Serving Central Oregon since 1903 • $1.50
MONDAY • January 25, 2021
An
acidic
solution
Oregon firefighters
make a virus-killing
disinfectant
BY KRISTEN WOHLERS
Pamplin Media Group
SNOW
MUCH FUN
Photos by RYAN BRENNECKE • The Bulletin
ABOVE: Jackson Antonio, 10, tries to steer with his hands
while sledding with family and friends in the NorthWest
Crossing neighborhood Saturday. BELOW: Abriella Gatto, 8,
smiles as she sleds down the street.
A
Bulletin photographer
spent the day in
Bend’s NorthWest Crossing
neighborhood after the first
significant snowfall this season
— and locals were seen taking
advantage of the weather. Next
chance for snow is Wednesday,
according to the forecast.
ABOVE: Mackenzie Fish, 5, smiles
as she slides down the street on an
inflatable unicorn while playing with
family and friends. RIGHT: A beam of
sunlight shines through a row of trees
onto a freshly made snowman.
In the spring, when
COVID-19 began to
spread in the United
States, first responders
were charged with en-
suring safe transport
to hospitals. So, the
Molalla Fire Depart-
ment went looking for
a fast and effective way
to decontaminate am-
bulances and facilities,
and they found it.
The answer: hypo-
chlorous acid.
Hypochlorous acid
is produced naturally
in human bodies, and
in all mammals, for
healing and protec-
tion. But, as Molalla
Fire discovered, it also
can be made using salt
and water through elec-
tro-chemical activation.
Hypochlorous acid is
approved by the Food
and Drug Administra-
tion, the U.S. Depart-
ment of Agriculture
Organic and the World
Health Administration.
It sanitizes surfaces,
killing the COVID-19
virus in 10-15 seconds.
Yet it is safe for the skin
and is even food-safe at
the right potency.
Dustin Hamilton,
a Molalla firefighter
and EMT, in April re-
searched and found the
product for a decent
price. But because of
the demand, that price
skyrocketed.
So Hamilton con-
tacted Service Wing Or-
ganic Solutions in Tulsa,
Oklahoma, about a gen-
erator it sells. Through a
grant from the CARES
Act, Molalla Fire was
able to purchase that
generator for $46,500
and three 330-gallon
storage tanks for $1,500,
and the department is
now making hypochlor-
ous acid for its own use.
“We understand it
seems like a lot of money
for the machine,” Ham-
ilton said, “but to keep
our station open, keep
our people healthy and
able to run emergency
calls is something you
cannot put a price on.”
See Molalla / A10
INAUGURATION DAY IN PORTLAND
‘What are they marching for?’
Reporting from the scene of a protest that confused observers — and some protesters
As about 50 people dressed head-
to-toe in black stood in a standoff
with Portland Police blocking a park-
ing lot behind Benson High School,
parents and coaches from a youth
soccer program on the nearby field
walked up to see what was going on.
“What are they marching for?”
one soccer mom asked.
The anarchists, antifa and activ-
ists seemed at times to question that
themselves.
“Who set this (expletive) up?”
TODAY’S
WEATHER
Reese Monson asked over a mega-
phone as the demonstration got un-
derway two hours earlier outside
Revolution Hall.
A voice in the crowd yelled back,
“We don’t have leaders.”
Those meeting on Inauguration
Day outside the music venue carried
on what has become a cat-and-mouse
call for disruption in the city over the
last few months — a vestige of Port-
land’s summer protests that devolved
at night into clashes with police.
The latest iteration has wrought
extensive property damage recently,
Chilly, some clouds
High 35, Low 15
Page A10
INDEX
Comics
Dear Abby
Horoscope
INSIDE
• Right-wing extremism has evolved, from
isolated areas to the centers of power, A2
including apparently indiscriminate
window-smashing.
The “direct action” events have tied
Portland’s mayor and police in knots
— as well as others in the larger Black
Lives Matter movement who want po-
lice reform, even abolition, but have
condemned property destruction and
have worked to separate themselves
from those who advocate vandalism.
See Inauguration Day / A4
A7-8
A4
A4
Kid Scoop
Local/State
Nation/World
A9
A2-3
A4
Puzzles
Sports
Weather
The Oregonian
Demonstrators march in Portland during a protest Wednesday. People carried anti-Biden
signs on the day Joe Biden was sworn in as president, and others damaged the headquar-
ters of the Democratic Party of Oregon.
A8
A5-6
A10
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