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A2 THE BULLETIN • THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2021 The Bulletin How to reach us LOCAL, STATE & REGION DESCHUTES New COVID-19 COVID-19 cases cases per DESCHUTES COUNTY COUNTY L. New per day day CIRCULATION Didn’t receive your paper? Start or stop subscription? 541-385-5800 PHONE HOURS 6 a.m.-noon Tuesday-Friday 7 a.m.-noon Saturday-Sunday and holidays COVID-19 data for Wednesday, Feb. 17: Deschutes County cases: 5,795 (50 new cases) Deschutes County deaths: 56 (zero new deaths) 23,115 Jefferson County cases: 1,900 (10 new cases) Jefferson County deaths: 27 (zero new deaths) Number of vaccinations given by St. Charles Health System Oregon cases: 151,257 (473 new cases) Oregon deaths: 2,143 (5 new deaths) GENERAL INFORMATION 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Fri. ONLINE 108 new cases 120 (Jan. 1) 90 new cases 110 *No data available on Jan. 31 due to state computer maintenence (Nov. 27) 90 70 50 (Nov. 14) 7-day average 40 31 new cases 28 new cases (Oct. 31) 30 16 new cases (July 16) (Sept. 19) 20 (May 20) 1st case 100 80 47 new cases 9 new cases www.bendbulletin.com 130 (Dec. 4) 60 COVID-19 patients hospitalized at St. Charles Bend on Wednesday: 16 (2 in ICU). 541-382-1811 BULLETIN GRAPHIC GRAPHIC 129 new cases 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. LOCAL VACCINATIONS Crook County cases: 751 (2 new cases) Crook County deaths: 18 (zero new deaths) SOURCES: OREGON HEALTH HEALTH AUTHORITY, AUTHORITY, SOURCES: OREGON DESCHUTES COUNTY COUNTY HEALTH SERVICES SERVICES 10 (March 11) EMAIL bulletin@bendbulletin.com March April May June July August September October November December January February AFTER HOURS Newsroom ................................541-383-0348 Circulation ................................541-385-5800 NEWSROOM EMAIL Business ........business@bendbulletin.com City Desk .............news@bendbulletin.com Features.................................................................. communitylife@bendbulletin.com Sports ................. sports@bendbulletin.com NEWSROOM FAX 541-385-5804 OUR ADDRESS Street .............. 320 SW Upper Terrace Drive Suite 200 Bend, OR 97702 Mailing ........... P.O. Box 6020 Bend, OR 97708 B ADMINISTRATION Publisher Heidi Wright ..............................541-383-0341 Editor Gerry O’Brien .............................541-633-2166 DEPARTMENT HEADS Advertising Steve Rosen ................................541-383-0370 Circulation/Operations Vitto Kleinschmidt ...................541-617-7830 Finance Anthony Georger ....................541-383-0324 Human Resources ................541-383-0340 TALK TO AN EDITOR City Julie Johnson ...................541-383-0367 Business, Features, GO! 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Box 6020 Bend, OR 97708 Phone ......................................... 541-617-7829 CORRECTIONS The Bulletin’s primary concern is that all stories are accurate. If you know of an error in a story, call us at 541-383-0367. TO SUBSCRIBE Call us ......................541-385-5800 • Home delivery and E-Edition ..........................$7 per week • By mail .................................$9.50 per week • E-Edition only ...................$4.50 per week To sign up for our e-Editions, visit www.bendbulletin.com to register. TO PLACE AN AD Classified ......................................541-385-5809 Advertising fax ..........................541-385-5802 Other information ....................541-382-1811 OBITUARIES No death notices or obituaries are published Mondays. When submitting, please include your name, address and contact number. 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They may not be reproduced without explicit prior approval. ý Lottery results can now be found on the second page of Sports. LOCAL BRIEFING District buys land for new park in southwest Bend The Bend Park & Recreation District is buying 3.5 acres of land in the new Shevlin West development with the intent to build a new park. On Tuesday, the park board voted unanimously to enter a purchase and sale agreement with Empire Shevlin LLC, the developer behind the planned 116 lot subdivision in south- west Bend for $147,287. The park will have direct trail access to Shevlin Park, ac- cording to park district docu- ments. The park district plans to use roughly $1.4 million in system development