A2 THE BULLETIN • FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2021
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LOCAL, STATE & REGION
DESCHUTES COUNTY
BULLETIN
GRAPHIC
129 new cases
COVID-19 data for Thursday, Feb. 11:
Deschutes County cases: 5,640 (26 new cases)
Deschutes County deaths: 49 (1 new death)
LOCAL
VACCINATIONS
Crook County cases: 734 (11 new cases)
Crook County deaths: 16 (zero new deaths)
22,704
Jefferson County cases: 1,867 (16 new cases)
Jefferson County deaths: 26 (1 new death)
Number of vaccinations
given by St. Charles
Health System
Oregon cases: 149,082 (621 new cases)
Oregon deaths: 2,056 (12 new deaths)
108 new cases
120
(Jan. 1)
90
new
cases
110
*No data
available on
Jan. 31
due to state
computer
maintenence
(Nov. 27)
90
80
70
50
(Nov. 14)
7-day
average
28 new cases
(July 16)
40
31 new cases
(Oct. 31)
30
16 new cases
(Sept. 19)
9 new cases
20
(May 20)
1st case
100
60
COVID-19 patients hospitalized at
St. Charles Bend on Tuesday: 15 (4 in ICU).
ONLINE
130
(Dec. 4)
What is COVID-19? It’s an infection caused by a new
coronavirus. Symptoms include fever, coughing and
shortness of breath. This virus can be fatal.
7 ways to help limit its spread: 1. Wash hands often
with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. 2. Avoid
touching your face. 3. Avoid close contact with sick
people. 4. Stay home. 5. In public, stay 6 feet from others
and wear a mask. 6. Cough into your elbow. 7. Clean and
disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces.
47 new cases
8 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Fri.
www.bendbulletin.com
SOURCES: OREGON HEALTH AUTHORITY,
DESCHUTES COUNTY HEALTH SERVICES
New COVID-19 cases per day
10
(March 11)
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Proposed bill aims to limit
bans on homeless camping
BY SARA CLINE
The Associated Press/Report for
America
PORTLAND — Cities and
counties in Oregon aiming to
ban homeless people from sit-
ting, sleeping and camping on
public property may soon face
a barrier under a proposed bill
introduced by state lawmakers
earlier this month.
House Bill 3115 would re-
quire local governments to be
“objectively reasonable” when
regulating sitting lying, sleeping
or keeping warm and dry on
public property.
If passed, the measure would
largely force cities statewide to
comply with the well-known
“camping lawsuit” in Boise,
Idaho, where a federal judge
ruled that prosecuting people
for sleeping on the streets, when
there are no shelter beds avail-
able, as unconstitutional and
cruel and unusual punishment.
“We have a lot of folks con-
tinuing to live in public spaces,
and that ruling in the court said
Ryan Brennecke/The Bulletin
A vacate notice nailed to a tree can
be seen in a homeless encamp-
ment near U.S. Highway 97 and
Revere Avenue in Bend in July .
that you can’t penalize people
for experiencing homelessness
if there isn’t enough shelter,”
Oregon House Speaker Tina
Kotek, who is the sponsor of the
bill, said Monday.
Twelve years ago, a group of
homeless people sued the city
of Boise, Idaho, for ticketing
them for sleeping outside, de-
spite there being a shortage of
Report: Some jails ill-equipped to
handle mental illness, disabilities
BY JAKE THOMAS
Salem Reporter
SALEM — Despite some Or-
egon jails cutting their popula-
tions in half on average because
of the pandemic, more people
died in local correctional insti-
tutions last year, according to
a report released by Disability
Rights Oregon.
The report found similar
circumstances surrounding 10
deaths in eight locally run jails
the disability rights group in-
vestigated last year. Over half of
the people who died in jails had
a mental illness or a substance
abuse disorder, according to the
report. It concluded that their
deaths could have been pre-
vented with better standards
of care and directing people to
community health services in-
stead of jail.
“We have long known that
jails have become the de facto
mental health provider for
many communities and yet
are ill-equipped to provide the
necessary care,” the report said.
“The catastrophic loss of life
detailed in this report demands
better solutions.”
Of the 10 deaths included in
the report, six were by suicide.
The report said that each per-
son that died by suicide was left
unsupervised in the cell. It also
criticized jails for not address-
ing fixtures that prisoners could
use to hang themselves.
The report also found that
people in jails who express sui-
cidal thoughts are put in iso-
lation, are denied phone calls,
have their clothes and personal
items taken from them and
made to wear a smock. Peo-
ple incarcerated in jails are
less likely to report suicidal
thoughts because of these pro-
tocols, according to the report.
