A special good morning to subscriber Marleen Neilson
Tuesday, December 13, 2022 • Redmond, Oregon
redmondspokesman.com
Shortage
of officials
splinters
sports
calendars
FACE
THE
FLAMES
BY NICK ROSENBERGER
Redmond Spokesman
The booming population of Central Oregon
can be felt in all walks of daily life — from the
traffic on roads to fighting for chairlifts at Mt.
Bachelor — but parents and students may be feel-
ing the growth most acutely in sports as the re-
gion struggles to fill gaps in officiating.
Athletic directors have been forced to cancel JV
games and reschedule varsity dates as officials and
referees work themselves to the bone for little pay
and not much more than a love for the game.
For some sports, the state of officiating has
reached a crisis level.
“We are just doing everything we can to try to
recruit,” said Tad Cockerill, Central Oregon’s base-
ball and softball commissioner, who is in charge
of placing officials for those sports. “The numbers
just aren’t there.”
Cockerill said he’s had to overwork officials so
much that some are working six days a week. One
official worked 87 games from March to August,
then went straight into officiating football and
now into wrestling.
“We’re wearing these people out,” Cockerill
said. “We just are asking our officials to do too
much.”
Mehdi Salari, Central Oregon’s soccer commis-
sioner, said a lot of the soccer referees are 50 or
older and that hardly anyone gets a day off. This,
he said, puts a lot of miles on their legs as they run
back and forth on the soccer pitch.
“We sort of limped over the season,” Salari said.
The commissioners, while agreeing on cer-
tain reasons for the downturn, also see differ-
ent causes. Some point fingers at the COVID-19
pandemic, some blame the low pay, others say
it’s hard to recruit referees with the steady abuse
hurled at them from parents and fans.
Revamped schedulesThese various expla-
nations have coalesced into a problem that has
left school athletic directors scrambling to have
enough officials available to play games.
“The biggest thing has been scheduling,” said
Doug Taylor, athletic director for Redmond High
School. “We’ve had to be creative with what we’re
doing.”
See Officials / A1
LOCAL
Nick Rosenberger/Spokesman
Austin Looney fires a hose on Dec. 6 at a Redmond Fire & Rescue training center in Redmond while practicing
to become a firefighter.
New restaurant opens in Redmond. A3
Firefighters
prepare for
the rigors
of the job
BY NICK ROSENBERGER • Redmond Spokesman
B
eau Bigo bolted out of the fire engine, grabbed a hose, ran the line out through slush and ice before looping around to face a
constructed wooden maze in front of him. Crouching down in his brown fire gear, he pulled the handle back and shot water
out of the hose with a hiss.
This scene played out through the cold Dec. 6 day as nine Redmond Fire & Rescue trainees plunged through week four of
their eight-week training program to reach their graduation a month later.
The group, the largest Redmond
Fire & Rescue has trained at one time,
will help fill a growing need in the
city’s emergency services as the fire
department tries to keep pace with
Redmond’s tremendous growth.
“I’m super excited because with
us nine comes a whole bunch of
new changes,” said Bigo, one of
the trainees. “This is going to be a
turning point for the department.”
With a projected increase of
50,000 residents, which will more
than double Redmond’s current
population, the fire department has
struggled to fill open positions and
reach the basic national standard of
three firefighters per engine.
Many firefighters have been
working overtime on scheduled
days off in order to respond to the
increasing number of calls as the
Nick Rosenberger/Spokesman
Redmond Fire & Rescue trainees laugh during a training session on Dec. 6
in Redmond.
city continues to grow.
The new firefighters, however,
will help take some of the pressure
off and allow them to reach na-
tional standards — which is a ma-
jor accomplishment according to
training captain Bill Welch.
“The fact that we’re able to hire
this many people, that in itself is
just hopeful,” Bigo said. “You feel
supported by the community.”
But, the training isn’t easy.
The group starts early — before
most people’s morning alarms be-
gin to go off. With a gym session
at 6:30 a.m., class from 8 a.m. un-
til noon and hands-on skills and
techniques until around 5 p.m.,
the four long days of training per
week are exhausting but reward-
ing for the trainees.
See Firefighters / A9
New downtown developments
Mercantile, off-leash dog park
attached to food cart pods
BY NICK ROSENBERGER AND TIM TRAINOR
Redmond Spokesman
Feast on food
@RedmondSpox
Two new food truck pods — one
with a meat market attached and an-
other combined with an off-leash dog
park — will soon be coming to down-
town Redmond.
The Blacksmith Public House,
which will include a partnership with
a 4,000-square-foot smokehouse and
mercantile, is slated to open in late
March or early April. The Doghouse
Brewyard is expected to open in Feb-
ruary.
According to Jordan Raney, gen-
eral manager of the Blacksmith Public
House, their new operations will fea-
ture two fire pits, a deck and an indoor
seating area with a full bar. They are
also hoping to add a coffee shop to the
location as well.
The development will be built at the
intersection of SW 4th and SW Ever-
green Ave.
“It’s going to have a little bit of every-
thing for everyone,” Raney said.
According to Raney, the building,
which was formerly a blacksmith shop,
will have a stage for live music and offer
12 taps, simple cocktails as well as selt-
zers and ciders.
See Downtown / A4
Nick Rosenberger/Spokesman
Construction has picked up speed at the site of the future Blacksmith
Food Truck Pod on 4th and SW Evergreen Ave. in Redmond. The new
food truck pod will feature six food trucks and an indoor venue with
12 taps and event space.
WEATHER FORECAST
INSIDE
Calendar .......................................................A2
Obituaries ................................................. A11
Coffee Break ............................................. A10
Classifieds ................................................. A12
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