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About The Bulletin. (Bend, OR) 1963-current | View Entire Issue (April 8, 2022)
A2 THE BULLETIN • FRIDAY, APRIL 8, 2022 The Bulletin LOCAL, STATE & REGION How to reach us STAND TALL CIRCULATION Didn’t receive your paper? Start or stop subscription? 541-385-5800 PHONE HOURS 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Friday 7 a.m.-11 a.m. Saturday-Sunday and holidays GENERAL INFORMATION Associated Press 541-382-1811 The Astoria Column, dedicated in 1926, stands 125 feet on top of Coxcomb Hill overlooking the Columbia River, with murals that celebrate the earliest moments in Northwest history between 1792 — 1818. Visitors may climb the narrow, 164-step spiral stair- case to see the views atop the column. 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Fri. ONLINE www.bendbulletin.com EMAIL bulletin@bendbulletin.com Visitors to the Astoria Column walk in silhouette with their dog Wednesday in Astoria. AFTER HOURS Newsroom ................................541-383-0348 Circulation ................................541-385-5800 Charles Rex Arbogast/AP NEWSROOM EMAIL Business ........business@bendbulletin.com City Desk .............news@bendbulletin.com Features.................................................................. communitylife@bendbulletin.com Sports ................. sports@bendbulletin.com NEWSROOM FAX 541-385-5804 OUR ADDRESS Street .............. 320 SW Upper Terrace Drive Suite 200 Bend, OR 97702 Mailing ........... P.O. Box 6020 Bend, OR 97708 B ADMINISTRATION Publisher Heidi Wright ..............................541-383-0341 Editor Gerry O’Brien .............................541-633-2166 DEPARTMENT HEADS Advertising Brian Naplachowski .................541-383-0370 Circulation/Operations Maria Johnson ..........................541-617-7830 Finance Wendy Dougherty ...541-383-0324 Human Resources ................541-383-0340 TALK TO AN EDITOR City Julie Johnson ...................541-383-0367 Business, Features, GO! 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Box 6020 Bend, OR 97708 Phone ......................................... 541-617-7829 CORRECTIONS 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. TO SUBSCRIBE Call us ......................541-385-5800 • Home delivery and E-Edition ..........................$7 per week • By mail .................................$9.50 per week • E-Edition only ...................$4.50 per week To sign up for our e-Editions, visit www.bendbulletin.com to register. TO PLACE AN AD Classified ......................................541-385-5809 Other information ....................541-382-1811 OBITUARIES No death notices or obituaries are published Mondays. When submitting, please include your name, address and contact number. 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The Bulletin retains ownership and copyright protection of all staff-prepared news copy, advertising copy and news or ad illustrations. They may not be reproduced without explicit prior approval. LOCAL BRIEFING OREGON Public defender crisis leads to criminal case dismissals Associated Press PORTLAND — Oregon Supreme Court Chief Justice Martha Walters has sent a let- ter to Gov. Kate Brown and legislative leaders asking for a summit to address a crippling shortage of public defenders that’s led to the dismissal of dozens of criminal cases and a huge court backlog. Because of pandemic court closures, public defenders face a tremendous backlog of cases and aren’t taking new clients. Cases can’t be heard unless the defendant has an attorney, and several hundred people are currently in custody state- wide without representation, according to Oregon Pub- lic Broadcasting. Thirty-five cases in Multnomah County, which is home to Portland, have been dismissed by judges over prosecutors’ objections because of the public defender shortage, OPB said, citing a memo. Multnomah County Dis- trict Attorney Mike Schmidt said in an opinion piece pub- lished in The Oregonian last month that the justice system is “nearing the point of break- age” because of the public defender shortage and the de- parture of overworked pros- ecutors. Schmidt said a judge dis- missed three cases in March, including a domestic violence case that included allegations of strangulation, because the defendants lacked an attorney. More than 150 felony cases in the Portland area lack a public defender and can’t be prose- cuted, he wrote. In nearby Washington County, 11 people in custody are without an attorney, court staff told OPB this week. In Multnomah County, more than 260 people are without an attorney. Of those, 22 are in custody. In Oregon, public defense is run through the Office of Public Defense Services, which secures and pays con- tracts to public defense firms. Walters, the Supreme Court justice, is responsible for ap- pointing the commission members who hire and over- see the agency’s executive di- rector. State lawmakers last month allocated $12.8 million in ad- ditional funds to add public defenders and support staff to the hardest-hit counties, including Multnomah, Wash- ington, Lane and Marion. But Walters said in her letter that “providers have found it more difficult than anticipated to do that hiring and are also facing the unanticipated loss of experienced counsel” and state leaders need to urgently address the “immediate cri- sis.” Leading up to the summit, Walters said she’ll host a series of meetings with prosecutors, judges and public defenders starting next week. Her first meeting will be next week in Multnomah County where, she noted, a lack of staffing at the sheriff’s office has made it challenging to assist with attorney-client visits “critical to case resolution,” as well as transporting people in cus- tody to court hearings. “The current crisis is having a real impact on defendants who have a constitutional right to counsel, on courts’ ability to resolve cases, on the safety of our communities,” Walters wrote. COVID-19 community levels for Central Oregon The Bulletin is no longer publishing COVID-19 daily case counts by county. