Local News

The Grants Pass Police Department assisted Rogue Area Drug Enforcement (RADE) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) by arresting two people following a traffic stop on the east side of the city late last week. The Police Department reports officers pulled over a silver Infinity coupe with California plates at Elmer's Restaurant on NE Agness Avenue on Friday around 9:44 a.m.. Police did not say why they stopped the car occupied by a 49-year-old male driver and a 33-year-old female passenger. However, they said a law enforcement K-9 alerted to the presence of narcotics inside the vehicle. No other details were available in the report, but the occupants were arrested and the drugs were seized as evidence. The man and woman were both lodged at the Josephine County Jail for Felony Possession and Delivery of Methamphetamine. Both were being held without bail.

 

Grants Pass Police arrested a man for burning a piece of furniture at his mother's southwest city home this past weekend. According to the Police Department, officers responded to a trespassing complaint in the 1400-block of SW Bridge Street on Saturday at about 2:20 a.m.. Police said they received a call from the 34-year-old man's grandmother who reported her grandson was trying to break into his mother's residence. The man had been kicked out of his mother's house and was sleeping outside on a trampoline. According to the report, the mother has legal custody of the man's two juvenile children who were sleeping inside the house when the man decided to burn his mother's hutch in the very narrow backyard. He used gas propellant to fuel the fire, which damaged his mother's property. Officers arrived on scene, made sure the fire was out and placed the man into custody. He was lodged at the Josephine County Jail for Reckless Burning.

 

Grants Pass Police arrested a motorist for impaired driving following a weekend traffic complaint in the north part of the city. The Police Department reports officers contacted the 47-year-old man at Hampton Inn & Suites on NE Morgan Lane on Saturday at about 12:45 a.m.. Police said a fellow motorist called 9-1-1 to report they were following the driver on NE 7th Street and he was swerving all over the roadway at very slow speeds. The caller suspected the driver was impaired and followed the suspect vehicle to the motel where it appeared he was going to check in. Upon arrival, officers contacted the man and developed probable cause that he was the suspected impaired driver. He displayed signs of impairment, but refused to participate in field sobriety tests or to provide a breath sample. A search warrant was obtained and he was taken to Three Rivers Medical Center for a blood draw. The suspect was subsequently lodged at the Josephine County Jail for Driving Under the Influence of Intoxicants. His vehicle was impounded.

 

US Senate votes expected for this week in Washington, DC, have forced the postponement of US Senator Ron Wyden's scheduled town halls in southwest Oregon. Wyden's office sent out a weekend press release that stated the town halls slated for Tuesday in Josephine and Curry counties and for Wednesday in Coos and Douglas counties have been postponed until further notice. Senator Wyden was set to hold a Josephine County Town Hall at Hidden Valley High School tomorrow afternoon. All four town halls will be rescheduled.

 

The US Supreme Court today dove into the high-stakes case on homelessness that originated in Grants Pass with justices struggling to figure out where to draw the line on how far cities can go to regulate how people sleep or camp in public spaces. The Oregonian reports they also asked if the Supreme Court even needed to intervene in this case since Oregon in 2021 adopted its own state law that allowed for "objectively reasonable" time, place and manner limits on sitting, lying or sleeping outside. During two-and-a-half hours of lively argument, conservative justices questioned why federal judges should weigh into municipal policy decisions. They wondered why those affected by camping ordinances in Grants Pass can't raise the defense in state courts that their individual circumstances left them with nowhere else to sleep once they're fined or charged with a crime in state courts, instead of seeking a broad ban on the city's ordinances. The liberal justices, in turn, hammered the city’s lawyer, who claimed that homelessness isn’t considered a status. Attorney Theane D. Evangelis, representing Grants Pass, argued that the city's laws punished the general conduct of sleeping outside in public places and not the broad condition of being homeless. The case arose when several homeless people filed suit against Grants Pass in 2018, alleging the city's aggressive enforcement of its public camping and sleeping ordinances were intended to banish them from town. A divided 9th Circuit US Court of Appeals barred the city from enforcing the laws, finding they criminalized the status of being homeless in violation of the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment, and the city petitioned for the Supreme Court’s review. The Supreme Court is expected to issue a decision by the end of June.

