Hosanna Christian boys, Chiloquin girls capture buzzer-beating victories

Henley holds off Mazama to remain unbeaten

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Feb. 21, 2015

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Fires occurred late last year near Altamont Drive

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Dental health education important for children

Oregon Community Founda-tion educated 700 local elementary students about dental health. Each child received a dental kit containing toothpaste, a kid-sized toothbrush, floss and a timer. See page A4.

Uninsured given 45-day extension for enrollment

An estimated 3 million to 6 mil-lion individuals and households that face a tax penalty for not having health insurance in 2014 will get an extra 45 days to secure 2015 cover-age. See page A7.

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SMOKE YOUR SALMON, NOT YOURSELFNearly 1 in 4 people in Klamath County smoke cigarettes. Smoking is linked to cancer, heart and lung disease.

You can live tobacco free, visit healthyklamath.org

START NOW:One day after your last cigarette, your chances of a heart attack decrease.

SALEM (AP) — Oregon Gov. Kate Brown said Friday she’ll continue a death penalty mora-torium imposed by her prede-cessor while she seeks a debate about “fixing the system.”

Speaking to the media for

the first time since she took the reins of state government from John Kitzhaber, Brown offered a glimpse into her style as Oregon’s chief executive, but she offered few specifics about her plans.

On the death penalty, how-ever, she made clear that she won’t be allowing any execu-tions in the near future.

“There needs to be a broader discussion about fixing the sys-tem,” Brown said of the death

penalty. “Until that discussion, I will be upholding the morato-rium imposed by Gov. Kitzha-ber.”

Kitzhaber announced in 2011 that he would block all executions during his tenure,

saying capital punishment is applied arbitrarily and calling for a statewide vote on whether it should stick around. The vote never happened, and Kitzhaber did little to push for it.

New Oregon governor continues death penalty moratorium

See GOVERNOR, page A4

By SAMANTHA TIPLERH&N Staff Reporter

Mazama High School football play-ers won’t be playing on a new synthet-

ic turf field next year. But Mazama sprinters will be getting a new track.

The Klamath County School Board made the decision Thursday to forgo installing a new turf field at Mazama,

instead going with the less expensive project installing a new track.

“It’s time has come. It is expensive, but the cost isn’t going to go down moving forward,” said Superintendent Greg Thede. The cost estimate to replace the track is $339,555. “It prob-ably makes more sense to renovate and replace the existing track rather than the whole turf project.”

New track, not turf

School board: Mazama High synthetic field too expensive

H&N photo by Samantha Tipler

The Klamath County School Board approved spending $339,555 on a new track for Mazama High School. How-ever, the school will not get a new synthetic turf field.

See TRACK, page A7

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By TRISTAN HIEGLERH&N Staff Reporter

A Klamath County resident has been arrested for allegedly starting several structure fires late last year.

Brandon Levi Harris, 19, was taken into custody Friday morning and booked into the county jail for first-degree arson, second-degree arson and second-degree burglary.

According to a press release, Harris allegedly started several fires within Klamath Falls city limits in November and Decem-ber. The fires were primarily along or around Altamont Drive.

The fires were investigated by the Klamath Falls Police Department, Klamath County First District No. 1, the Klamath County Sheriff’s Office and the District Attorney’s Office.

Detective Peter York, KFPD, said the investigation into the fires is still ongoing. He could not confirm the exact locations of the blazes Friday afternoon.

Suspect in multiplearson fires arrested

Harris

See ARSON, page A7

By SAMANTHA TIPLERH&N Staff Reporter

The Klamath County Fair Board is filing civil action against the county, alleging the county has not accurately distributed transient room tax

funds since 2007.

The fair board is asking the county to look back as far as 2007 and re-account how it dis-tributed the transient room tax funds, and how it determined the fair board’s beginning fund balances for each year.

“The fair board is asking for an accountant to be able to go back and look at those numbers,” the board’s attorney, Brad Aspell, said in a phone interview Friday.

Commissioner surprised

The board announced it had

authorized Aspell to file legal action in a press release Fri-day. As of Friday afternoon, the state computer filing sys-tem did not yet show a case number for the action.

Klamath County Commis-sion Chairman Tom Mallams, who also serves on the fair board, was surprised by the announcement. When discus-

sions regarding the subject came up in executive session, Mallams said he recused him-self because of a conflict of interest. He was not privy to the fair board’s discussion on the topic and was not notified before the press release went out.

Fair board may sue county over room taxClaims county mismanaged fund distribution

See FAIR, page A5

District tourney play

See page B1 See page B1

Girls basketball