THURSDAY • February 4, 2021
Serving Central Oregon since 1903 • $3
BLACK HISTORY MONTH
Movie recommendations
Moments in Oregon history
Conversations with
Oregon creatives, including:
MOsley WOtta
Mitchell S. Jackson
SPORTS PULLOUT, A5-8
Auto theft
shoots up
in Bend
area during
pandemic
Late
census
data
causes
ruckus
WILD AND SCENIC RIVERS
Police report rise of
over 50% in Bend,
20% in Redmond
Legislature, secretary
of state argue over
who will control
Oregon redistricting
BY GARRETT ANDREWS
The Bulletin
Vehicle thefts rose 56.5%
in Bend in 2020, according to
new numbers by the Bend Po-
lice Department, and officials
aren’t sure why.
But police know one thing:
A high number of thefts last
year , 25% , involve an owner
leaving the keys inside the ve-
hicle. Many of these drivers left
their vehicles unattended while
they were warming up.
The number of reported sto-
len vehicles in Bend jumped
from 124 in 2019 to 195 in
2020.
Bend Police spokesperson
Lt. Juli McConkey said the
department will start a three-
month campaign to address
this “drastic” jump in vehicle
thefts through its data driven
policing initiative. The depart-
ment hopes to identify areas
in town where crime has in-
creased and educate neighbor-
hood associations about the
need to lock cars. The city’s
crime analyst, Nancy Watson,
will also compile data from
suspects about their motives
and whether they’re responsi-
ble for multiple auto thefts.
The spike could end up be-
ing the product of a handful of
prolific thieves, or larger de-
mographic shifts.
“I think people are assuming
things that we just don’t know
yet,” McConkey said. “We just
aren’t sure why it’s taking place.”
A sharp rise in auto theft
from 2019 to 2020 was also
seen in Deschutes County’s
second largest city, Redmond,
which experienced a 21% in-
crease, or an increase from 80
to 97 vehicle thefts. The De-
schutes County Sheriff’s Of-
fice, however, saw a 10% de-
crease in auto thefts in that
time, with a drop of 89 to 80.
McConkey said that in 31.7%
of the Bend cases, vehicles were
left unlocked.
BY GARY A. WARNER
Oregon Capital Bureau
A vehicle drives over a section of Tumalo Creek Wednesday.
The Legislature and Ore-
gon Secretary of State Shemia
Fagan appear headed for a
showdown over who will con-
trol redistricting of legislative
and congressional maps to be
used in the 2022 election.
The Senate Redistricting
Committee heard testimony
on Wednesday from U.S. Cen-
sus Bureau officials that data
legally required for the Legis-
lature to draw maps would not
be available until after it ad-
journs July 1.
It was supposed to arrive
April 1.
“We have not been able to
achieve that,” said Kathleen
M. Styles, chief of the bureau’s
department dealing with redis-
tricting.
Styles said data being sent
to all states was delayed be-
cause of the difficulty of count-
ing the population amid the
COVID-19 pandemic, which
struck just as the count was
getting underway in March.
Regional disasters and
demonstrations slowed counts,
including the wildfires in Cali-
fornia and Oregon, hurricanes
in the southeastern U.S., and
major civil rights demonstra-
tions during the summer.
Politics came into play, with
confusing directives from the
Trump administration changing
the process of the count, and the
transition to the new adminis-
tration of President Joe Biden.
“This has been a census un-
like any other,” Styles said.
The data problem is particu-
larly acute for six states, includ-
ing Oregon, which have consti-
tutionally mandated deadlines
for redistricting in 2021.
Ryan Brennecke/The Bulletin
Wyden bill would protect nearly
4,700 MILES
of Oregon rivers and streams
BY MICHAEL KOHN
The Bulletin
A year ago U.S. Sen. Ron
Wyden, D-Ore., asked Orego-
nians to nominate their favorite
rivers to be included in an ex-
pansion of the Wild and Sce-
nic Rivers System. Thousands
of nominations poured in, and
Wednesday the legislation to
have some of those rivers for-
mally protected was introduced
to Congress.
