REDMOND SPOKESMAN • TUESDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2022 A3
LocalNews
Holiday events continue through the season
For the most up-to-date informa-
tion on upcoming holiday events in
and around Redmond. To submit an
event, email classifieds@redmond-
spokesman.com
WHERE TO GET GIFTS
Children’s Holiday Party — St. Vincent
De Paul: 651 SW Veterans Way, Redmond,
3-6 p.m. (Please fill out sign up form from
lobby for each child and return by Dec. 1)
Fri., Dec. 16
Northern Lights Display – Redmond
City Hall: 411 SW 9th St., 5-7 p.m.
Fri., Dec. 9
Northern Lights Display – Redmond
City Hall: 411 SW 9th St., 5-7 p.m.
Sat., Dec. 10
Know Joy: The Uncharted Project Holiday
Performance – Redmond Library: 827 SW
Deschutes Ave., Redmond, 3-4 p.m.
Live at the Vineyard: John Denver
Christmas Concert with John Hoover &
the Mighty Quinns – Faith Hope & Charity
Vineyards, 70450 NW Lower Valley Dr., Ter-
rebonne, 5-8 p.m.
Sat., Dec. 17
Christmas in the Canyon Holiday Mar-
ket – Over the Edge Taphouse: 13959
SW Commercial Loop Rd, Crooked River
Ranch, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.
Northern Lights Display – Redmond
City Hall: 411 SW 9th St., 5-7 p.m.
Wed., Dec. 21
Know Joy: Holiday Family Movie Night
– High Desert Music Hall, 818 SW Forest
Ave., Redmond, 6-8 p.m.
Northern Lights Display – Redmond
City Hall: 411 SW 9th St., 5-7 p.m.
WHERE TO GIVE BACK
Sun., Dec 11
Breakfast with Santa – FivePine Lodge
& Spa: 1021 E Desperado Trail, Sisters,
10:30 a.m.-12 p.m.
Tue., Dec. 13
Know Joy: The Twelve Tones Music Event
– Redmond Library: 827 SW Deschutes
Ave., Redmond, 2-3 p.m.
Thurs., Dec. 15
Thurs., Dec. 8
Pint Night Benefiting Crook County
Education Foundation – Wild Ride
Brewery — Prineville: 1500 NE 3rd St.,
Prineville, 5-8 p.m.
Tue., Dec. 20
Light Up A Life — An Evening of Re-
membrance — Hospice of Redmond’s
Community Room: 732 SW 23rd St.,
5:30-7 p.m.
Harrison McKinney/Spokesman
Shoppers poke around a holiday market in Redmond on Nov. 19, 2022.
Odem Medo project wraps up construction
BY NICK ROSENBERGER
Redmond Spokesman
Photos by Nick Rosenberger/Spokesman
Construction on a new road and roundabout on SW Salmon Ave. in Redmond opened on Nov. 23 to help decrease congestion and fix a danger-
ous intersection
Precipitation lags across Oregon
BY GEORGE PLAVEN
CO Media Group
A new water year is off to a slow start in
Oregon, where much of the state remains
in a multi-year drought.
Warm and dry weather persisted
through mid-October, digging an early
deficit for precipitation in most basins —
particularly those in central and southern
Oregon, where drought conditions are the
worst.
However, climate experts say there is
still plenty of time to catch up and La Nina
could bring ample rain and mountain
snow this winter to the Pacific Northwest.
Every drop is needed to reverse what
has been a painfully long drought dat-
ing back to November 2019, said Larry
O’Neill, Oregon state climatologist.
“We need at least an average amount of
precipitation, and average temperatures,”
O’Neill said. “Precipitation is the key. We
(also) desperately need the snowpack to
be above-average, and we need that snow-
pack to stick around past April 1. That will
set us up pretty well for recovering.”
While overall precipitation since Oct. 1
has been “slightly discouraging,” O’Neill
said the peak wet season doesn’t typically
begin until later in the winter and early
spring.
According to the U.S. Drought Monitor,
about 95% of Oregon is in some stage of
drought, ranging from “abnormally dry”
to “exceptional,” the highest possible cat-
egory.
The only exceptions to drought are
in northeast Oregon, including parts
of Umatilla, Morrow, Union and Wal-
lowa counties, as well as a sliver of Curry
County along the southwest coast.
Data from the USDA Natural Resources
Conservation Service shows the Umatilla,
Walla Walla and Willow basins in north-
east Oregon have received 126% of their
average water year precipitation as of Nov.
