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SATURDAY • June 5, 2021 • Serving Central Oregon since 1903 • $1.50 ELKS GET WIN IN OPENER SPORTS, B1 COVID-19 in Oregon Brown sets June 21 target to end limits old, Brown said she would lift mask- ing, business capacity, event size, social distance and other limits that Oregonians have dealt with for more than a year. “We can fully reopen — we can all look forward to that,” she said. Local health officials would then take over the daily decision-making and operations in counties from the Oregon Health Authority. BY GARY A. WARNER Oregon Capital Bureau Nearly all COVID-19 restrictions could be lifted in as early as just over two weeks, Gov. Kate Brown said Fri- day. The state is about 127,000 adults short of the goal of getting at least one shot of vaccine into 70% of eligible residents. Once the state crosses the thresh- the state hits its target vaccination rate. Oregon’s statewide mark stood at 66.2% on Wednesday. OHA Direc- tor Pat Allen said that if the current pace continues, the mark would be hit about June 21. “This is not a slam dunk,” Allen said. Allen said that the June 30 deadline set earlier in the year by the governor INSIDE • About 2% of the people diagnosed in Oregon in May were vaccinated, A2 • All Oregon’s public universities will require the vaccine, A2 Brown said even very large events, such as the Pendleton Round-Up in September, would be good to go once was well within reach. “It will take a lot of work by a lot of people to get it done,” Allen said. Lifting restrictions would include: • Ending the risk-level system for counties of lower, moderate, high and extreme. • Ending a state requirement for masks and face coverings in almost all settings. See Brown / A4 Legislature OKs $9.3B for schools following debate JEFFERSON COUNTY Farmer offers a grim picture to state legislators Dust fills the air Friday as Trevor Smith prepar es a field to plant a crop near the town of Metolius in Jefferson County. BY PETER WONG Oregon Capital Bureau Ryan Brennecke/The Bulletin A two-year, $9.3 billion budget for state aid to public schools is on its way to Gov. Kate Brown after a partisan fight in the Oregon House. The House passed the bud- get on a 36-20 vote, majority Democrats for and minority Republicans against, after Re- publicans failed to send it back to the Legislature’s joint budget committee to add $300 million for the two years starting July 1. The extra money, and more, is likely to materialize anyway in a couple of months. The state’s latest economic and rev- enue forecast, presented May 19, projects $664 million in ex- cess corporate income tax col- lections — which under a 2012 ballot measure go into the state school fund. The third-quarter forecast, scheduled for Sept. 22, will yield the actual number. The Senate approved the budget, 23-6, on May 25. The excess collections, known as the “kicker,” were not men- tioned during the House debate. The $9.3 billion in state funds will be combined with a projected $4.6 billion in local property taxes for 197 school districts. The ratio is the re- verse of what it was before Oregon voters approved a se- ries of statewide property tax limits in the 1990s and shifted the burden of school operating costs from property taxpayers to state income taxes, which account for more than 90% of the state general fund. (The school fund also gets Oregon Lottery proceeds and mari- juana sales taxes. Some money from Oregon’s new corporate activity tax, which lawmakers passed in 2019 and started in 2020, also is included.) Only the budgets of the Or- egon Health Authority and the Department of Human Ser- vices, both of which get federal grants, are larger. Havstad-Casad : 7th-generation farmers are close to ‘throwing in the towel’ BY MICHAEL KOHN • The Bulletin “We watch it happen. We stand in the middle of it. It’s like watching your children’s future blow away.” County, didn’t hold back last week while speaking on a Zoom call with state representatives about the drought conditions affecting farmers in Jefferson County. Speaking during a meeting of the House Water Committee chaired by Rep. Ken Helm, D-Beaverton, Havstad-Casad told the legislators in stark terms that Jefferson County farms are starving for water while farms in other parts of the Deschutes Basin have more water than they need. “What is happening through the forced dry up of this district, because we are junior water rights holders, is a mas- sive ecological and a social disaster that not many people truly understand is happening,” said Havstad-Casad, a patron of the North Unit Irrigation Dis- trict. Cate Havstad- Casad, farmer See Farmer / A7 Bulletin file photo Summit grad turned love of theater into a college path Branden Plascencia will study at Cornish College of the Arts BY JACKSON HOGAN The Bulletin Branden Plascencia didn’t think much about theater before middle school. He hadn’t acted in any- thing, and hadn’t seen many shows or musical films. But a theater elective class in eighth grade sparked an interest for Plascencia. A year later, he au- ditioned for his first stage play as a TODAY’S WEATHER freshman at Summit High School, “Begets,” and when he got a part, he knew he had found his group of people. “I grew a close relationship with the cast,” said Plascencia, now 18. “It’s perfect to start in high school, because you feel welcomed when you first start out.” As a graduating senior, Plascen- cia has fully immersed himself in the theater world. He’s performed lead roles in three different musi- cals at Summit High, and plans to study theater at a Seattle arts col- lege after graduating Saturday. Sunny, pleasant High 69, Low 37 Page A8 Summit High School graduate Branden Plas- cencia, right, performs as Jean Valjean in the school’s filmed production of “Les Misérables.” Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the spring 2021 production was shot outside so it could later be shown online. See Theater / A7 INDEX Business Classifieds Comics See Schools / A4 Correction In a story headlined “Cleanup slated,” which was published Friday, June 4, on Page A1, the story stated an incorrect title for James Cook. He is a board member of the Homeless Leadership Coalition. The Bulletin regrets the error. Submitted A5-6 B6 B3-4 Dear Abby Editorial Horoscope A6 B5 A6 Local/State Lottery Obituaries A2-3 B2 A6 Puzzles Sports B4 B1-2 The Bulletin An Independent Newspaper We use recycled newsprint Vol. 117, No. 329, 14 pages, 2 sections DAILY C ate Havstad-Casad, co-owner of Havstad-Casad Family Farms in Jefferson U|xaIICGHy02329lz[