 

US Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley announced Friday that 30 Oregon counties will receive more than $47.7 million in federal payments under the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act (SRS). The SRS funds are allocated from the US Forest Service for schools and road maintenance, youth job training, wildfire prevention, watershed restoration and habitat conservation. Locally, Douglas and Klamath counties will receive by far the largest amount of SRS funding with $6.67 million and $6.37 million, respectively. Jackson County will receive more than $1,462,000 and Josephine County will get $950,157.29. Nationwide, SRS provides critical funding for schools, roads and other municipal services to more than 700 US counties. A portion of US Forest Service funds generated through multi-use activities such as timber production, grazing and special use permits supports rural counties with federal forestland to improve the health of forested communities. More funding for rural counties is expected from the Bureau of Land Management in the near future.

 

Do you have a child that will be attending a Three Rivers District school this fall as a kindergartner? If so, please come to the "Kickoff to Kindergarten" this Thursday, April 25th, at 6 p.m.. Learn the skills that a typical 5-year-old needs to be familiar with by the time they start school at this week's event. Families will receive a free kit containing age-appropriate learning materials to use with their child at home. The kit includes items such as alphabet cards, color and shapes cards, memory match cards and a book. Parent sessions will start promptly at 6 p.m.. Pizza and water will be provided, but daycare for children is not. Bring immunization records, birth certificate and proof of address. The program is open to all children who will be 5 by September 1st. RSVP by calling your local neighborhood school. If you need help determining which school is in your neighborhood, please call (541)-862-3111.

 

The Grants Pass Police Department assisted Rogue Area Drug Enforcement (RADE) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) this week with the arrests of three people associated with a local drug trafficking enterprise. On Thursday around 9 a.m., RADE and the DEA served a search warrant in the 1800-block of NW Burns Avenue in Grants Pass. The search warrant revealed approximately four pounds of fentanyl, about $35,000 in suspected illegal drug proceeds, 13 firearms -- three of them stolen, more than 12 ounces of methamphetamine, an ounce of cocaine, an ounce of psilocybin mushrooms and other controlled substances. GPPD reports 47-year-old Brandon Gregory Ruppel and 52-year-old Laura Jean Berry were arrested and lodged at the Josephine County Jail for Manufacture and Delivery of Controlled Substances within 1,000 Feet of a School, Possession of a Schedule 2 Controlled Substance and Felon in Possession of a Weapon. An additional occupant of the residence -- 50-year-old Jason Ruppel -- was cited to appear in court and released for multiple drug and firearms charges. RADE is a multi-jurisdictional narcotics task force that identifies, disrupts and dismantles local, multi-state and international drug trafficking organizations using an intelligence-driven, multi-agency, prosecutor-supported approach.

 

The Josephine County Sheriff's Office jailed a Grants Pass area man this week for being in possession of a vehicle that was reported stolen out of Douglas County. The Sheriff's Office reports deputies arrested the 55-year-old suspect at a home in the 11,000-block of Peco Road off Azalea Drive late Thursday afternoon. Deputies said the Douglas County Sheriff's Office reported a 2004 Dodge Durango had been stolen that morning and the local man had been identified as the suspect. The Peco Road residence was listed as the address for the man, and that's where he was located and the vehicle was recovered. Upon contact with the suspect, he advised deputies that he had called the victim's parents, told them he didn't steal the vehicle and that he had permission to drive it. However, the parents and law enforcement disagreed so he was taken into custody. The suspect was lodged at the Josephine County Jail for Felony Possession of a Stolen Vehicle and he was being held without bail. The victim traveled to Grants Pass from Douglas County and picked up his vehicle.