Most of the stolen fire radios recovered… two arrested
Two Florence men, one of them a former volunteer firefighter, are facing felony theft and burglary charges and officials have now recovered ten of the 12 radios, plus two battery chargers that were stolen from a fire station north of Florence two weeks ago. 24-year old Brian Michael Ristine, a former volunteer with Siuslaw Valley Fire and Rescue is being held at the Lane County Jail, along with 21-year old Michael Lokey-Wilson. A third man is facing charges of tampering with evidence. Officials have not released his name. Ristine and Lokey-Wilson are accused of entering the Sutton Road fire station sometime around March 21st and stealing a dozen portable radios, valued at $4000 each, plus two chargers for the radios. All of the department buildings use a key-pad entry system that requires a specific combination of numbers. Ristine knew that access number. Two of the radios stolen were recovered within days, two more were found destroyed. A diver at Woahink Lake found a duffel bag, weighed down with bricks, beneath a bridge on Canary Road over the weekend. It contained six of the radios plus the two chargers. Siuslaw Valley Fire Marshall Sean Barrett said the radios are designed to withstand submersion for up to an hour… the radios appear to still be operable after ten-days in the water but Motorola has offered to replace them anyway.
Hundreds of Florence area residents were awakened in the early morning hours of March 11th to a phone call alerting them of a tsunami warning; a siren blasting out a warning; or both. All that activity was the result of an 8.9 magnitude earthquake in Japan that caused massive destruction. It was also the result of years of planning on the part of the Western Lane Emergency Operations Group, a consortium of public agencies formed five years ago to deal with wide spread emergencies. Henry Hanf is the manager of the Western Lane Ambulance District, he and Assistant Florence City Manager Jacque Betz were two of the founders. Siuslaw Valley Fire Chief John Buchanan and Florence Police Chief Maury Sanders… along with dozens of volunteers… put the plan into action that day. All four will be in the studio tomorrow afternoon on KCST’s Our Town. Also on tap: Oregon House Co-Speaker Bruce Hanna; Lane County Sheriff Tom Turner; noted Oregon Author Jane Kirkpatrick and an 8-year old Florence girl, Allison Huff, who has embarked on a mission to help the people of Japan recover. KCST’s Our Town is Wednesday afternoon from four to six pm.
They may still be ok in Washington state, but if you have studded tires on your car today in Oregon, you could be facing a $190 fine. The Oregon Department of Transportation says despite possible inclement conditions in mountain passes they will not extend the studded tire season. Weather forecasts are predicting usual patterns for this time of year so officials say the time has passed to remove the studs. ODOT officials say studs cause close to $50-million damage each year on city streets, county roads and state highways. Only about $11-million is spent on repairing that damage.
For a few months in 1985 Neil Morfitt was a familiar voice to people listening to a brand new radio station in Florence. KGBU, the forerunner to Coast Radio, went on the air that year with the University of Oregon journalism grad handling the on-air news duties. Since then Morfitt has done ok for himself… going on to jobs in Hawaii and for the past several years he’s been with a small TV sports operation. Most people now know him by a different name.
“Howzit! Neil Everett here. ESPN SportsCenter Los Angeles. You know I was the first radio voice for Florence, Oregon?”
Everett was in town to visit old friends over the weekend and while he was here got to hang with some members of the Siuslaw Viking baseball team… He promised them he would mention them on the air during his nightly broadcast. Look for Everett’s trademark “Howzit” along with a shout out to the Viks during tonight’s ‘Top Ten’ segment of SportsCenter at ten.”
Here is the latest Oregon news from The Associated Press
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) - A 41-year-old Oregon man has pleaded guilty
in the torture death of his 15-year-old stepdaughter and been
sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. The Register-Guard
newspaper reports that Richard McAnulty had been charged with
aggravated murder. He pleaded guilty yesterday to murder by abuse
of Jeanette Maples, who died in December 2009.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - A police officer wounded in a Jan. 23
shooting on the Oregon coast has gotten medical clearance to return
home. Lincoln City Officer Steven Dodds was shot several times
during a traffic stop and experienced massive blood loss. They
credit a well-coordinated plan to rush him from the shooting scene
to a Portland hospital with helping save his life. The suspect is
still at large.
SALEM, Ore. (AP) - Gov. John Kitzhaber takes his education
agenda to the Legislature today. He'll go before a legislative
committee for the first time since taking office in January to ask
lawmakers to create a task force that would study the possibility
of merging birth-to-grad-school education programs under a single
board.
PENDLETON, Ore. (AP) - A Umatilla County grand jury found that
two officers were justified in shooting a Milton-Freewater man who
pointed a rifle at them. State Trooper Ryan Sharp and Umatilla
County Deputy Morgan Dunlap shot Michael Thomas Summers on March 22
as the officers looked for a driver involved in a crash near
Tollgate. Summers was treated for his wounds and is now in jail.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - Paul Chambers and his girlfriend Lynette
Urwin were supposed to be babysitting his 1-year-old grandson last
November in Portland, but they left him overnight in a parked car
in a driveway while they fell asleep in the adjacent home. The baby
was found OK but cold the next morning. The Oregonian reports the
couple was sentenced yesterday to three years' probation.
PRINEVILLE, Ore. (AP) - A 23-year-old man who shot and killed
his 14-year-old cousin and pleaded no contest to a manslaughter
charge has been sentenced in Crook County court to 10 years in
prison. KTVZ reports Brandon Hornseth apologized to relatives for
shooting Justin Butler of Culver as the boy slept in a motor home
on the Butler family ranch near Terrebonne. Hornseth said it was an
accident.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - Northwest Jesuit priests have formalized
their Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, including a previously
announced agreement that they will pay $166 million to settle sex
abuse claims made by more than 450 people. A 90-page plan last
night in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Portland also spells out how the
Jesuits will apologize to mostly Native American and Alaska Native
victims abused at Jesuit schools in Alaska and the Northwest.
GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) - Oregon State Police say a body found by
mushroom hunters in woods north of Grants Pass is that of a
California man reported missing by his family on March 19. Lt.
Gregg Hastings says the body found Friday has been identified as
that of 24-year-old Elijah Shrewsbury. Investigators found no
evidence of foul play. The body was found near the spot where
Shrewsbury's vehicle was abandoned at an Interstate 5 rest stop.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
TAKING A LOOK INTO COAST RADIO SPORTS:
Siuslaw Baseball standout, Alex Snow, is Coast Radio Sports’ Athlete of the Week. The Viking sophomore was three-for-four at the plate with one RBI and one run scored in the Vikings’ opening win of a double-header last week against North Marion. Snow also pitched two innings of relief, giving up no hits and striking out three batters…Honorable Mention goes to Viking middle-distance runner Katy Potter who finished 5th in the 1500 meters and 6th in the 800 recording personal records in both events at the Junction City Invitational.
A Rugby match between the Western Oregon University Men’s club and the Coos Bay men’s team is set for Florence later this month. Chris Perkins, a Siuslaw grad and member of the Western team is organizing the event as a fund-raiser for the Ian Foster Fund which helps provide athletic participation fee assistance for Viking athletes. The Rugby match, sponsored by the Siuslaw Athletic Booster Club, is set for Saturday, April 23rd at Hans Peterson Field.
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