charges, which the park district charges to developers to pay for new parks and new trails, to pur- chase and develop the prop- erty. A district goal is to have a park at least ½ mile away from most homes within the district, according to park documents. Redmond man accused of sexually abusing girl A Redmond man was charged Wednesday with five felonies for allegedly sexually abusing a girl younger than 12. Adam Gor- don Lovett, 35, was ar- raigned in Deschutes County Cir- Lovett cuit Court on four counts of first-degree sex- ual abuse and one of first-de- gree unlawful sexual penetra- tion. He was listed as an inmate of the Deschutes County jail with no bail amount set. According to Lovett’s in- dictment, he abused a girl over three dates in 2020 — July 1, Aug. 1 and Nov. 25. On Tues- day, a grand jury approved the current charges against him. A judge earlier approved an order forbidding Lovett from attempting to contact the al- leged victim, who is referred in court records by her initials. He has a plea hearing sched- uled for next month. Sheriff’s office investigates arson at home in Sisters office and OSP to continue the investigation. Anyone with information related to the fire is encouraged to contact the sheriff’s office at 541-693-6911. Redmond approves $283K for downtown parking lot A Redmond City Council vote Tuesday night was the fi- nal bureaucratic step in trans- forming a blighted patch of downtown Redmond into 36 parking spots. The City Council — acting as the Urban Renewal Agency Board — unanimously ap- proved a $282,906.30 contract to build a parking lot with Redmond contractor McKen- zie Cascade at a board meeting Tuesday night. The lot will be built at the northwest corner of NW Fourth Street and SW Ever- green Avenue, only two blocks away from Redmond’s main downtown strip. The city purchased the va- cant land in September 2019 with the intention of building the parking lot, city docu- ments state. Not only would the project add more parking to down- town Redmond, but it would also add a sidewalk along Fourth Street, between Ever- green and Deschutes avenues, city documents state. The city expects construction on the lot to begin in March, with parking available by June. Deschutes library to host virtual series on nature Throughout March, De- schutes Public Library will host eight virtual events focused on nature, wildlife and environ- mentalism. The series, dubbed “Know Wild,” will cover a range of top- ics from local wolf populations, to saving bees, to how climate change is impacting Central Oregon’s wildlife, according to a library press release. All eight events are free, and will be presented over Zoom. For a list of events, dates and top- ics — along with corresponding Zoom registrations — visit De- schutes Public Library’s website at www.deschuteslibrary.org. — Bulletin staff reports Poll: Self-service, grocery liquor sales are popular BY ZANE SPARLING Oregon Capital Bureau Hands off that gas pump! The quirks of life in the Beaver State might bemuse outsiders, but surely true- blue Oregonians cherish our time-honored idiosyncrasies, right? It’s just not so, according to a new survey. A poll by the Oregon Values and Beliefs Center, a project of DHM Research, found that a majority of state residents are ready to pump their own gas and buy a bottle of spirits at the local supermarket. Just don’t expect them to vote in a sales tax, which three out of four here oppose. “Support tends to increase among higher-income Ore- gonians, but no demographic groups reach 30% support for this policy change,” according to a DHM policy brief on a po- tential sales tax. Here are the key findings: • Nearly two-thirds of Ore- gonians (63%) are in favor of allowing motorists to pump their own gas, rather than re- lying on an attendant. Demo- graphics showing the strongest support include those making more than $100,000 per year (73%) and political conserva- tives (71%). Support is lowest among political moderates, pegged at 55%. • Even more unifying is the proposal to allow hard alcohol sales in grocery stores, instead of restricting them to state-li- censed liquor stores. Roughly two-thirds (65%) support such an idea, including 70% of Democrats and 69% of those living outside the metro area and Willamette Valley. Those aged 65 and up registered the least support, with just 57% in favor. • Oregonians overwhelm- ingly gave the