Local News

The Oregon State Police arrested a man on an outstanding warrant during an Interstate 5 traffic stop in Grants Pass last night. OSP reports troopers pulled over a Pontiac sedan driven by a 28-year-old Grants Pass man in the northbound lanes of I-5 near milepost 57 at 7:20 p.m. Thursday. Troopers said they stopped the vehicle for a traffic violation and discovered that the driver was wanted on a local arrest warrant for failing to appear in court for impaired driving. The man was lodged in jail on the warrant. His car was parked and secured.

 

A couple of small fires in the Illinois Valley and near Williams had crews scrambling late yesterday and last night. On Thursday at 4:53 p.m., the Illinois Valley Fire District responded to a grass fire on Redwood Highway at Deer Creek Road in Selma. Arriving units discovered and quickly extinguished the small vegetation fire. IVFD officials said a neighbor heard a big boom and saw what looked like two balloons fall from the powerlines. They said the cause is under investigation. On Thursday at 9:38 p.m., the Williams Rural Fire Protection District was dispatched to an illegal open burn that could be seen from Davidson Road facing Cedar Flat Road. Firefighters extinguished the blaze in short order and advised the residents that no outdoor debris burning is allowed during fire season.

 

A Butte Falls man who was arrested last week for using a vehicle to intentionally ram a Central Point Police Department patrol car is facing additional charges after law enforcement searched his vehicle. The Jackson County Sheriff's Office reports deputies executed a search warrant on 34-year-old Joshua Edward McLaughlin's vehicle this week, locating body armor and a 9-millimeter pistol. Additional charges were added including Felon in Possession of Body Armor and Felon in Possession of a Firearm. McLaughlin is being held at the Jackson County Jail on a total of 32 criminal charges and is not eligible for pre-trial release. McLaughlin was arrested last Friday afternoon at the OK Market in Medford. He was already wanted on eight warrants when he eluded law enforcement earlier that day by intentionally crashing into a CPPD patrol car. While ramming the patrol car, he also struck an officer with his side-view mirror. The officer was hurt, but is expected to make a full recovery. He or she was not identified in the report. In addition to the most recent charges, McLaughlin is being held on probable cause of Felony Eluding Police, Felony Hit-and-Run, Reckless Driving, three counts of Reckless Endangering, 2nd-Degree Criminal Mischief, Interfering with Police, 3rd-Degree Assault, Attempted 3rd-Degree Assault, Unlawful Use of a Weapon and Assault on a Peace Officer plus warrants for Burglary and Attempt to Elude. The case will be prosecuted by the Jackson County District Attorney's Office.

 

The Southern Oregon Child Exploitation Team (SOCET) joint interagency task force served search warrants this week in Eagle Point and near Rogue River. According to the initial investigation, the cases do not appear to be connected. Detectives are interviewing possible involved parties and witnesses, and the investigations are ongoing. SOCET served the first search warrant on Tuesday at a residence in the 100-block of Keystone Way in Eagle Point. The investigation began after a suspect sent child exploitation imagery to undercover law enforcement. The Eagle Point Police Department assisted with the warrant service. Investigators served the second search warrant that afternoon at a converted school bus on a property in the 6500-block of Rogue River Highway near the City of Rogue River. The investigation began after a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. That led to subpoenas followed by the search warrant at the residence. Josephine County Community Corrections assisted with the warrant service. SOCET was also assisted by the Jackson County Sheriff's Office, Oregon State Police and Southern Oregon High Tech Crimes Task Force. Investigators seized digital devices that will be forensically examined for further evidence of child exploitation. SOCET is a joint interagency task force that started in June 2020 to combat child exploitation.

 

Grants Pass Police arrested a woman for accosting a utility worker and resident in the northwest part of the city this week. According to the Police Department, officers responded to the incident in the 700-block of NW Midland Avenue on Wednesday. Police said the 76-year-old woman asked a utility worker to call 9-1-1 because she was "having a medical emergency and was going to die." The worker rolled up his window, which prompted the woman to break nearby planter pots and throw dirt and rocks at him and the utility truck. The female subject then attempted to have the resident call 9-1-1 for her. She tried to enter the residence, but a woman closed the door in her face. This prompted the suspect to go into the front yard and break a large terra cotta vase valued at about $70. That's when officers arrived on scene and placed her into custody. The suspect was lodged at the Josephine County Jail for Criminal Mischief and Disorderly Conduct, both in the 2nd-Degree. She was being held without bail.

