Up 8 6 14

Page 1

The Umpqua Post

Weekly news from the Heart of the Dunes AN EDITION OF

Wednesday, August 6, 2014 | Serving the Reedsport area since 1996 | theworldlink.com/reedsport | $1.00

Kicking up their heels at DuneFest

Riders race around the motocross track Wednesday at DuneFest in Winchester Bay.

BY STEVE LINDSLEY The Umpqua Post

Photos by Alysha Beck, The Umpqua Post

Colten Moore, left, and Marco Picado fly over the crowd during a freestyle performance Friday night. See the photo gallery for DuneFest at theworldlink.com.

Officials push fire danger level to ‘high’ THE UMPQUA POST The Siuslaw National Forest moved to a Fire Danger Level High on Friday, Aug. 1. Forest officials are asking that visitors please be fire safe when visiting the national forest. “Due to continued hot and dry weather and the commitment of many fire personnel to other fires in the Pacific Northwest, we have moved our fire danger level to a high,” Dan Eddy, fire management officer for the Siuslaw National Forest, said in a news release. The news release states that high fire danger level indicates that fuels are dry enough that fires can start easily from any cause. Unattended camp fires are more likely to escape and fires that do escape may become serious and difficult to control. More information is available on the Siuslaw National Forest webpage: http://www.fs.usda.gov/detailfull/si uslaw/home. Currently, the forest has no fire restrictions for the public in place, but asks that visitors use caution while enjoying their natural spaces. Please keep the following guidelines in mind: 1. Keep camp fires small, in an area that has been cleared down to

Police previously had contact with shooting suspect It’s every officer’s fear and every family’s worst nightmare. Police called into a situation that escalates into a shooting. It happened in Reedsport on July 17, when police were called out to a neighborhood dispute in a local mobile home park that turned into a suspect being shot. He later died. Reedsport Police Chief Duane Wisehart was the second officer on the scene, but it wasn’t the first time he had seen 71-year-old Glenn Glancey. “I had contact with Mr. Glancey on a previous occasion,” Wisehart said in an interview at Reedsport City Hall. “On that occasion, he was upset with his neighbors. There had been other calls out there where he had been upset with his neighbors. “He and his neighbors did not get along. It had been a longstanding feud, for various reasons, from what I understand.” Wisehart said, as far as he could determine, Glancey was upset with the way his neighbors maintained their yards. “He was very meticulous about his yard and things,” the chief said. “His yard looked very nice. He took care of his yard. Some of the neighbors, in his opinion, did not.” Wisehart said the conflicts sometimes turned into shouting matches and challengers to fight. Police responded to a call of the assault of a neighbor July 17. “He actually, apparantly, had been drinking, according to his wife and the neighbors,” Wisehart said. “He punched a neighbor in the face. That’s the original call. That’s what we were responding to ... a neighbor disturbance with an assault involved.” One officer, Reedsport Officer Trevor Gardner, responded to the call. Gardner, Wisehart said, found

Reedsport Police Chief Duane Wisehart was not happy with an Umpqua Post headline in the July 30 edition of the paper, which outlined an officer-involved shooting that left a Reedsport man dead. “Victim identified in officer-involved shooting,” the headline read. “He was a suspect in an assault,” Wisehart said in an interview at Reedsport City Hall. “And then he comes out with a gun and fires at us. So, now he’s a suspect in, basically, an attempted murder. I object to a headline of ‘victim.’ The headline ‘victim’ is probably when you’re talking about a medical sense, he’s a victim, medically. I get that.” Wisehart said he didn’t want Reedsport residents to get the wrong impression of the situation. “From the public standpoint, they see that and, ‘oh, poor guy, he was a victim,’” the chief said. The chief responded with a letter to the editor, which appears on Page A4. the situation had settled down. “The parties were separated,” the chief said. “The assault was past tense. So, once we got there, one of the neighbors came out of Mr. Glancey’s home and told us he had made a statement to the effect that if the police came to bother him, or if police come over and contact him, he was going to shoot them and that he had a gun. “When Officer Gardiner received that information and put

SEE CONTACT, PAGE A2

Grand jury clears DeFazio to hold town officers in shooting By Alysha Beck, The World

