Inside: Shipwrecked treasure
piqued FBI’s interest too late »
Wednesday, January 26, 2022
Redmond, Oregon • $1
redmondspokesman.com
A special good morning to subscriber Frances Blair
@redmondspox
REDMOND | HOMELESS YOUTH
Prevention to be bolstered by state grant
BY ZACK DEMARS
The Bulletin
Youth on the brink of homelessness
in Redmond have new resources to
stay housed on the horizon.
J Bar J Youth Services, a nonprofit
that provides support for youth ex-
periencing homelessness in Central
Oregon, plans to use funding from
increased state investment announced
last week to help prevent homeless-
ness among youth in the city.
A new program, called a “basic
center” and funded by a one-time
$50,000 grant from the state’s De-
partment of Human Services, should
open in the next month and will work
to keep kids housed through family
mediation services and youth home-
lessness prevention, according to Eliza
Wilson, a program director for J Bar J.
“We’ve always offered some ser-
vices in Redmond, but this will really
change to be full-time in Redmond, at
the Redmond office, focused on the
Redmond community,” Wilson said.
“A lot of times, the focus has been
Bend because there’s more people in
Bend, but really Redmond has grown,
and we need to have more resources
for youth there.”
Family mediation can prevent
DESTINATION REDMOND
homelessness from the outset of fam-
ily issues, Wilson said.
If a family is having trouble with
a child’s behavior, for example, me-
diators provide strategies to improve
family communication before a child
runs away or gets kicked out.
See Homeless / P3
Local man
walks every
street in
Redmond
BY BILL BARTLETT
For The Spokesman
Bill Bartlett photo
Maple Street Bridge welcomes visitors to Redmond.
BY BILL BARTLETT • For The Spokesman
R
EDMOND — Putting tourism and Redmond in the same sentence may seem odd to readers. That was the takeaway when
The Spokesman dropped in on the regulars at Proust Coffee. Speaking for the java group, Don Patterson said: “Tourists
coming to Redmond? I can’t imagine people wanting to vacation here.” His caffeine buddy, Brady Connor, added: “Maybe
some folks just passing through.”
“Redmond
sells itself.
With what we
have to offer,
Redmond is
growing as
the gateway
to Central
Oregon
tourism.”
As longtime residents, they
weren’t being derogatory. They
were simply putting it in the
context of destination tourism
locations like Las Vegas, New
Orleans or Anaheim (Disney-
land). Nobody’s going to mis-
take Redmond for Orlando, but
it would be an error to think
that Redmond doesn’t have a
healthy tourism industry with
thousands of visitors annually.
The key word is visitors. The
word tourist is being eradi-
cated by the meeting, conven-
tion and hospitality industry
as tourists are not always wel-
come creatures in a commu-
nity.
See Tourism / P5
Submitted photo
— Eric Sande, Visit
Redmond executive
director
Reid Sanford, 64, of Redmond,
is the first — and for now — the
only known person to have walked
the entirety of all paved, public
streets in town — north to south,
east to west. He did it over a stretch
of nearly eight months, starting in
May and finishing two weeks ago.
The 270.7-mile trek took 85 hours
and he averaged 3.19 mph.
Sanford, a retired engineer with
Nike, moved to Redmond with his
wife, Jenny, in 2019. He is an avid
walker but neither compulsive nor
record-setting. The idea and inspi-
ration came from reading about a
Bend couple who ran every street
in Bend.
“I didn’t set out to create any re-
cords or attract attention,” Sanford
told The Spokesman when we sat
down with him to learn about his
walkabout.
He is quick to point out that
there were no rules or precedent
so he made his own.
“I didn’t include non-motorized
ways such as trails. I avoided tres-
passing when I encountered a gate
or other signage indicating that I
was about to enter upon private
property even if that property was
on a public street,” he said.
He was clearly not in a rush and
didn’t walk when it was raining or
otherwise unsavory weather. His
wife accompanied him on parts,
completing about a fourth of the
distance. It was never her inten-
tion to be part of the venture.
Along the way his worst en-
counters were with stray dogs. He
carried mace, but never having to
deploy it, always able to calm the
dog with his own demeanor that is
immediately apparent.
“I met people along the way,
naturally,” Sanford said, adding,
“There was the obvious curiosity
and surprise when I’d say why I
was in any given place. I got quite
a few words of encouragement.”
He walked into some areas
where he received hard stares as if
he was crossing some imaginary
line that indicated strangers were
not welcome.
Climbers from all over the world take on Smith Rock, then chill out in Redmond
See Walk / P3
The Spokesman uses
recycled newsprint
Wednesday 1/26
Events in and around Redmond
The Redmond Spokesman welcomes event information for
its community calendar. Submissions are limited to nonprofit,
free and live entertainment events. Deadline is 5 p.m. Thursday
for the following Wednesday’s paper. Items are published on a
space-available basis and may be edited. Contact us at
news@redmondspokesman.com or fax 541-548-3203.
Redmond School Board Meeting: A regular meeting will
be held; 5:30 p.m.; free; Redmond School District, Online; red-
mondschools.org or 541-923-5437.
Blues and Brews: Get a chance to show off your guitar or vo-
cal skills and join Casey Hurt and The Goodnights, The General
Duffy’s House Band, who will prepare a setlist of classic and
modern blues songs; 7-10 p.m.; free; General Duffy’s Watering
Hole, 404 SW Forest Ave., Redmond; facebook.com/Gener-
alduffys or 541-527-4345.
Nature Night — A Low-to-No Snow Future: Join the De-
schutes Land Trust and register for a virtual session to learn
how you can help make a difference in our, hopefully, snowy
future; 7-8:30 p.m.; free; Deschutes Land Trust, Online; de-
schuteslandtrust.org or 541-330-0017.
THursday 1/27
Thrive Central Oregon Walk-In Consultations: Connect
and get help with housing, medical, mental health, veterans
services, social security resources, and more; 1-4 p.m.; Red-
mond Public Library, 827 SW Deschutes Ave., Redmond; host5.
evanced.info or 541-312-1050.
Prevent Diabetes Central Oregon: The Diabetes Prevention
Program is proven to prevent or delay type 2 diabetes; 4-5 p.m.;
See Calendar / P3
INDEX
Puzzles ............. 2 Obituaries ....... 6
Flashback ........ 3 Classifieds ....... 6
Volume 112, No. 22
USPS 778-040
U|xaIICGHy02326kzU
R
JA EOPE
NU
AR NING
Y 2
8TH