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About The Bulletin. (Bend, OR) 1963-current | View Entire Issue (May 19, 2021)
A4 The BulleTin • Wednesday, May 19, 2021 SPECIAL DISTRICT ELECTIONS Initial results from Tuesday’s elections in Central Oregon • Coverage starts on A1 IN BRIEF Area levies failing; new face on library board Bulletin staff report In other special district elec- tion news: • Voters appear to have de- feated a five-year local option tax levy for the La Pine Park and Recreation District by a 2-to-1 margin, according to early un- official results. The levy would have cost property owners in the district 27 cents per $1,000 in assessed property value and money would have supported and expanded youth programs, expanded wellness, fitness and outdoor programs for adults and fund maintenance and technology upgrades. • The Cloverdale Rural Fire Protection District appears to have failed to pass a five-year levy to support better fire and emergency medical response. The levy would have cost $1.35 per $1,000 of assessed property value and would have funded the hiring of three firefighter/ EMTs and an ambulance. It was failing by a wide margin in early, unofficial results Tuesday night. • Challenger Anne Ness appears to have defeated in- cumbent Martha Lawler in a rare contested race for the De- schutes Public Library Board. Ness was leading 55% to 44% in early, unofficial results Tuesday. • Mercedes Cook appeared to be winning the three-way race for a seat on the Redmond Area Park and Recreation Dis- trict Board. Cook had 40% of the vote in early returns, besting Lena Berry (30%) and Jeremiah Pedersen (28%). Matthew Gilman was beating Jon Golden for a different seat on the Redmond park board, leading 65% to 33% in early re- sults Tuesday night. Sisters school bond appears to pass Also, board expected to get a new member BY KYLE SPURR The Bulletin Voters in the Sisters School District appear to have ap- proved a bond measure for a new elementary school and elected a new member to the school board, according to early unofficial returns in Tuesday’s special district elec- tion. The $33.8 million bond was passing with 1,052 votes, or 62.3%, in favor. It would fund a new, larger building for the Sisters Elementary School. School officials said the pro- posed building would ease the crowding at the school, which has been welcoming more stu- dents than the current build- ing can hold. The larger building would also be built near the middle school and high school and al- low the school district to make the elementary school K-5, rather than the current K-4. The bond won’t raise taxes for Sisters residents. It will re- tain the existing tax rate in place since residents passed a bond in 2001 to build Sisters High School. In the Sisters School Board elections, Position 1 candidate Jencia Cogdill was leading Rodney Cooper with 63.81% of the vote. Early unofficial returns showed Cogdill with Bend-La Pine Continued from A1 McPherson Douglass, with nearly 70% of the vote, appeared to defeat challenger Maria Lopez-Dauenhauer, who had about 30% of the vote, in early results Tuesday night. “I’m excited to go back to work and focus on making up for lost learning and the mental health needs of our stu- dents,” said McPherson Douglass. LeGrand, with about 65% of the vote, also appeared to beat his chal- lenger, Wendy Imel, who had about 35% of the vote in early results. Olson held about 66% of the vote, Parks Continued from A1 Hovekamp, a Central Ore- gon Community College bi- ology professor, has been on the board since 2015 and is the current board chair. He said he was pleased with the results. “My colleague Deb Schoen has been on the board for some time. I am really happy to see her strong results,” said Hovekamp. “Zavi has got a Cogdill Jones 1,012 votes to Cooper’s 568 votes. Both candidates are newcomers who are seeking the seat that opened when board member Jay Wilkins did not seek reelection. Cogdill, 43, who has a daughter in the fourth grade, was motivated to run for the first time to offer a parent’s perspective on the board. Cogdill, a manager of customer experience at Les “I’m excited to go back to work and focus on making up for lost learning and the mental health needs of our students.” — Carrie McPherson Douglass, incumbent on the Bend-La Pine School Board seemingly defeating Gregg Henton, who had about 34% of the vote in early results. The closest race was between