The BulleTin • Tuesday, april 6, 2021 A3
TODAY
LOCAL, STATE & NATION
A woman holds a
picture of George
Floyd while seated
on a concrete
barrier Monday
outside the
building where
the second week
of testimony in
the trial of former
Minneapolis
officer Derek
Chauvin
continues.
LOCAL BRIEFING
Virtual open house for
Wickiup Junction proposal
The public can now provide
feedback on a draft plan to im-
prove safety at Wickiup Junc-
tion in La Pine.
Last year, the Oregon Depart-
ment of Transportation heard
many ideas for improvements.
The feedback that was pro-
vided and a technical highway
analysis helped the department
create a draft plan to make this
area safer and easier to navigate,
according to ODOT.
This plan, referred to as the re-
finement plan, is available to view
at a virtual open house at www.
wickiuprefinementplan.com.
Residents can use an inter-
active map to see proposed im-
provements and leave comments.
The La Pine City Council is
anticipated to vote on the plan
later this spring.
The online open house runs
through April 16.
The original solution for
Wickiup Junction, an overpass,
would have allowed U.S. High-
way 97 traffic to travel over the
BNSF tracks but was scrapped
in 2017. Officials discovered the
overpass was being built on set-
tling soil at the site. The soil was
weakened by ancient micro-
scopic creatures called diatoms.
The department started dis-
mantling the overpass in 2018.
4 nonprofits get nearly
$2.8M in federal funds
Four local nonprofits —
Bethlehem Inn homeless shelter,
J Bar J Youth Services, Neigh-
borImpact and Thrive Central
Oregon — have received a com-
bined $2.77 million in federal
funds to address COVID-19.
Specifically, the funds are
geared to help people and fam-
ilies who are either experienc-
ing homelessness, or are at risk
of experiencing homelessness,
according to a press release
Monday from the Oregon
Housing and Community Ser-
vices department.
Thirty-six nonprofits from
around Oregon received a total
of $42 million in federal relief
funds, the release stated. The
money comes from the federal
coronavirus relief act.
“This funding is historic be-
cause it will help rebuild lives,
and because we are partnering
with an array of diverse service
providers that have trusted re-
lationships with Oregon’s com-
munities of color, so we can
reach people hardest hit by the
crisis,” Margaret Salazar, exec-
utive director of Oregon Hous-
ing and Community Services,
said in the press release.
Deschutes sergeant resigns
while under investigation
Richard “Deke” DeMars, a
Deschutes County Sheriff’s Of-
fice sergeant who was under
investigation in an alleged sex-
ual assault, resigned Thursday
from his position, according to
the sheriff’s department.
DeMars had been on paid
leave since February 2020. The
Redmond Police Department
began a criminal investigation
into DeMars more than a year
ago, after a woman alleged he
sexually abused her. Police rec-
ommended charging DeMars
with a sex crime.
In early 2020, a woman in
a romantic relationship with
DeMars told Redmond Po-
lice his behavior was becom-
ing increasingly frightening
to her. She described various
controlling behaviors and be-
ing awoken to rough sex in the
middle of the night.
DeMars earned more than
$131,000 since being placed on
leave. He remains the subject
of an internal conduct investi-
gation, in addition to the crim-
inal investigation.
— Bulletin staff reports
Jim Mone/AP
Floyd’s death leads states
to require police to intervene
Oregon works to strengthen its law
BY ANDREW SELSKY
Associated Press
SALEM — When a police officer knelt on
the neck of George Floyd in Minneapolis,
other officers at the scene didn’t intervene,
even while Floyd said he couldn’t breathe and
stopped moving. That lack of action is leading
a growing number of states to compel police to
stop misconduct by a fellow officer.
Since Floyd’s death, Colorado, Connecticut,
Massachusetts, Nevada and New Jersey have
passed laws requiring police to intervene when
they see a fellow officer engaged in misconduct,
said Katie Ryan of Campaign Zero, a group that
encourages reforms to reduce police violence.
Previously, many laws were aimed at com-
pelling police to only report misconduct. But
activists say Floyd’s death makes clear that
alone is not enough.