If passed, the River Democ-
racy Act will add nearly 4,700
miles of rivers and streams in
Oregon to the protected sys-
tem, according to a release. Sen.
Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., is help-
ing Wyden get the legislation
through Congress.
Wild and Scenic Rivers is a
special designation that protects
rivers and develops them for
tourism, in the same way that
a national park protects a des-
ignated area of land. The idea
behind the designation was de-
veloped in the late 1960s and for-
mally adopted in October 1968
by President Lyndon B. Johnson.
The act includes sections of
several rivers in Central Oregon,
including the Deschutes and Fall
rivers and Tumalo Creek. One
of the nominations for Tum-
alo Creek came from a group
of sixth graders at Pacific Crest
Middle School.
“Oregonians made it loud
and clear, they cherish Oregon’s
rivers and want them protected
for generations to come,” said
Wyden in a statement. “More
protected rivers and clear man-
agement objectives mean more
jobs, improved wildfire resil-
iency, and a guarantee for the liv-
ability of Oregon.”
In addition to protection and
tourism development, the corri-
dor of land alongside each rivers
is also treated to reduce wildfire
risk — increasingly important
as climate change dries out the
large areas of the Western U.S.
Another goal is to sustain pop-
ulations of endangered fish and
wildlife.
See Rivers / A4
See Theft / A4
See Redistricting / A13
Oregon State University
Oregon seeks to make workplace
COVID-19 rules permanent — for now plans for yet another
Face masks and social dis-
tancing are likely to remain
a fixture of the shopping and
working experience for some
time, according to the state’s
employee safety department.
Oregon’s Occupational
Safety and Health Administra-
tion has announced plans to
make its series of COVID-19
public health emergency reg-
ulations permanent — with
TODAY’S
WEATHER
some tweaks to the rulebook
— at least until the pandemic
fades away.
“We have not yet defeated
this disease, and we clearly
will not have done so by the
time the temporary rule ex-
pires,” said Oregon OSHA
Administrator Michael Wood.
“As a result, it is critically im-
portant that we carry forward
measures that we know are
effective at combating the
spread of this disease and re-
Cloudy
High 47, Low 32
Page A12
INDEX
ducing risks in the workplace.”
Oregon OSHA first adopted
its temporary rules for ad-
dressing COVID-19 risk Nov.
16, and says the rules expire
on May 4.
Because the law does not
allow the extension of tempo-
rary workplace regulations,
OSHA has prepared 105
pages of proposed permanent
rulemaking. Virtual public
hearings will be held before
their adoption.
Business
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GO!
“Oregon OSHA intends to
repeal the rule when it is no
longer necessary to address
that pandemic,” the agency
explained. “Because it is not
possible to assign a specific
time for that decision, Oregon
OSHA will consult with ... the
Oregon Health Authority and
other stakeholders as circum-
stances change to determine
when all or part of the rule
can be appropriately repealed.”
See Workplace / A4
Horoscope
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Lottery
A7
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Sports
A4
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A5-7
virtual commencement
BY JACKSON HOGAN
The Bulletin
Another class of Oregon
State University seniors in
Bend and Corvallis won’t have
an in-person graduation cele-
bration due to COVID-19.
OSU-Cascades will hold a
virtual commencement cere-
mony on June 13, according to
a university press release sent
Wednesday morning. This
The Bulletin
An Independent Newspaper
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recycled
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Vol. 119, No. 30, 14 pages, 1 section
decision was made both for
COVID-19 safety reasons, as
well as an expectation that large
in-person events will still be
restricted by state laws at that
time, said Becky Johnson, vice
president of OSU-Cascades.
“We don’t expect gatherings
of a size of commencement to
be allowed by June,” Johnson
told The Bulletin Wednesday.
See University / A4
SUN/THU
BY ZANE SPARLING
Oregon Capital Bureau
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