“In every single one of these
jails, the suicide protocols were
punitive,” said Liz Reetz, the au-
thor of the report. “These aren’t
necessary to keep people safe.
In fact, it makes them less safe.”
The report pointed out that
data is limited on jail deaths.
But the report pointed to an
OPB investigation that found
that seven people died in Or-
egon jails in 2019 and nine in
2018. The report found there
were at least 10 deaths in jails
during the first 10 months
of 2020. Reetz said that these
deaths had a number of com-
mon factors.
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prior approval.
Lottery results can now be found on
the second page of Sports.
shelter beds in the area. In 2018,
the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals ruled that cities cannot
prosecute people for sleeping
on the streets if there is nowhere
else for them to go.
On Monday, a $1.8 million
settlement was reached in the
Boise case that includes $1.3
million to create overnight
shelters or rehabilitate existing
shelter spaces, $435,000 for the
plaintiffs’ attorneys and $5,000
in damages to the plaintiffs.
In addition, the city of Boise
will not cite or arrest people
when no shelter is available, of-
ficials said Monday in a news
release.
The 9th Circuit ruling affects
Alaska, Arizona, California, Ha-
waii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada,
Oregon and Washington.
Kotek said that the proposed
bill would help set guidance for
local government, as it relates to
the Boise ruling “about how lo-
cal jurisdictions should work on
and how they should treat folks
experiencing homelessness.”
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The report looked at jails in
Clatsop, Deschutes, Jackson,
Klamath, Marion and Polk
counties, as well as the Spring-
field Municipal Jail and the
NORCOR detention center in
The Dalles.
The Deschutes County jail
had one suicide during the time
frame of the report, between
Jan. 1 and Oct. 31, 2020: Chad
Braden Bomar died in Febru-
ary. The 33-year-old was in cus-
tody for alleged theft.
More broadly, each of the
10 people who died in Oregon
jails in 2020 was facing low-
level charges caused by behav-
ioral health issues, poverty or
“difficult life circumstances,”
according to the report.
LOCAL BRIEFING
Secretary of state
confirms that Buehler
is no longer in GOP
The Secretary of State’s of-
ficial voter registration web-
site showed Wednesday that
former Rep. Knute Buehler,
R-Bend, has left the Republi-
can party and re-registered as
a “non-affiliated” voter.
As late as Tuesday night,
the Secretary of State’s office
listed Buehler as a Repub-
lican. As of Wednesday, his
voter reg-
istration
is listed
as “Not a
member of
a party.”
Buehler,
the GOP
Buehler
nominee for
governor
in 2018 and a 2020 candidate
in the 2nd congressional dis-
trict Republican primary, said
Feb. 1 that he had decided
to leave the party. He said he
could no longer remain in the
party following the attack on
the U.S. Capitol by supporters
of former President Donald
Trump.
After his statements, which
first appeared in the New
York Times, Buehler’s reg-
istration with the Secretary
of State remained listed as a
Republican through Feb. 9.
Some journalists and critics
questioned if Buehler had in
fact made the switch.
Buehler said he had made
the change online, seen by
his wife and a friend, and any
listing delay was due to delays
with the state system.
The state ORESTAR sys-
tem showed the change
Wednesday morning.
An analysis of January vot-
ing records by The New York
Times published Wednesday
found that nearly 140,000 Re-
publicans have quit the party
in 25 states that tracked the
data.
Vaccinations at the
fairgrounds to continue
despite winter weather
A snowy forecast will not
dampen the efforts by the
county health officials to
complete COVID-19 vaccina-
tion appointments at the De-
schutes County Fair & Expo
Center in Redmond.
All scheduled appoint-
ments will be maintained,
however, if the weather doesn’t
allow an appointment to be
kept Thursday and Friday, the
Deschutes County Health Ser-
vices says not to worry.
“Those who are sched-
uled to receive a dose and
are unable to safely travel to
the clinic due to inclement
weather will be contacted
early next week to have their
appointment rescheduled,”
said Morgan Emerson, De-
schutes County Health Ser-
vices spokeswoman.
The vaccination clinic is
prepared for the bad weather
caused by the winter storm
warning put into effect by the
National Weather Service. A
storm warning means a storm
could occur within the next
36 hours.
Sidewalks will be kept clear
and staff is prepared to help
maintain clear access for any-
one with an appointment,
Emerson said.
For more information, call
541-322-7400.
—Bulletin staff reports
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