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About The Bulletin. (Bend, OR) 1963-current | View Entire Issue (July 29, 2021)
The BulleTin • Thursday, July 29, 2021 A3 TODAY Today is Thursday, July 29, the 210th day of 2021. There are 155 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: In 1958, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act, cre- ating NASA. In 1856, German composer Robert Schumann died in En- denich at age 46. In 1890, artist Vincent van Gogh, 37, died of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound in Auvers-sur-Oise, France. In 1914, transcontinental telephone service in the U.S. be- came operational with the first test conversation between New York and San Francisco. Massa- chusetts’ Cape Cod Canal, offer- ing a shortcut across the base of the peninsula, was officially opened to shipping traffic. In 1965, The Beatles’ second fea- ture film, “Help!,” had its world premiere in London. In 1967, an accidental rocket launch on the deck of the super- carrier USS Forrestal in the Gulf of Tonkin resulted in a fire and explosions that killed 134 ser- vicemen. Among the survivors was future Arizona senator John McCain, a U.S. Navy lieutenant commander who narrowly es- caped with his life. In 1968, Pope Paul the Sixth reaffirmed the Roman Catholic Church’s stance against artificial methods of birth control. In 1974, singer Cass Elliot died in a London hotel room at age 32. In 1975, President Gerald R. Ford became the first U.S. president to visit the site of the Nazi con- centration camp Auschwitz in Poland. In 1981, Britain’s Prince Charles married Lady Diana Spencer in a glittering ceremony at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. (The cou- ple divorced in 1996.) In 1986, a federal jury in New York found that the National Football League had committed an antitrust violation against the rival United States Football League. But in a hollow victory for the USFL, the jury ordered the NFL to pay token damages of only three dollars. In 1999, a former day trader, apparently upset over stock loss- es, opened fire in two Atlanta brokerage offices, killing nine people and wounding 13 be- fore shooting himself to death; authorities said Mark O. Barton had also killed his wife and two children. Ten years ago: Norway began burying the dead, a week after an anti-Muslim extremist killed 77 people in a bombing and shooting rampage. Delaware carried out its first execution since 2005, putting to death Robert Jackson III, who was convicted of killing a woman, Elizabeth Girardi, with an ax during a burglary. Five years ago: Pope Francis visited the former Nazi death factory at Auschwitz and Birke- nau in southern Poland, meet- ing with concentration camp survivors as well as aging saviors who helped Jews escape certain doom. One year ago: The body of the late Democratic congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis arrived in Atlanta; people lined the streets as the hearse carry- ing Lewis’ body moved through downtown before a ceremony at the Capitol rotunda, where Lewis was lauded as a warrior and a hero. Both sides declared victory in a political fight over the deployment of federal agents to guard a U.S. court- house that was targeted during violent protests in Portland after the governor announced that the officers would start to withdraw. The U.S. Energy Infor- mation Administration said en- ergy consumption in the United States plummeted to its lowest level in 30 years in the spring as the economy largely shut down. Connie Culp, the recipient of the first partial face transplant in the United States, died at the age of 57, almost a dozen years after the groundbreaking operation. Today’s Birthdays: Actor Rob- ert Fuller is 88. Actor Roz Kelly is 79. Rock musician Neal Doughty (REO Speedwagon) is 75. Marilyn Tucker Quayle, wife of former Vice President Dan Quayle, is 72. Actor Mike Starr is 71. Documen- tary maker Ken Burns is 68. Style guru Tim Gunn is 68. Rock sing- er-musician Geddy Lee (Rush) is 68. Rock singer Patti Scialfa is 68. Actor Kevin Chapman is 59. Actor/comedian Dean Haglund is 56. Rock musician Chris Gor- man is 54. Actor Tim Omundson is 52. Actor Wil Wheaton is 49. R&B singer Wanya Morris (Boyz II Men) is 48. Hip-hop DJ/music producer Danger Mouse is 44. Actor Cait Fairbanks is 28. — Associated Press LOCAL, STATE & REGION It’s confirmed: Bootleg Fire fueled tornado BY JOE SIESS (Klamath Falls) Herald and News “A decade ago, we could not have even imagined this. But here we are.” On July 18, the Bootleg Fire generated what appeared to be a flaming tornado, sweep- ing skyward from the trees and into the towering thun- derheads above. Officials confirmed Mon- day that it was an actual tor- nado, fueled by the fire itself. According to Bruno Ro- driguez, an incident meteo- rologist assigned to the Boot- leg Fire, the phenomenon occurred on the southeast side of the blaze on a day of extreme fire behavior. Ro- driguez said that day the fire generated pyrocumulus or pyrocumulonimbus clouds that rose higher than 30,000 feet into the stratosphere — roughly the altitude where most commercial airplanes fly. Those massive clouds, in combination with intense heat generated by the fire on the ground, intensified an up- draft, according to Rodriguez. That in turn pulled and ro- tated air up from the surface to the base of the fire-pro- duced clouds — creating a lit- eral tornado. The Bootleg tornado was far beyond the more common fire whirl phenomenon, Ro- driguez said. Fire whirls are smaller, sur- face-based vortices. But Ro- driguez said the Bootleg tor- nado and others like it “are essentially the same as a reg- ular tornado” — but with the added element of fire. The tornado is not actually made of fire, Rodriguez clari- fied, but flames from the trees and other vegetation swirls around in wind generated by the tornado. Ryan Sandler, a meteorol- — Neil Lareau, professor of atmospheric science at the University of