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About The Bulletin. (Bend, OR) 1963-current | View Entire Issue (July 21, 2022)
A4 THE BULLETIN • THURSDAY, JULY 21, 2022 Death Masks Continued from A1 Continued from A1 After about 100 yards, bullets lose their straight-line tra- jectory and speed. The shot’s odds were longer than find- ing a winning lottery ticket, said Deschutes County Dis- trict Attorney John Hummel. “The bullet went through trees,” Hummel said. “The odds are one in many millions.” Ray was living in his car near Stevens Road and 27th Street when he was arrested about 5:30 a.m. Wednesday. He was released after being ticketed for the Class B mis- demeanor of negligent wounding, according to a release from sheriff’s Detective Sgt. Troy Gotchy. As of Wednesday afternoon, Ray had not been charged in circuit court. The shooting took place around 2 p.m. June 30 on Bu- reau of Land Management land off Alfalfa Market Road, 4miles east of Bend. Martell, 53, and a friend had been camping near a berm that had served as target practice for many years, as evi- denced by numerous bullet casings scattered around the area. “That’s a place where many people go to shoot. They’ve probably been shooting into that berm for generations in Deschutes County,” Hummel said. Deputies and medics arrived to find Martell dead with a gunshot wound. The shooter had left by this point, and a man who’d been camping with Martell provided deputies with a description of a man in his 30s who drove a small white SUV or crossover vehicle. The sheriff’s office put out a public call for help locating him. The witness told deputies he and Martell had heard shooting and gone to tell the shooter to stop. As they walked through a small stand of trees, Martell was struck, though authorities have not disclosed where on Martell’s body he was struck. Hummel said he will review the case and possibly take it to a grand jury, which could approve more serious charges. “The shooter never saw them,” Hummel said. “The question is, was it a crime to pull that trigger? Was it crim- inally negligent? The police have made their call. Now I have to make my call.” According to Martell’s father, who spoke to The Bulletin Wednesday, his son had camped in his motor home on public land outside Bend for about five years, relocating regularly as required by law. “All we know is it was a stray shot, and he was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” said Neil R. Martell. A native of Massachusetts, Neil J. Martell was a Navy submariner on the USS Tautog and a trained chef who worked spells at Walt Disney World. He worked the kitch- ens of restaurants and retirement homes across Massachu- setts, California and in Bend. He was married in Carpinteria, California, and moved to Bend with his wife, who had friends and family in the area. After a divorce, he opted to retreat to a simpler life in his RV. He got by collecting cans near the put-ins of the Deschutes River. He liked not having a boss, said his fa- ther, a retired high school Spanish teacher. “Our son marched to a different beat,” said Neil R. Mar- tell. “He was out there, more or less by himself, and that’s what he liked. He preferred to be his own boss. And he was happy. He didn’t have to answer to anybody.” The state reported 424 people hospital- ized with COVID-19 Wednesday, down from 458 one week ago. The peak of the current surge was expected to arrive July 12, at 479 occupied beds, according to an Ore- gon Health & Sciences University forecast. In light of the strain on Oregon’s hospi- tal system, Sidelinger asked Oregonians to wear masks in indoor public spaces, par- ticularly those in counties with high levels of spread, those at high risk of severe dis- ease or those living with others at high risk. Using some of the strongest language during this surge, Sidelinger also suggested people reconsider summer plans to pro- tect themselves and others during what he called “this extremely challenging time.” Central Oregon hospitals have been par- ticularly hard-hit, Sidelinger said, citing the St. Charles Health System in Bend, in particular. Of Oregon’s 36 counties, 21 have been listed by the Centers for Disease and Con- trol and Prevention at high levels of com- munity spread. That designation is based on hospitalizations, hospital admissions and new case numbers. They include the three Portland-area counties. Everyone in those counties should be wearing a mask when in an indoor public space, Sidelinger said. █ Reporter: 541-383-0325, gandrews@bendbulletin.com Psilocybin Continued from A1 Commissioner Phil Chang, who voted against the ordi- nance, argued that the county was wasting its time and tax- payer money by placing the measure on the ballot, noting that Deschutes County res- idents voted 52.8% in favor of Measure 109 in 2020 and would likely do so again. Commissioner Patti Adair, who voted in favor of the ordi- nance, voiced general concerns about how psilocybin facilities could fuel illicit drug activity at a time when Measure 110 decriminalized drugs like psi- locybin. Last week, at least 20 people from across the county, state and other states, voiced sup- port in a public hearing about psilocybin therapy, including doctors, mental health counsel- ors, students, veterans, business Gillian Flaccus/AP file A sign reminds customers to wear their masks at a bakery in Lake Oswego in May 2021. State health officials on Wednesday urged Oregonians in 21 counties with high COVID-19 case rates and hospitalizations to wear masks again. In Central Oregon, Crook, Deschutes and Jefferson counties remain at medium levels of community spread. The CDC listed all three counties at high levels for about a week early this month. The agency generally updates its community levels for owners and other residents. Since then, Chang said he has received additional phone calls and email supporting the drug’s therapeutic use, tallying at least 75 people reaching out in favor and less than 10 who were opposed. This support makes Chang “confident” that the ballot measure would fail in the fall election. “It will cost us legal time. It will cost us county clerk time. It will cost us community de- velopment to pursue an opt- out ballot measure,” Chang said. “Instead, we could be tak- ing those resources and apply- ing them to the development of time, place and manner regula- tions so that we can safely and effectively regulate access to these therapeutic treatments.” But Adair said she was con- cerned that the state was devel- oping rules too slowly and said that the facilitators of psilocy- bin therapy “are not required to counties on Thursdays. Despite the warnings, Sidelinger said he expects hospitalizations to plateau over the coming days or week before declining. And mask mandates will remain a local, not a state-level, decision. be licensed medical or mental health professionals.” In addition, Adair voiced general concerns that with psi- locybin facilities in unincor- porated Deschutes County, the illicit drug market could “be perhaps flooded with (psilo- cybin).” She likened the legal- ization to that of marijuana, saying that legalizing the drug in 2014 did not stop cartel ac- tivity. “We know the cartel is here,” she said. Chang pushed back against Adair’s claims, saying there is a lack of evidence to substan- tiate that the drugs fuel the black market. He also argued that the wide array of experts who came out in support of the drug in the public hearing last week showed there are ample trained professionals willing to administer the drug safely. “On both of those fronts, that this is going to contribute to black market production, or that we will have people that are unqualified to administer psilocybin, I don’t think that those are valid arguments,” he said. Chang said that, if the county started its work imme- diately, it could develop strong regulations around psilocybin that would address DeBone and Adair’s concerns, a respon- sibility that the state has left to the county’s control. Deschutes County is not the only one in Central Ore- gon that is weighing psilocybin therapy. Crook County officials are drafting an ordinance that would ask voters if they want a permanent ban on psilocybin treatment, and county officials will decide Aug. 3 whether to place the ordinance on the bal- lot. █ Reporter: 541-617-7854, bdole@ bendbulletin.com Plan your 2023 Getaway! Plan your 2023 Getaway! 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