on Willow Lane in Grants Pass. It was also discovered that Bayard was wanted for a parole violation warrant out of Riverside County, California. Friday afternoon, just after 3:00 pm, as Grants Pass SWAT members began to surround the VRBO rental on Willow Lane, Antone Bayard ran from the residence and was arrested a short time later.

 

The National Weather Service has posted a Flood Watch for portions of southwest Oregon including the Curry County coast and -- specifically -- Brookings, Gold Beach and the US Highway 101 corridor. The Curry County Flood Watch is in effect through this afternoon. In addition, a NWS Hydrologic Outlook indicates a potential for flooding today across Curry County, western Josephine County, Coos County and western Douglas County. A stalled front was expected to bring significant rainfall to the area over the weekend. Heavy rain may result in landslides in areas of steep terrain as well as debris flows in and near burned areas from recent wildfires. Debris flows are rapidly moving, extremely destructive landslides. They can contain boulders and logs transported in a fast-moving soil and water slurry down steep hillsides and through narrow canyons. They can easily travel a mile or more, and they move faster than a person can run. People, structures and roads located below steep slopes in canyons and near the mouths of canyons may be at serious risk.

 

More people visited Crater Lake in 2023 than the year prior, but the beautiful national park still saw moderate crowds by recent standards. The Oregonian reports that might be by design. In 2023, a total 559,976 people visited the park, according to data released this month by the National Park Service, including 416,104 people who visited between June and September. That's a 6% increase over the annual visitor count in 2022, but a far cry from the record 756,344 people who showed up in 2016. Crater Lake Superintendent Craig Ackerman said while several issues are likely at play, he suspects two main reasons for the recent decline in visitor numbers: unpredictability with wildfires and a concerted effort to reduce marketing of the park. While wildfires were not a serious problem at Crater Lake in 2023, the possibility that they could be a problem may have been enough to sway some people to visit other, less risky places in the summer, Ackerman said. That's a trend he's seen over the past few years, after several seasons of devastating wildfires. Meanwhile, park officials in recent years have also been working with state and local tourism agencies to tamp down the marketing of Crater Lake, he said, especially following the enormous crowds that came between 2016 and 2019, on the heels of the National Park Service's centennial celebration.

 

Grants Pass residents who were unable to attend or view the city's Public Safety Listening and Learning session this week can still watch what happened. On Thursday night, the Grants Pass City Council held the forum to better inform residents about the public safety funding crisis and the options that could be used to close the gap between costs and revenue for police and fire services. City staff explained why more General Fund support is necessary to fund the rising costs of public safety services each year as well as the limitations of the current budget. Funding options were discussed, outlining the pros and cons of each option. Questions from the public were answered by the staff and Council. While nothing has been finalized, the majority of the City Council has expressed its support for a 1.5% general sales tax combined with a $12 hike to the monthly utility fee. No other city in Oregon is using a sales tax in this manner and some people in the audience said a citizen referendum could be mounted to defeat it. The City Council is hoping to come to a final decision on a plan in the near future.

 

Grants Pass Police arrested a local felon for drugged driving and the resulting post-prison supervision violation after an overdose in the downtown area this week. According to the Police Department, officers and emergency crews responded to the incident involving 31-year-old Tyler Christopher Bacon, Jr., near the corner of SE 7th and G streets on Thursday around midday. Police said callers reported the driver of a Mazda sedan was unable to maintain a single travel lane before he stopped at the downtown intersection and passed out. Witnesses advised the man was turning blue and his head was "bobbing around." Bystanders attempted to enter the car to render aid, but the vehicle was locked. Officers arrived on scene and identified the unconscious driver as Bacon, who was not breathing due to a drug overdose. Medics were able to revive him with two doses of Narcan and he was taken by ambulance to Three Rivers Medical Center.

 

Grants Pass Police jailed a man for allegedly choking his girlfriend during an argument at a home in the southeast part of the city on Thursday night. The Police Department reports officers arrested for 54-year-old Lance Arthur Nickerson at 12:24 Friday morning for the incident that occurred in the 1900-block of Cloverlawn Drive. Police said they were alerted to the incident by the victim who called 9-1-1 and reported a domestic disturbance before hanging up on the dispatcher. The call-taker then alerted the police department and officers responded to the home. An investigation determined that Nickerson impeded the normal breathing to his girlfriend of nine months by wrapping both of his hands around her neck and squeezing. The victim advised police that he choked her for about one minute, and then grabbed her by the hair and slammed her face on the corner of a door. Photos of the victim's injuries were taken for documentation, but the woman was not seriously hurt. The suspect denied touching his girlfriend and c

 

Two young men have been arrested for vandalizing a Jewish Center in Ashland last month. The Ashland Police Department reports officers responded to the incident at the Chabad Jewish Center on December 14th. Video evidence from the scene and surrounding businesses showed three people approach the center with one of them throwing eggs while yelling "Heil Hitler." APD posted video evidence of the incident on social media and the suspects were identified almost immediately. The primary suspect was identified as 18-year-old Zachary Demarest of Corvallis and another suspect was identified as 18-year-old Jacob Wilhelm of Blackfoot, Idaho. The third person was not implicated in the crime and is therefore not being named. APD Chief Tighe O'Meara said all three people were students at Southern Oregon University at the time of the incident. He said they left the area for winter break shortly after the incident was reported. Two of them are no longer enrolled at SOU. Demerest -- who was the person seen throwing the eggs -- was contacted and told to turn himself in. He did so on January 19th and was lodged at the Jackson County Jail for 2nd-Degree Bias Crime and 3rd-Degree Criminal Mischief. Wilhelm's involvement consisted of him encouraging Demarest's criminal behavior, which made him a criminal co-conspirator. He was cited to appear in court for Bias Crime and Criminal Mischief.

 

Grants Pass Police jailed a man for allegedly choking his girlfriend during an argument at a home in the southeast part of the city late last night. The Police Department reports officers arrested for 54-year-old Lance Arthur Nickerson at 12:24 this morning for the incident that occurred in the 1900-block of Cloverlawn Drive. Police said they were alerted to the incident by the victim who called 9-1-1 and reported a domestic disturbance before hanging up on the dispatcher. The call-taker then alerted the police department and officers responded to the home. An investigation determined that Nickerson impeded the normal breathing to his girlfriend of nine months by wrapping both of his hands around her neck and squeezing. The victim advised police that he choked her for about one minute, and then grabbed her by the hair and slammed her face on the corner of a door. Photos of the victim's injuries were taken for documentation, but the woman was not seriously hurt. The suspect denied touching his girlfriend and claimed she created her own injuries. The suspect was subsequently placed into custody. Lance Nickerson was lodged at the Josephine County Jail on charges of Domestic Strangulation and Domestic Harassment. He was being held without bail.

 

The Josephine County Sheriff's Office jailed a Wolf Creek woman for violating a court order after she drove to a Hugo area home and began yelling at the protected party on Thursday. The Sheriff's Office reports deputies responded to a domestic disturbance at a residence in the 600-block of Oxyoke Road at about 2:30 p.m. yesterday. Deputies said an investigation determined that 50-year-old Stephanie Vey arrived at the home and started yelling at her estranged boyfriend despite a court order prohibiting her from contacting him or being near his residence. There was a claim that the suspect broke a window on the victim's vehicle, but no one was hurt. After determining there was probable cause to arrest Stephanie Vey, deputies followed her on northbound Interstate 5 to her home where they placed her into custody. Vey was transported to Grants Pass and lodged at the Josephine County Jail for Contempt of Court/Restraining Order Violation. She was being held without bail.