Nevada Bootleg Fire Incident Command via AP, file Bootleg Fire statistics The Bootleg Fire had burned 413,400 acres in Klamath and Lake counties as of Wednesday afternoon, ac- cording to InciWeb. Contain- ment was estimated at 53%. The fire had destroyed 161 residences, 247 outbuildings and 342 vehicles. ogist at the National Weather Service in Medford, explained that while the fire tornado generated by the Bootleg Fire is in fact, a tornado, the Na- tional Weather Service is cur- In this drone photo, a pyrocumulus cloud, also known as a fire cloud, is seen over the Bootleg Fire in Klamath and Lake counties July 14. Smoke and heat are creating “fire clouds” over the blaze — dan- gerous columns of smoke and ash that can reach up to 30,000 feet and are visible for more than 100 miles away. Authorities put these clouds at the top of the list of the extreme fire behavior they are see- ing on the Bootleg Fire. rently unsure how to catego- rize it. While a traditional tor- nado often travels for many miles and can also be miles wide, a fire tornado relies on the updraft created by the fire and the cumulus clouds above to form and draw en- ergy, Sandler said. Given those constraints, a typical fire tornado can only travel a few miles at most, and is therefore not a threat to hu- man life if it occurs in a rel- atively remote area like the Fremont-Winema National Forest. Once the fire tornado gets too far away from the heat of the fire it starts to lose force and its shape, Sandler said. Neil Lareau, a professor of atmospheric science at the University of Nevada, said he speculates the Bootleg torna- do’s strength to be akin to an EF2-type tornado. EF2 tor- nadoes are characterized by wind speeds between 111 and 135 miles per hour. Evidence on the ground, such as exten- sive tree damage and scour- ing of road surface and soil, are indicative of winds of that magnitude. “Prior to last year, there had only been two well-docu- mented tornado strength vor- tices generated by fires,” Lar- eau said. “A decade ago, we could not have even imagined this. But here we are.” Lareau, who is currently working on a National Sci- ence Foundation funded proj- ect focused on fire-generated tornadoes, said studying these kinds of events is increasing in importance. The project, Lareau said, was motivated by confirmed fire tornadoes amid the mas- sive wildfires of 2020. “But every time a new tor- nado happens, we will work to understand the physics of what is going on, and build up a case library to identify when a fire is getting close to pro- ducing these sorts of things,” he said. The study of fire tornadoes is “really a frontier of science,” Lareau said, and the objective of his research is to under- stand which fires will produce tornadoes and when, and to identify the signals of when one of these events will hap- pen. That information is im- portant to helping stop the spread of these major wild- fires, and giving fire crews as much information as possible in order to stay safe and pro- tect nearby communities. NIKE EXTORTION Michael Avenatti asks to serve his sentence in Oregon Sheridan is often the prison of choice for local white-collar You would think that criminals. That’s for obvious Michael Avenatti had enough reasons, said Portland law- of Oregon. yer Kevin Sali: Their families, Avenatti’s fabulous life as their businesses (or what’s left Donald Trump antagonist, ca- of them) and their lawyers are ble news provocateur typically here. and social media phe- Ultimately, the U.S. nomenon collapsed Bureau of Prisons after he took on the will make the call on state’s largest home- where Avenatti will grown company, do his time. A bu- Nike. reau spokeswoman But the humili- said via email that it Avenatti ated celebrity law- doesn’t disclose where yer — sentenced to convicted felons will 30 months after being found be housed until they report to guilty of trying to extort $20 prison. million out of Nike — wants In Avenatti’s case, that date to come to Oregon to do his is Sept. 15. His lawyer did not time. Transcripts of Avenat- respond to emails or a phone ti’s July 8 sentencing hearing call. confirm that Avenatti asked to Avenatti threatened to ex- be housed in the Federal Cor- pose what he said was corrup- rectional Institute in Sheridan. tion by Nike in connection U.S. District Court Judge Paul with high school basketball Gardephe agreed to recom- players if the sports-apparel mend it. company didn’t pay his client Local attorneys were at a and hire him to conduct an in- loss to explain. Back in the ternal investigation. In a meet- day, when CNN still reported ing at the Manhattan offices on Avenatti’s latest tweet, he of one of Nike’s law firms, Av- lived and practiced law out of enatti informed them the price a sleek glass tower on the bor- of a proper internal investiga- der of Beverly Hills in South- tion would be in the $20 mil- ern California. lion range. “It seems unusual because Nike officials immediately the only connection I’ve heard went to federal prosecutors in of between Avenatti and Or- the Southern District of New egon is that this is where his York to report the blackmail victim (Nike) resides,” said attempt. At the prosecutors’ re- David Angeli, a Portland law- quest, Nike lawyers wore wires yer. into subsequent meetings. Sheridan, a small town in A jury found Avenatti guilty Yamhill County, is just 47 on all counts on Feb. 13. miles away from Nike’s world The sentencing hearing was headquarters. Most of the not all bad for Avenatti. Under Sheridan prison is a standard federal sentencing guidelines, medium security prison. But he faced more than 9 years in there’s also a minimum secu- prison. Prosecutors sought a rity camp. 105-month sentence. BY JEFF MANNING The Oregonian COME SEE US AT THE DESCHUTES COUNTY FAIR! is a sponsor of the 2021 Deschutes County Fair & Rodeo Stop by our booth on Friday, July 30 for Games, Contests, Free Giveaways, and More! Come by and get your BINGO card.