Junction City

History and the present merge in Singing Creek Educational Center’s Grandparent’s Pioneer Tea. The event honors elders on National Grandparents Day, September 10th, in a one-room schoolhouse in Junction City. Singing Creek’s Executive Director, Karen Rainsong, speaks with Eric Alan about honoring elders, and the relevance of pioneer values in the modern day.  

The Oregon State Hospital in Junction City could be axed as part of Governor Brown’s broad budget cuts.  But as KLCC’s Brian Bull reports, a state lawmaker is working on a proposal that could spare the psychiatric facility. 

Yachats last week declared a water shortage emergency. The city council has imposed phase one water restrictions t. Junction City is also coping with a water shortage.
 

Junction City relies on well water. It will move forward with digging a new well to help cope with its water shortage. Last night, Tuesday, the City Council approved staff to proceed with engineering and design work for a well at 11th and Elm.

The police chief of Junction City is suing the municipality and the former City Administrator. Junction City Police Chief Mark Chase says his First Amendments rights were violated. In his complaint, he asserts he was denied due process when then-City Administrator, Melissa Bowers, discriminated against him based on his Christian faith.

Portland attorney Sean Riddell represents the Police Chief.

Police Chief Mark Chase is back on the job in Junction City following a six month administrative leave. It was prompted by complaints within his Department, including low morale. The Department remains unsettled.

City Administrator Melissa Bowers says the leave sought to protect an investigative process launched by the Junction City Council and based on formal police officer complaints. 

Bowers:  “At this point the investigation process is concluded, and Mark Chase has returned to work.”

The new Oregon State Hospital in Junction City hosted public tours today (Thursday). Approved by the State Legislature in 2007, the campus is nearly ready to accept patients.

The state-run psychiatric hospital has the capacity to house 174 people. It will offer treatment to adults who are civilly or criminally committed.

Greg Roberts is Superintendent of the Oregon State Hospital. He says philosophies have changed since he started working in mental health in the 1970s. Then, people often remained in the institutions for life:

A fox found near a residence in Junction City has tested positive for rabies. It’s the first confirmed Oregon case of an animal with the disease this year.  Lane County Public Health says this is the first report of a rabid fox in Lane County since the 1960’s. The animal was tested and confirmed for rabies at the O-S-U Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory in Corvallis. Rabies, endemic in the bat population, is only rarely seen in foxes, especially in the U.S. It’s a viral disease, carried in the saliva of an infected animal, transmitted when the animal bites.