KWSO News for Fri., Jul. 1, 2022

In Warm Springs, the CTWS Tribal Council has approved the Willamette Falls eel resolution. It’s expected the falls will be in fishable conditions the week of July 10^th and the regulations are: Tribal Members wishing to take eels for ceremonial and subsistence purposes must carry tribal enrollment cards to fish under claim of treaty rights, Harvest is allowed through August 15^th 2022, is allowed at Willamette falls by hand or with hand powered tools. Harvest is open 7 days per week of each month unless limited for conservation measures with fishing hours of sunrise to sunset. This is a subsistence fishery as defined by Tribal Code 340.100. Branch of Natural Resources personnel shall monitor and enforce the fishery with regard to Warm Springs members participating in the 2022 fishing season at Willamette Falls. Harvesters will allow Warm Springs Branch of Natural Resources personnel to creel lamprey catch and will offer creel data collected to the Oregon Dept. of Fish and Wildlife at the end of the harvest season. Incidental harvest of salmon, steelhead or trout may be kept for ceremonial or subsistence use. Any questions you can call 541-553-2042.

The Jefferson County Fire District 1 and Jefferson County Emergency Medical Services officially merge today to become Jefferson County Fire EMS. As reported by the Madras Pioneer, the fire and ambulance personnel have been living together and functioning together for the past two months, but as Fire Chief Jeff Blake says he considers it building a whole new organization from the ground up. Jefferson County is one of the last districts in the state to operate to bring both fire and ambulance under one roof. Blake says starting in July an ambulance will be staged in Culver from 10am-10pm when the majority of their double and triple calls take place. The Jefferson county staff will also be seeing pay raises coming their way as they have been underpaid compared to distric5ts of similar sizes and call volume.

Washington is launching a first-in-the-nation Missing Indigenous Person Alert System – similar to Amber Alerts. It goes live today. Olympia Correspondent Austin Jenkins has details. “The MIPA system, as it’s known, will alert citizens in cases where an indigenous person goes missing and is believed to be in danger. As with an Endangered Missing Persons Advisory, this information will be posted to social media and emailed to a subscriber list. And if there’s information about the vehicle the person is in, it may also show up on highway electronic reader boards. The state legislature created and funded the program this year in response to an epidemic of indigenous people – especially women – going missing. State officials say on an average week, 102 Native American women, girls, men and boys are listed as missing in Washington. Although the actual number is believed to be much higher. The criteria for issuing a MIPA alert will be that the person is missing and not able to return safely without assistance. And that there’s enough information about the person to assist in their recovery. [I’m Austin Jenkins in Olympia.”

Fourth of July weekend means barbecue, fireworks and often lots of drinking. In Bend, police are trying to keep people from drinking and driving. Joni Auden Land JOE-nee AH-den Land reports. “A special police unit consisting of two patrols will post at various locations throughout Bend over the Fourth of July Weekend. Their goal is exclusively to stop anyone suspected of driving under the influence. Bend Police communications manager, Sheila Miller [[SHEE-luh Miller]] says people can expect a much larger police presence in Bend over the weekend. Miller: “Bend has long had a pretty significant DUI problem. That’s why we started our DUI-specific traffic officers.”  Deschutes County has already seen nearly 600 DUI incidents in 2022, according to District Attorney John Hummel. Hummel says there’s been a spike in DUI’s ever since COVID-19 restrictions on travel have eased. In addition, Miller says city police will be enforcing a new ordinance banning all fireworks. Joni Auden Land reporting.”

Tesla plans to build an enormous electric vehicle supercharger station off of I-5 in Sutherlin, Oregon. The new site would become Tesla’s largest supercharger station outside of California, with a planned total of 51 charging stalls. At about a third the size, Springfield currently has the largest charging station in Oregon. Sutherlin’s City Manager Jerry Gillham (GILL-um) explains why Tesla chose Sutherlin for the new station. “Other than this being the greatest small town in the United States, we happen to be strategically located almost exactly halfway between San Francisco and Seattle.” Gillham says that the station will expose Sutherlin to outsiders who might not otherwise explore the small city. Because of the potential for marketing, the city plans to put up a billboard next to the station advertising its attractions. The new station is set to open in 2023 according to Tesla.