Serving Central Oregon since 1903 • $1.50
TUESDAY • April 13, 2021
SPORTS PULLOUT, A5-8
‘OUR TOWNS’ | DOCUMENTARY PREMIERES TODAY
Bend plays a big role on HBO
‘Bend was a place that had a big setback and already found its way back’
BY KYLE SPURR • The Bulletin
Dean Guernsey/The Bulletin
Bryan Harvey, cinematographer, shoots footage for “Our Towns,” HBO’s new docu-
mentary, at Bend Rock Gym before pandemic closures.
Bend plays an important role in the new HBO
documentary, “Our Towns,” which premieres
Tuesday and features small cities that are bounc-
ing back after adversity.
Filmmakers Steven Ascher and Jeanne Jordan
said Bend is an example of a place that successfully
reinvented itself from an old mill town to a tour-
ist destination. That recovery is something other
towns in the film are in the midst of accom-
plishing, the filmmakers said.
“All of the other towns had some big set-
backs and they are trying to find their way
back, and Bend was a place that had a big set-
back and already found its way back,” Ascher
said. “That’s why we wanted to look at the
benefits and costs of success.”
“OUR TOWNS” | 6 p.m.
Tuesday, HBO/HBO Max
See Towns / A13
Deschutes County
ACTIVE CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS IN CENTRAL OREGON
Union leaders
say teachers
less nervous
about classes
post-vaccine
As homicide cases take longer to resolve,
a Bend widow struggles with a bombshell:
CITATIONS, BUT
NO CHARGES
BY JACKSON HOGAN
The Bulletin
Two months ago, Central Oregon teachers
began receiving COVID-19 vaccinations ahead
of much of the general population. By now, just
about every teacher in Deschutes County who
wanted to be vaccinated has been .
Because of this and other COVID-19 mitigation
strategies in schools, the teachers’ union leader for
Bend-La Pine Schools said
most of her union’s members
feel less nervous about re-
turning full-time to in-person
Percentage of K-12
classes this month.
teachers who are
“Everyone having access
vaccinated in the
to the vaccine if they want
U.S., according
to be vaccinated, it ensures
to the American
the educators’ safety,” said
Federation of
Sarah Barclay, president of
Teachers
the Bend Education Associ-
ation. “There are a few peo-
ple who still have concerns about the return to
in-person, but the majority are excited.”
It’s a similar story in the Redmond School Dis-
trict, where Barry Branaugh — a board member
of the Redmond Education Association — said
he hasn’t heard many teachers express concerns
about COVID-19 safety recently.
“It’s not much of a factor anymore,” he said.
Both Barclay and Branaugh said that local
teachers are itching to see their students full
time again after a couple months of part-online
school.
80%
See Teachers / A13
Black Bear Diner
hit with $35,000
fine from OSHA
Dean Guernsey/The Bulletin
Stephanie Rodea holds a picture of her husband, Christopher, on her front porch in Bend on Monday. He was killed in a crash on the Bend
Parkway in November.
BY MICHAEL KOHN
The Bulletin
BY GARRETT ANDREWS • The Bulletin
S
tephanie Rodea, whose
husband died in a six-
car crash on the Bend
Parkway in the fall, can’t believe
that no one is responsible.
Until Monday, as she waited for au-
thorities to decide if there was enough
evidence to charge someone in connec-
tion with the Nov. 19 crash, the death
of her husband was one of nine active
homicide investigations in Deschutes
County. But in a meeting with District
Attorney John Hummel on Monday
afternoon, Rodea was told that no one
would be charged with the death of
Christopher Rodea, who was 37 when a
pickup truck slammed into his Ford van.
Instead, traffic citations would be is-
sued, Hummel told The Bulletin.
“There’s no way everyone was doing
what they were supposed to,” Stephanie
Rodea said. “I could say, I can’t believe
somebody could do this and get away
with it. But then I’m just like, who cares
if they get criminal charges? What is the
point? It doesn’t change anything.”
Homicide cases have been taking lon-
ger to resolve in Central Oregon, in part
because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It adds to the grieving process,” Rodea
said. “You want to close as many doors as
you can and instead it just lingers.”
But Hummel also cites a backlog
The Black Bear Diner locations in Bend and
Redmond were fined $35,000 for violating
COVID-related restrictions, including allowing
indoor dining when Deschutes County was in
the extreme risk category due to high coronavi-
rus caseloads.
Both diners, which are under the same own-
ership, “willfully” continue to potentially expose
workers to the virus, despite a public health or-
der of limited or zero indoor dining, according
to a release from Oregon Occupational Safety
and Health.
Oregon OSHA has been actively pursuing
businesses that ignored the lockdown restric-
tions that limited restaurants, coffee shops and
bars to takeout service only. Last month Kevista
Coffee was fined $27,470 for similar violations
by OSHA.
Kathy Degree, the owner of the two Black Bear
diners, has hired the services of Salem-based
Kevin L. Mannix law firm to appeal the penalty.
of cases at the state crime lab, explo-
sive population growth in Deschutes
County and a shortage of local judges.
“It’s not necessarily that more homi-
cides are occurring now, it’s that the lon-
ger each one takes to resolve, the more
you’ll have pending at any one time,”
Hummel said.
Nine is a high number for Deschutes
County, with an estimated population
of nearly 200,000, but it’s not the high
point of Hummel’s nearly eight-year
tenure. At one point in 2019, his of-
fice was pursuing 11 homicide cases.
A majority of homicides in Deschutes
County over the last six years have been
vehicular homicides, according to the
district attorney’s office.
See Charges / A4
TODAY’S
WEATHER
Plenty of sun
High 53, Low 33
Page A13
INDEX
Business
Classifieds
Comics
A11
A14
A9-10
Dear Abby
Editorial
Horoscope
A7
A8
A7
Kid Scoop
Local/State
Lottery
A12
A2, 4
A6
Obituaries
Puzzles
Sports
A4
A10
A5-7
The Bulletin
An Independent Newspaper
We use
recycled
newsprint
Vol. 117, No. 329, 14 pages, 1 section
DAILY
See Diner / A13
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