Serving Central Oregon since 1903 • $1.50
TUESDAY • December 21, 2021
Did COVID stifle Oregon entrepreneurship? Data suggests the opposite » Business, A11
SPORTS PULLOUT, A5-8
U.S. judge sanctions St. Charles’
attorney in hospital labor dispute
Law firm ordered to pay
court more than $40,000
Oregon Public Broadcasting
A law firm representing St. Charles
Health System has been ordered to pay
more than $40,000 for attempting to mis-
lead a federal judge about well-established
labor law, according to a recent court order.
The penalty stems from a historic 11-
day worker strike at the Bend hospital in
March, when about 140 technicians and
technologists in the Oregon Federation of
Nurses and Health Professionals picketed
over stalled contract negotiations.
Last week, U.S. District Court Judge
Michael McShane signed a rebuke of St.
Charles’ legal strategy leading up to the
walkout. The judge found an attorney rep-
resenting the health system sought a tem-
porary restraining order against the union
“in bad faith.”
“Taking note of the tense negotiations
going on behind the scenes, the Court finds
that the goal of this action was not to ad-
vance a valid legal argument or claim, but
rather to gain a valuable negotiating chip,”
McShane wrote in a Dec. 16 order.
See St. Charles / A14
Redmond police officer
enters DUII diversion
BY GARRETT ANDREWS
The Bulletin
The Redmond police offi-
cer arrested in the summer for
alleged drunken driving has
resolved her case by entering a
diversion program.
Hannah Copeland entered
the alternative sentencing
program in October and in
exchange, the state dropped a
count of reckless driving and
one of reckless endangering.
Copeland was arrested by
Deschutes County sheriff’s
deputies in August after crash-
ing her Jeep on Cline Falls
Road north of Bend.
Diversion is available in Or-
egon to people who have not
been arrested for impaired
driving within the past 15
years.
See Officer / A14
Surviving the virus meant restoring
the fun at Sun Mountain Fun Center
2 21
Stories of recovery
in Central Oregon
With the pandemic still a part of daily
life, nothing about 2021 was easy for
Central Oregon residents. But there
were triumphs, large and small, and
bright moments worth noting. This is
the first in a series.
S
cott Ramsay, president of Sun
Mountain Fun Center in Bend,
struggled mightily in 2020 amid
the succession of COVID-19
lockdowns. The doors to his busi-
ness were locked, but the bills kept com-
ing, along with repayments on a loan he
had taken out in 2019.
“When they put us in a second lock-
down we were really wondering how long
this would continue,” Ramsay said re-
cently. “There were times of uncertainty.
We were trying to keep our employees and
make them understand that we were do-
ing the best we could do.”
After the winter COVID-19 surge a
year ago and the reopening of businesses
in early 2021, Sun Mountain was able to
accept customers again, and this year the
Fun Center is back on track and profitable
again. The business hours have been lim-
ited due to a lack of employees, but when
they are open the place is packed.
“On the weekends we are just slammed.
It seems like people are just dying to get
out,” said Ramsay.
Customers have been able to enjoy new
activities as Ramsay put the loan to good
use by carrying out a full-scale renovation.
New attractions include laser tag and vir-
tual reality.
“The look of the place is completely dif-
ferent. It’s like a whole new place,” he said.
But all those returning customers
caught Ramsay off guard. The business
Scott Ramsay in the arcade area at Sun
Mountain Fun Center in Bend on Dec. 8.
Dean Guernsey/The Bulletin
went from a locked-up shell to a place
filled again with giddy children and their
proud parents.
“It was a little overwhelming, to be hon-
est,” said Ramsay. “Our employees were
used to having time off and suddenly were
we inundated with people who were dying
to get out and have fun.”
Down nine staff members, Ramsay has
been enlisting family members to help fill
in the gaps. His 81-year-old father buses
tables and his mom, 80, runs the minia-
ture golf course.
YOUTHBUILD
Program to train future child care workforce
BY ZACK DEMARS
The Bulletin
A Central Oregon nonprofit’s
youth education program known
for building homes is aiming to
build new child care workers, too.
Heart of Oregon Corps an-
nounced this month plans to
launch a child and youth develop-
ment track for its YouthBuild pro-
gram, offering 16- to 24-year-olds
an entry into the industry badly in
need of additional resources.
While the program won’t have
an immediate impact on the num-
ber of open child care slots in the
region, Executive Director Laura
Handy said the main goal of the
program is to empower youth
who have cycled out of the school
system, particularly those from
low-income backgrounds and who
need to boost their résumés.
“We want to open those doors
back up,” Handy told The Bulletin.
Crook, Jefferson and Deschutes
counties are all considered “child
care deserts,” meaning there aren’t
nearly enough open child care spots
for the number of kids in the county
who need one. Just 22% of Deschutes
County’s children age 0-5 had access
to child care before the pandemic,
according to the most recent research
from Oregon State University.
Heart of Oregon Corps since
2009 has offered a version of the
program offering students construc-
tion training and hands-on volun-
teer experience building affordable
housing in the region, but the new
track is the program’s first foray into
another field.
See YouthBuild / A4
See Recovery / A14
Cloudy
High 49, Low 39
Page A13
TODAY’S
WEATHER
INDEX
Business
Classifieds
Comics
Dear Abby
A11,13
A14
A9-10
A7
The Bulletin
An Independent Newspaper
Vol. 117, No. 329,
14 pages, 1 section
Editorial
Horoscope
Kid Scoop
Local/State
A8
A7
A12
A2
Lottery
Puzzles
Sports
Weather
A6
A10
A5-7
A13
We use recycled newsprint
DAILY
BY MICHAEL KOHN • The Bulletin
U|xaIICGHy02329lz[