Lle- randi and Jon Haffner. But Llerandi still held a strong lead in early returns Tues- day night, with nearly 60% of the vote great lead, and he will be an ex- cellent addition to the board, so it’s really very exciting.” Hovekamp added that the election was well run by all the candidates. “I believe voters appreciate campaigns that are substan- tive but still conducted with dignity and decorum,” Hov- ekamp said. In the third contested race for a Bend park board seat, Schoen was leading Eliza- beth Hughes Weide by a wide Schwab Tire Centers, also plans to use her marketing and consulting experience from a previous career in Eu- gene and Portland. Cooper, 66, works as a sub- stitute teacher for the school district. He taught K-8 for 32 years in the small Lane County town of Crow, west of Eugene. He wanted to bring a teacher’s perspective to the board. In the Position 5 race, in- cumbent Edie Jones was lead- ing challenger Kevin Eckert with 67.61% of the vote. Early unofficial returns showed Jones had 1,052 votes over 498 for Eckert. Jones, 82, was appointed to the school board in February compared to about 38% for Haffner. Llerandi said she was excited to join the school board and get up to speed. “Thank you to all the voters; thank you for believing in me and for voting for transparency, honesty and the kids,” she said. LeGrand shied away from declaring victory after the initial results dropped. “I just want things to be finalized com- pletely,” he said. “But I’m still hopeful.” Olson felt similarly. “I’m looking good, and I feel good about that,” she said. “But no final re- sponse until every vote’s counted.” The two competing slates of can- didates were each supported by a margin, with around 74%, according to early, unofficial results. Schoen, the incumbent, has been on the board since Jan- uary 2020. She said big issues to tackle include buying land for parks in underserved areas and dealing with challenges presented by the growth in Bend. In comments after the cam- paign, she praised her oppo- nent for “running for all the right reasons” and said she Reporter: 541-617-7818, mkohn@bendbulletin.com e e Reporter: 541-617-7820, kspurr@bendbulletin.com separate political action committee. However, the PAC that supported Re- publican-endorsed candidates spent much more money. “I think tonight’s results show that our community demonstrated it’s not money, but voters, who decide elec- tions,” said McPherson Douglass. The Republican-backed candidates had extremely minimal, or no, contact with local media and refused to par- ticipate in the local nonpartisan can- didate forum. However, they did chat with nonlocal conservative pundits, in- cluding Lars Larson and multiple Fox News commentators. e e Reporter: 541-617-7854, jhogan@bendbulletin.com hoped Hughes Weide would continue to be involved in the district. Schoen added that Borja will bring a fresh per- spective to the board. “Equity and inclusion is a priority for the board, but we don’t have the lived expe- riences that Zavi does,” said Schoen. “I think he is going to bring a great perspective as well as his incredible energy and enthusiasm.” e e 2020. Jones joined the school board after a long career in early childhood education and work with nonprofit organiza- tions. She said she would use her experience to help guide the school district as it ex- pands the elementary school. Eckert, 48, an architect and builder who owns Build LLC, based in Seattle and Sisters, was a first-time candidate for elected office. He intended to share his professional experi- ence with the board as it nav- igated building the new ele- mentary school. Board member David Thorsett ran unopposed Tues- day for his Position 2 seat. Central Oregon’s source for events, arts & entertainment Pick up Thursday’s Bulletin for weekly event coverage and calendars OBITUARY ELSEWHERE IN OREGON Oregon Health Authority director losing reelection bid to Sherwood School Board The leader of the state agency that helped craft guidelines for operating Oregon’s schools during the pandemic appears to have lost his bid for a third term on the Sherwood school board. Oregon Health Authority Director Patrick Allen trailed chal- lenger Duncan Nyang’oro’s with 46% of the vote in partial re- turns as Tuesday night. Those totals are out of nearly 4,600 ballots counted by the Washington County elections office in the race for that seat so far. Nyang’oro, an auditor for the SAIF