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THURSDAY • February 11, 2021 Serving Central Oregon since 1903 • $3 LOVE IN A PANDEMIC » FOOD • MOVIES EVENTS MUSIC IN GO! MAGAZINE, INSIDE SPORTS PULLOUT, A5-8 Brown says yes to prep football BY BRIAN RATHBONE The Bulletin Dean Guernsey/The Bulletin The Sunriver Nature Center welcomed a new swan Wednesday to replace Gracie who was killed last year. MATCHES MADE BY VALENTINE’S DAY Sunriver Nature Center, Aspen Lakes Golf Course in Sisters get new swans High school football in Oregon is back. And not the 7-on-7 version, where linemen and tackling are excluded, but full-fledged contact football, which was on life support entering the first week of practice this week. Wednesday afternoon Gov. Kate Brown said high school football will be allowed to resume after being postponed last fall. According to the governor, outdoor contact sports in lower- and moder- ate risk counties can practice and have games. Those in high or extreme risk counties will have the option to also re- sume contact sports, but with additional safety measures. Because of the current risk status for schools in Central Oregon’s three counties, local schools must implement safety measures to be able to play. De- schutes County moved from extreme risk to high risk this week, while Jeffer- son and Crook County remain in ex- treme risk. The change will take effect Friday. “Beginning this week, outdoor con- tact sports will be permitted to resume with health and safety protocols in place based on county risk level,” Brown said in a press release. This is the major step for contact sports and activities — football, basket- ball, wrestling, cheerleading and dance — which did not have an avenue for re- turning to play even if counties reached “low risk” in regards to COVID-19 spread. Now there is a mostly clear path- way to return. “We are excited about continuing the trend of getting more things open and going,” said Peter Weber, executive di- rector of the Oregon School Activities Association. See Football / A14 BY KYLE SPURR The Bulletin “She seems to be following him around, which is a good sign. They really do seem to be bonding” — Robin Gold, a wildlife rehabilitation expert who lives in Aspen Lakes neighborhood SUNRIVER — us will have a romantic Val- entine’s Day after all. The lonely trumpeter swan at the Sunriver Nature Cen- ter was introduced to a new mate Wednesday after being alone since the fall, when his mate, Gracie, was found dead from a likely coyote attack. Gracie was a beloved resident of the nature center and helped repopu- late the threatened species in Oregon. From the icy shore of Lake Aspen, Gus watched Wednesday as his new mate, who has not yet been named, was released onto the water. The 4-year-old bird glided toward Gus, but as he approached, she showed more interest in eating the vegetation in the lake and cleaning herself. It was not exactly love at first sight. But there is still plenty of time be- fore breeding season starts in May, said Gary Ivey, of Bend, a past presi- dent of the Trumpeter Swan Society G and former biologist at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. “He’s definitely interested,” Ivey said. “He gave it three or four tries swimming by and she didn’t give him a wink.” Gus is the second swan in Central Oregon this month to be matched with a new mate. At Aspen Lakes Golf Course in Sis- ters, the resident swan Eloise lost her mate, Pete, who died unexpectedly Jan. 23 from a bacterial infection. The pair was the most prolific in Oregon’s breeding program to reestablish the species. They produced 15 young in three years. Eloise was surprised Feb. 5 to see a new mate. She was introduced to Bob, a 5-year-old male swan who was donated from the same breeder in North Carolina that sent Pete to the Sisters golf course. Madras man gets 12 years for sex abuse of 2 girls BY GARRETT ANDREWS The Bulletin A Madras man who befriended a lo- cal family to get close to their two girls under 10 and abuse them will spend the next 12½ years in prison. Merle Fredrick Cantrell, 48, was sen- tenced Wednesday in Jefferson County Circuit Court. Upon release from prison he will have 10 years of parole. He’ll have to register as a sex offender upon his re- lease. See Swans / A14 See Abuse / A4 OSU COVID-19 testing reveals 3% prevalence in Redmond Get a group together of 100 residents from Redmond and the odds are that at least three will test positive for COVID-19. That is according to results from random test- ing recently conducted by re- TODAY’S WEATHER searchers from Oregon State University. The OSU testing conducted January 29-31 suggested that 32 out of 1,000 Redmond residents test positive for COVID-19. OSU’s TRACE community, a public health surveillance project, conducted Snow High 35, Low 12 Page A12 INDEX the tests, the results of which were announced Wednesday. Concern over the spread of the virus has been heightened in recent weeks in Redmond, following last month’s outbreak of COVID-19 at the St. Charles Redmond, where more than 30 people tested positive. Business Classifieds Comics A11, 13 A14 A9-10 Dear Abby Editorial Events A7 A8 GO! Tuesday, the Oregon Health Authority lifted the “outbreak” status of the hospital as all test- ing over the previous 14 days related to the outbreak was negative. The results from OSU could help residents better un- derstand how much of a threat the virus is in their community. Horoscope Local/State Lottery A7 A2-4 A6 Obituaries Puzzles Sports A4 A10 A5-7 The 3.2% prevalence of COVID-19 in Redmond is high compared to other Ore- gon communities where sim- ilar testing was conducted, said Ben Dalziel, an assistant professor at OSU’s College of Science. OSU researchers estimate that the asymptomatic prev- alence within Redmond was between 60-70%, said Steve Clark, an OSU spokesperson. “It indicates the true number (of people) infected is much higher than the number of ac- tive cases,” said Dalziel. See Redmond / A4 The Bulletin ù An Independent Newspaper We use recycled newsprint Vol. 119, No. 36, 14 pages, 1 section SUN/THU BY MICHAEL KOHN The Bulletin U|xaIICGHy02330rzu