thumbs down to creating a new statewide sales tax, with 75% of residents in opposition. Demographics that most strongly rejected the idea include those without school- age children (79%), those earn- ing less than $50,000 per year (73%), conservatives (79%) The Deschutes County Sher- iff’s Office is investigating a suspected arson in Sisters. After a house fire Saturday at 152 N. Larch St., an inves- tigation determined the fire started outside the house and the cause was arson, according to the sheriff’s office. Deputies responded to the fire at 9 p.m. Saturday along with local fire departments. Fire crews were able to quickly extinguish the fire. Damage was estimated to be $75,000. An investigator from the Or- egon State Fire Marshal’s Office and a detective from the Or- egon State Police Arson Unit were sent to the house. The sheriff’s office is work- ing with the state fire marshal’s Find Find it it all all online online bendbulletin.com bendbulletin.com EOMG file photo/Oregon Capital Insider and those living in the outer suburbs (88%). Those making more than $100,000 per year were most in favor, but only 26% offered support. • The idea of paying a tax at the cash register became slightly more palatable when paired with a proposed reduc- tion in the state income tax, with half opposed, one-third in favor and the remainder un- sure. Opposition was strongest among those aged 65 and up (67%), while those with college education evinced the most support (40%). At age 76, Bob Fankhauser remembers pumping thou- sands of dollars’ worth of gas at a service station in San Fran- cisco — and that was when it only cost 25 cents on the gal- lon. “It’s always presented as, ‘if you pump your own gas, you’ll save money,’” said Fankhauser, who lives in the Garden Home area of Washington County. But he’s not buying the argu- ment. “They charge you the same amount in Washington as they do in Oregon.” Today, New Jersey is the only other state still requiring attendants, though Oregon lawmakers allowed rural res- idents to pump their own gas in 2018. Fears of viral transmis- sion early last year prompted a pilot project for self-service gas, because motorists feared being near gas station atten- dants might help spread the COVID-19 virus. But that pi- lot project didn’t last long, and the state soon returned to at- tendants-only service in May. “I am sometimes a little annoyed that I can’t pump my own gas,” admitted Fankhauser, “but it provides employment to people who might not otherwise have it.” On the topic of liquor sales, southeast Portlander Suzanne Bader is in favor of loosening the rules slowly, potentially through a pilot program. “I would not like to see it available in convenience stores or sold 24/7,” the 59-year-old said. Fankhauser disagreed, say- ing the restrictions smacked of “lingering puritanism.” And the two survey respon- dents split on the topic of a sales tax, with Fankhauser in opposition, noting that a sales tax is “regressive”— that is, it puts the heaviest burden on those with the least income. But Bader said the state doesn’t have enough revenue to match the ever-rising ex- pense of providing services. “I don’t think our residents have a realistic view of what things cost,” she said. DHM surveyed 603 Oregon adults in January, using re- spondents from a professional panel who were selected to be representative of state demo- graphics. The margin of error for the poll is 2.4% to 4%. Taylor Towery Towery and and the the team team at at The The Bulletin have been been knowledgeable, knowledgeable, Bulletin have attentive to our needs v attentive to our needs and and 1__delivered print and and delivered successful successful print digital campaigns. . digital campaigns. We We will will continue to use as we ( continue to use them them as we grow our business business and and expand expand grow our throughout Oregon Oregon and and look look to throughout them them for for advertising advertising guidance. guidance. Thank Thank you for for your your continued continued professionalism and kindness. kindness. professionalism and * i Very Sincerely, Sincerely, The Bulletin EMPOWERING DUR COMMUNITY www.bendbulletin.com 541.382.1811 541 . 382.1811 99 Heidi Olson-Dunlap Heidi Olson-Dunlap Broker Mountain Living Real Real Estate Estate Group of Central Oregon Mountain Living Group of Central Oregon Mountainlivingreg.com Mountainlivingreg.com