This is KGW news at sunrise.
Good morning. Thanks for getting up
with us on this Saturday morning.
I'm Tim Gordon this morning on Sunrise,
an intense rescue off the Oregon coast is
connected to a bizarre string of crimes.
Even the Goonies are involved,
plus the new RV park to help get
people off Portland streets who
will run it on behalf of the county.
But before we get to all that,
let's check in with Chris McGinnis
for a look at our Saturday forecast.
Good morning.
Good Saturday morning to
you and everyone at home.
Thanks for joining us. We are well,
we're dry on the east side of I5,
the West side starting to see some
showers rollback in a couple of sprinkles.
West side of Marion County, Polk County
getting wet down towards Salem again.
Washington County, Yamhill County.
This rain is pushing eastward.
It's light rain, but it is overspreading.
The western part of Oregon this morning
and of course the east side of the state.
We've got a couple of sprinkles as
snow flurries out there as well.
I think the wettest part of our day
is actually going to be this morning.
But that said, keep the rain gear with you.
He might need it from time to time.
Today it's 43.
Last check at PDX.
It's a little breezy on the east
side of town as well.
E SE wind at 13 miles an hour,
giving us feels like temperatures.
Wind chills in the upper thirties 44.
Last check in King City.
Big perspective across the state.
Nobody terribly cold early on
this Saturday morning 18.
By all standards, not that bad in Burns 27,
Baker City and Pendleton waking up to 46.
Alright, the plan for today?
Right now it's mostly cloudy at the
airport as we showed you on radar.
There are some showers West of I5.
We keep the chance of wet
weather in the forecast today,
but Tim,
any showers are likely to be pretty
light and fairly short lived.
I do have Portland topping out in
the low fifties this afternoon.
Sounds pretty good. Thanks Chris.
All new this morning, Portland homicide
detectives have been on the scene of
a deadly shooting along SE Division.
This is in the Mill Park neighborhood.
Officers responded to reports of
a shooting just after 2:00 AM they
found a man dead in a parking
lot near SE 113th and Division.
Right now they do not have any suspects.
We will update you as we get
more information.
And now to a strange saga at sea.
A Canadian man is in custody after a
series of bizarre events around Astoria,
with the dots eventually connecting
back to the iconic Goonies House,
Alma McCarty breaks it all down for us.
The treacherous conditions on the
Columbia are the very reason the Coast
Guard trains here and training is
exactly what they were doing when crews
received a Mayday signal from this boat.
It was kind of fitting that there
was a case at the end of the week
and the circumstances and environment
that we had trained.
Due to the dangerous conditions,
the Coast Guard decided a boat
rescue wouldn't be possible,
so they sent Petty Officer Third
Class Branch Walton a rescue.
Glimmer to carry out the mission,
but then this happened.
I kind of got thrown around
a little bit by the wave,
and then when I came up I noticed
that the boat was pretty much in
shambles and kind of split in two.
Despite the Rogue Wave and capsized vessel,
Walton reached the survivor.
As soon as I got up,
I let the helicopter know that I was OK.
I started looking around immediately
and it it worked out perfectly.
After crews pulled the man to safety,
he was taken to the hospital.
The Coast Guard posted the
videos and this picture,
and from there it didn't
take long for people.
In the community to make the connection,
the person rescued was the same man
accused of putting a fish on the porch
of the Goonies House 2 days earlier.
Jericho Labani,
one of my buddies was like dude
you will not believe what just
happened. Like check this out.
The new owner of the Goonies House,
Bayman Zachary, isn't surprised when people
stop by but he was surprised to see this.
But he pulls out this strike
gigantic like fish that obviously.
Is not alive and just places it.
And you know, being from Kansas City,
like you gotta wonder, you know,
is the guy sending a message and
I'm going to be sleeping with the
fishes or something, you know?
Fast forward to Friday, Astoria
Police chief Stacy Kelly explained.
They were piercing all this together when
they got a call from the Coast Guard.
The connections were being made
that it was the same person and
that he was at the hospital and
by the time we got involved,
he'd been released from the hospital.
What we've since found out is that
he. Had taken the sandpiper
from the West End basin,
which is at the Port of Astoria.
Around 7:30 Friday night,
officers arrested Labony at a
warming shelter in seaside on
charges of theft, endangerment
and unauthorized use of a vehicle.