Corporation, spent $9,000 to unseat Allen. The incumbent raised about half that amount. Redmond Continued from A1 Michelle Salinas’ lead over Michael Summers was even smaller, with an 81- vote difference in early results for the Po- sition 2 seat. Salinas received about 39% of the vote, Summers 37%, and Rachel Visi- noni about 9%. Lacey Butts, who dropped Jefferson Continued from A1 In the Position 3 race, Jacob Struck, a construction superintendent, has a lead over Jaylyn Suppah, a community plan- ner in Warm Springs, with 53.8% of the vote compared to Suppah’s 46%. Both were running for a seat that opened when board member Tom Norton Jr. did not Nyang’oro ran on a promise to fully reopen the district’s schools in the fall and criticized Allen and Gov. Kate Brown for not doing so in campaign material. Tax for Oregon Historical Society museum wins big Multnomah County voters overwhelmingly approved extend- ing a local levy to support the Oregon Historical Society and make admission to its museum free to county residents. Countywide, 76% of voters said yes to renewing the small levy for another five years, according to partial returns. It will cost prop- erty owners 5 cents for every $1,000 of assessed property value. Ruby Eloise “A nderson” Uptegrove April 26, 1937 - May 8, 2021 — Bulletin wire reports out of the race, still snagged nearly 14% of the vote. Salinas said the extremely close results were nerve-wracking. “I have no fingernails left because I’ve chewed them all off,” she said. With about 32% of the vote, Keri Lopez led the race for the Position 4 seat in early results. Bob Perry, who dropped out of the seek reelection. Struck, 34, who works for Skanska USA Building, ran for the school board to support the existing vocational pro- grams and possibly add more. The father of three children in kindergarten, second and fourth grades also wants to get more families involved in their children’s edu- cation. Suppah, 34, was motivated to serve race, received about 24% of the early vote. Carmen Lawson and Oscar Gonzalez were close behind, receiving about 23% and 21% of early votes, respectively. There was only a 442-vote gap between Lopez and Gonzalez in early returns. “I’m feeling like it’s too close to be com- fortable,” Lopez said. e e Reporter: 541-617-7854, jhogan@bendbulletin.com on the school board and add more rep- resentation for Warm Springs students and families. Suppah planned to use her experience in educational advo- cacy work as a part of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs’ education com- mittee. Board Chair Laurie Danzuka ran unop- posed Tuesday for her seat. e e Reporter: 541-617-7820, kspurr@bendbulletin.com A Smarter Way to Power Your Home. REQUEST A FREE QUOTE! ACT NOW TO RECEIVE A $300 SPECIAL OFFER!* (844) 989-2328 *Off er value when purchased at retail. Solar panels sold separately. On May 8th , 2021, Ruby had a heavenly reunion with her husband Mel, and her son Steven. She passed peacefully at home lovely surrounded by “her girls”. She had just celebrated her 84th birthday. She was born in Oak Creek, CO. and moved to Bend when she was 2 years old. She married Melvin August 23, 1956. Ruby was a great asset to Bend Family Denti stry where she spent over 35 years keeping things going and is now a legend. Prior to that she worked in the Physical Therapy department at St. Charles. She had a love for reading and shared that love with her great-granddaughters by reading to them and having them read to her. She was loving, caring, and generous with a pinch of feisty, and had a great sense of humor which was an asset as she helped raise her granddaughters. She established lasti ng relati onships with her co-workers, enjoyed gardening, and in her younger years, cross country skiing. The family wishes to thank Partners in Care Hospice nurses for her wonderful in-home care. Ruby is survived by her son, Mike Uptegrove (wife Marcie), daughter Linda Spitt ler (husband Bob); grandchildren, Kailee Corpus, Erin Fielder (husband Ross), Adam Uptegrove, Heather Wong (husband Aaron), Rob Spitt ler (wife Amara); great granddaughters Mia Fielder, Elloise Fielder, and Abigail Spitt ler. There will be a celebrati on of life scheduled this summer, TBD. Her wishes were to be cremated. Donati ons may be made to Partners in Care Hospice house in her name. 2075 NE Wyatt Ct. Bend, OR 97701 Please sign the guestbook for the family online at www.niswonger-reynolds.com.
