WEDNESDAY • September 21, 2022
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Candidate forum
SAFEWAY SHOOTING
Competing visions of Bend’s future Bend
Mayor, council candidates
outline views for voters
BY ZACK DEMARS
The Bulletin
A lot more than just names are on
the ballot for Bend residents voting in
this fall’s City Council election.
The races, with two people running
for mayor and nine others running to
fill three council seats, are shaping up
to be something of a referendum on a
City Council that’s been supportive of
providing homeless services and tends
to prefer denser development over ur-
ban sprawl.
Candidates made rapid-fire pitches
Monday to local chamber of com-
merce members gathered at Bend’s
Open Space Event Studios, making
their cases for why they should be
chosen to chart the city’s course for
the next several years. The forum
largely focused on housing, transpor-
tation and development in the Bend
Central District.
In the race for mayor, candidate
Melanie Kebler pointed to her work
on the current council as she asks vot-
ers to choose her over Chris Piper, a
former city councilor.
“Right now what I’m consistently
hearing out there when talking to
folks is that the biggest pressure on
our businesses is a lack of workers,”
Kebler said. “We’ve got to make Bend
the place where workers can afford
to live, and a place where businesses
don’t just survive but they have the
opportunity to thrive and to scale up
and be that pillar of our community.”
Kebler told the crowd Monday that
housing has been her priority as a
councilor, saying previous councils
hadn’t done enough to address home-
lessness but that this one has helped
establish shelters and a city-county
joint office on the issue. She said the
council’s work to get property off Ste-
vens Road included in city limits will
council
to discuss
city gun
rules
also increase housing stock.
In his opening remarks, Piper
pitched himself as an alternative to a
council that he said has become too
political.
“I’m running for mayor because
I’ll bring a different point of view
that will contribute to the progressive
council’s conversations,” Piper said.
“We will walk into (council) chambers
and check our political hat and shed
our personal agendas at the door, so
that council focuses on the funda-
mentals of city government and that
residents are feeling respected and
heard.”
BY ANNA KAMINSKI
The Bulletin
See Forum / A4
Two Bend city council-
ors have expressed interest
in banning the possession
of loaded firearms in pub-
lic, a partial response to last
month’s deadly shooting at the
east-side Bend Safeway. The
council is expected to discuss
gun safety measures at a work
session Wednesday.
While state and federal laws
retain most of the authority in
regulating firearms and am-
munition, Oregon cities are
able to regulate loaded fire-
arm possession and the sale
of used firearms via city ordi-
nances.
Councilors Melanie Kebler
and Barb Campbell said they
are interested in developing
city ordinances that limit the
use and sale of some weapons.
High Desert Museum
The North American river otter pup swims in the Autzen
Otter Exhibit at the High Desert Museum on Tuesday.
Ryan Brennecke/The Bulletin
See Council / A13
OREGON
LEGISLATURE
Otterly adorable
PAC boosts
Republican
efforts in
campaigns
Orphaned pup to join Pitch and
Brook in the Autzen Otter Exhibit
of months as part of helping him become
he new North American river otter confident in the habitat and also allowing
pup at the High Desert Museum
the three otters to become familiar with
will be introduced full time into the each other, the museum said.
Autzen Otter Exhibit with the exhibit’s two
“We supervised early interactions
other resident otters on Wednesday, the
while the baby otter was small to make
first time museum patrons can see him.
sure everyone stayed safe,” Museum Cu-
The otter pup, which was orphaned
rator of Wildlife Jon Nelson said in a pre-
and found at a golf course near Sunriver,
pared statement. “He’s not quite as big
was brought to the museum for care in
as the older otters yet, but they are all
June. When the otter arrived at 8 weeks
getting along well and enjoying playing,
old, he weighed 2.4 pounds, was ema-
eating and napping together. They do
ciated and dehydrated, and
quite a bit of roughhousing,
there was no sign of
and the baby holds his
his mother. Now,
own with Pitch and
he is about 5½
Brook.”
months old
Before ex-
and weighs
posing the
15 pounds,
otter pup, it
also needed
the High
time to
Desert Mu-
become a
seum said
proficient
in a news
swimmer.
release Tues-
Wildlife cura-
day. The otter
tors helped the
pup has already
otter splash in the
spent time in-
museum’s stream and
side the exhibit with
in a children’s play pool
the other otters, Brook
The new otter pup rolls around on a before bringing him
and Pitch. The otter
into the water inside the
pup was introduced in
patch of rocks and grass.
Ryan Brennecke/The Bulletin
exhibit.
doses over the course
Bulletin staff report
T
TODAY’S
WEATHER
A few showers
High 60, Low 45
Page A12
INDEX
Business
Classifieds
Comics
A11-12
A13-14
A9-10
Dear Abby
Editorial
Horoscope
A7
A8
A7
Local/State
Lottery
Obituaries
A2
A6
A4
Puzzles
Sports
Weather
A10
A5-7
A12
A fund with ties to Oregon’s
richest resident, the nation’s
largest landowner and a re-
cently retired congressman is
fueling a surge in contribu-
tions for Republicans running
for the legislature.
Bring Balance to Salem
PAC has raised over $3.31
million since it was created in
November 2021. The group’s
goal is to reduce Democratic
influence in state politics.
The political newcomer to
the campaign finance scene
is playing a significant role
as the Nov. 8 election looms
closer.
As of Tuesday, it’s 58 days
until Nov. 8 — though ballots
go out in the mail to voters
much sooner, with the initial
batches sent to in state resi-
dents on Oct. 19.
See PAC / A4
The Bulletin
An Independent Newspaper
We use
recycled
newsprint
Vol. 117, No. 329, 14 pages, 1 sections
DAILY
Ryan Brennecke/The Bulletin
Jon Nelson, curator of wildlife at the High Desert Museum, scratches
the belly of the North American river otter pup while working in the
Autzen Otter Exhibit at the High Desert Museum on Tuesday.
BY GARY A. WARNER
Oregon Capital Bureau
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