So in addition to those charges in Oregon,
LA Bonnie is a wanted fugitive
in British Columbia and a
suspect in other cases as well.
He was booked in the Clatsop County
Jail last night. What a story.
Now to another kind of crime
also recorded on video.
In this case, thieves used a
crowbar to quickly break into a
Southeast Portland comic bookstore,
and the owner says this is the third
time in the last few weeks he's been
hit John Thomas and his wife on the
disk heroes shop on 162nd and Division.
Thomas says over the course
of the three break INS,
the burglars got away with more
than $30,000 worth of inventory.
Thomas says he's definitely not closing up
shop and when it comes to finding the crooks.
He's not giving up.
I have thought about sitting
here overnight this next week.
But not, you know, armed or anything.
Just sitting here, you know,
seeing if they're gonna try again.
Well, anyone who recognizes the
burglars or knows anything about the
case should contact Portland police.
In the meantime,
a GO fund me has been launched
to help the Thomas recover.
You can find that link in the
article we have up at kgw.com.
Well,
now we turn to the big developments
in our homeless crisis at a
new plan from Multnomah County,
the county's top elected leader,
saying the proposal will help move
people off the streets in a more
humane and ultimately successful way.
It comes as a new survey shows,
while the public perception of Portland.
Is improving.
It still has a long way to go.
Downtown Portland has been
through a lot the past few years,
and part of what has caused a spike
in concern about crime and safety is
the desperation that comes with an
ever present homeless population.
As the city and county grapple with
finding the right combination of solutions,
the new Multnomah County Chair announced
a plan that takes the time to get people
into the right type of housing before
clearing problem areas permanently.
And I call it we're calling it
housing Multnomah now because
that's really what it's about.
It's about getting people.
Or living outside, living on
shelter directly into housing
chair Jessica Vega Peterson announced
the $14 million plan this week during a
taping of straight talk with Laurel Porter.
Peterson explained how she and other
local leaders visited Seattle to
see a similar effort where outreach
workers spend weeks getting to know
people and their needs to match the
right kind of housing and support.
And we're going to do this in
a similar way by targeting
an area in the central city.
We're also looking to do it
in East County within this.
Next calendar year,
this comes as the latest annual
survey for the Portland Business
Alliance shows a slight improvement
in voter sentiment about the direction
of the region from 2021 to 22.
You can see those who think things
are on the wrong track trended down
10 percentage points and 8% more,
think we're going in the
right direction better,
but still in negative territory overall,
says John Horvak with DHM research.
Things, they're either leveled
out or improved and, you know,
we'll just have to continue to monitor.
And do good work as a community
to see if those numbers
improve or if or if they move
in the in a negative direction. Again,
Peterson is banking on this new
direct to housing plan being part
of heading in the right direction.
It's doing in a way that I think
supplements and complements the work that
we're already doing with our shelters,
with alternative shelters,
even with the city's proposal
around the urban campgrounds.
Reference there to the mayor's plan
to build large sanction camps.
Vega Peterson says this plan will be
an action soon, with the first four
months spent targeting the central city,
downtown Portland, and in terms of
ending homeless camping in these areas.
As always, that will be a challenge.
The county chair says it will
take the support of everyone,
including private land owners,
to make it work well.
Meantime, the Rose City is one
step closer to opening its first
so-called safe park village.
We've learned that the Salvation Army will
manage the outdoor shelter for people.
Living in their RV's the Sunderland
RV Park site is right off Marine
Drive at NE 33rd drive.
You know,
that's an area known for illegal RV camps,
fires, and trash.
The safe Rest Village site will
offer more room for 55 RV's
and will be staffed 24/7.
Residents will have access to
mental and physical health resources
along with help for getting
things like drivers licenses.
Those are all common barriers to employment.
The trauma of living on the street
has people under constant stress and,
and this is intended to provide
sort of a de escalation,
a chance for people to to calm and
catch up and identify their needs,
articulate their needs,
work with the staff at the village
to to get those needs met and
then move on to whatever's next.
Now the RV safe park is one of six
planned safe rest villages and the
only one to provide space for RV's.
The Counties Joint Office of Homeless
Services is still working out a contract
agreement with the Salvation Army.
After that signed,
they'll staff up and be closer to opening.
OK, still to come on sunrise,
we'll check in on safety
improvements along 82nd Ave.
in Portland,
hear from people who live nearby,
and walk along what has been a dangerous Rd.