The BulleTin • Tuesday, april 20, 2021 A3
LOCAL & STATE BRIEFING
OSHA fines Redmond Lowe’s
$18,100 for COVID-19 infractions
zation in Bend. Petz was arrested July 23 and
charged that month by a grand jury.
He has been out of custody since summer 2020.
The Lowe’s hardware store branch in Red-
mond was hit with $18,100 in fines Monday
from Oregon Occupational Safety and Health
— better known as OSHA — for multiple
COVID-19 violations.
The biggest penalty, costing $17,500, was for
not requiring customers to wear face coverings,
according to an OSHA press release. State in-
spections found that Lowe’s branch supervisors
knew of the state-mask mandate and willfully
chose to ignore it, the release stated.
The Lowe’s store in Albany received an identi-
cal fine Monday for the same reason.
The store also received two $300 fines for not
creating a risk assessment plan to identify possi-
ble employee exposure to COVID-19 or an in-
fection control plan, the release stated.
Deschutes Brewery closes pub for 7 days
after employee tests positive for COVID-19
Deschutes Brewery and Public House in
downtown Bend is closed until April 26 after an
employee tested positive for COVID-19, accord-
ing to the company.
The closure means no indoor dining, no take-
out and no outdoor seating, said Erin Rankin,
Deschutes Brewery spokeswoman. The em-
ployee was exposed to the virus outside of work.
In a Facebook post, the company said the
closure was out of caution and because it didn’t
want to expose others.
“We have a limited staff,” Rankin said. “This is
the first positive test we’ve had at the pub.”
Powell Butte man pleads not guilty
to child sex abuse; trial set for 2022
A Powell Butte man appeared in court Mon-
day to plead not guilty to eight charges alleging
child sexual abuse.
Jason Neal Petz, 49, is charged with two counts
of third-degree rape, two counts of third-degree
sodomy, two counts of third-degree sex abuse and
two counts of second-degree sex abuse.
Petz appeared for a plea hearing in Deschutes
County Circuit Court, where a judge set a date
for a 12-person jury trial in January 2022.
Petz is accused of unlawfully engaging in sex-
ual intercourse with a child under 16 between
Sept. 1 and Nov. 30, 2019.
The alleged victim was interviewed at the
KIDS Center child abuse investigation organi-
Prescribed burn planned south of Sisters
Deschutes National Forest fuel specialists will
be conducting a prescribed burn on national
forest land about 7 miles south of Sisters, near
the Black Pine Spring Campground, starting
Wednesday morning.
The workers will burn about 290 acres be-
tween Forest Road 16 and Forest Road 1620,
according to a U.S. Forest Service press release.
There will be traffic delays during the prescribed
fires, and smoke will be visible to those living in
the Sisters area, the release stated.
The prescribed burn is intended to eliminate
fuel in ponderosa pine stands, so future wildfires
are less intense and less likely to reach Sisters,
the release stated.
Nearby residents should close their windows
at night and drive slowly and with headlights on
if there’s smoke on nearby roadways.
Wildfire has burned 1,400 acres in
Klamath County, with 10% containment
Officials in Klamath County have reduced
the evacuation warning to Level 2 for residents
near a wildfire that has burned about 1,400 acres
in Klamath County, fire and forest agencies re-
ported Monday.
The Ponina Fire was burning about 5 miles
north of the town of Beatty. About 10% of the
fire has been contained, according to a news
release from Klamath County, the Oregon De-
partment of Forestry and the Fremont-Winema
National Forest.
The fire near Beatty started several days after a
rapidly moving brush fire near Oregon City forced
homeowners in about a dozen homes to evacuate.
The Niebur Fire started Friday afternoon and im-
mediately threatened several structures.
The Ponina Fire broke out less than three
weeks after Gov. Kate Brown declared a drought
emergency in Klamath County. The blaze be-
gan on private property and moved into the
Fremont-Winema National Forest, said Tamara
Schmidt, spokeswoman for the national forest.
The cause is unclear. So early in the fire season,
it’s proven difficult to find crews and resources
to fight the blaze, Schmidt said. For now, U.S.
Forest Service and Oregon Department of For-
estry crews are fighting the fire.
— Bulletin staff and wire reports
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SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON
Firefighters battle house fire —
and encounter large African cat
The Oregonian
Clark County, Washington,
firefighters said a large African
cat bit a firefighter helping to
extinguish a blaze Sunday at a
home in the Felida neighbor-
hood, north of Vancouver.
Clark County Fire District
officials said a fire broke out at
the back of single-story home
Sunday, then spread to the
home’s attic. The homeowner
was trying to douse the flames
as firefighters arrived.
Firefighters got the fire under
control within 25 minutes, but
at least one encountered the ser-
val — a savannah wildcat native
to sub-Saharan Africa — and
suffered a minor injury from a
bite to the fingers.
Officials estimated the cat
weighed 60 to 70 pounds,
though the cats typically only
weigh up to 40 pounds in the
wild.
With the fire out, the fire-
fighters decided to close up the
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Klamath irrigators open
canal as state officials
order them to cease
The Klamath Drainage Dis-
trict began delivering water
Thursday night after its board
voted to operate under a state
permit, the legality of which is
in question.
A day later, the U.S. Bureau
of Reclamation told the district
to stop all diversions from the
Klamath River or the drainage
district may face penalites.
District officials said they
recognize the recently declared
drought in Klamath County.
But farmers need to raise the
soil moisture levels, and the
dry and windy spring has
started eroding the soil and
creating dust storms.
Jared Bottcher, acting area
manager for reclamation’s
Klamath Basin Area Office,
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— Herald and News (Klamath Falls)
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