Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The Bulletin. (Bend, OR) 1963-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 13, 2022)
THURSDAY • January 13, 2022 Serving Central Oregon since 1903 • $3 Bend theater presents ‘Murder on the Orient Express’ IN GO! » SPORTS PULLOUT, A5-8 Congress incumbents weigh in with huge war chests Winter storms bring above-average snowpack CROOK COUNTY SCHOOLS Board to ask voters for $66M bond BY GARY A. WARNER Oregon Capital Bureau BY BRYCE DOLE The Bulletin A U.S. senator from Oregon has raised over $4 million for his cam- paign to win another six-year term. Not Sen. Ron Wyden, who is up for reelection this year. The bankroll is held by Sen. Jeff Merkley, who wouldn’t run again un- til 2026. Wyden has $6 million in the bank for the 2022 race to hold the seat he first won in 2016. The six candidates who have filed to run against Wyden all together have under $60,000 in the bank. The numbers will rise after new campaign finance data for the final three months of 2021 is released later this month. But Wyden’s fundraising lead is extremely unlikely to shrink. The Oregon senators’ ongoing fundraising underlines the reality that incumbents’ campaigns for the U.S. Senate — and U.S. House — slow but never stop between elec- tions. Jim Moore, a political science pro- fessor at Pacific University in Forest Grove, says a large cache of money acts as a firewall against political sur- prises for officeholders. “Incumbents almost always have several hundred thousand dollars in the bank — and if they do not have strong challengers, that amount will grow,” Moore said. “Kurt Schrader is a great example of this in the Oregon delegation.” Schrader is the least liberal House member from Oregon with the most politically competitive of the state’s five current congressional districts. He’s won every race since he was first elected in 2008 but never by more than 55%. That is hair-thin com- pared to others in the Oregon dele- gation. With redistricting for the 2022 election, he’s also the incumbent of a 5th Congressional District that was shifted significantly east. The new district is a swath running from Portland over the Cascades to Bend. It’s still a competitive district, with a projected 3% Democratic voter tilt, according to the political website FiveThirtyEight.com. The 5th District race has drawn candidates in both the May prima- ries and November general election. Jamie McLeod-Skinner, of Crooked River Ranch, a former can- didate for secretary state and for the 2nd Congressional District, is run- ning to Schrader’s left in the May Democratic primary. Along with political lines, the two Democrats are from opposite sides of the moun- tains. Crook County residents will have the opportunity to vote in May on a new school district bond meant to replace roofs, boilers and improve safety in its nearly 100-year-old school buildings. The $66 million bond would also allow the district to offer additional career and technical education, performing arts programs and im- prove outdoor facilities like Ward Rhoden Stadium, according to a press release from district spokes- person Jason Carr. And if passed, it would allow the school district to receive an additional $914,414 in grant funds from the Ore- gon School Capital Improvement Matching Program. A local planning committee in- volving 35 parents, business owners, farmers, students and educators re- viewed the condition, capacity needs and educational adequacy of district facilities and made recommendations to the school board. The board voted unanimously Monday to place the bond on the ballot. See Bond / A14 JEFFERSON COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE Cory Barnett, of Newberg, walks the perimeter of the Mt. Bachelor parking lot as his wolf hybrid, Cinder, trots along the snow berm. Mt. Bachelor reports 254 inches of snow this season and a 72-inch base. Dean Guernsey/The Bulletin BY MICHAEL KOHN • The Bulletin F ollowing a dry stretch in November and most of December, heavy snowfall in the Cascades boosted snowpack levels to per- centages well above normal. The fresh snow doesn’t end the drought affecting the area but could help to alleviate some of its worst impacts. It has also been a welcome sight for skiers, sled riders and snowshoers. As of Monday, snowpack in the Upper De- schutes and Crooked River area was 130% of average, based on the past 30 years of data, ac- cording to the Natural Resources Conservation Service . Precipitation for the water year, which began Oct. 1, is 110% of normal. Statewide, the picture is even better. Oregon snowpack is 148% of average, ranging from 113% in the Malheur basin to 195% of normal in the Hood, Sandy and Lower Deschutes area. Statewide precipitation is 113% of normal for the water year. As of Monday, snow depths include 39 inches at Three Creeks Meadow (elevation 5,960 feet), near the Jefferson View Shelter on Forest Road 700; and 73 inches at McKenzie Snotel site (ele- vation 4,770 feet), which is close to Scott Lake. See Snowpack / A14 Ex-deputy charged in alleged case of revenge porn BY GARRETT ANDREWS The Bulletin A former Jefferson County cor- rections deputy is accused of send- ing sexually explicit pictures of a woman to people she previously dated. Joshua Tyler Oliveira, 36, on Wednesday made his initial appear- ance in Deschutes County Circuit Court, where he stands accused of three counts of unlawful dissem- ination of an intimate image, also known as “revenge porn.” The Prineville resident resigned from the Jefferson County Sheriff ’s Office in July, the same month he was cited by Redmond Police, ac- cording to police and court records. See Congress / A13 See Deputy / A13 ‘Joy Luck Club’ writer kicks off Author! Author! series The Deschutes Public Li- brary Foundation will kick off the 10th year of its Author! Author! literary series with a virtual appearance Thurs- day by Amy Tan, the writer behind “The Joy Luck Club,” “The Bonesetter’s Daughter” and other bestsellers. The 7 p.m. event will fea- TODAY’S WEATHER ture Tan, 69, in conversation with longtime Bend artist and musician Jason “MOsley WOtta” Graham, followed by a Q&A with audience mem- bers. On Tuesday, Tan said that although she won’t be visiting this time around, she is famil- iar with Central Oregon from her time attending Linfield College in McMinnville, and Clouds and rain High 47, Low 30 Page A12 INDEX various ski trips with friends who live in Bend. “I know what it looks like. It’s beautiful there,” Tan said Tuesday. “Whenever we went back and forth home (San Francisco) and then back to school, we would go past Bend.” Most of the events Tan has done since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic have Business Classifieds Comics A11-12 A14 A9-10 Dear Abby Editorial Events A7 A8 GO! been virtual pro- grams akin to her upcoming Author! Author! appearance. She’s something of a fan: Tan misses meet- ing fans at signings and other events, she Tan said, but she doesn’t miss the delays and other has- sles of airline travel. “I think people are getting Horoscope Local/State Lottery A7 A2- 4 A6 Obituaries Puzzles Sports A4 A10 A5-7 used to this as the format that’s being used,” Tan said. “In a way, even though they can’t see me on stage, I think it lends itself to something more personal, be- cause people can ask questions and can see clearly — and ask things that nor- mally might not be asked on- The Bulletin An Independent Newspaper We use recycled newsprint Vol. 117, No. 329, 14 pages, 1 section stage.” Such occasions “give me the opportunity, because we’re so close up, to show people for example what my journals look like, or even they’ll see where I live, or what my writing space is,” Tan said. “It’s a different take on how I am as a writer, I think.” See Author / A13 SUN/THU BY DAVID JASPER The Bulletin U|xaIICGHy02330rzu
