Document text
We answered a Since You Asked question Friday, Dec. 21, about caution tape seen on the Alba Park gazebo in downtown Medford. After the paper hit the streets, we got some updated information, so now the Since You Asked Team can tell more of the story. Our source on the great tape-off at the Alba Park gazebo, Medford police Lt. Mike Budreau, had told us earlier in the week that the gazebo had seen heavy usage recently from illegal campers and others, and that the tape had been put up to prevent such use. After the paper hit the streets Friday, Budreau reached out with some clarifying information. Budreau said illegal camping does occur at the gazebo, but the tape — technically “caution” tape, by the way, not “crime scene” tape — had not been put there to keep people out. Rather, it was put there by the Medford Parks & Recreation Department to keep gazebo visitors from stepping on trash and human waste left at the structure. “That’s the gist — to just put some tape up on it,” Budreau told us. “We reached out to (parks officials) to do a cleanup of the gazebo.” Send questions to “Since You Asked,” Mail Tribune Newsroom, P.O. Box 1108, Medford, OR 97501; by fax to 541-776-4376; or by email to [email protected]. We’re sorry, but the volume of questions received prevents us from answering all of them.