Serving Central Oregon since 1903 • $1.50
TUESDAY • May 18, 2021
PREP ‘WINTER’
SPORTS START
THIS WEEK »
It’s ELECTION DAY
Ballots for today’s special district elections must be dropped off at a county clerk’s office or
a drop box by 8 p.m. It’s too late to mail them. Drop boxes can be found at oregonvotes.gov
SPORTS PULLOUT, A5-8
Bend woman
sentenced for
stealing $23K
from singers
BY GARRETT ANDREWS
The Bulletin
A Bend woman received
probation and community
service for stealing $23,000
from a local nonprofit
women’s chorus while act-
ing as treasurer from 2014
to 2020.
Nancy Lee Phillips, 67,
was further ordered to re-
pay all of the money she
stole from Bella Acappella
Harmony.
The group’s leadership
is “certain” Phillips stole
more than she admitted
to, according to joint state-
ment read at Phillips’ sen-
tencing hearing Monday in
Deschutes County Circuit
Court.
“This was a very deep
personal betrayal in a very
small circle of friends. For
six years, Ms. Phillips sat
in our monthly leadership
meetings as we struggled to
find ways to pay for chorus
needs, to help members pay
to attend conferences and,
in some cases, even pay
their dues. All the while,
she was stealing from our
accounts to pay her own
way.”
CONGRESS
Oregon delegation wants $50M for projects
Representatives make funding requests for community projects; none from Bentz
BY KEVIN HARDEN
Oregon Capital Bureau
Most of Oregon’s congressional delegation is asking
U.S. House budgeters for nearly $50 million to fund
projects across the state as part of the 2022 federal
budget process, but they aren’t aren’t “earmarks.” Sort
of.
U.S. Reps. Suzanne Bonamici, Kurt Schrader, Earl
Blumenauer and Peter DeFazio offered a pile of pro-
posals in late March for dozens of projects and pro-
grams. U.S. Rep. Cliff Bentz of Ontario, the state’s lone
congressional Republican, did not offer any proposals.
Bentz’s staff was contacted for a comment but did not
provide one.
Officially, they’re not “earmarks.” Under new House
rules adopted in late February, the proposals are “com-
munity project funding requests.” Oregon’s proposals
were culled from hundreds sought by local govern-
ments, school districts, counties and agencies.
Two months ago, House Appropriations Commit-
tee Chair Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., opened the 2022
budget process to representatives’ specific funding re-
quests for projects and programs. That process, usu-
ally known as “earmarks,” was halted nearly a decade
ago. Democratic House leadership brought it back for
the new budget.
See Congress / A4
CUE THE PERKS
Central Oregon employers offer higher pay, free meals
and more benefits in a tighter labor market
See Theft / A4
Texas man
gets 8 years
for sex abuse
while in Bend
BY GARRETT ANDREWS
The Bulletin
A Texas man will serve
eight years in prison in Or-
egon for sexually abusing a
woman in Bend in 2018.
Bradley Austin Mont-
gomery, 29, was sentenced
Monday, one week after a
jury found him guilty fol-
lowing a short trial in De-
schutes County Circuit
Court.
On Nov. 23, 2018, Mont-
gomery was in Bend to at-
tend a relative’s funeral and
staying at the apartment
of different relative, who is
married to the victim.
BY SUZANNE ROIG • The Bulletin
T
he help wanted signs are pasted up
all over Central Oregon, an icon
of a tight labor market that was
around before the pandemic started
more than a year ago.
Employers in all fields are feeling the
pinch, said Katy Brooks, Bend Chamber of
Commerce CEO. There’s no clear answer to
why there’s a shortage of workers, she said.
The situation is forcing employers who
are rushing to ramp up for a busy summer
tourism season to offer workers higher pay,
bonuses, free meals, employee discounts
and other perks.
In an effort to keep her trained workforce,
Julia Rickards, co-owner of Open Door
restaurant in Sisters, recently paid one-time
bonuses to her regular employees who all
make above the minimum wage.
“We’ve been in front of the minimum
wage for three years,” Rickard said. “We have
the very amazing good fortune that our core
team that started with us are still here.”
But if she wants to expand her hours she
needs part-time employees, and those appli-
cants are not lining up at the door.
Even though unemployment numbers still
are higher than a year ago, most who were
Job seekers wait for an interview during a
job fair Wednesday at Sunriver Resort.
Dean Guernsey/The Bulletin
unemployed by the pandemic have recovered
their jobs, said Damon Runberg, Oregon Em-
ployment Department regional economist.
Runberg says there are four main reasons
why there’s a tight labor market:
• Almost half the unemployed workers
are on temporary layoff, which means that
they are subject to recall by the employer and
not required to look for work.
See Perks / A4
See Abuse / A4
Sinkhole shuts off water for over
600 customers in southeast Bend
BY MICHAEL KOHN
The Bulletin
Hundreds of residents in
southeast Bend have been without
irrigation water since Thursday
after a large sinkhole appeared in
a canal, causing a measurable loss
of water.
The Arnold Irrigation District
shut off water to more than 600
patrons Thursday, according to
Colin Wills, manager of the dis-
trict. The canal was losing 30 cu-
Dean Guernsey/The
Bulletin
TODAY’S
WEATHER
Partly sunny
High 59, Low 34
Page A13
INDEX
Business
Classifieds
Comics
A11,13
A14
A9-10
Dear Abby
Editorial
Horoscope
A7
A8
A7
Kid Scoop
Local/State
Lottery
A12
A2-4
A6
Obituaries
Puzzles
Sports
A4
A10
A5-7
bic feet of water per second to the
sinkhole, he said.
Sinkholes appear periodically
in Central Oregon, where man-
made canals crisscross a region of
volcanic rock and the occasional
lava tube. Wills said his irrigation
district can repair most sinkholes
when they appear, but last week’s
hole is larger than normal and re-
quires additional help.
“We are doing everything we
can,” said Wills. “We are hiring a
construction company and an en-
gineer right away.”
Kyle Gorman, region manager
for the Oregon Water Resources
Department, said lava tubes are
common in the Deschutes River
Woods area, where the sinkhole
appeared. But having a sinkhole
open up in a canal occurs infre-
quently, he added.
“Maybe one every few years or
so,” he said.
See Sinkhole / A4
The Bulletin
An Independent Newspaper
We use
recycled
newsprint
Vol. 117, No. 329, 14 pages, 1 section
DAILY
Colin Wills,
Arnold Irriga-
tion District
manager,
checks a sink-
hole in the
canal in De-
schutes River
Woods on Mon-
day. “We are
doing every-
thing we can”
to address the
situation, Wills
said, but it’s too
big for the
district to han-
dle alone.
U|xaIICGHy02329lz[