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About The Bulletin. (Bend, OR) 1963-current | View Entire Issue (May 9, 2021)
Sunday • May 9, 2021 • Serving Central Oregon since 1903 • $3 Bend company powers forward HYDROGEN FUEL CELL TECHNOLOGY FROM ELEMENT 1 IS READY TO HIT THE MARKET • BUSINESS, C1 MOTHER’S DAY | PARENTING DURING A PANDEMIC BEND PARK & REC BOARD The importance of family becomes more meaningful Diverse group contends for seats By MICHaEL KOHn The Bulletin Three seats on the Bend Park & Recre- ation District board are on the ballot in the May 18 special district election. Two of the races feature newcomers fac- ing incumbents. The third seat, Position 4, sees two new candidates square off against each other following the retirement of Ted Schoenberg, who served on the board since 2003. Position 4 The Position 4 candidates are Zavier Borja and Robin Vora. Both come at the job with different professional backgrounds, but both are passionate about the outdoors. Ryan Brennecke/Bulletin photos Erica Kite smiles as her daughter Olive Johnson giggles while pushing her on a swing Wednesday at their La Pine home. Mothers say pandemic taught them to be creative with their time, children By BREnna VISSER • The Bulletin J ust about everything that could go wrong did go wrong for Erica Kite when the pandemic began. First, she was let go from her job for electing to stay home out of fear of how COVID-19 could affect her pregnancy. She filed for unemployment, but her payments were delayed — a delay that ended up lasting nearly a year. Madeline drescher smiles while comparing a leaf with her son Max out- side of their Bend home Thursday. And then, just about a week before Kite was supposed to have her baby, the well on her La Pine property ran dry, leav- ing her and her family of three without water just a few days before the arrival of her new daughter. Despite the chal- lenges, the 38-year-old Kite said she wouldn’t change a thing. The pandemic reminded her of something valuable: Nothing is more important than family, and her family is more resilient than she thought. “We’re kind of ready for whatever comes in the future. Hopefully, that was the worst of it we’re going to see in our life- time,” Kite said. “It’s kind of like, we can survive anything at this point.” Zavier Borja Borja, 27, is a native Central Oregonian and first-generation Mexican American. He is also a self-described “extreme” ex- trovert. “I love connecting with and being around people; it gives me a lot of energy,” he said. Borja works for Children’s Forest of Cen- tral Oregon, where he serves as the Latino Outdoor Engagement Coordinator. He is also the founder of the Vamanos Outside Program, which encourages members of the Latino community to spend more time out- doors in Central Oregon. Borja says his goal for the Bend Park & Recreation District is to increase trail access and trail connectivity in Bend. “I see it as a project that would benefit the district in a multitude of ways including ex- panding park access, supporting park main- tenance, and diversifying park space usage,” said Borja. See Park & Rec / A6 Pacific Power consolidates, to build on land in Juniper Ridge By SuZannE ROIG The Bulletin See Mothers / A4 “It just reminds me there is still beauty in the world. It’s really easy to focus on the doom and gloom, but my kids are over here looking at frogs and worms, and it reminds you there is still a beautiful world going on.” — Madeline drescher, who gave birth to her daughter Mae at home in late May The power company serving Central Or- egon is consolidating its offices and moving to the Juniper Ridge area to centralize its training and maintenance services. Pacific Power, which serves 600,000 cus- tomers in Oregon alone, applied for build- ing permits April 30, said Tom Gaunet, Pacific Power spokesman. Its new facility will consolidate three buildings spread out around Bend. “It’s indicative of the growth in Bend,” Gaunet said. “It’s time to say we need a ma- jor facility.” See Power / A7 By KyLE SPuRR The Bulletin Eloise, the most prolific trumpeter swan in Oregon’s breeding program, has died of natural causes at her home at the Lake Aspen Golf Course in Sisters. Golf course staff found Eloise’s body TODAY’S WEATHER Monday, less than four months after her mate, Pete, died unexpectedly from a bacterial infection. “I’m personally convinced she died of a broken heart,” said Robin Gold, a wild- life rehabilitation expert who lives in the Aspen Lakes neighborhood and cared Mostly cloudy High 61, Low 33 Page B6 INDEX Business/Life Classifieds Dear Abby C1-8 B5 C3 for the swan pair. Eloise and Pete produced 15 young in the past three years. The pair boosted the state’s effort to repopulate the threatened species, which is still recovering from near extinction at the turn of the 20th century. Editorial Horoscope Local/State See Eloise / A7 A8 C3 A2-3, 9 Lottery Market Recap Mon. Comics B2 B4 C5-6 Obituaries Puzzles Sports A9 C4 B1-4 In an article headlined “School board race sees unusual division,” which appeared Saturday, May 8, on Page A1, a group that contributed to Carrie McPherson Douglass’ Bend-La Pine School Board campaign was mis- stated. The Oregon School Employees Association donated $2,000 to her campaign. And that donation, along The Bulletin An Independent Newspaper We use recycled newsprint Vol. 117, No. 329, 28 pages, 4 sections SUN/THU Death of Eloise hurts swan breeding program with the more than $2,000 from the Oregon Education Association, was donated in 2017. Also, when Bend-La Pine School Board candidate Marcus LeGrand dis- cusses “wokeness” and “white guilt,” he said the phrases were meant to shut down dialogue — not the concepts themselves. The Bulletin regrets the errors. Correction U|xaIICGHy02330rzu