Marijuana Bust – Lane County
A year-long investigation into a large criminal manufacturing and processing enterprise resulted in search warrant services at several locations in the Eugene Springfield area Wednesday. The Lane County Sheriff’s Office, Springfield and Eugene Police,law enforcement from Douglas and Clackamas Counties, as well as FBI and DEA agents were involved. At one rural location southwest of Eugene nine buildings were filled with live marijuana plants. Lane County Sheriff’s Sergeant Tom Speldrich said another location in West Eugene housed an illegal “professional scale” processing facility. A Hazmat crew had to be called in due to large volumes of highly flammable materials. Several area residences housing workers were raided Wednesday. Officials had to utilize Chinese Language Interpreters to interview the residents, some of whom said they hadn’t been paid and were forced to work long hours, seven days a week. Clackamas County Sheriff’s Deputies raided a house in Happy Valley that had two buildings filled with live plants. Speldrich said the operation has ties to a Transcontinental Drug Trafficking Organization in Seattle that was broken up in 2017. He said 11 arrests were made Wednesday and more were expected. More than $620-thousand in cash, nearly 30-thousand live plants and 36-hundred pounds of processed marijuana along with weapons, processing equipment and vehicles were seized.
May Election
All four races for the Siuslaw School District Board of Directors will be contested in the May 16th election. Most other positions on local boards and commissions will be uncontested as several last minute filers submitted declarations of candidacies ahead of last week’s deadline. All four of the Siuslaw races carry four year terms. Brian Lacouture is being challenged by Devon Weinstein (wine-steen). Bob Sneddon has drawn a challenger in Tamara Cole. Josh Haberly is seeking to unseat Frank Armendariz and in the final race, Dianna Pimlott is defending her seat against Jason Wood. An earlier candidate for Pimlott’s position has dropped out. Mildred Rowley withdrew her name from contention two weeks ago. Out of three spots on the Mapleton Fire Board, only one has drawn two challengers; Glenna Butler and Heather Flansberg. Four positions on the Mapleton Water Board will be on the ballot. Nancy Pettibon and Arthur Donnelly have both filed for the remaining two years for position 2. The other three seats are uncontested. The deadline for ensuring your voter registration is up to date for the May election is April 25th, Ballots will be mailed April 27th.
County Needs Survey
Lane County Human Services (LCHS) has opened the 2023 Community Needs Survey! The survey will be open from now until April 30th. This annual, community-wide survey seeks to inform LCHS about the needs and concerns that you may have for communities across Lane County. The survey primarily focuses on issues such as housing, education, health, and rural services. Areas of concern identified through the responses will help to make sure funding is used to support gaps and needs for services in Lane County. The survey takes about 15 minutes to complete, all answers are completely anonymous and confidential, and are available in English, Spanish, and Chinese by clicking the links below. Additionally, the attached flyer can be shared broadly to help encourage response. For access to the survey go to lanecounty.org.
Community Needs Survey- Lane County (qualtrics.com)
Drivers Needed
The Senior Connections Rural Medical Escort Program, a program offered by Senior & Disability Services, a division of the Lane Council of Governments (LCOG), needs volunteers to provide rides for local homebound seniors to their medical appointments. This program helps promote independent living for older members of our community. They are looking for drivers in the Florence area as well as Junction City, Veneta, Oakridge and Cottage Grove. It requires a valid driver’s license and the ability to pass a background check. Drivers will be reimbursed for mileage and the commitment is 5 or more hours a week.