FRIDAY • April 16, 2021 • Serving Central Oregon since 1903 • $1.50
TWIN LAKES
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EXPLORE » B1
SPORTS PULLOUT, B3-6
SISTERS
RV permit
program
hopes to
solve issues
Current code allows
parking for long periods
BY BRENNA VISSER
The Bulletin
CENTRAL OREGON
COMMUNITY COLLEGE
NASA in Madras
RESEARCH BALLOON Board
freezes
TAKES FLIGHT tuition
and fees
A new permit system in Sisters
aims to address illegal parking or
camping in front of people’s homes for
extended periods of time.
The permit system, along with
other code changes, come as a part
of the city’s effort to make the code
clearer and enforceable. The Sisters
City Council approved them at a
meeting on Wednesday.
Cory Misley, the city manager of
Sisters, offered an example of a car
that was registered to someone in
Bend but had sat parked in Sisters
for a very long time. There was noth-
ing in the code that said that person
couldn’t leave the car there forever, he
said.
“Where is that sweet spot of peo-
ple being able to use the right of way
or people parking a junk car for two
years?” Misley said.
The changes are in response to sev-
eral complaints the city received from
residents regarding the storage of ve-
hicles, trailers, boats and RVs within
the public rights-of-way, according to
a city memo.
“It hasn’t been huge, but there have
been places where it’s been signifi-
cant,” Councilor Andrea Blue said in
the meeting.
COVID-19 relief funds,
fiscal moves cited in
decision for next year
BY JACKSON HOGAN
The Bulletin
For the first time since the Great
Recession 13 years ago, tuition and
fees won’t be raised for any Central
Oregon Community College student
next school year.
The COCC board voted unani-
mously to not raise tuition and fees at
its meeting Wednesday night, based
on recommendations from college
leadership.
The next day, board member Oliver
Tatom told The Bulletin approving
the tuition freeze was an easy deci-
sion.
“To me, everything we can do to
manage passing the cost onto stu-
dents, we should do,” he said Thurs-
day. “It’s one of my happiest votes I’ve
had so far as a COCC board director.”
College President Laurie Chesley
and Finance Director David Dona
told the board Wednesday that there
two main reasons why COCC could
afford to not raise tuition: conserva-
tive fiscal moves when the pandemic
began, and COVID-19 relief from the
federal government.
See Parking / A6
See COCC / A4
Sisters lawyer
could lose license
over conduct
BEND-LA PINE,
REDMOND DISTRICTS
BY GARRETT ANDREWS
The Bulletin
A state disciplinary panel is recom-
mending a Sisters attorney lose his
law license for a year for his conduct
representing a fired high school soc-
cer coach.
Attorneys with the Oregon State
Bar sought to suspend Marlin Ard
for 60 to 90 days during a three-day
video conference in February. But the
bar’s three-person disciplinary com-
mittee that oversaw the conference
determined the sanction did not go
far enough and recommended the
72-year-old Ard be suspended for a
year, according to its opinion issued
Wednesday.
See Lawyer / A6
Correction
In a story headlined “Bend prepares
to establish a new homeless services
center. But how?” which was pub-
lished Thursday, April 16, on Page
A1, the contribution of homeless
service providers and nonprofits was
misstated. Nonprofits will contribute
their services to the navigation center.
The Bulletin regrets the error.
Dean Guernsey/The Bulletin
A 150-foot tall helium-filled balloon rises over Madras on Thursday. Carrying scientific equipment 110,000 feet into
the air, the balloon made of thin plastic, performs a high altitude drop test. Scientists will use data collected in the
flight to determine how to return items from the International Space Station back to Earth.
BY KYLE SPURR
The Bulletin
BY JACKSON HOGAN
The Bulletin
M
ADRAS — The 150-foot-
tall balloon, made of plastic
thinner than a sandwich bag,
rose above the high desert at sunrise
with the goal of helping future mis-
sions in space.
The helium-filled balloon shined in
the early morning sunlight as it dis-
appeared into the atmosphere, on its
way to an altitude of 110,000 feet.
A NASA-sponsored research team
launched the balloon at about 6 a.m.
Thursday from the Madras Munic-
ipal Airport. The balloon carried a
100-pound cone-shaped device that
later in the day was dropped with a
parachute over the high desert east of
Prineville.
See Balloon / A4
Schools plan
scaled-back
standardized
tests this year
Submitted
Near Space Corp. personnel prepare to launch a large helium-filled
balloon from Madras Municipal Airport on Thursday. The crew orig-
inally scheduled the balloon flight on Wednesday but called it off
because of high winds.
In a year when many students will
only get a few months of in-person
learning or less, some Oregon school
districts have rebelled against stan-
dardized testing.
But Central Oregon’s two largest
school districts will stay the course.
Bend-La Pine Schools and the Red-
mond School District will still offer
standardized tests this year, and fam-
ilies will still have to ask to opt out if
they don’t want their students to take
the tests.
“We’re going to stick with it as is,”
said Chris Morton, Redmond’s di-
rector of school improvement, who
oversees standardized testing for the
district.
TODAY’S
WEATHER
Plenty of sun
High 67, Low 36
Page B5
INDEX
Business
Classifieds
Comics
A7-8
B5-6
B7-8
Dear Abby
A6
Editorial
A5
Explore B1-2, 9-10
History
Horoscope
Local/State
A8
A6
A2
Obituaries
Puzzles
Sports
A8
B8
B3-5
The Bulletin
An Independent Newspaper
We use
recycled
newsprint
Vol. 117, No. 329, 18 pages, 2 sections
DAILY
See Schools / A4
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