Local News

Grants Pass Police arrested a man for roughing up his girlfriend at a city park last night. According to the Police Department, officers responded to a reported disturbance at Morrison Centennial Park on Rogue River Highway on Thursday at 7:26 p.m.. Police said they contacted a woman who reported her boyfriend -- 43-year-old James Allen Bendickson -- had grabbed her during a heated argument between the two. She advised she was in pain from the incident that was witnessed by several people in the park. One witness told police the man shoved the victim into a fence. Bendickson initially denied any physical contact with his girlfriend, but he later admitted to putting his hands on her. Bendickson was placed into custody and lodged at the Josephine County Jail for Physical Harassment. He was being held without bail.

 

Grants Pass Police arrested a man for vandalizing an occupied vehicle near Baker Park yesterday. The Police Department reports officers responded to the incident involving 31-year-old Shane Codyglen Weidman at the intersection of Parkdale Drive and the Grants Pass Parkway on Thursday around 1:20 p.m.. Police said multiple witnesses saw Weidman intentionally push a shopping cart into a vehicle and then punch a side mirror. The female driver told officers the suspect also cussed at her and spit on the vehicle. She said the man had a bag of bottles and was heading toward the recycling center on Rogue River Highway. According to the report, damaged to the vehicle was greater than $100. Weidman was located at the Bottle Drop Center and placed into custody. He was lodged at the Josephine County Jail for 2nd-Degree Criminal Mischief and was being held without bail.

 

Grants Pass Police arrested a well-known offender for causing a disturbance both at and near a downtown supermarket last night. According to the Police Department, officers responded to the incident involving 35-year-old Morgan Delin Weber at the Safeway on SE 7th Street on Thursday at 8:18 p.m.. Police said Weber was initially involved in a verbal altercation with another woman along SE G Street when she ran into Safeway, a business from which she has been trespassed. They said Weber continued to yell and cause a significant disruption inside the store before she proceeded back across the parking lot to the intersection of 8th and G streets where she caused traffic to stop. An unidentified victim told officers that Weber threw a full can of beer at her and struck her. The woman refused medical attention. Weber was placed into custody and lodged in jail for Disorderly Conduct and 2nd-Degree Criminal Trespass. Due to her frequent arrests, she was being held without bail.

 

Grants Pass Police arrested another well-known offender yesterday for causing a ruckus at a neighborhood market. According to the Police Department, officers responded to a trespassing complaint at the A-1 Market & Deli on SW G Street on Thursday at 11:05 a.m.. Police said 41-year-old Amber Marie Al-Sarf was being abusive to store workers and customers. One employee called 9-1-1 to report the woman was eating food in the back of the store and throwing trash all over. She had been trespassed from the store for similar behavior in April. News archives show Al-Sarf has been arrested numerous times for eating food and drinking beer she stole from stores throughout Grants Pass and in Cave Junction. She was placed into custody and lodged in jail for 2nd-Degree Criminal Trespass.

 

The Oregon State Police was investigating a hit-and-run crash that occurred in Cave Junction yesterday. OSP reports troopers responded to the incident near milepost 27 of US Highway 199 on Thursday shortly before the noon hour. Troopers said a 68-year-old man was driving a vehicle that was rear-ended by another vehicle, causing heavy damage to the victim vehicle. The driver of the suspect vehicle fled the scene. No injuries were reported. According to OSP, an investigation has identified a suspect vehicle of interest. Anyone with information on this incident is encouraged to dial *OSP.

 

The Josephine County Sheriff's Office is seeking public assistance in finding a runaway teenager. Sheriff's officials reported this morning that 15-year-old William Herren was last seen in the Murphy/New Hope area around 6 p.m. Thursday. Herren is described as 5-feet-8-inches tall and 160 pounds, with brownish-blonde hair and blue eyes. He was last seen wearing a black shirt and black pants. Anyone with information on the whereabouts of William Herren is encouraged to contact the Sheriff's Office at (541)-474-5123.

 

Conservation groups have intervened in a lawsuit brought by the timber industry and counties seeking to strip northern spotted owls of protections for their critical habitat across millions of acres of forests in California, Oregon and Washington. The industry lawsuit attempts to reinstate a critical habitat rollback issued in the final weeks of the first Trump administration that removed nearly 3.5 million acres from the 9.6 million acres that were protected for spotted owls in 2012. The northern spotted owl first gained critical habitat protection in 1992, and those were adjusted in 2012 under the Obama administration. That rule was challenged in court by the timber industry, resulting in a settlement and a January 2021 designation excluding 3.5 million acres from critical habitat protection, nearly all on public lands managed by the US Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management. Just 10 months later, the Biden administration rescinded the final designation and instead finalized a proposed rule that excluded 204,294 acres instead of 3.5 million acres. That Biden administration rule is being challenged by the timber industry's current lawsuit, which is seeking to reinstate the expanded Trump administration revision. The US Fish and Wildlife Service protected the northern spotted owl, a bird found only in the forests of the Pacific Northwest, as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act in 1990. In 2020, because of continued loss of the old forests they need to live and competition with the invasive barred owl, the Service found northern spotted owls should now be classified as endangered but has yet to provide stronger protections for the species.

 

Grants Pass Police jailed a convicted sex offender this week after he caused a disturbance at Riverside Park. The Police Department reports officers arrested 68-year-old Kenneth Lee Morin at the city park on the Rogue River late Wednesday afternoon. Police said they were alerted to a group of people yelling at a male subject in a Nissan Altima at the park. One member of the group said they were upset because Morin is a sex offender and he should not be at a public park facility. Morin told officers that he was at the park to use the restroom and he knew he was not supposed to be there per the terms of his post-prison supervision. Officers detained Morin and contacted his corrections officer, who requested his client be placed into custody. Morin was lodged at the Josephine County Jail for Felony Parole Violation stemming from a previous conviction for an unspecified sex offense.

 

Grants Pass Police arrested a man for causing verbal disturbances at downtown resting sites this week. According to the Police Department, officers responded to an incident involving 45-year-old Jeffrey Brian Madden at the 6th and A Street resting site Wednesday night. While in the area for an unrelated call for service, an officer observed Madden in a verbal conflict with several other men and women. The officers said Madden was gesturing violently and clearly escalating the situation. Occupants of the resting site later pointed toward a splitting maul he had been swinging around. Madden was told to depart Resting Site #6 and he immediately walked over to Resting Site #5 on NW 5th Street where he initiated another conflict. He was detained and found to be in possession of a pipe with methamphetamine residue. Madden was placed into custody and lodged at the Josephine County Jail for Disorderly Conduct and Meth Possession. He was being held without bail and was also trespassed from both resting sites for 30 days.