SUNDAY • May 2, 2021 • Serving Central Oregon since 1903 • $3
MEDLINE RENEWAL EXPANDS
ITS REDMOND LOCATION
BUSINESS, C1
Luke Wirkkala
adjusts to life outside
HIGHWAY 97
Zoning
restrictions
hold back
development
The much-feared fusion of
Bend and Redmond is unlikely
to occur due to strict zoning
regulations, officials say
“I’m still trying to
take it all in. I’m very
easily overwhelmed
these days.”
BY MICHAEL KOHN
The Bulletin
When Bend businessman Tony Aceti pur-
chased a piece of farmland between Bend
and Redmond 25 years ago, the area was still
a rural patchwork of hay fields and juniper
trees.
Today, Aceti’s land straddles Deschutes
Junction, a busy intersection along U.S.
Highway 97 where drivers speed past on
their way to work and truckers race to their
next destination. Aceti’s once peaceful loca-
tion has been bisected by Tumalo Road.
The changes that have occurred on Ace-
ti’s land are indicative of the developments
along Highway 97 between Bend and Red-
mond.
The once-rural communities are boom-
ing with new housing developments, big
box stores, and light industrial complexes.
The road between them is starting to fill in
with development.
“When I first moved to Bend the popu-
lation was 10,000. The changes since then
have been dramatic,” said Aceti, who in ad-
dition to farming and property development
is also a creator of board games.
Aceti has been fighting to change the zon-
ing designation of his property from Exclu-
sive Farm Use to Rural Industrial for nearly
two decades, following the recognition that
development in the area since it was pur-
chased no longer makes farming possible.
Final approval to make the change has not
been made by the county, however Aceti be-
lieves he is close.
He is not sure what might go there — a
veterinary clinic, a tractor dealership, or a
light industrial complex could be a good fit,
he said. But growing hay is no longer possi-
ble given the soil quality and the triangular
shape of the plot.
Luke Wirkkala was tried twice for
murder on essentially the same facts,
but with two different outcomes:
Guilty in 2014 for the death of his
houseguest David Andrew Ryder, 31,
and not guilty April 5 after a retrial.
See Zoning / A9
OREGON POLITICS
After 100 days,
time crunch
looms larger
in the Capitol
Spring cleaning, encores
and the race for governor
Hailey Hoffman/For The Bulletin
BY GARY A. WARNER
Oregon Capitol Bureau
Luke Wirkkala, 40, was acquitted last month of murder in the death of David Andrew Ryder in Bend in 2013. He was incarcerated for eight years, at
Snake River Correctional Institution in Ontario and the Deschutes County jail in Bend.
tion’s bleak behavioral unit,
where he would stay for 30
days.
After four days in isolation,
he was given a shower. But
the cold water reactivated the
mace that had dried on his
skin, searing his face, groin
and other sensitive areas. It
was some of the worst pain he
had ever felt.
See Wirkkala / A8
See Capitol / A10
Editorial
Horoscope
Local/State
Obituaries
Puzzles
Sports
Onetime murder defendant adjusting after stunning change in fortune
BY GARRETT ANDREWS • The Bulletin
ASTORIA —
L
uke Wirkkala was in only one fight in prison,
sometime in early 2016, when he was two years into
a life sentence for killing a man in Bend. He was
attacked by his cellmate, a violent and unstable man who
would sit on his bunk and laugh at nothing for hours.
TODAY’S
WEATHER
Clouds, limited sun
High 61, Low 35
Page B6
INDEX
Business/Life
Classifieds
Dear Abby
C1-8
B5
C3
A6
C3
A2-4, 7
Lottery
Market Recap
Mon. Comics
B2
B4
C5-6
A8-10
C4
B1-4
The Bulletin
An Independent Newspaper
We use
recycled
newsprint
Vol. 117, No. 329, 28 pages, 4 sections
SUN/THU
One day, Wirkkala lost his
patience and told the cellmate
to keep quiet.
They fought viciously, ex-
changing wild swings and
headbutts, crashing into the
cell’s metal fixtures, until guards
cracked open the door and
sprayed both men with mace.
A coughing, blinded Wirk-
kala was marched to Snake
River Correctional Institu-
It’s a new month, but same headaches for
Oregon’s Legislature.
The 2021 session of the Legislature hit
the 100-day mark on Thursday. The consti-
tution gives the House and Senate 160 days
in even-numbered years to initiate, bloviate
and legislate before being forced to gavel the
session closed.
When lawmakers return to the Capitol
on Monday morning, they’ll have just just
56 days left — no matter what. The Oregon
constitution requires the Legislature to shut
down by June 28.
In legislative parlance, the House and
Senate must “Sine Die” — a Latin word twist
that roughly translates to adjourn without a
future date to meet in 2021.
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