A2 THE BULLETIN • SATURDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2022
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GRANTS PASS
U.S. appeals court rejects homeless ordinances
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KEVIN RECTOR AND RUBEN VIVES
Los Angeles Times
A three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th
Circuit Court of Appeals issued a rul-
ing Wednesday that largely rejected
central parts of the Grants Pass ordi-
nances as unconstitutional and upheld
part of a lower court’s decision block-
ing them from being enforced.
Grants Pass City Attorney Augustus
Ogu declined to immediately com-
ment Wednesday, saying he was still
reading the decision.
The city did not dispute that it did
not have enough shelter beds for all of
its unhoused residents.
Ed Johnson, director of litigation at
the Oregon Law Center, which helped
represent the plaintiffs in the case, ap-
plauded the court’s ruling.
“Today’s decision is consistent with
well-established precedent that it is un-
constitutionally cruel to punish home-
less people for unavoidable acts of sur-
vival,” he said. “We are pleased with the
outcome, but not surprised.”
In its 2-1 decision, the appellate
court reiterated another of its deci-
sions, in the major homelessness case
Martin vs. City of Boise in 2018. In
that case, it ruled that the 8th Amend-
ment “prohibits the imposition of
criminal penalties for sitting, sleeping,
or lying outside on public property for
homeless individuals who cannot ob-
tain shelter.”
But the court went a bit further this
time.
“Our decision reaches beyond Mar-
tin slightly,” wrote Judge Roslyn O.
Silver of the U.S. District Court of Ar-
izona, who was sitting on the appellate
panel and authored its opinion.
Dean Guernsey/Bulletin file
Water, hand-washing stations, portable toilets, trash bins and other resources were
made available to those living on Hunnell Road in Bend in this March 15, 2021, photo.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled against ordinances dealing with the
houseless enacted by the city of Grants Pass.
Among other things, the court
found that the Martin decision’s pro-
tection of unhoused people’s right to
sleep outdoors when they have no
where else to go “includes sleeping
with rudimentary forms of protection
from the elements.”
During the litigation, the city of
Grants Pass had revised its anti-camp-
ing ordinance to allow homeless peo-
ple to sleep in city parks, but continued
to ban them from using sleeping bags
or other bedding materials. The city
argued the change brought its ordi-
nance into compliance with the Martin
decision.
The court disagreed in its ruling
Wednesday.
“The only plausible reading of Mar-
tin is that it applies to the act of ‘sleep-
ing’ in public, including articles neces-
sary to facilitate sleep,” Silver wrote.
The court also rejected the city’s
claim that its ordinances did not run
afoul of the Martin decision — or the
Constitution’s cruel and unusual pun-
ishment clause — because they relied
on civil citations for enforcement be-
fore resorting to criminal sanctions.
The ordinances subjected unhoused
people to civil fines of up to several
hundred dollars per violation, and
people found in violation of the ordi-
nances multiple times could be barred
from all city property. Once barred, a
person returning to city property was
subject to criminal prosecution for
trespassing.
The court ruled that it was a clear
violation of the Martin ruling to sub-
ject unhoused people who have no-
where else to go to criminal trespassing
charges just for being outside and try-
ing to keep warm, whether civil cita-
tions came first or not.
“Imposing a few extra steps before
criminalizing the very acts Martin ex-
plicitly says cannot be criminalized
does not cure the anti-camping ordi-
nances’ Eighth Amendment infirmity,”
Silver wrote.
The appellate court’s decision up-
held in part an injunction against the
enforcement of the city’s anti-camping
ordinances that had been issued by a
lower district court.
The ruling told the lower court to
“narrow” its injunction to recognize
a “limited right” to protection against
the elements, which it suggested did
not include the use of stoves and fires
or the building of structures — things
the anti-camping ordinance had also
barred.
Silver was joined in the majority
opinion by 9th Circuit Court Judge
Ronald M. Gould. Both were ap-
pointed by President Clinton.
In dissent, 9th Circuit Court
Judge Daniel P. Collins, who was ap-
pointed by President Trump, said
the majority’s decision was “egre-
giously wrong.”
Collins — who also called the
Martin decision “deeply flawed” but
acknowledged he was bound by it
— wrote that the ruling Wednesday
misunderstood Martin, misapplied
it, and “effectively requires the City of
Grants Pass to allow all but one of its
public parks to be used as homeless en-
campments.”
