Pete Belcastro is a longtime American television and radio personality who has worked as a sports commentator, news anchor and reporter and is running for political office. He is the former director at Rogue Valley Community Television and was football and basketball commentator for the Southern Oregon University on local radio. He resides in Ashland, Oregon.
Belcastro spent time as a commentator, news anchor and reporter at KTVL Channel 10, a CBS television affiliate in Medford, Oregon before accepting a position as director of Rogue Valley Community Television, a Public-access television station based at Southern Oregon University in Ashland in 1989. While holding that position, he served as the play-by-play voice of the Southern Oregon University Raiders football, women's basketball and men's basketball teams for KTMT.
In 2004, he was the recipient of Ashland's James M. Ragland Memorial "Volunteer Spirit" Community Service Award, given to one citizen each year for making significant contributions to the community.
On August 9, 2007, Belcastro resigned as director at RVTV when his contract was not renewed. He works at John L. Scott Realty in Ashland.
Belcastro announced that he would be running for the Oregon State Representative seat in House District 5 as a member of the Independent Party. The seat was held at the time by Democratic incumbent Peter Buckley of Ashland.
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Peter Buckley | 18,452 | 61.1 | |
Independent | Pete Belcastro | 11,653 | 38.6 | |
Write-in | 97 | 0.3 | ||
Total votes | 30,202 | 100% |
Belcastro married Christine Ann Beeson, a long-time reporter/editor for the daily newspaper Herald and News, on April 22, 1978, in Klamath Falls, Ore. The couple has one son, Mark Richard, born Feb. 20, 1980. Mark Belcastro was one of the first U.S. Marines to enter Baghdad during the Iraqi Freedom campaign in April, 2003. Pete Belcastro was born Jan. 23, 1952, in Yreka, Calif., to Elmer and Jennie Belcastro. He has two sisters, Frances and Donna, both of whom continue to live in Klamath Falls.
Ashland is a city in Jackson County, Oregon, United States. It lies along Interstate 5 approximately 16 miles (26 km) north of the California border and near the south end of the Rogue Valley. The city's population was 21,360 at the 2020 census.
Jackson County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the population was 223,259. The county seat is Medford. The county is named for Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the United States.
Medford is a city in and the county seat of Jackson County, Oregon, in the United States. As of the 2020 United States Census on April 1, 2020, the city had a total population of 85,824, making it the 8th most populous city in Oregon, and a metropolitan area population of 223,259, making the Medford MSA the fourth largest metro area in Oregon. The city was named in 1883 by David Loring, civil engineer and right-of-way agent for the Oregon and California Railroad, after Medford, Massachusetts, which was near Loring's hometown of Concord, Massachusetts. Medford is near the middle ford of Bear Creek.
The Rogue River in southwestern Oregon in the United States flows about 215 miles (346 km) in a generally westward direction from the Cascade Range to the Pacific Ocean. Known for its salmon runs, whitewater rafting, and rugged scenery, it was one of the original eight rivers named in the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968. Beginning near Crater Lake, which occupies the caldera left by the explosive volcanic eruption and collapse of Mount Mazama, the river flows through the geologically young High Cascades and the older Western Cascades, another volcanic province. Further west, the river passes through multiple exotic terranes of the more ancient Klamath Mountains. In the Kalmiopsis Wilderness section of the Rogue basin are some of the world's best examples of rocks that form the Earth's mantle. Near the mouth of the river, the only dinosaur fragments ever discovered in Oregon were found in the Otter Point Formation, along the coast of Curry County.
Southern Oregon University (SOU) is a public university in Ashland, Oregon. It was founded in 1872 as the Ashland Academy, has been in its current location since 1926, and was known by nine other names before assuming its current name in 1997. Its Ashland campus – just 14 miles from Oregon's border with California – encompasses 175 acres. Five of SOU's newest facilities have achieved LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. SOU is headquarters for Jefferson Public Radio and public access station Rogue Valley Community Television. The university has been governed since 2015 by the SOU Board of Trustees.
Oregon Route 140 is a state highway in southern Oregon, United States. It is the longest state highway in Oregon, running 237 miles (381 km) from the community of White City, Oregon, through Klamath Falls and on to Lakeview. It then continues east, eventually descending into the state of Nevada.
The Central Oregon & Pacific Railroad is a Class II railroad operating between Northern California and Eugene, Oregon, United States. It was previously a mainline owned by the Southern Pacific Railroad (SP) between Eugene and Weed, California via Medford, Oregon. SP sold the route on December 31, 1994, in favor of using its route to Eugene via Klamath Falls, Oregon and Cascade Summit.
