Our View: Cheers to RCC, jeers to juvenile justice - Opinion - MailTribune.com - Medford, OR

Mail Tribune (Medford, OR — Wayback)

2015-10-26

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3 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation  |  Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED   » NEWS NOW   Our View: Governor should not try to tilt LNG process       ...       From the Council: Have a safe, fun Halloween       ...       Guest Opinion: The other side of the fire station story       ...       Our View: Governor should not try to tilt LNG process       ...       From the Council: Have a safe, fun Halloween       ...       Guest Opinion: The other side of the fire station story       ...           OUR VIEW Our View: Cheers to RCC, jeers to juvenile justice Comment MailTribune.com Writer Posted Oct. 22, 2015 at 2:00 AM Updated Oct 22, 2015 at 4:37 PM Posted Oct. 22, 2015 at 2:00 AM Updated Oct 22, 2015 at 4:37 PM »  Social News Cheers: To Rogue Community College for landing a $14.6 million federal grant that can be used for education classes and job training for low-income students in high-demand health care fields. The program name is a mouthful — Southern Oregon Health Occupations Poverty Elimination Project — but it has a simple aim: to match up students in need of jobs with health care fields that have those jobs. It targets training toward 16 high-demand health care areas, including medical assistant, nursing assistant, emergency medical technician and certified nursing assistant. And it comes on the heels of the state Legislature reauthorizing an $8 million matching grant to expand RCC's health care training facilities.This positions the college to be in the right place at the right time as demands for health care services continue to grow dramatically. Jeers: To a criminal justice system that can't seem to keep tabs on dangerous juvenile offenders. In the past week and a half, stories have come out about two young thugs who were previously apprehended for serious crimes escaping from juvenile authorities and later committing additional crimes. Juan Antonio Gonzalez-Marquez was 14 when he participated in the murder of a Medford man in 2009. In 2014 he escaped from a juvenile facility, was recaptured, but for some reason was on Medford's streets last week, when he was accused of a gang-related drive-by shooting that critically injured a man walking on a sidewalk. At about the same time, we learn of Santiago Flores-Loveland, an 18-year-old Medford "man" being arrested in Los Angeles on charges related to a Sept. 16 shooting incident in west Medford in which no one, fortunately, was hurt. Turns out he had walked away from an Oregon Youth Authority facility after being lodged there because of a 2013 drive-by shooting. We have a growing gang problem in Medford, a problem that is not helped by lax oversight of young criminals like this pair. Cheers: To the Jackson County Housing Authority, which responded to cost overruns on a downtown Medford apartment complex by going back to the drawing board and whittling down the expenses. The $12.5 million Concord building, which will provide 50 low-income apartments on North Grape Street, came in 20 percent over budget, forcing a six-month delay in the start-up of construction. But the Housing Authority worked with the contractor and architect to develop a plan using less-expensive materials and now the work has begun. The city of Medford — which is using the same contractor and architect — would do well to take note as it tries to work through the cost overruns on its police and fire stations project. Cheers: To the U.S. Department of Transportation for deciding to require registration for the more sophisticated drones that have taken to the air in increasing numbers in the past year. The drones are posting a threat to aircraft and in sensitive areas, including near forest fires and even the White House. We will have drones in our future — industry officials say there will be more than 1 million by year's end — but that doesn't mean their operators should be able to fly them with no regard for safety concerns. MailTribune.com Writer Posted Oct. 22, 2015 at 2:00 AM Updated Oct 22, 2015 at 4:37 PM » Comment or view comments   Reader Reaction »  STAY INFORMED   Email NewsLetter   Sign Up Today   Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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