 

Motorists should expect congestion and delays along Redwood Highway between O'Brien and the California border next week due to a chip seal project. The Oregon Department of Transportation said construction will require lane closures from milepost 36 to milepost 41 from Monday through Friday. Most work will take place during daylight hours and most delays will be less than 20 minutes. Due to loose rock on the highway, drivers are advised to slow down and allow additional space between vehicles. In areas where the highway is limited to a single lane for construction, local residents are asked to wait at the end of their driveways for a pilot car before turning onto the highway. ODOT will post signs at each driveway and flaggers will provide traffic control at local intersections. This is the final segment of work for a project that began last summer and paved the highway from Cave Junction to O'Brien. Work was suspended in September due to hazardous conditions related to nearby wildfires. Prime contractor Knife River Materials will return in late June or early July to apply permanent striping to this area. This work may also require intermittent lane closures. The $8.5 million project also added several safety features along Redwood Highway and applied a chip seal to an 8-mile section of Oregon Highway 42 near Winston.

 

A Jackson County grand jury has indicted a former Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center nurse on 44 counts of felony assault for allegedly diverting drugs that affected patient health at the Medford hospital. The Medford Police Department reports detectives arrested 36-year-old Dani Marie Schofield in the 5,000-block of Rogue River Drive on Thursday afternoon. The seven-month-long investigation began after Asante officials contacted MPD in early December 2023. Asante had become concerned with a rising number of central line infection cases in patients while in their care. After an internal investigation, Asante provided MPD with information that all of the identified cases were isolated to patients in the Intensive Care Unit and occurred within a specific time frame. Based on records and interviews, detectives were able to determine that ICU nurse Schofield had access to each of the victims. There was concern that Schofield had been diverting patients' liquid fentanyl for her personal use and then replacing it with tap water, causing serious infections that may have led to some patients' deaths. Schofield left Asante in July 2023. Following the indictment, Dani Schofield is being held on $4.4 million bail in the Jackson County Jail for 44 counts of 2nd-Degree Assault under Measure 11. MPD consulted with multiple medical experts, who each agreed that questionable deaths associated with this case could not be directly attributed to the infections.

 

The Josephine County Clerk's Office has released its final tally of ballots and certified the results of the May 21st primary election. The official results show some slight changes in the overall numbers, but the initial winners and losers did not change. In the race for Position #2 on the Josephine County Board of Commissioners, Chris Barnett captured 45.3% of the ballots. He will face fellow candidate Colene Martin in the November general election. She received 23.7% of the vote. In the race for Position #3 on the Board of Commissioners, Pat Fahey received 38.4% of the ballots. He will face fellow candidate Ron Smith in November. Smith grabbed 26.4% of the vote. All three measures on the May ballot went down to defeat. Unofficial statewide results in the Republican race for Senate District #2 show Noah Robinson with a 61.1% to 38.6% victory over Christine Goodwin. In the Democratic race for State Representative District #3, Mark Seligman outdistanced Dustin Watkins 61.3% to 36.5%. He will take on Dwayne Yunker in November. Josephine County Clerk Rhiannon Henkels reported a 39.98% voter turnout as of Thursday. She said 27,913 out of 69,824 registered voters participated in the election.

 

Porchfest returns to Grants Pass on Saturday. It's a fun, free and family-friendly music festival taking place on the front porches of vintage homes in the historic NW Washington Boulevard neighborhood. Porchfest features more than 20 musical acts volunteering to perform for your entertainment. The event also includes food vendors, an arts & crafts sale, and it benefits programs for Josephine County Youth. Rogue Gateway Rotary Club organizes Porchfest Grants Pass and uses funds raised from the event to underwrite its own youth programs. They also share a portion of those funds with several non-profit organizations that support Josephine County youth. From 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. tomorrow, several streets will be closed to through traffic to accommodate Porchfest. Detours will be in place on 4th Street between A Street and Evelyn Avenue, Washington Boulevard between Evelyn Avenue and Savage Street, Evelyn Avenue between Washington Boulevard and Lawnridge Avenue, Manzanita Avenue between Hawthorne and Washington, and Lawnridge between Savage and Evelyn. Motorists are advised to avoid the area and find alternate routes.