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February 15, 2015
Sunday
75 cents
Kitz’s resignation elevates secretary of state
Weather
By Tim Fought
and Jeff Barnard
Associated Press
More sun ahead
Aside from patchy morning
fot, we’ll see more sun in the
coming days. See Page 2A.
Sunday’s high
Monday’s high
60
63
What’s inside
PORTLAND — The resignation of Gov. John Kitzhaber
instantly promoted the liberal
Democrat who is next in line to
succeed him: the 54-year-old secretary of state who has long
been thought to have her eye on
Oregon’s top elected position.
Kate Brown, who is widely
considered to be to the left of
the departing Democratic governor, will also become the first
openly bisexual governor in the
nation. She will not assume
office until Wednesday, when
Kitzhaber’s resignation takes
effect. He is stepping down amid
suspicions that his fiancee used
No vacancy
KITZHABER
BROWN
their relationship to land contracts for her green-energy consulting business.
“This is a sad day for Oregon. But I am confident that legislators are ready to come
together to move Oregon forward,” Brown said Friday. “I
know you all have a lot of questions, and I will answer them as
soon as possible. As you can
imagine, there is a lot of work to
be done between now and
Wednesday.”
Unlike most states, Oregon
has no lieutenant governor.
Under the state constitution, the
secretary of state takes over if a
governor steps down or dies.
That has happened eight times
since statehood, according to
the Blue Book, the state government almanac.
Until recent weeks, the
assumptions were that Kitzhaber
would finish his full, fourth term
and Brown would be a top contender in 2018 to succeed him.
The new job will require her
to start running for election
immediately, said Ron Cease, a
retired professor of political science and public administration
at Portland State University
who served in the Legislature
with Brown.
• More about the
Kitzhaber ethics
investigation and
what’s next on 6A.
Brown would not serve out
Kitzhaber’s full term, but would
have to go on the ballot in the
next general election in 2016.
“I would think the stress level
is going to be enormous,” Cease
said.
Brown, a Minnesota native,
came to Oregon to attend law
school in Portland, the state’s
largest city, and established a
family law practice before her
first run for the Legislature.
Her sexuality has never been
a prominent issue in Oregon,
where Portland recently had an
openly gay mayor in Sam
Adams and where the current
speaker of the House, Tina
Kotek, is a lesbian.
News accounts have long
said Brown is married but considers herself bisexual, without
elaborating. Her Blue Book
biography says she lives in Portland with her husband, Dan.
She still considers herself
bisexual, her spokesman, Tony
Green, said Friday.
Turn to GOVERNOR, Page 6A
SEE THE TOWER COME DOWN
Built in 1936, the Flamingo
Inn is slated for demolition,
displacing about 15 tenants.
The residential motel has
fallen into disrepair and is
full of asbestos, meaning
renovations would be too
costly, a spokesman says.
Page 3A
Too strong
Sheldon
proves to
be too
much for
the Grants
Pass girls
in their last
home
game of the
regular basketball season.
SPORTS / Page 1B
Fast fingers
Young
violinist
Sarah Klein
will perform
the
impressive
Tchaikovsky
violin
concerto at
the next Youth Symphony
concert.
ENTERTAINMENT / Page 6B
RVs on the move
River City RV has moved to
Redwood Avenue to make
room for the new WinCo
Foods grocery store.
Page 5A
What’s online
Web highlights
A time-lapse video shows
the demolition of a former
Grants Pass hospital at...
thedailycourier.com
A look ahead
Oscar party
Enjoy the Oscars with a
posh (but simple) spread of
appetizers and champagne
cocktails.
TUESDAY
Where to find it
Abby . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7B
Classified . . . . . . . . . .1-6C
Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . .8C
Entertainment . . . . . . .6-7B
Obituaries . . . . . . . . . . .5A
Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . .4A
Police . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8B
Sports . . . . . . . . . . . .1-3B
Sunday health . . . . . . . .8A
Call us at 541-474-3700
email news@thedailycourier.com
Volume CV
No. 105 Issue 31587
3 Sections, 24 Pages
A selection of images from cameras mounted by county officials across from Dimmick Tower in northwest Grants Pass shows the
tower’s demolition over the course of a little more than a month earlier this winter. Daily Courier staff created a 45-second time-lapse
video from a selection of the approximately 30,000 still images. To see the tower come down, visit thedailycourier.com.
Former hospital site ready for rebirth
By Jim Moore
of the Daily Courier
The Dimmick Tower is
down.
Now, Josephine County officials can now concentrate on
turning a property that has
been an albatross for years into
something that could serve the
community, while at the same
time producing revenue.
“Right now we’re implementing a marketing strategy,”
County Commissioner Simon
Hare said. “We’re rolling out a
proposal for bids for development.”
The building, owned by
Josephine County and formerly
known as Josephine Memorial
Hospital, sits on 6.3 acres the
county owns at the intersection
of A and Dimmick streets.
Hare, who has spearheaded
the demolition project, said the
county is currently offering 4
acres of the campus to potential developers, but that the
entire campus could be developed under the right circumstances.
The campus also contains
buildings that house the
Josephine County Public Health
Department, Josephine County
Planning, the Building Department, and the Commission for
Children and Families.
If the county accepts a plan
to develop the entire area,
those departments would be
moved.
