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About The Bulletin. (Bend, OR) 1963-current | View Entire Issue (June 2, 2021)
WEDNESDAY • June 2, 2021 • Serving Central Oregon since 1903 • $1.50 SPORTS PULLOUT, A5-8 Officials discuss fire season with Rep. Bentz Hot weather and dry climate arrive earlier this year in Central Oregon BY MICHAEL KOHN • The Bulletin At the edge of the Redmond Airport on Tuesday, a group of around 10 smokejumpers went through a brief preparation exercise on the tarmac, then promptly boarded a propeller plane in preparation to leap out of it. The Redmond Smokejumpers are getting in their practice flights while they can — further into the summer they are almost certain to be busy fighting live fires. With dry conditions across the region and temperatures heating up, this wildfire season could be one for the ages. The smokejumpers, and other wildfire officials across multiple agencies, were on hand at the Cen- tral Oregon Interagency Dispatch Center to give U.S. Rep. Cliff Bentz, R-Ontario, a taste of the up- coming fire season. Bentz toured the smokejumper facility, a warehouse of supplies and the Air Tanker Field as the mercury climbed in the mid-90s. “My experience in watching so many fires over the years is that our agencies are doing their best, and I just want to make sure that, if they need some- thing, they can tell me and we can go back and try to help out,” said Bentz. Bentz said fuel build up on the forest floor is “huge and horrendous” and he supports initiatives to clear brush and conduct more prescribed burns. But Tuesday he was in Redmond to learn more about what officials need to fight wildfire when it appears in the Cascades and the High Desert. The tour included a visit to the Northwest Incident Support Cache, a 40,000-square-foot warehouse that stores equipment needed for the fire season. Genera- tors, axes, camping gear, hoses and other equipment were stacked from floor to ceiling in the facility. Kristopher Strong, assistant manager for the cache, said a challenge this year has been staffing the facility. He currently has 20 workers compared to a typical year of 40 to 60 employees. Part of that is re- aligning staff assignments and part is the difficulty in getting new workers to come through the door. “I have advertised these positions more than any other year we have ever done, but it seems like no one is coming in to hand in applications,” said Strong. “And it pays pretty darn well too.” Strong told Bentz another challenge is the size of the facility. He needs a 130,000-square-foot facility to improve efficiency and cut costs. A pair of cyclists ride west along Greenwood Avenue where it intersects with Third Street in Bend on Friday. Ryan Brennecke/The Bulletin Brainstorming a ‘bikeable’ Bend 2 area leaders team up in proposal for safer, dedicated crosstown bike lanes BY MICHAEL KOHN • The Bulletin For bike shop owner Dan McGarigle, crossing Bend by bicycle is, for the most part, good exercise and fun. There are some leisurely stretches and great views, but when it comes to crossing an intersection, that all changes. town routes for bike riders like McGarigle are not lost on city leaders who are looking into ways to create a safer cycling experience in Bend. Ariel Men- dez, a Bend Park & Recreation District board member, and Anthony Broadman, a Bend city councilor, have launched a proposal to build 17 miles of cross-city divided bike lanes An element of danger creeps in. “You’ve just got a ton of traffic. Any place that doesn’t have a stoplight is unnerving,” said McGarigle, owner of Pine Mountain Sports. “That is a place where you have to get it right or you could get hit by a car.” The dangers of the cross- See Fire / A13 that will separate bike riders from cars. Mendez and Broadman in- troduced their ideas earlier this month to the Transportation Bond Oversight Committee, which oversees how Bend will spend a $190-million trans- portation bond that voters approved in November. The bond measure includes plans to spend $19 million on bike- and pedestrian-focused proj- ects. The plans in the bond in- clude a “low-stress network” of bike lanes, including lanes painted green to designate that they are for biking. But Mendez and Broadman said the low-stress lanes need to be Broadman M endez beefed up to include dividers and barriers to keep cars out. “This proposal for a sep- arated route goes f urther by requiring that people biking not share physical space with through -traffic,” said Mendez, an advocate for commuter cy- cling. Broadman said he hopes the city will build a safe bike lane network so “a kid can ride from Big Sky Park to Shevlin Park without parents being worried about losing their child to car violence.” See Bike lanes / A4 Bend sees Madras High senior is a devoted bronc rider average weather in May GRADUATION SEASON Editor’s note: This is part of a series of articles about exceptional high school graduates in the class of 2021 across Central Oregon. Few things motivate Ma- dras High School senior Josh Olney like rodeo. Specifically, riding broncos — or broncs, as he calls them. “A lot of times, I’m just thinking, ‘Sooner or later, I’m going to be at a rodeo and I’m going to be having fun,’” said Olney, 18. “Rodeo is my happy place, I guess.” Olney has participated in rodeos since he was about 3, starting out with riding sheep. After graduating high school, he’ll be riding for Odessa College’s team in west Texas. “One guy told me, ‘If you get the chance to go to Texas, do it, because that’s a really big rodeo state,’” Olney said. “So I jumped on it after that.” Olney — who grew up in Warm Springs but moved to Madras two years ago — developed a passion for ro- deo while watching his older brothers ride. Since then, he’s been deeply involved in the sport. There are four horses Olney rides at his family’s facility in Warm Springs — Lonestar, Dixie and two that are still un- named. He rides them all the time to hone his sense of bal- ance, he said. Olney also has a spur board at his home he uses for prac- tice, he said. That’s a piece of wood shaped like a horse’s back, with a place to tie in a saddle and stirrups and prac- tice riding a bucking bronc. Olney’s also played a few sports for Madras High School: basketball, wrestling and baseball. BY KYLE SPURR The Bulletin May in Bend brought aver- age spring temperatures and slightly more rainfall than nor- mal from a few storms toward the end of the month, accord- ing to the National Weather Service office in Pendleton. The weather service’s monthly climate summary showed the average temperature last month in Bend was 54 degrees, which is the exact monthly average tem- perature on record. High and low average tem- peratures were also nearly ex- act, according to the weather service. See Graduate / A4 “Rodeo is my happy place, I guess.” — Madras High School senior Josh Olney, pictured at right See May / A4 Submitted photo TODAY’S WEATHER Hot High 97, Low 59 Page A12 INDEX Business Classifieds Comics A11-12 A14 A9-10 Dear Abby Editorial Horoscope A7 A8 A7 Local/State A2- 4, 13 Lottery A6 Nation/World A 13 Obituaries Puzzles Sports A4 A10 A5-7 The Bulletin An Independent Newspaper We use recycled newsprint Vol. 117, No. 329, 14 pages, 1 section DAILY BY JACKSON HOGAN The Bulletin U|xaIICGHy02329lz[