28. That’s good news for the region’s dry-
land wheat farmers, O’Neill said.
Other basins have not been as fortunate.
Those hardest hit by drought in central
and southern Oregon have only received
about 75% of average precipitation, in-
cluding the Upper Deschutes, Crooked,
Klamath, Rogue and Umpqua basins.
“We haven’t really recovered in regions
where we really need to see improvement,”
O’Neill said.
The typically rainy Willamette Basin
is also just 80% of average for precipita-
tion since the water year began on Oct. 1.
Through Oct. 20, there was no recorded
precipitation in Portland, Salem and Eu-
gene, which hadn’t happened since 1987.
However, it has rained since then.
Not only was it dry, but it was also the
second-warmest October on record for
Oregon, said Matt Warbritton, hydrologist
for the NRCS in Portland.
Warbritton said more precipitation is
sorely needed to boost low soil moisture
in drought-stricken basins. If the ground
is too dry, he said it can absorb snowmelt
before reaching streams, rivers and reser-
voirs that farmers depend on during the
irrigation season.
But there are reasons for encourage-
ment.
Snowpack is largely near- or above-nor-
mal statewide, and La Nina has the po-
tential to bring cooler, wetter weather that
would allow snow to remain high in the
mountains for longer into the year and
melting gradually when it is needed most
by farms and fish.
“All we can really do is hope for an
above-normal snowpack season,” Warbrit-
ton said. “We’re still very much in a dry
phase. It may not seem like it, because we
had some early season snowpack. But that
precipitation, we just need more of it.”
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A new road connecting
SW Odem Medo Way and
SW Salmon Ave. opened on
Wednesday, Nov. 23, to help
decrease congestion and fix
a dangerous intersection be-
tween Salmon and SW Canal
that saw two hit-and-runs.
The $1.14 million con-
struction project kicked off
in July and crews will com-
pletely finish the project on
budget by early to mid-De-
cember with finishing
touches, cleaning, additional
striping, signage and land-
scaping.
“(Construction) went very
very good,” said Steve Wil-
son, civil engineer for Red-
mond. “We wanted to get that
intersection live before the
holiday traffic started.”
The re-alignment project,
which has been on the city’s
to-do list for 17 years, in-
cluded the implementation
of a stoplight, cul-de-sac,
sidewalks, pedestrian ramps
and the demolition of an old
Parks & Recreation building.
The new roadway con-
structed by Knife River
Northwest bends into the
Odem Medo intersection and
requires drivers to reduce
their speed to make a left
turn onto South Canal.
█
Reporter: nrosenberger@
redmondspokesman.com
Certified 2022 election
results show no change
in Redmond races
BY NICK ROSENBERGER
Redmond Spokesman
Results of the 2022 election
were certified on Dec. 2, with no
change in the outcomes from the
previous Nov. 30 tally.
Ed Fitch won the race for Red-
mond mayor with a total of 5,143
votes. Ben Schimmoller finished
second with 4,850 votes while Jay
Patrick finished the election with
4,640 votes. Charles Webster
Baer ended with 228 votes.
In the Redmond city council
election, results stayed the same
with the top three candidates
earning seats. Cat Zwicker came
in first with 8,564 votes followed
by Kathryn Osborne with 7,790
and John Nielsen with 7,723 total
votes. Bill Trumble, with 6,177
votes, and Branegan J. Dixon,
with 4,986 votes, will not be join-
ing city council next year.
The Redmond Area Parks
and Recreation District bond
squeaked by with 12,483 in favor
of the bond to fund a new rec
center and 11,606 against.
The accompanying parks dis-
trict levy, however, failed with
14,326 people voting against it
and 9,523 voting in favor.
The psilocybin manufactur-
ing ban passed with 8,667 votes
in favor of the ban and 6,717
against it.
The psilocybin treatment cen-
ter ban also passed with 8,046
votes in favor of the ban and
7,092 against it.
The outcome for House Dis-
trict 53, which covers the south-
ern half of Redmond, also stayed
the same. Democrat Emerson
Levy won the district with 19,584
votes while Michael Sipe, the
Republican candidate, received
19,075 votes.
House District 59, which cov-
ers the northern half of Red-
mond, showed Republican Vikki
Breese-Iverson staying in the
lead with 9,194 votes and Dem-
ocrat Lawrence Jones with 4,753
votes.
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