The BulleTin • Friday, July 30, 2021 A3 TODAY It’s Friday, July 30, the 211th day of 2021. There are 154 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed a measure creating Medicare, which began operating the following year. In 1619, the first representative assembly in America convened in Jamestown in the Virginia Colony. In 1864, during the Civil War, Union forces tried to take Pe- tersburg, Virginia, by exploding a gunpowder-laden mine shaft beneath Confederate defense lines; the attack failed. In 1908, the first round-the- world automobile race, which had begun in New York in Feb- ruary, ended in Paris with the drivers of the American car, a Thomas Flyer, declared the win- ners over teams from Germany and Italy. In 1916, German saboteurs blew up a munitions plant on Black Tom, an island near Jersey City, New Jersey, killing about a doz- en people. In 1945, the Portland class heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis, having just delivered components of the atomic bomb to Tinian in the Mariana Islands, was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine; only 317 out of nearly 1,200 men survived. In 1975, former Teamsters union president Jimmy Hoffa disap- peared in suburban Detroit; although presumed dead, his remains have never been found. In 2010, the Afghan Taliban confirmed the death of long- time leader Mullah Mohammad Omar and appointed his succes- sor, Mullah Akhtar Mansoor. Ten years ago: NATO jets bombed three Libyan state TV satellite transmitters in Tripoli, targeting a propaganda tool in Moammar Gadhafi’s fight against rebels. Five years ago: Sixteen peo- ple died when a hot air balloon caught fire and exploded after hitting high-tension power lines before crashing into a pasture near Lockhart, Texas, about 60 miles northeast of San Antonio. One year ago: John Lewis was eulogized in Atlanta by three former presidents and others who urged Americans to con- tinue the work of the civil rights icon in fighting injustice during a moment of racial reckoning. Today’s Birthdays: Former Major League Baseball Com- missioner Bud Selig is 87. Blues musician Buddy Guy is 85. Movie director Peter Bogdanovich is 82. Feminist activist Eleanor Smeal is 82. Singer Paul Anka is 80. Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is 74. Actor Frank Stallone is 71. Actor Delta Burke is 65. Law professor Anita Hill is 65. Singer-songwriter Kate Bush is 63. Country singer Neal McCoy is 63. Actor Richard Burgi is 63. Movie director Richard Linklater is 61. Ac- tor Laurence Fishburne is 60. Actor Lisa Kudrow is 58. Actor Vivica A. Fox is 57. Movie director Christo- pher Nolan is 51. Actor Tom Green is 50. Actor Christine Taylor is 50. Actor Hilary Swank is 47. Olym- pic gold medal beach volleyball player Misty May-Treanor is 44. Actor Jaime Pressly is 44. Former soccer player Hope Solo is 40. Ac- tor Yvonne Strahovski is 39. Actor Martin Starr is 39. Actor Gina Ro- driguez is 37. Actor Nico Tortorella is 33. Actor Joey King is 22. — Associated Press LOCAL, STATE & REGION BOOTLEG FIRE | FIREFIGHTING PRACTICES Brown: Oregon must modernize Governor’s remarks occur during tour of the Bootleg Fire BY JOE SIESS (Klamath Falls) Herald and News Gov. Kate Brown visited the nation’s largest wildfire on Wednesday, flying past 413,000 acres of burned forest in a heli- copter, then speaking with fire officials in Bly. After seeing the devastation, Brown said the state has to re- think how it fights wildfires in an era of hotter, larger blazes — and mitigate dangers before they spark. “There is absolutely no ques- tion that we need to modern- ize our firefighting practices,” she said. Brown acknowledged the difficulty that Klamath County communities, and the broader region, are facing in a sum- mer compounded by COVID, drought and now wildfire. “My heart goes out to the people of the Klamath Basin,” the governor said. “This is a really challenging summer. We know this is going to be an incredibly challenging fire season, and obviously we’ve got the challenges around drought.” Brown said the state is com- mitted to assisting displaced families as quickly as possible, and said federal assistance is on the way. “This is an all hands on deck moment,” she said, promising to call Rep. DeFazio, D-Spring- field, chairman of the House Committee on