Bozievich Announces Retirement Plans
West Lane County Commissioner Jay Bozievich has announced that his current term will be his last term. Bozievich says he is proud of what Lane County has accomplished while he served. Including helping improve the county’s finances and credit rating.
“Through some very diligent prioritizing of budgets and being very careful about how we spent money we’ve managed to get to our highest bond rating from ever Moody that Lane County has ever had.”
He says one of the things that he loved most about his tenure was the human connection.
“Probably one of the best things is helping individual people. The phone calls the emails or the Facebook contacts where somebody just can’t figure out how to do something or how to get help.”
At the end of his term he will have served 12 years as a commissioner. His term expires in January of 2023. Bozeviech says we will be 65 when his term ends and is looking forward toa true retirement.
Rain and Slides
The rain continue to permeate the coastal region but for now the woes caused by a landslide on Highway 126 near Tiernan have been addressed The slide that covered both lanes of highway 126 opened about 12:15 yesterday after being close for almost 20 hours due to more than 300 yards of mud, rocks and trees encroaching upon the highway. ODOT says the possibility does exist for more landslides and drivers should be alert while adjusting their speeds for conditions. They say even though roads may reopen, there will likely be mud and slippery conditions in slide areas. Another slide on highway 101 north had southbound lanes of the road closed for several hours yesterday as crews removed debris south of Yachats.
High Risk of Omicron for Oregon
A national report that came out yesterday shows Oregon and Washington at high risk for the new Omicron variant. The more virulent strain of COVID is just getting recognized in the state. But yesterday Gov. Kate Brown extended Oregon’s declaration of a state of emergency, as health officials prepare for an expected surge in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in the coming weeks. The emergency declaration is the legal underpinning for the executive orders that the governor has issued throughout the pandemic, including orders surrounding reopening Oregon, vaccine mandates, childcare, liability protections for schools and higher education operations. Scientists are predicting that the state is about three weeks away from a new wave of hospitalizations that could surpass the peak by two or three times.
COVID-19 Numbers
Lane County reported 83 new cases of COVID-19 yesterday but there were no new cases reported for the 97439 zip code. New numbers are due out today. The state reported 999 new cases and added 25 new deaths associated with the virus. Vaccinations have eased off a bit with the average daily total decreasing to just over 19,000 about 3,000 less than last week’s average.
