Local News

A retirement ceremony was held last night to celebrate Grants Pass Deputy Fire Chief Randy DeLonge's 27-year career with the department. DeLonge began his career with Grants Pass Fire & Rescue in 1997 as a student firefighter and he rose through the ranks to become Deputy Chief and Interim Fire Chief. DeLonge is well-known for his dedication to the department and the community. The Grants Pass Fire Department thanks DeLonge for his service and wishes him well in his retirement.

 

The Josephine Community Library District will hold a budget committee meeting next week. The library budget meeting will be at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Ben Bones Room of the Grants Pass branch library at 200 NW C Street. The agenda will include the Fiscal Year 2025 budget message, appointment of the budget committee chair and secretary, budget discussion, public comment and the schedule for upcoming budget hearings. A copy of the budget document may be inspected or obtained during open hours at the Grants Pass branch. For more information, visit "josephinelibrary.org."

 

Grants Pass voters trying to oust state Representative Christine Goodwin and prevent her from running for the state Senate say she was never eligible to run for her current House seat. The Oregonian reports documents filed as part of a lawsuit alleging that Goodwin lives outside the House district she represents show that she listed the Myrtle Creek home where she lived for decades, but that is just outside her district as her address on a state business registration dated July 6, 2022. Goodwin signed the document attesting under penalty of perjury that the Myrtle Creek address was correct. To be eligible to run for her House seat, Goodwin had to have lived within the House District 4 boundary as of January 1, 2022. The lawsuit contends that the document helps to prove Goodwin was never eligible to run for the District 4 seat because she hadn't lived in the district for the requisite amount of time. Five days ahead of the residency deadline to run for a House seat in 2022, Goodwin switched her voter registration address from her longtime Myrtle Creek home to a residential property in Canyonville, within District 4 lines, the Douglas County Clerk's Office confirmed to The Oregonian earlier this month. Goodwin, a Republican, won the uncontested election to represent House District 4, which stretches from south of Myrtle Creek to the area east of Grants Pass. She's now seeking the Republican nomination for Senate District 2 to replace outgoing Senator Art Robinson.

 

US Congressman Cliff Bentz led 19 of his Republican colleagues this week in sending a letter to the US Fish and Wildlife Service urging its director to delist the gray wolf as a protected species under the Endangered Species Act. The letter to USFWS Director Martha Williams follows the agency's decision last month to not re-list the wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountains because it found the wolf was not in danger of extinction anywhere in the western United States. Despite this finding, the Service has done nothing to allow those bearing the burden of an apex predator's reintroduction to protect themselves, livestock or even deer and elk populations from devastation by the wolf. Congressman Bentz said the Service should move immediately to de-list the gray wolf as a protected species, which would allow the use of accepted methods of predator control to be used by ranchers and state agencies including the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. Bentz said the substantial growth in population of gray wolves throughout Oregon and the western United States poses significant challenges for ranchers, farmers and outdoorsmen alike.

 

The Grants Pass 9-1-1 Communications Center reported another busy week while fielding emergency calls throughout Josephine County. In its "Week in Review" post on Facebook, the local dispatch center said it received a total of 947 emergency calls between March 21st and March 27th. As usual, the bulk of the emergency calls -- 843 -- were directed to the Grants Pass Police Department. GPPD was followed by American Medical Response with 267 calls and Grants Pass Fire & Rescue with 75. Rural Metro Fire Department received 41 calls over the past week while the Illinois Valley Fire District received 21, Williams Rural Fire Protection District received six, and both the Wolf Creek Rural Fire Protection District and Oregon Department of Forestry got three. The 9-1-1 Dispatch Center also reported 323 total internal phone calls received and 460 total outbound phone calls made.

 

Grants Pass Police arrested a man late yesterday for attempting to cash a forged check at a downtown business. The Police Department reports officers arrested the 61-year-old man at ACE Cash Express on SE 7th Street on Thursday at 5:50 p.m.. Police said the man tried to cash a personal check for $1,800 that had been altered to appear it was addressed to him. A clerk at the business was suspicious, called law enforcement and stalled the suspect at the service window until officers were able to arrive on scene. Upon arrival, officers placed the man into custody and then discovered that he was wanted on a statewide felony warrant for Parole Violation related to a past assault conviction. The suspect was lodged at the Josephine County Jail for 1st-Degree Forgery. He was being held on a no-bail detainer.

 

A Grants Pass woman was arrested yesterday for stiffing a cab driver of her fare, fleeing on foot and then struggling with law enforcement. According to the Police Department, officers responded to a theft complaint at the Dollar General store on SW Bridge Street on Thursday around 12:30 p.m.. Police said the 42-year-old woman hailed a cab from Rogue Taxi at Shari's Cafe & Pies on NE Agness Avenue and was transported to Dollar General where she told the driver she had no money and ran away on Lincoln Road toward the river. According to the report, the cab fare she skipped out on was $28. Officers were able to track down the suspect on Lower River Road near Doneen Lane. When she was told she was under arrest, she used active resistance in order to avoid being placed into custody. She was ultimately apprehended. The suspect was booked into the Josephine County Jail for Resisting Arrest, Disorderly Conduct and 3rd-Degree Theft. She was being held without bail.

 

The Josephine County Sheriff's Office apprehended two brothers who were wanted on local felony warrants in two separate incidents on Thursday. The Sheriff's Office reports deputies arrested a 53-year-old man in the lobby of the Josephine County Jail at 11:37 a.m. yesterday. Deputies did not disclose why the man showed up at the jail lobby, but he was arrested on a Josephine County felony warrant as a material witness to an unspecified crime and was being held without bail. Deputies arrested the man's 51-year-old brother in the 12,200-block of Redwood Highway at 5:35 p.m. yesterday. He was also wanted on a felony warrant as a material witness to an unspecified crime and was being held without bail.

 

The Oregon State Police arrested a motorist for impaired driving after he wrecked his vehicle into a ditch off Redwood Highway near Wilderville late last night. OSP reports troopers and emergency crews responded to the single-vehicle crash on US Highway 199 on Thursday at 11:01 p.m.. Troopers said the 30-year-old male subject drove his Chevrolet Colorado out of the ditch and to his nearby residence before they arrived on scene. Upon contacting the man, they discovered that he was not hurt -- but he displayed multiple signs of impairment by alcohol. According to OSP, the man performed poorly in field sobriety tests so he was taken to the Grants Pass Sobering Center where he provided a breath sample that was nearly three times the legal driving limit. The suspect was charged with Driving Under the Influence of Intoxicants and Reckless Driving before being released to Sobering Center staff.