A female who reportedly showed up at the gate to the old Gardiner Mill Site with a gun prompted the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to hold a news conference Friday to explain what is going on at the location with the news trailer being brought in and uniformed security at each entrance. Lots of speculation by the residents of the small unincorporated community in Western Douglas County led to rumors and the concern by the woman who decided to investigate on her own. Toney Raines, an Emergency Management Program Specialist with FEMA, says they are opening up a new staging area for individuals and families displaced by last Summer’s wildfires. Grey single-wide trailers have been brought into the abandoned site and placed in groups around the property. The Gardiner site reportedly replaces a similar location at the Jackson County Expo Center at Central Point north of Medford.
