A4 The BulleTin • Tuesday, March 30, 2021
Bentz: ‘We’ll do our best to fight for you just like you fought for us,’ he tells veterans at local event
Continued from A1
When addressing the crowd, Bentz recounted
his own experience huddling by a radio, waiting
to hear whether his draft number was going to
be called.
He committed to learning more about and ad-
vocating for veterans’ issues.
“We’ll do our best to fight for you just like you
fought for us,” Bentz said.
In his statement, Bentz briefly mentioned to
the crowd he co-sponsored H.R. 1448, which
directs the Secretary of Veteran Affairs to carry
out a pilot program on dog training therapies
to provide service dogs to veterans who do not
have mobility impairments. He is one of 308 to
co-sponsor the bill.
Bentz said in general, however, the world
of veterans issues is new to him, and said he is
thankful he still has people who worked for his
predecessor, Greg Walden, to help him.
His goal this week back home in Oregon is to
listen and learn from constituents about what is-
sues need to be addressed, he said. At this event,
a handful of veterans made one issue clear: Too
many veterans are not getting the benefits — or
have trouble getting the benefits — they deserve
from Veterans Affairs.
“When people are expressing dissatisfac-
tion then that means something’s not working
quite right, and we need to get in there and get
to work,” Bentz said in response to a question
about what he learned from the day.
Other issues Bentz said he has heard about
from constituents include the impacts from
wildfire, COVID-19 and consistent droughts.
Veteran Tom Marple and his dog Nick attend the event.
Dean Guernsey/Bulletin photos
Veteran Mike Williams drums during a Vietnam War Veterans Day event at Central Oregon Veterans Ranch
north of Bend on Monday.
The struggle business owners have to find
enough workers to run their operations has also
consistently come up, he said.
When asked why he didn’t vote in favor of the
federal government’s most recent stimulus pack-
age, which allocated $1,400 checks to individu-
als making $75,000 a year or less, Bentz said the
bill wasn’t targeted enough to those who really
needed it and he was concerned about the debt
future generations would have to pay back. He
said some businesses actually did better finan-
cially in the pandemic, and don’t need the assis-
tance.
“Many of the businesses that are now getting
money don’t need it,” Bentz said in a separate inter-
view Monday. “People are saying our schools are
awash and yet they are going to be getting more.”
When asked for specific examples of busi-
nesses that were getting money but didn’t need
it, Bentz referred The Bulletin to a press release.
No specific businesses or industries were listed,
but “bailouts for mismanaged public union pen-
sions” and “policies that give federal bureaucrats
better paid leave than those which are available
to essential workers” were mentioned.
Bentz acknowledged that he has not reopened
the Bend office formerly maintained by Walden,
but said he will open a Central Oregon office in
the future.
e e
Reporter: 541-633-2160, bvisser@bendbulletin.com
Wind
Thousands lose power in Central Oregon
Continued from A1
The windstorm that blasted Central Oregon on
Sunday knocked out power to thousands of house-
holds, as well as traffic signals and businesses.
More than 5,500 customers were without
power on Sunday afternoon in Central Oregon,
according to Tom Gauntt, a spokesperson for Pa-
cific Power. Most of these were in Bend and Ma-
dras. The outages for many households lasted well
into Monday morning.
On Monday midday more than 2,000 cus-
tomers were still without power mostly in Bend’s
southern neighborhoods and Deschutes River
Woods. Gauntt said power was expected to be
restored to most of these customers by 3 p.m.
Gauntt said the windstorm caused “extensive
damage” including downed wires and broken
electric poles. Multiple businesses along SE Third
Street in Bend between Powers and Murphy roads
were without power on Sunday evening.
Damage was limited elsewhere east of the
Cascades. Gauntt said 150 total customers lost
power in the Pendleton area.
High winds pounded Central Ore-
gon from about 11 a.m. until 7 p.m., ac-
cording to the National Weather Service.
The strongest gust recorded was 47 mph
around 2 p.m. at Bend Municipal Air-
port.
Winds reach that speed in Central Or-
egon an average of once per year, said Na-
tional Weather Service meteorologist Cole
Evans.
Statewide, winds reached 60 to 70 mph
in the Columbia River Basin. The Pend-
leton Airport recorded the highest gust at
74 mph.
Precipitation is low for the month,
which likely played a role in the fires.
The Bend weather data center has re-
corded 0.03 of an inch of precipitation for
March, where 0.7 of an inch is the clima-
tological norm, according to the National
Weather Service.
e e
Reporter: 541-383-0325, gandrews@bendbulletin.com
Submitted by Liam Hughes/East Oregonian
The windstorms left damage across the region, toppling this large tree at Rice Park in Pendleton.
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