A2 THE BULLETIN • THURSDAY, MAY 13, 2021
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GENERAL
INFORMATION
LOCAL, STATE & REGION
DESCHUTES COUNTY
129 new cases
COVID-19 data for Wednesday, May 12:
Deschutes County cases: 8,883 (63 new cases)
Deschutes County deaths: 74 (zero new deaths)
Crook County cases: 1,097 (11 new cases)
Crook County deaths: 21 (zero new deaths)
Jefferson County cases: 2,189 (13 new cases)
Jefferson County deaths: 36 (2 new deaths)
Oregon cases: 193,014 (616 new cases)
Oregon deaths: 2,558 (9 new deaths)
COVID-19 patients hospitalized at
St. Charles Bend on Wednesday: 40 (9 in ICU)
VACCINATION
RATES
For eligible people:
Deschutes: 61%
Crook: 42%
Jefferson: 46%
120
7-day
average
110
103 new cases
(April 23)
100
(Nov. 27)
90
74 new cases
80
(April 10)
50
new
cases
70
60
50
(Nov. 14)
(July 16)
40
*State data
unavailable
for Jan. 31
31 new cases
(Oct. 31)
16 new cases
30
(Sept. 19)
9 new cases
EMAIL
90
new
cases
(Jan. 1)
(Feb. 17)
8 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Fri.
bulletin@bendbulletin.com
130
(April 29)
108 new cases
47 new cases
28 new cases
ONLINE
Limiting the spread of
COVID-19: 1. Wash hands
with soap and water for 20
seconds. 2. Don’t touch your
face. 3. Avoid close contact
with sick people. 4. Stay 6 feet
from others and wear a mask.
5. Cough or sneeze into a
tissue or your elbow.
BULLETIN
GRAPHIC
125 new cases
(Dec. 4)
541-382-1811
www.bendbulletin.com
SOURCES: OREGON HEALTH AUTHORITY,
DESCHUTES COUNTY HEALTH SERVICES
New COVID-19 cases per day
20
(May 20)
1st case
10
(March 11)
March 2020
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
January 2021
February
March
April
May
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Lottery results can now be found on
the second page of Sports.
Crook County senior receives $200K NROTC scholarship
Crook County High School senior Elizabeth Barker received
a $200,000 nursing scholarship from the Naval Reserve Officer
Training Corps — one of only 12 students in the nation to receive
the award.
Barker, 18, chose to attend Rutgers University in New Jersey,
where she will study pre-med, according to a school press release.
The scholarship will cover all college expenses, said school district
spokesperson Jason Carr.
After graduating from Rutgers, Barker has a four-year commit-
ment to the U.S. Navy, such as serving as a combat nurse or in a
Naval medical facility, Carr said.
Barker has participated in Navy Junior ROTC at Crook County
High School since 2019, the release stated. She is also a three sport
varsity athlete for the Cowgirls — softball, basketball and volley-
ball — a member of student council and had a 4.12 GPA as of Jan-
uary, the release stated.
Jefferson among 10 Oregon counties to ask
Brown to declare drought emergency
For the second year in a row, Jefferson County commissioners
have asked the governor to declare a drought emergency for the
county. Governors granted Jefferson County this relief eight times
in the past 30 years.
Wickiup Reservoir, the source of the county’s irrigation water,
had its lowest peak this year since it began operating 72 years ago.
The U.S. drought monitor places much of Jefferson County in
severe drought status. Many areas of the county received less than
a quarter of average precipitation in March.
Making matters worse, the extended forecast calls for higher
than normal temperatures and lower than average precipitation.
These drought conditions pose hardships for farmers and
ranchers and set up conditions for a severe wildfire season.
A governor’s emergency declaration makes more resources
available to the people in the county hurt by the dry conditions.
Nine other counties have also requested drought emergency
declarations this year: Jackson, Klamath, Lake, Baker, Douglas,
Gilliam, Morrow, Umatilla and Wheeler.
— Bulletin staff reports
Bend construction contractor
spared jail time for extortion
BY GARRETT ANDREWS
The Bulletin
A Bend construction con-
tractor was spared time in jail
for threatening to bring im-
migration authorities into a
business dispute with a land-
scaper.
At his sentencing Tuesday
in Deschutes County Cir-
cuit Court, Thomas George
Schlossmacher received three
years probation and was or-
dered to work 100 hours com-
munity service, pay a $1,500
compensatory fine and write
an apology letter to his vic-
tim. In exchange for pleading
guilty to one count of felony
extortion, Schlossmacher, 61,
avoided any incarceration.
Schlossmacher’s case was
announced in February in
a news release by Deschutes
County District Attorney
John Hummel, who has been
outspoken about prosecuting
several recent instances of dis-
crimination.
Hummel represented the
state Tuesday at Schlossmach-
er’s sentencing.
