Local News

The Southern Oregon Child Exploitation Team (SOCET) joint interagency task force arrested a Medford man in Eagle Point yesterday. The Jackson County Sheriff's Office and Eagle Point Police Department assisted with the arrest of 22-year-old Zachary Elijah Bowen on Wednesday at a business near the intersection of Highway 62 and West Linn Road. During their investigation, SOCET discovered the suspect was communicating nationwide with at least five underage victims through social media sites. SOCET investigators identified a 13-year-old victim from Kansas City, Missouri, and were attempting to identify the additional underage victims. Bowen was lodged at the Jackson County Jail on 12 felony charges including Using a Child in a Display of Sexually Explicit Conduct, 10 counts of 2nd-Degree Encouraging Child Sexual Abuse and Luring a Minor. SOCET started investigating Bowen after more than a dozen cyber tips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children led to multiple residences where he lived in Portland and at a licensed marijuana farm in Trail. A search warrant was served at the marijuana farm in the 4700-block of Highway 227 where investigators seized digital devices for examination by the Southern Oregon High Tech Crimes Task Force. The case remains under investigation with detectives following additional leads and attempting to identify other victims. The case will be prosecuted by the Jackson County District Attorney's Office.

 

Grants Pass Police jailed an elderly man for threatening his wife and stepdaughter with a firearm at a northwest city residence. The Police Department reports officers arrested the 81-year-old man at a home in the 700-block of NW A Street on Tuesday afternoon. Police said the man got upset with his wife and stepdaughter after he believed they were throwing away his belongings. An investigation determined the suspect made contact with his family members in the upstairs master bedroom, pointed a .45-caliber revolver at them and ordered his stepdaughter to leave the house. Both family members were able to leave the residence without harm and the man was said to be cooperative with law enforcement. The suspect was lodged at the Josephine County Jail for two counts each of Felony Unlawful Use of a Weapon and Misdemeanor Menacing. He was held without bail. At his wife's request, at least five firearms -- including a rifle, handguns and the revolver -- were collected by police for safekeeping.

 

The Josephine County Sheriff's Office apprehended a man on a statewide felony warrant during a traffic stop in the Selma area this week. The Sheriff's Office reports deputies pulled over a Honda sedan containing the 37-year-old male subject on private property near the intersection of Reeves Creek Road and Redwood Highway on Tuesday afternoon. Deputies said they pulled over the car because of expired registration tags and learned that the female driver had a suspended license. She was warned for the moving violations and the car was not towed because it was on private property. The male passenger in the car was discovered to be wanted on an Oregon State Parole Board warrant for Parole Violation stemming from a 2018 conviction for Possession of an Explosive Device. The suspect was placed into custody, transported to Grants Pass and lodged at the Josephine County Jail on a no-bail detainer.

 

Grants Pass Police arrested a man for violating his probation this week after he was caught stealing items from a downtown convenience store. According to the Police Department, officers were alerted to a shoplifting call at the 7-Eleven store on SW 6th Street on Tuesday night. Police said a 23-year-old man attempted to steal candy and a drink from 7-Eleven before he got into an argument with the store manager. The stolen merchandise was retrieved and the suspect climbed into a black Dodge sedan that left the scene. Officers caught up with the vehicle a short time later and pulled it over near the corner of SE 8th and K streets. The suspect was placed into custody and lodged at the Josephine County Jail for Probation Violation related to recent arrests for 1st-Degree Robbery and 1st-Degree Theft. He was being held on a no-bail detainer.

 

The Grants Pass Police Department is thanking first responders from outside agencies who assisted them with verifying a false alarm at the Redwood Campus of Rogue Community College this week. On Tuesday at about 3:15 p.m., RCC reported that an alarm was initiated at the campus off Redwood Highway. GPPD, Grants Pass Fire & Rescue and other first responders rushed to the scene and investigated the alarm. At 3:50 p.m., an "all clear" was given after it was determined there was no sign of a threat. It was discovered later that a campus alarm had malfunctioned.