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention monitors community levels of COVID-19 to help communities decide what prevention steps to take based on the latest data. Levels can be low, medium or high and are determined by looking at hospital beds being used, hospital admissions and the total number of new COVID-19 cases in an area. The CDC listed the following levels for Central Oregon Monday: Deschutes County: Low Crook County: Low Jefferson County: Low Precautions the CDC recommends for communities with low levels: Stay up to date on vaccines and get tested if you have symptoms. Bend to resume water shut-offs for unpaid bills Water shut-offs will resume for people who haven’t paid their water bill starting July 1, ending Bend’s two-year-long shut-off moratorium due to the pandemic. Since March of 2020, the city has suspended water service shut-offs for accounts that are past due in light of the financial challenges brought on by the pandemic. But with the city no longer in a COVID-19-related state of emergency, this practice is coming to a close, according to the city of Bend. Roughly 2,500 customers owe the city $1 million in water and sewer bills, said Dana Wilson, the city’s utility business manager. Customers who are currently behind on paying their bills will be allowed to enroll in a payment plan between now and June 30 to avoid having their water shut off, according to the city. For more information, contact the city of Bend utility billing department at 541-388-5515 or utilityassistance@bendoregon. gov. For questions about getting financial assistance in paying utilities, call NeighborImpact at 541-548-2380. Oregon sues COVID testing company BY ANDREW SELSKY Associated Press SALEM — The state of Or- egon sued an Illinois-based COVID-19 testing company on Thursday, saying its owners took millions of dollars in fed- eral funds and insurance money for themselves and boasted about buying a mansion and ex- pensive sports cars. Oregon Attorney General El- len Rosenblum sued the Center for Covid Control, or CCC, and its testing partner, Doctors Clin- ical Laboratory, for deceptively marketing testing services and for violating Oregon’s Unlawful Trade Practices Act. The lawsuit says Aleya Siyaj and Akbar Ali Syed, the married couple who own CCC, had no prior experience in the medical field or medical testing and had run an axe-throwing lounge and a photography studio. This raises questions about how they managed to become the recipients of federal funds for testing. The lawsuit noted they’re also being investigated by the FBI and Illinois public health authorities. FBI agents searched the company’s head- quarters near Chicago in Jan- uary, according to local news reports. Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson sued the CCC in January, accusing it of improperly handling tests and providing fake results. The CCC did not immedi- ately respond to an email seek- ing comment. A phone number listed on its website was discon- nected. The website said CCC has paused its operations “and will not resume collection of patient samples until staffing re- sources permit CCC to operate at full capacity.” Washington State Office of the Attorney General via Washington Post, file According to a lawsuit filed in early February, a coronavirus test clinic allegedly stored samples in red garbage bags for more than a week instead of properly refrig- erating them. Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum filed a lawsuit Thursday against the com- pany, Center for Covid Control, for deceptively marketing COVID test- ing services. Oregon’s lawsuit alleges CCC and Doctors Clinical Labora- tory falsely told consumers they could provide accurate PCR COVID-19 results within 72 hours, but instead produced questionable test results and lacked proper capacity to store and process the thou- sands of test specimens they received each day. “These companies were ill-equipped to scale up as fast as they did,” Rosenblum said in a statement. The law- suit says CCC grew from one testing site in Illinois — in the former axe-throwing lounge — to become one of the largest testing center op- erators in America, with 300 test sites across the United States, including five in Or- egon. “Oregonians made crucial decisions — about returning to work or school, travel, and visit- ing family and friends — in reli- ance on shoddy tests,” she said. The 29-page lawsuit alleges the couple funneled millions of dollars received from the fed- eral government and insurance companies for testing to them- selves. “Syed posted pictures of the couple’s purchases on social media, including a $1,360,000 mansion and multiple luxury cars worth millions, including a sky blue Lamborghini, a red Lamborghini Countach, a Tesla Model Y, and a Ferrari Enzo,” the lawsuit said. Syed bought that Ferrari, a rare model, for $3.7 million, ac- cording to the lawsuit. The lawsuit, filed in Mult- nomah County, asks that CCC and DCL be banned perma- nently from offering COVID-19 testing in Oregon, for restitution for Oregonians who were vic- timized and for civil penalties of up to $25,000 for each violation of Oregon law, plus attorney fees and costs of Oregon’s inves- tigation. 1543 N.E. 3rd Street, Bend (541) 241-7067 bend@osteostrong.me WWW.OSTEOSTRONG.ME /osteostrongcentraloregon — Bulletin staff reports OREGON Assistant principal named nation’s best BY BETSY HAMMOND The Oregonain Katherine Holden, assistant principal of Ashland Middle School, has been named the national assistant principal of the year in recognition of how she helped creatively and cheerfully guide her school through the aftermath of 2020’s home-destroying wildfires. Holden said in a statement that she considers it “my mission to do everything I can to create a school en- vironment where students feel safe and staff feel sup- ported so they can be their best and have fun teaching and learning.” “As we come through the hardest two school years ever,” she said, “I want to take this opportunity to give thanks to all assistant principals for the sometimes over- looked hard work to run schools and support our com- munities.” The assistant principal of the year title is awarded each year by the National Association of Secondary School Principals. In September 2020, the Almeda Fire destroyed roughly 2,600 homes and displaced residents in and around the communities of Ashland, Talent and Phoe- nix. Holden transitioned the school’s gym into an emer- gency shelter, contest officials said. And despite the lingering effects of the fire and pandemic, she made Ashland Middle School a positive, playful and commu- nity-minded school, they said. 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