Serving Central Oregon since 1903 • $1.50
Tuesday • March 30, 2021
2nd-half rally wasn’t enough for Beavers
MEN’S NCAA TOURNAMENT • SPORTS PULLOUT, A5-8
Bentz visits veterans in first
trip home as a congressman
Dozens attend local event
By BReNNa VIsseR
The Bulletin
In his first trip back to Oregon
since being sworn in early this year,
U.S. Rep. Cliff Bentz, R-Ontario,
came to speak at the Central Oregon
Veterans Ranch north of Bend in
honor of Vietnam War Veterans Day.
Dozens of veterans, their friends
and families gathered Monday at
the ranch, which supports veter-
u.s. Rep. Cliff
Bentz, center,
talks with
veterans
during a
Vietnam War
Veterans
day event
at Central
Oregon
Veterans
Ranch on
Monday.
ans by offering peer support and
agriculture- related therapy.
“We’re here to honor you for your
sacrifice and your suffering,” Alison
Perry, Founder of Central Oregon
Veterans Ranch, said at the event.
Dean Guernsey/
The Bulletin
See Bentz / A4
BEND
HOMICIDE CASE
BLOCKBUSTER SOARS
Kilby
arraigned:
1st-degree
murder
Business was already booming at Bend Blockbuster; Netflix doc boosted it higher
By GaRReTT aNdReWs
The Bulletin
Bend man Randall
Richard Kilby was ar-
raigned Monday on
charges of first-degree
murder after a grand jury
returned an enhanced in-
dictment related to a dou-
ble homicide in Bend.
Kilby, 35, is suspected
of killing Jeffrey Allen
Taylor and Benjamin
Harlin Taylor on March
20, and Daphne Dawn
Banks, who died Jan. 10.
The three deaths are
covered in two indict-
ments. One concerns the
deaths of Jeffery Taylor
and Benny Taylor, who
were brothers-in-law and
roommates. Kilby is ac-
cused of two counts of
first-degree murder and
two counts of second-de-
gree murder. In the other
indictment, Kilby is ac-
cused of one count of
second-degree murder in
the death of Banks.
In Oregon, a con-
viction for first-degree
murder carries a possible
“true” life prison sen-
tence, while second-de-
gree murder does not.
To earn a conviction
for first-degree murder in
this case, prosecutors will
have to prove Kilby killed
Jeffery Taylor and Benny
Taylor as part of the same
“criminal episode.”
Kilby was arrested
March 21 while walking
in Romaine Village in
southwest Bend.
Dean Guernsey/The Bulletin
Milt McConnell, of Bend, takes a picture of Mark style, of Philadelphia, and Ilene style, of Bend, in front of the Bend Blockbuster on Monday.
By KyLe sPuRR • The Bulletin
T
he Blockbuster video rental store in
Bend was already popular when it
became the last location on Earth.
It drew visitors from across the
United States and as far as Taiwan
and London.
But in the past two weeks, the store off NE
Third Street has been flooded with even more
visitors and online orders after Netflix boosted
its visibility. It was featured in “The Last Block-
buster,” a documentary about the store that
started trending in the top 10 most watched
movies on Netflix.
“It’s a little bit crazy, but it’s a
very good thing. We’ll take a little
crazy if it means keeping the
store open.”
— sandi Harding, Bend Blockbuster manager
People have sent flowers and called the
store just to say thank you for staying open.
Those visiting the store wear masks and keep
their distance due to the COVID-19 pan-
demic, but are not deterred from finding a
movie to rent.
In the backroom, staff members have been
busy packaging thousands of online orders
for Blockbuster T-shirts, hats and face masks,
which are all made by Bend businesses.
“It’s a little bit crazy, but it’s a very good
thing,” said Bend Blockbuster Manager Sandi
Harding. “We’ll take a little crazy if it means
keeping the store open.”
Harding is the star of the movie, which
peaked as high as the No. 4 movie in the United
States since it appeared on Netflix March 15.
See Blockbuster / A14
See Kilby / A14
4 file for last vacant
school board seat
211 acres were burned;
homes briefly evacuated
By GaRReTT aNdReWs
The Bulletin
By JaCKsON HOGaN
The Bulletin
A vacant seat on the Redmond School Board, initially
to be filled by appointment, is now one of the most
hotly contested races in the May 18 election in Central
Oregon.
Four candidates have filed to fill the seat of board
Chair Tim Carpenter, who abruptly resigned from his
seat on March 17. It’s the second Redmond School Board
seat to have four candidates, and no other Central Ore-
gon school board race has more than three this year.
See Board / A14
TODAY’S
WEATHER
High winds fuel early fires near Bend
Sunny
High 58, Low 29
Page a13
INDEX
Strong, dry winds rolling off
the Cascade Mountains from
the west and northwest fueled
several small fires outside Bend
on Sunday, forcing the evacua-
tion of hundreds of people from
their homes.
The Bull Spring Fire burned
211 acres of private, state and
county land outside Tumalo.
A smaller, unnamed fire in
Business
Classifieds
Comics
A11,13
A14
A9-10
Dear Abby
Editorial
Horoscope
A7
A8
A7
Department of Forestry and U.S.
Forest Service, according to Lt.
Trish Connolly of Bend Fire &
Rescue.
“This is a pretty early fire for
us,” Connolly said. “What exac-
erbated things for us was high
winds that really pushed that
fire front.”
Though it’s early in fire sea-
son, now is when many residents
burn brush on their property.
Connolly urged property owners
to call the fire department’s burn
hotline at 541-693-6911 with
questions about burning.
Deschutes River Woods, south-
Road from Bull Springs Road to
west of Bend, affected 1 acre and Kuhlman Road.
threatened four homes.
The Level 3 alert was sent to
No injuries were reported,
148 people in Deschutes River
nor homes lost.
Woods and 198 in
Two outbuild-
the Tumalo area.
ings burned in
By Monday
Deschutes River
The strongest gust
morning, evacua-
recorded in the Bend area.
Woods.
tion levels in all ar-
Speeds reached 70 mph
The fires were
eas had been low-
in the Gorge and 74 in
reported within
ered to Level 1.
Pendleton.
five minutes of
The exact cause
each other around
of the fires remains
3:45 p.m. The Deschutes County under investigation.
Sheriff’s Office issued Level 3,
Every fire authority in the re-
gion was involved in the effort
or “go now,” evacuation orders
Sunday, along with the Oregon
to all addresses west of Johnson
47 mph
Kid Scoop
Local/State
Lottery
A12
A2-3
A6
Obituaries
Puzzles
Sports
A4
A10
A5-7
See Wind / A4
The Bulletin
An Independent Newspaper
We use
recycled
newsprint
Vol. 119, No. 76, 14 pages, 1 section
DAILY
REDMOND
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