Oregon Route 62 is an Oregon state highway that runs between the city of Medford, and U.S. Route 97 between Chiloquin and Klamath Falls. The highway approaches Crater Lake National Park from the south, and is known as the Crater Lake Highway. While the highway is signed east-to-west, it is in reality shaped somewhat like a horseshoe; heading north-northeast from Medford, turning east as it approaches the park, and then turning south-southeast as it approaches Klamath Falls. Oregon Route 140 intersects with OR 62 in White City and Oregon Route 66. These are more direct routes between Medford and Klamath Falls. Route 62 comprises a portion of the Volcanic Legacy Scenic Byway.
Griffith Simmons Parlaman III, who often referred to himself as "Sean Parlaman", was a long-time college student and trafficking activist who, before his curious and unexpected death, sought to raise awareness regarding the trafficking and prostitution of children into Thailand. Parlaman was born in Los Angeles County, California, to Griffith Mead Parlaman and Doris V. Simmons Parlaman ; he fell to his death in Jomtien, Pattaya, Thailand. Parlaman created websites to represent his projects, such as the now-defunct capcat.org.
KTVL is a television station in Medford, Oregon, United States, affiliated with CBS and The CW Plus. Owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, the station has studios on North Fir Street in downtown Medford, and its transmitter is located atop Mount Ashland, 15 miles (24 km) south of the city.
KDRV is a television station in Medford, Oregon, United States, affiliated with ABC. The station is owned by Allen Media Broadcasting, and maintains studios on Knutson Avenue in north Medford; its transmitter is located at the edge of Wolf Creek Park in rural northeastern Josephine County.
The Mail Tribune was a seven-day daily newspaper based in Medford, Oregon, United States that served Jackson County, Oregon, and adjacent areas of Josephine County, Oregon and northern California.
Rogue Valley Transportation District is a transportation district serving the greater Jackson County, Oregon area. The district serves the cities of Medford, Ashland, White City, Phoenix, Talent, Jacksonville, and Central Point. The district also provides paratransit services to older adults and people with disabilities within its route coverage area.
The Southern Oregon Raiders football team represents Southern Oregon University in the sport of American football. The Raiders team competes in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) as an associate member of the Frontier Conference. Southern Oregon University has fielded an official football team since 1927 and has an all-time record of 349–351–15. The Raiders play in Raider Stadium in Ashland, Oregon, which has a capacity of 5,000. Southern Oregon has played in two NAIA national championship games and won thirteen conference championships in multiple conferences.
Calvin Marshall is a 2009 coming of age-comedy film written and directed by Gary Lundgren and starring Alex Frost as the title character, a determined but talentless college baseball player, and Steve Zahn as his coach. After two years of raising funds, the film was shot in and around Ashland and Medford, Oregon in November–December 2007, and was released in 2009.
Occupy Ashland included a peaceful protest and demonstration against economic inequality, corporate greed and the influence of corporations and lobbyists on government which has taken place in Ashland, Oregon, United States since 6 October 2011. The protests began in solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street protests in New York. The protests included an occupation of the downtown Plaza and a daily picket outside the JPMorgan Chase branch in Ashland.
Grange Cooperative Supply Association is an agricultural supply cooperative based in Oregon's Rogue Valley. It was started in 1934 with a group of 99 farmers from the Rogue Valley who invested $10 each to form a fuel-delivering cooperative in Central Point, Oregon. With a vision for the future, Grange Co-op adapted its business to best meet the needs of its communities. Today, the company offers agricultural supplies, farm products, consumer goods, pet supplies, lawn and garden supplies, apparel, footwear and hardware.
The Medford Rogues are a collegiate wood bat baseball team based in Medford, Oregon. They are currently playing as an independent team. They begin play as an expansion team in the West Coast League in 2013, where they played from 2013 to 2015, and were founding members of the Great West League, where they played from 2016 to 2018, then were members of the Golden State Collegiate Baseball League from 2019 to 2021. They play their home games at Harry & David Field and were named after the former Class-D Far West League affiliate of the New York Giants that played from 1950 to 1951. They were the 2017 GWL Champions.
John Herbert Carkin was an American politician, attorney, public service executive, and banker from the state of Oregon. He was a Republican who served nine years in the Oregon House of Representatives, where he represented a district in southern Oregon. He served as Speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives during the 1927 legislative session, elected by a unanimous vote of House members. Later, he served as chairman of the Oregon Tax Commission and was Oregon's Public Utility Commissioner before becoming president of a savings and loan association in Salem, Oregon.