Last summer, Schloss-
macher arranged a deal for
landscaping with Cuauhte-
moc Cardona, who runs a
landscaping company. In
partial payment for work,
Schlossmacher gave Cardona
his pickup truck.
On Aug. 15, following a dis-
pute over the final payment for
the truck, Schlossmacher sent
Cardona a text message read-
ing, in part, “I will file a com-
plaint with the small claims in
Deschutes County to get my
monies and turn you and your
family into INS for deporta-
tions, your choice.”
At his sentencing Tuesday,
Schlossmacher apologized,
saying he was in “extreme
grief” at the time, having lived
through a string of misfortunes
including the death of his wife,
Jill, in 2019. He also cited be-
ing forced to sell his house and
close his business, “stress over
bad prior employees, major
hail damage at my home and a
flooded home in Arizona.”
Schlossmacher said he sent
the text message in anger af-
ter seeing the truck he’d sold
Cardona on the TV news af-
ter it was involved in a wreck.
The truck still had signs and
stickers from Schlossmacher’s
business, High Desert Con-
tracting, which Cardona said
at the time of the sale that
he would remove, Schloss-
macher said.
“I’m sorry that it had to
come down to all of this,” he
said. “This is just something
I just never thought I’d go
through.”
He told the court he and
Cardona had once been
friends.
For his part, Cardona said
Schlossmacher still hadn’t re-
moved the lien he’d placed on
the truck.
“I felt very discriminated
against,” he told the court
through an interpreter. “I felt
very hurt by all the texts that
the accused had sent to me
and my family, down to the
littlest of the children.”
Judge Alyson Emerson told
Schlossmacher the fact he and
Cardona had once been friends
made his actions worse.
“Mr. Schlossmacher, your
anger here today falls flat for
this court,” Emerson said.
“I understand that you had
things going on in your life,
but none of those reasons are
an excuse for the language
that you chose to use. The re-
ality is that words matter.”
Reporter: 541-383-0325,
gandrews@bendbulletin.com
Survey: 4 in 5 Oregonians say U.S. economy is a stacked deck
BY ZANE SPARLING
Pamplin Media Group
Life is unfair — especially
when it comes to money.
Only 1 in 5 Oregonians say
the economic system of the
United States is fair for all, ac-
cording to a new poll by the
Oregon Values and Beliefs
Center.
The public opinion nonprof-
it’s recent survey also found
that nearly 7 in 10 state resi-
dents rate Oregon’s economy as
middling-to-lousy, though the
other three see things as good-
to-great. That might not seem
like much to crow about, but
it’s actually a sign of a sunnier
outlook, compared to what
polling figures showed when
the end of the pandemic was
nowhere in sight.
“This is an improvement
from a September 2020 DHM
Panel survey, when only 2 in 10
rated conditions as excellent,”
Oregon Values and Beliefs said
in a briefing.
Residents are somewhat split
on whether things are getting
better, worse, or just plodding
along, per the polling.
Even when examining con-
ditions closer to home, where
survey respondents are in gen-
eral more likely to find a silver
lining, only one-third gave a
thumbs up when asked about
22%
Oregonians in the
survey who said the
state’s economy is
improving; 34% said
it was getting worse.
the economy in their towns.
“The cost to live in Oregon
has become outrageous,” said
one survey respondent, identi-
fying as a Republican woman
living in suburban Clackamas
County. “I think many have
learned this and are planning
to move out of the state or start
an emergency fund.”
Oregon Values and Beliefs
Center conducted the online
survey of 600 Oregonians, who
were selected to be statistically
representative of state demo-
graphics, in early April. The
margin of error is 2% to 4% de-
pending on the question. Here
are the takeaways:
• 72% say the American
economic system favors the
rich and powerful, compared
with 19% who believe it of-
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fers a fair shake and 8% who
are unsure. Those earning less
than $50,000 annually (77%)
were more likely to see a rigged
deck, while a larger share of
economic conservatives (34%)
believe things are generally
even.
• Almost one-third (30%)
of Oregonians think the state
economy is doing good or
great, compared to 68% who
gave it a poor grade and 2%
who were unsure. Democrats
(39%) are more likely to give
the economy high marks, as
are college grads (42%). The
middle-aged (72%) and those
with no education beyond a
high school diploma (71%)
were more likely to pan the
economy.
• Slightly less than a quarter
(22%) say Oregon’s economy
is improving, while 39% said it
was trending toward equilib-
rium; 34% said it was getting
worse, and 4% were unsure.
Rural residents (47%) were
more likely to see the numbers
turning red, while urbanites
(31%) were in the black.
• About 3 in 10 (32%) say
the economy is favorable in
their town, but the majority
(65%) said it’s not, with the re-
maining 3% unsure. Those in
the rural-to-suburban exurbs
(57%) were more likely to say
their community is successful
than either town or country
dwellers. In general, “exurbs”
are urban centers unattached
to a main metro area — think
McMinnville — as opposed to
a “suburb,” such as Tigard.
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