“We’re reaching out to key
developers around the state,”
Hare said. The county has a list
of 19 companies that specialize
in developing senior housing,
he said.
The initial focus on transitional senior housing is a result
of recommendations by the
firm of Maul Foster & Alongi,
which was hired to create a
strategic plan. Officials also
hosted town hall forums to
gather public input regarding
how to use the property.
Senior housing may be the
county’s first choice, but Hare
said other development is possible as well.
“Our highest goal is that it
conforms to the community,”
Hare said, though he added
that he doesn’t think the county
would consider developing a
commercial hub on the site.
Not only is the county not
locked into a specific type of
development, officials are also
open to three potential types of
negotiations.
“It could be for sale, it could
be leased, or it could be a publicprivate partnership,” Hare said.
He said he thinks the publicprivate partnership would be
the most lucrative for the county in the long run.
Demolition of the building
was completed last month and
crews hauled away debris.
There may be a tank that has
to be removed, Hare said, but
there are no indications of any
problems. Utilities are available on the site.
“There’s really no infrastructure that needs to be modified,” Hare said.
The four-story tower was
built in 1964. Due to neglect the
building deteriorated and mold,
lead and asbestos permeated
the structure when it was razed.
The demolition and developing a marketing plan were estimated to cost more than $1 million.
The county said 40 percent
of the cost would be paid by a
grant from the state of Oregon.
In addition, the county received
a low-interest loan from the
Oregon Business Development
Department for up to $1.5 million that is dedicated to the project.
Hare said the project has
cost $1.1 million to date and he
anticipates the county won’t
use the entire loan.
———
Reach reporter Jim Moore
at
541-474-3721
or
jmoore@thedailycourier.com
Online video shows
Dimmick demolition
Hospital. The building disappears in rectangular chunks,
right before your eyes.
Knocking down the DimJosephine County put up
mick Tower took about five two cameras in early
weeks, but you can watch it December, running 14 hours
happen in 45 seconds, with a a day, one across Dimmick
time-lapse video posted at and another on the county
www.thedailycourier.com.
health offices next door to
“It was a fun project for the tower.
everyone to work on,” said
In fact they’re still runTravis Moore, general man- ning — you can see a live
ager at the Daily Courier. “I feed on the county website,
think people will enjoy www.co.josephine.or.us. Just
watching the buildlook for the link
ing
getting
“Demolition of the
knocked down.”
Dimmick Tower”
The video is a
on the homepage.
little like one of Watch video
County officials
those time-lapses
graciously gave the
online
of
army
ants
Courier a hard
devouring a lizard
drive with the
carcass, or vultures strip- footage from the camera
ping a wildebeest.
across Dimmick, looking to
The large excavators the southeast. It begins Dec.
scurry to and fro, taking 11, and ends Jan. 16, coverbites from the building, for- ing the time of heaviest
merly known as Josephine demolition.
Memorial Hospital, and later
The footage is actually
as the Dimmick campus of
Turn to VIDEO, Page 7A
Three Rivers Community
By Jeff Duewel
of the Daily Courier
911 Agency to review air ambulance policy
With a new service provider in the area,
it’s time to look at how calls are dispatched
By Jim Moore
of the Daily Courier
Confusion over air ambulance service in Josephine County will most likely be settled
Tuesday, when the local 911
Agency board of directors
meets.
The hubbub stems from confusion over how the 911 Agency
operates and how that, in turn,
relates to dispatching for air
ambulance service in the region,
which until recently was served
by one company but now has
two.
Until Oregon Lifeguard
began operating at the Grants
Pass Airport late last year, the
only air ambulance service that
had been available locally was
Mercy Flights, which is based in
Medford.
Mindful of the competition,
last month the Josephine County
Board of Commissioners recommended that 911 dispatchers
should send whichever air
ambulance service is based closer to the scene.
The recommendation provoked backlash from Illinois
Valley Fire Chief Dennis Hoke
and shined a spotlight on the
fact that the Board of Commis-
POLK
MEREDITH
sioners has no authority over
the 911 agency.
County Commissioner Cherryl Walker said protocols such
as the closest-proximity rule are
designed to “prevent confusion.
It’s not up to the first responders.” Her opinion on the subject is particularly weighty, as
she was recently named to the
normally obscure board that
governs the 911 Agency and will
attend her first meeting as a
board member on Tuesday.
But several of her new colleagues on the 911 board contend it’s up to the various fire
departments and police agencies
that use 911 to decide which air
ambulance service will be
called, not dispatchers.
“It’s not our job to make that
determination,” said Jim Polk,
former city recorder of Cave
Junction and member of the 911
board since 1992.
Board member Jay Meredith,
the finance director for the city
of Grants Pass, agreed with
Polk, saying whichever first
responder is on the scene and
makes the call for a helicopter
should designate which air
ambulance company to call.
“The 911 Agency will respect
the procedures and protocols set
by each agency,” Meredith
added.
The dispute began when Oregon Lifeguard set up shop at the
Grants Pass Airport, competing
with long-established Mercy
Flights.
Virtually every fire department in the region, as well as
the Grants Pass Department of
Public Safety’s fire and police
services, use the 911 dispatching
service, as does American Medical Response ambulance and
the Oregon Department of
Forestry.
The only two significant public safety agencies that don’t use
911 dispatching services are the
Josephine County Sheriff’s
Turn to 911, Page 7A