THURSDAY • May 13, 2021
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Baseball: Redmond
upsets Bend High
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arts & entertain
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Bend folk musician
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21
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watch p.18
Makenzie Whittle
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BREWERIES
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Jefferson
County
becomes 2nd
Amendment
sanctuary
SUMMER EVENTS
(CAUTIOUSLY)
CAUTION
PROCEED WITH
We check in with venues as virus restrictions are set to ease
h entertainment
GO! checks in wit son approaches
COVID-19 rules,
mer sea
sum
Amid evolving
the
as
gon
l Ore
venues in Centra
Plus: Fun cautionary tales from the movies (such as: Stop cloning dinosaurs!)
Preparing to reopen
Deschutes County works
to meet new mandates
Commissioners said the action is
intended to publicly state their position
Businesses are on track to fully reopen May 21, but a health official pushing for more
vaccinations worries about mixed messages from the state; owner complains of ‘arbitrary’ rules
BY SUZANNE ROIG
The Bulletin
W
hile Deschutes
County is ahead of
many other Ore-
gon counties for vaccinating
a large swath of the commu-
nity, a health official expressed
concern Wednesday that new
guidelines outlined by Gov.
Kate Brown are sending a mes-
sage that the pandemic is al-
most over.
On Tuesday, Brown said that
by May 21 counties that can
show 65% of residents 16 and
older have started the vaccina-
tion process and have a plan to
reach underserved members
of the community will have re-
strictions removed.
“I believe it’s a low bar, and
it’s something we can achieve
immediately, but it might send
the wrong message that the job
is done,” Nahad
Sadr-Azodi, De-
schutes County
Health Services
Deschutes
director of pub-
County’s
lic health, said
vaccination
at the Deschutes
rate for ages
County Com-
16 and up.
mission meeting
More
Wednesday. “To
numbers
interrupt the
on A2
transmission
of the virus, we
anticipate that we will need a
higher vaccination rate across
our community groups.”
Deschutes County has vacci-
nated 61% of the 16 and older
population with at least one
dose and 49.1% of the same
population are fully vaccinated,
according to Oregon Health
Authority data.
What the new guidelines
mean has Zydeco co-owner
Cheri Helt scratching her head.
The physical-distancing re-
quirement that has been a cor-
nerstone of the governor’s busi-
ness restrictions is what affects
Helt’s ability to seat 144 people
or far fewer, but that will re-
main in effect.
“It’s been interesting as a
restaurateur to have these arbi-
trary, tightly numbered guide-
lines,” Helt said. “Twenty-five,
50, 75 or 100%, none of these
numbers matter if you have to
keep everyone 6 feet away.
Bend High wants to
name new building
after Bob Maxwell
BY JACKSON HOGAN
The Bulletin
Bend’s most famous veteran may get a school building
named in his honor — and it would be right on top of
where he taught auto repair classes.
Chris Reese, principal of Bend High School, unveiled
his school’s plan to name its new building the Robert D.
Maxwell Center during Tuesday night’s Bend-La Pine
School Board meeting.
But naming the new building after Maxwell will de-
pend on the school board granting an exception to its
rule that schools or school buildings can only be named
after people who have been dead for at least five years.
Maxwell — who died in May 2019 at the age of 98 —
was not only a former teacher at Bend High, but he also
received the Medal of Honor in 1945 for risking his life
to save fellow American soldiers during World War II.
At the time of his death, he was the oldest living Medal
of Honor recipient. As 23-year-old Army technician fifth
grade, Maxwell jumped on a German grenade in Sep-
tember 1944. His action was credited with saving the
lives of four American soldiers, including a battalion
commander.
LEFT: A reader board announces the reopening of the Sisters Movie House,
which has been closed since March 2020. ABOVE: Drew Kaza, the theater co-
owner, opens the front doors. “We’ve had so many false starts, we’re super ex-
cited to be having a date that is kind of now etched in stone,” Kaza said. It will
be the last of Central Oregon’s movie theaters to begin showing films on the
big screen again. Story on Page 16 in today’s magazine.
Dean Guernsey/Bulletin photos
Warm, some sun
High 78, Low 51
Page A12
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The Bulletin
An Independent Newspaper
Vol. 117, No. 329,
38 pages, 2 sections
Correction
In an article headlined ”Gates shut on rural road popular with
bikers, hikers,” which appeared Wednesday, May 12, on Page A1,
the road number in the final paragraph was described by Phil
Chang as incorrect. The right number is 4606.
The Bulletin regrets the error.
Bentz backs Cheney’s ouster from GOP leadership
BY GARY A. WARNER
Oregon Capital Bureau
INDEX
A11-12
A14
A9-10
A7
See Maxwell / A14
IN GO! » One last movie house is reopening
See Reopening / A14
Business
Classifieds
Comics
Dear Abby
The Jefferson County Commission approved a resolu-
tion Wednesday to make the county a Second Amend-
ment sanctuary, a symbolic gesture to support the gun
rights of residents.
Commissioners said the action is intended to publicly
state their position and assure residents the county will
not put any resources toward efforts to restrict Second
Amendment rights. The goal was not to bypass any ex-
isting gun laws, Commissioner Wayne Fording said.
The Second Amendment protects the right of U.S. citi-
zens to own and carry firearms.
“This is a statement,” Fording said. “I personally don’t
see where it gives me the right to break any existing laws,
whether they be state or federal. I think it’s just a state-
ment from your board.”
Prior to the unanimous vote Wednesday, the resolu-
tion drew public comment from 11 people. Six were in
favor and five were opposed.
Those against the resolution worried it was a stepping
stone to change local laws, similar to an ordinance that
passed in Columbia County that prevents county offi-
cials from enforcing firearm regulations, such as back-
ground checks and registration.
See Amendment / A4
61%
TODAY’S
WEATHER
BY KYLE SPURR
The Bulletin
Oregon’s lone Republican in
Congress said his party’s House
caucus will be better focused now
that it has removed an outspoken
critic of former President Donald
Trump from its leadership.
U.S. Rep. Cliff Bentz, R-On-
tario, declined to respond to a di-
rect question of whether he voted
Wednesday to remove U.S. Rep. Liz
Cheney, R-Wyo., as the GOP House
Conference chair.
But in a statement after the cau-
cus meeting where a voice vote re-
moved Cheney, Bentz praised the
result as positive for Republicans in
the narrow 219 -212 minority in the
House.
“If we are to win back the House
in 2022, the Republican Caucus
must be unified, and we must focus
on the real problems the country is
facing,” Bentz said in a statement.
It was a reversal of Bentz’s ear-
lier stance backing Cheney follow-
ing her vote to impeach Trump for
“incitement to insurrection” by en-
couraging the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S.
Capitol that left five dead.
A longtime Republican state law-
maker from Ontario, Bentz was
elected in November 2020 to rep-
resent Oregon’s 2nd Congressio-
nal District, which takes in most of
Eastern, Central and parts of South-
western Oregon.
See GOP / A14
Rep. Cliff Bentz, Oregon’s sole
Republican congressman, says
the removal of Rep. Liz Cheney,
R-Wyo., from House Republican
leadership is a positive step for
the party.