It was unclear Wednesday whether
the ruling would be appealed.
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LOCAL BRIEFING
One killed, one injured in
U.S. Highway 97 crash
A head-on collision Thurs-
day night on U.S. Highway 97
north of Redmond resulted in
the death of a 23-year-old Ma-
dras man.
At 7:39 p.m., Oregon State
Police and emergency person-
nel responded to a two-vehicle
crash near NW Odem Ave-
nue, Oregon State Police said
in a news release Friday.
According to police, Micah
Borden, 23, of Madras was
driving south in a gray Honda
Accord when he crossed into
the northbound lane and col-
lided head-on with a red Ford
F-150 driven by Jon Moore,
37, of Redmond.
Borden was killed in the
crash, and Moore was injured
and transported to an area
hospital, the release said.
Redmond School Board
member resigns
Shawn Hartfield resigned
from her seat on the Red-
mond School Board this week.
Hartfield moved to Central
Texas thee weeks prior to help
her family-owned auto parts
business, Buckstop Truck-
ware, open a new manufactur-
ing facility there.
Hartfield served on the
board for seven years. She said
she hopes her seat is filled by
someone who has board expe-
rience and understands how
the district works.
During the pandemic,
Hartfield opposed mask man-
dates in the district, which
made statewide news.
The Redmond School Dis-
trict will now have four of their
five school board seats up for
election in May 2023, but the
district is looking to fill Hart-
field’s empty seat before then.
Applications will be ac-
cepted until 4 p.m. on Oct. 17.
An applicant will be appointed
at that time, or interviews will
be scheduled for Nov. 9. Those
interested must be registered
voters and residents of the
Redmond School District for
one year prior to the appoint-
ment. The person chosen to
fill Hartfield’s seat will serve
through June 30, 2023.
Contact Gina Blanchette,
at 541-923-8250 or visit www.
redmondschools.org for infor-
mation or to apply.
OSU-Cascades to host free
clinic for flu, COVID shots
Oregon State Universi-
ty-Cascades, in partner-
ship with Deschutes County
Health Services, will host a
walk-up clinic for flu shots
and COVID-19 vaccinations
and boosters on Oct. 14 for
community members and
OSU-Cascades students, fac-
ulty and staff.
The clinic will take place
between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. in
the atrium of Edward J. Ray
Hall on the OSU-Cascades
campus at 1500 SW Chandler
Ave., Bend, the university said
in a statement Friday.
COVID-19 primary vac-
cinations will be available
for children 5 and older and
for adults. The new bivalent
booster shots will be avail-
able for ages 12 and older, but
only Pfizer COVID-19 vacci-
nations and boosters will be
available while supplies last.
Flu shots will be available to
everyone 5 and older.
No health insurance or
identification is required to
get a flu shot, COVID-19 vac-
cination or booster, the release
said. Participants may bring
current vaccination cards, al-
though they are not required
as clinic staff will have access
to electronic records.
Free parking will be avail-
able to community members
in the campus parking lot ac-
cessed via Simpson Avenue,
the release added.
For additional information
about the clinics or for accom-
modation requests related to
a disability, contact 541-322-
3100 or info@osucascades.edu.
gon counties — Baker, Union
and Wallowa — at high levels
of COVID spread, seven at
medium and 26 at low.
The agency listed the fol-
lowing levels for Central Or-
egon:
Deschutes County: Low
Crook County: Low
Jefferson County: Medium
Precautions the CDC rec-
ommends for communities
with medium levels:
If you are at high risk of get-
ting very sick, wear a well-fit-
ting mask or respirator when
indoors in public.
If you have household or
social contact with someone
at high risk for getting very
sick, consider testing to de-
tect infection before contact
and consider wearing a mask
when indoors with them.
For communities at low
levels, the CDC recommends
staying up to date on vaccines
and getting tested if experi-
encing symptoms.
— Bulletin staff reports
COVID-19 community
levels for Central Oregon
The Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention mon-
itors 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 be-
ing used, hospital admissions
and the total number of new
COVID-19 cases in an area.
On Thursday, the CDC re-
ported three Northeast Ore-
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