 

The Oregon State Marine Board has approved a state facility grant for the Jackson County Parks Department. Jackson County Parks can now proceed with replacing and installing self-adjusting boarding docks at Emigrant Lake near Ashland. At an April 24th meeting in Astoria, the State Marine Board approved a $51,250 boating facility grant combined with an applicant match of $233,750 for a total project cost of $285,000. A total of seven facility grant applications were received for the agency's Cycle 2 grant opportunity. The grant applications identified $2.6 million in project needs and applicants requested $1,547,500 from the agency's funding for the 2023-25 biennium. The Board conditionally approved the projects where Waterway Access Grant dollars were requested. The agency will be asking the Oregon Legislative E-Board for more spending limitation of available funds for the conditionally approved projects. The agency says it will focus on improving customer service and seeking approval to increase waterway access funding to meet the volume of requests.

 

The Grants Pass City Council on Wednesday night denied an appeal of the Urban Area Planning Commission's approval of a recreational vehicle park at the corner of SW Bridge and Leonard streets. Consolidated Land Holding, LLC, will move forward with phase one of the RV park, which will initially create a 63-space facility with a nearly 3,000 square foot utility building containing showers, laundry and a recreation room. Phase two will add 24 more spaces once a wetlands area is mitigated. The vote to uphold the Planning Commission's approval was 6-2, with Brian DeLaGrange and Rob Pell casting the dissenting votes. Later in the meeting, the land for the RV park was annexed into the City of Grants Pass. The City Council then heard a second appeal, this one from the Committee on Public Art after the Historical Building and Sites Commission denied a request for a mural designated for the alleyway that connects the Beaver Parking lot at the corner of 7th and G to SE 6th Street. The proposed mural depicted dogs in various historic apparel. The vote to overturn the HBSC's denial failed on a 5-3 tally. In other business, the Council vacated property lines within city-owned Baker Park because the installation of the new Portland Loo fell inside the setback criteria to one of the property lines. The panel then approved an annexation request of 4.69 acres at 948 NE Hillcrest Drive owned by the Mid-Rogue Foundation into the city limits. The request passed on a 5-2 vote, so the second reading will be considered on May 15th.

 

The Board of Commissioners on Wednesday approved the annexations of seven properties into the Josephine Community Library District along with the first readings of four ordinances that would amend the Josephine County Code. The Board unanimously approved the library annexations requested by landowners following a public hearing. Six of the properties are in the Grants Pass area and one is in Williams. The library district increased in size by more than 43 acres. The Commissioners okayed the first readings of ordinances that would change the County Code, with the second readings and final approvals set for May 15th. Vice Chair Herman Baertschiger said the amendments are housekeeping items aimed at removing unneeded ordinances from the Code document. Under Requests and Comments from Citizens, the Board heard from several people who had complaints about the proposed sale of The Flying Lark to River Valley Community Church, related complaints about the lack of local economic development, support for recently fired Board Secretary Trish House and a Williams resident who is opposed to the sale of the Pipe Fork timber property. As part of the Consent Calendar, the Board appointed Tom Hilton to a four-year term on the Parks Advisory Board.

 

The City of Grants Pass has announced that the new playground at Reinhart Volunteer Park will open to the public on Friday at 12:30 p.m.. The new playground features a "Big Kids" structure for children 5 to 12 years old along with a "Tot Lot" structure for children 2 to 5 years old. The City worked with the State of Oregon and received additional grant funding to utilize rubber tiles for the complete playground surface. There is even a section of rubber tiles laid out in the form of a hopscotch grid. Reinhart Volunteer Park is Grants Pass' most popular park destination and this two-structure playground system was chosen after input from a community survey. Money for this project came entirely from the Tourism Lodging Tax and a grant from the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department Land, Water and Conservation Fund.