Transporta- tion and Infrastructure, who Arden Barnes/Herald and News Oregon Gov. Kate Brown elbow bumps Steven Herrera, a member of an Adventure Medic Rapid Extrication Module, on Wednesday at the Bootleg Fire camp near Bly. The organization helped locate a lost firefighter last week. Bootleg Fire statistics Acres burned: 413,545 Containment: 53% Damage: 161 residences, 247 outbuildings and 342 vehicles. All as of Thursday afternoon. Source: InciWeb is leading alongside Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., a delegation pushing for Federal Emer- gency Management Agency readiness. Brown said there are other ways for the state to prove its readiness. “We must do more of the preventative mitigation work (such as) the thinning and the prescriptive burning,” she said from fire camp in Bly. “The goal is to eliminate biomass fuel off the forest floors so that you either prevent fires or if there are fires, it is not as damaging.” Brown said stopping wild- fires before they start is smarter policy, but crews also need the manpower and funds neces- sary to fight them when they get out of hand. Brown said megafires are threatening Or- egon communities, damaging to the environment, dangerous for firefighters and expensive for taxpayers. “The challenge is these fires are substantially hotter. They are faster; they are simply much more ferocious than in decades past,” she said. “So we have to make sure that we have both the people power and the equipment to tackle them.” PORTLAND City bans homeless camps in forest areas amid fires The Oregonian PORTLAND — Portland has banned homeless people from camping in forested parks to protect them from potential wild- fires and prevent them from accidentally starting blazes during a summer of drought and record-breaking heat. The City Council adopted the rule Wednesday for “high-risk hazard zones,” including in and around Portland’s famous Forest Park and in heavily forested wetlands and natural areas around the city. The ban will apply during wildfire season or when- ever a county burn ban is in effect. The 8-square-mile Forest Park in the heart of Portland is one of the largest urban forests in the U.S. There have been frequent reports of fires at unsanctioned campsites and at clusters of RVs around the city from illegal burning, The Oregonian reported. The city stressed that the rule was to pre- vent fires from starting in the city but also to protect homeless people from blazes started near encampments by others. Nonprofit groups working with the city will visit the camps, provide information about fire risk and help residents relocate voluntarily before any aggressive sweeps take place, the newspaper said. “I do not like sweeps, and I do not like that we have a shortage of housing that people can afford to live in,” Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty said. “But I cannot stand by and do nothing as people are at risk of dying by fire.” Detailed maps of high-risk areas prepared by the city’s fire marshal will help campers know where they can’t live, said Kaia Sand, director of Street Roots, an advocacy group for people experiencing homelessness and a weekly alternative newspaper. But she said the solution is “half baked” unless the city also provides safe places for displaced resi- dents to go. “The fact that our city removes people without good alternatives for them to live has always been a problem and continues to be a problem,” she said. Paula Bronstein/AP file Frank, a homeless man, sits in his tent with a river view June 5 in Portland, which has banned homeless people from camping in forested parks. patio world WHAT’S BREWING: AN OVERVIEW OF WATER USE IN BEND AND THE DESCHUTES BASIN where quality matters AUGUST 3 | 5 PM - 7 PM @ 10 BARREL EASTSIDE PUB | Drinks & Light Food Provided Members $20 | General Admission $30 RESERVE YOUR SEATS @ BendChamber.org What’s Brewing is back! Join us for a conversation about conservation of our water with Oregon Water Resource Department’s Watermaster, Jeremy Giffi n, and Utility Department Director at the City of Bend, Michael Buettner. What’s Brewing is Powered by: Title Sponsors: Community Sponsor: Media Partners: Marquee Media Partner: Bring on the Summer! patio world 222 SE Reed Market Road - Bend 541-388-0022 patioworldbend.com Mon-Sat 9:30-5:30