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About The Bulletin. (Bend, OR) 1963-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 16, 2021)
Serving Central Oregon since 1903 • $1.50 TUESDAY • February 16, 2021 WINDING UP TO PLAY BEND ELKS 2021 SEASON • SPORTS PULLOUT, A5-8 Summit High School outbreak Seeking warmth More cases tied to student party Bend’s shelter sees increase in guests amid storms BY JACKSON HOGAN The Bulletin An outbreak of COVID-19 — traced to a party last week mostly attended by Summit High School students — grew to 43 student cases as of Mon- day. And most of those stu- dents are showing varying degrees of symptoms, accord- ing to a letter to families from Michael McDonald, Summit principal. As a result, the closure of in-person classes at the west Bend high school have been extended through Friday, meaning Summit students will spend at least a week and a half learning from home. Bend-La Pine Schools lead- ers have asked Deschutes County Health Services staff to investigate whether these 40-plus cases have spread to lo- cal businesses or families, said Julianne Repman, director of safety and communications for the school district. But for now, school dis- trict and health department contact tracers haven’t found any evidence that the Summit High outbreak was spread in- side the school last week, Rep- man said. “So far, there’s no connec- tion to the classroom,” she told The Bulletin on Monday. “The links so far are primary and secondary cases tied to the party — people who were at the party, or students who were with students from the party.” No teachers or school staff at Summit High School have tested positive yet, Repman said. Health privacy laws pre- vent the district from know- ing of specific cases involving nonstudents or nonstaff, even if connected to the party, she said. Contact tracers have iden- tified one positive case each at Bend and Skyline high schools, from students who attended the party, Repman said. But neither of those schools have multiple-case outbreaks, she noted. Kathy Ross, an employee with Shepherd’s House Ministries, cleans the Bend warming shelter Saturday in preparation to open its doors for guests. The yellow crates are being used as barriers between the beds to help with social distancing. BY KYLE SPURR • The Bulletin T the warming shelter’s impor- tance to Bend’s homeless. “If they don’t have a warm place to go they could die from exposure,” Notari said. “We take that very se- riously. That’s why we won’t turn anyone away.” Since temperatures started to drop to sin- gle digits last month, the warming shelter has made more room to accommo- date an increase in guests. The shelter is seeing up to 70 people a night compared to about 50 that came when the shelter opened Nov. 23. Shelter staff have used crates as barriers between the beds, which are spread out in the otherwise empty 10,000-square-foot building at 275 NE Second St. that used to house the Possibili- ties Thrift Store. he temperature was already below freezing as a line of 30 home- less people started to gather outside Bend’s emergency warming shelter. For some of the guests, it was their first time inside all day. One man knocked on the door before the shelter opened Sat- urday afternoon to tell the staff his feet were freezing and he needed new socks. The late winter storms that dumped snow in Bend and dropped temperatures into the single digits last week put added stress on the shelter, which is be- ing run this year by Shepherd’s House Ministries. There were more guests each night; the shel- ter opened earlier in the day, and supplies were nearly depleted. Dave Notari, director of de- velopment with Shepherd’s House Ministries, said the recent weather was a stark reminder of See Shelter / A14 Ryan Brennecke/Bulletin photos Guests wait in line to enter the Bend warming shelter. See Outbreak / A14 Irrigators fear legislation would erode due process Irrigators would no longer be able to automatically block certain water shut-offs under a bill that Oregon farm groups claim would endanger due process rights. Under the “automatic stay” provision of Oregon water law, an irrigator can file a lawsuit to immediately stop the en- TODAY’S WEATHER forcement of a government order against pumping or di- verting water. The mechanism — called a harmful loophole by de- tractors and a necessary pro- tection by defenders — has repeatedly come under fire in the Legislature in recent years. House Bill 2244 would pre- vent irrigators from invoking the automatic stay against Rain or snow High 41, Low 24 Page A13 INDEX shut-offs specifically intended to preserve in-stream water rights owned by tribal govern- ments and state agencies. Proponents argue that HB 2244 makes a nuanced change to the automatic stay provi- sion rather than eliminating it altogether, but opponents say it simply creates unfair prefer- ences for specific types of wa- ter rights holders. Business Classifieds Comics A11 A14 A9-10 Dear Abby Editorial Horoscope A7 A8 A7 Revising the automatic stay process is necessary to correct the injustice suffered by the Klamath Tribes, who’ve been prevented from enforcing their water rights by the pro- vision, according to the bill’s supporters. “This is contrary to almost every proceeding in court, where the preliminary injunc- tion must be supported by Kid Scoop Local/State Lottery A12 A2- 4 A6 Obituaries Puzzles Sports A4 A10 A5-7 In an article headlined “St. Charles sued for $15M for wrongful death,” which ap- peared Saturday, Feb. 13 on Page A1, the relationship be- tween St. Charles Health Sys- tem and two physicians was misstated. Dr. Blake Van Me- ter and Dr. Jeffrey Mathisen practice at St. Charles, but are not employees of the hospital system. The Bulletin regrets the error. a showing of a likelihood of prevailing,” said Rep. Marty Wilde, D-Eugene, the bill’s chief sponsor. Irrigators who believe that water regulators aren’t justi- fied in seeking a water shut- off can still file a motion for a preliminary injunction, she said during a recent legislative hearing. See Irrigators / A14 The Bulletin ù An Independent Newspaper We use recycled newsprint Vol. 119, No. 40, 14 pages, 1 section DAILY BY MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press Correction U|xaIICGHy02329lz[