A2 The BulleTin • Friday, July 30, 2021
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COVID-19 data for Thursday, July 29
Deschutes County cases: 10,528 (36 new cases)
Deschutes County deaths: 87 (zero new deaths)
Crook County cases: 1,392 (7 new cases)
Crook County deaths: 24 (zero new deaths)
Jefferson County cases: 2,493 (4 new cases)
Jefferson County deaths: 42 (zero new deaths)
Oregon cases: 218,689 (1,026 new cases)
Oregon deaths: 2,855 (6 new deaths)
COVID-19 patients hospitalized at St. Charles Bend on
Thursday: 20 (4 in ICU)
The Bulletin had been tracking the seven-day average case
count based on state data since local coronavirus cases were
first reported in March of last year. Starting with the July Fourth
weekend, the state stopped providing county-level data for
weekends or holidays. When data is available, The Bulletin will
continue to publish information about the pandemic.
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Parents to sue a year after 9 troops died
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CORRECTIONS
BY JULIE WATSON
Associated Press
OCEANSIDE, Calif. — The
families of eight Marines and
one sailor who died when their
amphibious assault vehicle
sank off the Southern Califor-
nia coast last summer plan to
sue the manufacturer of the
vehicle that resembles an ar-
mored seafaring tank, their
lawyers announced Thursday,
a day before the anniversary of
the accident.
BAE Systems knew for a de-
cade or more about a design
defect that makes it nearly im-
possible for troops to open the
cargo hatches and escape the
26-ton amphibious vehicles
when they sink, attorney Eric
Dubin said at a news confer-
ence in Oceanside, the city bor-
dering Camp Pendleton Ma-
rine Corps base, where most of
the troops were based.
“They were kids, and they
were put in a death trap,” said
Dubin, who was accompanied
by relatives of five of the ser-
vice members who died on July
30, 2020, and ranged from 18
to 22.
Dubin added that the troops
were trapped inside for 45
minutes before the vehicle,
known as an AAV, sank. Four
Marines tried to use their body
weight to force the hatch open,
the lawyers said, adding that
if the doors went inward and
locked instead of to the out-
side, they could have gotten
out in under two minutes.
He said the lawsuit would
be filed within two days in U.S.
District Court in San Diego.
Among those killed was Jack
Ryan Ostrovsky, 21, of Bend.
Military leaders agreed the
tragedy could have been pre-
vented. An investigation by the
maritime branch found the
accident off San Clemente Is-
land was caused by inadequate
training, shabby maintenance
Sam Hodgson/The San Diego Union-Tribune
Mothers of U.S. service members — Marine Lance Cpl. Chase Sweetwood, Pfc. Evan Bath and Marine Lance Cpl. Marco Barranco — embrace each
other at a news conference Thursday next to a picture of Sweetwood in Oceanside, California.
of the 35-year-old
sympathies to the fam-
amphibious assault
ilies impacted by this
vehicles and poor
tragedy and we mourn
judgment by com-
the loss of the nine ser-
manders.
vice members,” com-
About a dozen
pany spokesman Tim
Marine officers have
Paynter wrote in an
Jack Ryan
been forced out of
email.
Ostrovsky,
their jobs or disci-
Lawyers for the fami-
of Bend
plined in another
lies said they also would
way. The Marine
have considered su-
ing the military but were pre-
Corps also relieved a two-star
vented by the Feres doctrine, a
general in June who had over-
1950 decision that says service
seen the exercise.
members cannot sue the fed-
BAE Systems declined to
comment on the expected law- eral government for injuries
sustained while serving.
suit and directed questions to
Instead, they are asking the
the Marine Corps.
military to support the lawsuit
“We offer our deepest
and pull its amphibious as-
sault vehicles out of the water
until the problem is resolved
by the manufacturer. The Ma-
rine Corps did that for months
while the accident was investi-
gated, but recently troops have
been back inside them in the
water.
The troops who died were
inside a decades-old amphib-
ious vehicle, but lawyers said
the newer ones, including a
line now in production, have
the same issue, which is why
they are suing.
BAE Systems has a $366 mil-
lion contract with the Marine
Corps to produce 72 amphib-
ious combat vehicles, which
will replace the AAVs.
The Marine Corps said in
a statement that “a compre-
hensive review of amphibious
operations is being conducted
by senior Marine Corps and
Navy personnel” and that it
is taking numerous actions to
improve safety standards, in-
cluding training troops to es-
cape amphibious vehicles and
ensuring the units using them
are proficient in their skills.
But it stopped short of saying it
would stop using the AAVs.
It said it continues to mourn
the loss of troops and is mak-
ing safety a priority.
day evening, but power was re-
stored to most quickly.
By 5:30 p.m., the power
company’s outage map showed
crews were responding to four
separate outages in Bend af-
fecting just 3,500 homes. An-
other in Redmond was shown
as affecting one customer. The
power company later showed
the Bend outage affecting 1,500
homes.
Customers were being told
by text to expect their power to
be restored by 8 p.m.
The outages knocked out
traffic lights at U.S. Highway
97 and Cooley Road north of
Bend, slowing rush-hour driv-
ers, according to the Deschutes
County Sheriff’s Office.
LOCAL BRIEFING
One dead in multivehicle
wreck south of Madras
A person died in a vehicle
wreck Thursday afternoon on
U.S. Highway 97 between SW
Jericho and SW Iris lanes sev-
eral miles south of Madras,
Jefferson County Sheriff Marc
Heckathorn confirmed.
The multivehicle crash oc-
curred around 1:30 p.m. High-
way traffic was backed up in
both directions for several
hours.
A request for information
from Oregon State Police, the
lead investigating agency, was
not immediately returned.
Jefferson County District
Attorney Steve Leriche was at
the scene.
Highway 97 between Ma-
dras and Redmond is notori-
ously deadly, said Heckathorn.
Thousands without power
in Bend after lightning
Around 11,000 Pacific
Power customers lost power in
Deschutes County following
lightning strikes early Thurs-
— Bulletin staff reports
The Bulletin’s primary concern is that all
stories are accurate. If you know of an
error in a story, call us at 541-383-0367.
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Free entrance at national parks,
other public lands set for Aug. 4
BY JAMIE HALE
The Oregonian
A new fee-free day is be-
ginning this year at national
parks and other federal lands
in the Pacific Northwest and
across the country, celebrating
last year’s passage of the Great
American Outdoors Act.
Starting this year, every Aug.
4 will be celebrated as Great
American Outdoors Day.
In Oregon, it will mean free
entrance to national park sites
like Crater Lake National Park
and Lewis and Clark National
Historical Park, as well as sev-
eral BLM sites that charge
day-use fees including Yaquina
Head Outstanding Natural
Area on the Oregon Coast.
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