Rep. Peter DeFazio talks about how he plans to bring jobs back to the South Coast during a town hall meeting in Coos Bay last September.

hall here on Aug. 12

A Douglas County grand jury determined that deadly force in a recent officer-involved shooting in Reedsport was justified. 6:15 p.m. Oregon 4th District That finding was released in a DeFazio will center on jobs and Congressman Peter DeFazio will news conference in Roseburg on begin a series of 20 town hall meet- transportation legislation, the fedWednesday, July 30. eral budget, Social Security, ings beginning in Reedsport. The incident happened at a Medicare, port dredging and other The Democrat will be at the mobile home park on North Eighth Reedsport Community Building, 451 issues. Street on July 17. A man who lived At a town hall scheduled for 11:30 Winchester Ave., from 10:30 to 11:30 at the park, 71-year-old Glenn a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 12. Glancey, shot at officers, who fired Other local appearances that day 14, at North Bend High School back. Glancey was injured and died DeFazio will focus on veterans’ will be at the Bandon City Library three days later. issues. from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. and at the “Immediately after the event,” Other town halls will take place Gold Beach City Hall Council said Douglas County District in Springfield, Cottage Grove, Chambers from 6 to 7 p.m. Attorney Rick Wesenberg, “the Grants Pass, Myrtle Creek, DeFazio will be at the Chetco Douglas County Major Crimes Activity Center in Brookings from 10 Roseburg, Lebanon, Albany, Team was activated.” Corvallis, Veneta and Eugene. to 11 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 13. That team was led by an Oregon The Democrat will also have a He will also appear that day at State Police sergeant and OSP town hall in Florence Thursday, Aug. Port Orford City Hall from 1:30 to detective. 21, at the Siuslaw Public Library 2:30 p.m. and the Coos Bay City “(The team) conducted an SEE DANGER, PAGE A2 Hall Council Chambers from 5:15 to from 11 a.m. to noon. immediate, thorough and exhaustive investigation,” Wesenberg said. “Subsequently, on Tuesday, July 29, the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office conBY STEVE LINDSLEY “I definitely enjoy working Wright’s original two-year convened a grand jury to conduct its Umpqua Post here,” he said. “I’ve met so many tract was set to expire in October. own investigation. The grand jury After an executive session to discuss great people, not only the commu- investigation was also thorough The Reedsport City Council the terms, the council voted unani- nity, but I have a great group of and exhaustive. The grand jury gave a thumbs-up to the job of staff. I can’t say enough good mously to keep the popular Wright heard sworn testimony from 12 City Manager Jonathan Wright on things about them. I would like to persons, including civilian eyewitfor another four years. Monday by extending his contract Wright said, after the meeting, nesses, police investigators and the for another four years. SEE COUNCIL, PAGE A2 he’s happy to stay.

City manager gets 4-year job extension

For news tips, subscriptions, classified advertising or display advertising, call 541-271-7474 or email umpquapost@theworldlink.com

LEADING the way in REAL ESTATE MARKETING and SALES on the beautiful OREGON COAST!

FOR THE BEST CALL 271-WEST 541-271-9378 or toll free 1-800-923-1031

1780 Winchester Ave., Reedsport

Marlene Smith Broker/Owner

Police chief takes exception to Post headline

Linda Courtney Broker/Owner

Norm Lacey Principal Broker

www.pacificwestrealty.net

medical examiner. After careful and thoughtful deliberation, the grand jury concluded that the use of deadly physical force, by the officers involved in this case, was justified.” Wesenberg also spoke of at least one past crime committed by Glancey. “Glenn Glancey was known to his neighbors and to Reedsport police officers,” Wesenberg said. “Glancey was frequently angry with his neighbors and angry over imagined slights, such as folks not mowing their lawns or getting lawn clipping onto his property. Glancey’s anger was fueled by his very heavy drinking. Such was the case Thursday, July 17. What Glancey’s neighbors did not know, and could not know, was Glancey’s potential for explosive violence. They did not know that Glancey had been convicted, in 1973 in North Carolina, of murder.” Wesenberg said, on the day of the incident, Glancey physically attacked a neighbor, hitting him

SEE GRAND JURY, PAGE A2


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.
Up 8 6 14 by The World Newspaper - Issuu