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About The Bulletin. (Bend, OR) 1963-current | View Entire Issue (June 4, 2021)
FRIDAY • June 4, 2021 • Serving Central Oregon since 1903 • $1.50 SPORTS PULLOUT, B3-6 PRIME UPPER-ELEVATION RIDE SKYLINER TRAIL » EXPLORE, B1 WILDFIRE SEASON Massive lightning strikes are top concern BY GARY A. WARNER Oregon Capital Bureau A statewide swath of lightning strikes is the “trigger event” that most worries state fire officials planning for what could be a second consecutive severe fire season. Lightning strikes are “a typical event that we have on an annual ba- sis that gives me most concern,” said Doug Grafe, the Oregon Department of Forestry fire chief. Grafe and other state fire, emer- gency, environmental and health offi- cials held a press call Thursday to lay out strategies to try to keep 2021 from looking like 2020. Firefighters plan for the worst and hope for the best. Sometimes they get a nightmare like the Labor Day 2020 fires that burned over 1 million acres in Oregon, destroyed thousands of homes and left 11 dead. The fires also sent billows of ash that filled the Willamette Valley. Winds drove the toxic flow eastward that for a few days made the air qual- ity in Sisters and Pendleton the worst in the world. Oregon is still digging out from those fires that broke out amid the COVID-19 pandemic. On the Thursday press call, leading emergency, fire and health officials talked about improvements since last year: better warning systems, an ini- tial wave of 30 aircraft with better in- strumentation to see flame through smoke, pre-positioned fire crews and federal agency assets that are in Or- egon because they never went home last year. An air-quality blog will give faster readings on where air quality is be- coming dangerous. In light of the 2020 fires, the state is adding more Spanish language materials to reach communities that may not be plugged into the existing fire warning systems. See Fire season / A4 GRADUATION SEASON Emerson Avenue in Bend Teen survives addiction and trauma to earn diploma CLEAN UP SLATED Jaidra Miles still in awe that she graduated high school BY JACKSON HOGAN The Bulletin Editor’s note: This is part of a series of articles about exceptional high school graduates in the class of 2021 across Central Oregon. Her childhood was so bleak, that Jaidra Miles thought she’d never finish high school. She grew up with a single mother who could barely afford to pay the bills. By age 12, Miles began using drugs, eventually leading to multiple charges and court-man- dated rehab, she said. And Miles flunked out of school during her freshman year at Crook County High School. But now, Miles, 17, is living a sober life in Prineville. And in February, she officially graduated as part of the class of 2021 for Prineville’s alternative high school, Pioneer High School, over a year ahead of schedule. “Sometimes, I don’t believe that I did it,” Miles said of graduating. “If I told 13-year- old me that I was going to be where I am now, I would’ve said, ‘That’s a joke.’” See Grad / A4 Ryan Brennecke/The Bulletin Dawn Kane, 49, pauses for a moment to think when asked where she is going to move to next while talking to The Bulletin outside her tent along NE Emerson Avenue in Bend on Thursday . BY BRENNA VISSER The Bulletin I n the last nine months, Dawn Kane has made her home out of a blue and green tent off the side of Emerson Avenue in Bend. The 49-year-old Kane moved to the area after spending roughly 10 years liv- ing on Bureau of Land Management land near Redmond in the hopes of being closer to services. It worked — Kane qual- ified for a housing voucher in November. But after more than six months, she has yet to be placed in a home because there are none available in Central Oregon, she said. And now, the city of Bend will be telling her to pack up and leave Em- erson Avenue. This is because the Bend City Council gave City Manager Eric King the authority Wednesday to move people out of the right of way when camps are deemed “unsafe.” “I just haven’t had the best luck in the world as far as things coming my way,” she said. “When good things happen, they go away.” See Homeless / A6 Heckathorn appointed Jefferson County sheriff BY GARRETT ANDREWS The Bulletin Heckathorn TODAY’S WEATHER Jefferson County commis- sioners interviewed finalists for sheriff at Wednesday’s meeting and in the end, voted to promote Undersheriff Marc Heckathorn to the top post. Partly sunny High 85, Low 48 Page B5 Outgoing Sheriff Jim Ad- kins, 57, announced in April he would step down this sum- mer. Heckathorn’s first day will be July 1. He will earn $98,000 per year as sheriff. Following Adkins’ INDEX Business Classifieds Comics A7-8 B5-6 B7-8 retirement announcement, the county held an open ap- plication period that yielded packets from three inter- ested people. Heckathorn, 45, and Jefferson County Sher- iff’s Office Cpl. Jason Pol- lack were named finalists Dear Abby A6 Editorial A5 Explore B1-2, 9-10 History Horoscope Local/State A6 A6 A2 and interviewed in person by the commissioners. Jackson County Sheriff’s Office dep- uty Ian Lance did not make the cut, with commissioners speaking in favor of hiring a local candidate. Bend City Council votes to oppose crude oil by rail BY BRENNA VISSER The Bulletin The Bend City Council officially opposes crude oil coming through the city by rail, though the resolution passed by the council is largely symbolic. On Wednesday, the council unanimously adopted a resolution that takes a stand against oil trains moving through Bend due to the safety and environmental risks. The resolution does not mean oil trains are banned from Bend — cities aren’t able to do that, according to city staff. But what the resolution does do is join several other cit- ies in Oregon to put pressure on the federal government to instill more regulations for oil traveling by train. “It’s important for us as one of many cities to come together with this message,” Mayor Sally Russell said in the council’s meeting Wednesday. See Sheriff / A4 Obituaries Puzzles Sports A8 B8 B3-5 See Oil / A4 The Bulletin An Independent Newspaper We use recycled newsprint Vol. 117, No. 329, 18 pages, 2 sections DAILY City cites safety and health concerns ; homeless advocates call policy ‘inhumane’ U|xaIICGHy02329lz[