Oregon’s Legislature also passed a bill in a spe-
cial session last year requiring intervention by an
officer witnessing police misconduct. It also re-
quires officers to report abuses to “a supervisor.”
This year, lawmakers are tweaking the new
law to strengthen how the complaints are han-
dled. It is sponsored by Rep. Janelle Bynum, a
Democrat who chairs the House subcommit-
tee on equitable policing.
“For me, the original trigger was the George
Floyd case,” said Bynum, who is Black and
from a Portland suburb.
Portland was an epicenter of Black Lives Mat-
ter protests that erupted nationwide after Floyd’s
Minneapolis police chief: Kneeling
on Floyd’s neck violated policy
Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo
testified Monday that now-fired officer Derek
Chauvin violated departmental policy in pin-
ning his knee on George Floyd’s neck and keep-
ing him down after Floyd had stopped resisting
and was in distress.
Also Monday, Dr. Bradford Langenfeld, who
tried to resuscitate Floyd at the hospital he was
taken to, took the stand to say it was “more
likely than the other possibilities” that Floyd’s
cardiac arrest — the stopping of his heart —
was caused by asphyxia, or insufficient oxygen.
— Associated Press
death. On the night of Sept. 5, a Black resident
came to police officers to inform them their tear
gas was seeping into his house, affecting his son
and dog. One officer hit the man on the head
with his baton, causing a concussion.
Other officers told their colleague the man
was an area homeowner, not a protester.
Police said back then that the incident was
being investigated, but a half-year later they re-
main mum on the outcome or status.
Bynum’s new bill aims to address such cases.
It requires complaints to be filed with a direct
supervisor of the reporting officer, their chain
of command or with the Oregon Department
of Public Safety Standards and Training, which
licenses law enforcement officers across the
state. The bill sets a three-month deadline for
investigations to be completed.
Today is Tuesday, April 6, the
96th day of 2021. There are 269
days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On April 6, 1909, American
explorers Robert E. Peary and
Matthew A. Henson and four
Inuits became the first men to
reach the North Pole.
In 1886, the Canadian city of
Vancouver, British Columbia,
was incorporated.
In 1896, the first modern Olym-
pics formally opened in Greece.
In 1917, the United States en-
tered World War I.
In 1954, Sen. Joseph R. McCar-
thy, R-Wis., responding to CBS
newsman Edward R. Murrow’s
broadside against him on “See It
Now,” said in remarks filmed for
the program that Murrow had,
in the past, “engaged in propa-
ganda for Communist causes.”
In 1974, Swedish pop group
ABBA won the Eurovision Song
Contest held in Brighton, En-
gland, with a performance of
the song “Waterloo.”
In 2017, Don Rickles, the grand-
master of insult comedy, died at
his Beverly Hills home at age 90.
Ten years ago: Libyan leader
Moammar Gadhafi appealed
to President Barack Obama in a
letter to end what Gadhafi called
“an unjust war. Portugal became
the third debt-stressed Europe-
an country to need a bailout.
Five years ago: A federal judge
in Charleston, West Virginia,
sentenced former coal executive
Don Blankenship to a year in
prison for his role in the 2010 Up-
per Big Branch Mine explosion
that killed 29 men in America’s
deadliest mining disaster in four
decades. Country giant Merle
Haggard died in Palo Cedro, Cali-
fornia, on his 79th birthday.
One year ago: Israeli Prime Min-
ister Benjamin Netanyahu an-
nounced a complete lockdown
over the upcoming Passover
holiday to control the country’s
coronavirus outbreak.
Today’s Birthdays: Actor Billy
Dee Williams is 84. Actor Roy
Thinnes is 83. Actor John Rat-
zenberger is 74. Actor Patrika
Darbo is 73. Former Rep. Michele
Bachmann, R-Minn., is 65. Rock
singer-musician Black Francis is
56. Actor Paul Rudd is 52. Actor
Zach Braff is 46. Actor Candace
Cameron Bure is 45.
— Associated Press