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Growing
pains
Garrett Andrews/FILE
Gary Abrams, a Redmond firefighter, drives the aircraft crash tender at Red-
mond Airport. Redmond Fire & Rescue are looking to fill as many as 11 open
firefighter/paramedic positions.
As Redmond expands,
staffing levels in emergency
services struggle to keep pace
BY NICK ROSENBERGER • Redmond Spokesman
W
hile many businesses
are booming and
construction is
flourishing amid Redmond’s rapid
growth, some service organizations
are struggling to keep up with
demand.
Redmond’s police and fire departments,
as well as St. Charles’ Hospital, are all feel-
ing this pressure as they try to keep staffing
levels growing along with Redmond’s pop-
ulation.
According to Redmond’s “State of the
City” presentation in April, there is a pro-
jected increase of 50,000 residents in the
next 20 years — more than doubling the
size of the city. As of March 2022, Red-
mond was gaining roughly 7.8 new res-
idents every day, far outpacing the city’s
forecast.
Addressing this growth is one of the
greatest challenges facing the city and the
organizations tasked with keeping its resi-
dents safe.
Redmond Fire & Rescue is looking to
fill as many as 11 open positions for entry
level or experienced firefighters and para-
medics.
According to Tom Mooney, Redmond’s
Fire Marshal, there are currently two un-
filled positions on staff and plan to create
six new ones to keep up with increasing
See Growth / A4
Dean Guernsey/Bulletin
FILE- Redmond fire officials conduct fire training in 2019 at Redmond Airport. Redmond Fire & Rescue are looking to fill as many as 11 open firefighter/
paramedic positions.
Cascades Radio Hour brings national acts
to High Desert Music Hall this summer
Amythyst Kiah, Leo
Kottke on the bill
BY NICK ROSENBERGER
Redmond Spokesman
Pass by the High Desert
Music Hall this summer, and
you’re likely to hear sounds
thumping from deep within
the building’s blood-red walls.
Nestled within a former
church, a growing number
of musicians from across the
country are gathering with
fans to sing and sway to the
beat of piano keys and guitar
strings.
On Wednesday, July 13,
Amythyst Kiah, a gram-
my-nominated artist, will be
the one standing out front and
belting out powerful chords
and words. On July 20, Leo
Kottke, a legendary guitarist
known for his fingerpicking
style, will take the stage.
These two artists arrive
in Redmond to perform at
the High Desert Music Hall
during Cascades Radio Hour‘s
live-music series, which will
continue to feature a variety of
blues and Americana artists
through August 24.
The series, a collaboration
between KJIV Radio — com-
monly referred to as JIVE
Submitted Photo
Amythyst Kiah will perform at the High Desert Music Hall on
Wednesday.
Radio and found on 96.5FM
— and High Desert Music
Hall is a match that reflects
Redmond’s own growth and
expanding opportunities.
The series started on June
@RedmondSpox
Offer made
on Petersen
Rock Garden
Possible new owners
say they would
renovate, maintain
attraction for public
BY JOE SIESS
CO Media Group
The owner of the Petersen
Rock Garden, one of Oregon’s
beloved roadside attractions, is
reviewing an offer from a poten-
tial buyer and plans to close it to
visitors while the deal is reviewed,
according to the owner’s real es-
tate agent.
Kaisha Brannon, of Coldwell
Banker Sun Country Realty,
the seller’s agent, said the pos-
sible new owners would like to
renovate and maintain the rock
garden for the public. The pro-
spective new owners of the rock
garden are longtime residents of
Central Oregon and wish to re-
main unnamed, Brannon said.
“I know that it will remain the
rock garden and be open to the
public, but I can’t really say what
they plan on doing because we ul-
timately don’t know what they are
going to get pushback on,” Bran-
non said.
Deschutes County land use of-
ficials said last week that zoning
questions about the permissible
use of the property still need to be
addressed.
The county told stakeholders,
including Brannon, that many
potential issues could come up
given the property is zoned ex-
clusively for farm use, the most
restrictive zoning in unincor-
porated Deschutes County. The
property, on SW 77 Street south-
west of Redmond, is also listed on
the National Register of Historic
Places, creating another layer of
uncertainty regarding how the
property can and cannot be used
or altered by a new owner.
Brannon did not disclose fi-
nancial details about the offer.
The rock garden’s owner, Susan
Caward, 57, is selling the property
because of health reasons.
The rock garden was put on
the market in early June and
listed for $825,000, a price that
includes all the art and rocks and
the peacocks that freely roam the
property. It was built by Danish
immigrant Rasmus Petersen in
the 1940s and ’50s and sits on 12
acres that was not zoned by the
county until the 1970s.
See Petersen / A4
8 with regional acts before
moving on to heavy hitters
like Kottke and Kiah, Margo
Cilker and C.J. Chenier & the
Red Hot Louisiana Band.
“I find [Kiah] really com-
pelling,” said Jeff Cotton, the
founder of JIVE Radio. “She’s
got a really smoldering power
that’s uncommon. There’s a
lot of female voices out there
that are in their own category
but Amythyst has this deep
range and a really powerful
approach to singing.”
“It started as a cathartic
hobby,” Kiah said.
Kia, who described herself
The Spokesman uses
recycled newsprint
INDEX
Calendar ........A2
Puzzles ...........A2
Obituaries .....A5
Classifieds .....A6
Volume 112, No. 45
USPS 778-040
U|xaIICGHy02326kzU
See Music / A4
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