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About The Bulletin. (Bend, OR) 1963-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 14, 2022)
WEDNESDAY • December 14, 2022 Serving Central Oregon since 1903 • $1.50 Trail Blazers’ Damian Lillard powers win over Minnesota HEATING UP SPORTS, A5 » Teen student athletes say sports website Gov. Brown operator sent them inappropriate messages commutes all Allegations prompt OSAA to establish a policy for issuing press passes at high school games and events BY BRIAN RATHBONE The Bulletin Following a report of inappro- priate messages between an adult media member and teenage girls, the Oregon School Activities As- sociation implemented an official media credential policy, when pre- viously, there was not one in any official capacity. The policy allows the high school governing body to decide who is eligible for press passes, and gives it the power to revoke passes when deemed “appropriate for unprofes- sional or inappropriate behavior.” “Previously it was more of an informal process, as opposed to a formal codified policy,” Peter Weber, OSAA executive director, wrote in an email to The Bulletin. “We took the procedures from our informal process, added in specific language for revocation and access, and took to the board for formal adoption.” See OSAA / A4 of state’s death sentences Commutations include a man sentenced to death for killing a Terrebonne couple BY ANDREW SELSKY Associated Press See OSU-Cascades / A4 See Commutations / A4 Dean Guernsey/The Bulletin Michael Bennett tends to customers at Space Age Fuel in Bend on Tuesday. For the first time in nearly 10 months, the average price of gas dipped below $4 a gallon in Oregon. ‘SUPERHAPPY’ DRIVERS Oregon gas prices drop below $4 a gallon — except in Bend BY SUZANNE ROIG • The Bulletin F or the first time in nearly 10 months, the average price of gas has dipped below $4 a gallon in Oregon, except in Bend and Pendleton, according to AAA. Drivers have responded by queuing up to fill their tanks. At Space Age Fuel on Grandview Drive in Bend, where a regular gallon of gas is selling for $3.57 a gallon, the line of cars is snaking out onto city streets, said Sabbi Johal, station owner. “The customers are superhappy,” Johal said. “They say this is an awesome price now. I’m getting a line all the time now.” Gas prices actually dipped in all 50 states this week, according to AAA. The cause is lower crude prices, lackluster demand and heavy supplies of gasoline, according to AAA. See Gas prices / A4 Dean Guernsey/The Bulletin Drivers line up at Space Age Fuel in Bend on Tuesday. The station dropped the per-gallon price 45 cents be- low the average in Bend, which was $4.02. OSU-Cascades to offer biochemistry-molecular biology degree BY JOE SIESS The Bulletin Starting in the fall of 2023, Ore- gon State University-Cascades will launch a new Bachelor of Science degree program in biochemistry and molecular biology to help fill open positions in the growing in- dustries, both locally and region- ally, the university announced Tuesday. The program is expected to pre- pare students for graduate school, TODAY’S WEATHER medical, dental and pharmacy school, as well as careers in the biotech, pharmaceutical, bioinfor- matics, data science and education fields, OSU-Cascades said. The university cited a U.S. De- partment of Labor finding that available positions in these fields outpace the number of qualified graduates in Oregon. The new pro- gram is designed to help OSU-Cas- cades graduates take advantage of job openings in the fields currently Clouds and sun High 33, Low 12 Page A12 INDEX Business Classifieds Comics A11-12 A14 A9-10 experiencing growth both locally and in the region, such as biotech- nology, OSU-Cascades said. In Bend, biotechnology com- panies like Thermo Fisher and Grace Bio-Labs, and pharmaceu- tical companies like Lonza, have open positions that OSU-Cascades hopes to help fill by preparing students for the job market, said Christine Coffin, OSU-Cascades spokesperson. “Currently the number of Dear Abby Editorial Horoscope A7 A8 A7 Local/State Lottery Puzzles A2 A6 A10 Sports Weather A5-7 A12 The Bulletin An Independent Newspaper We use recycled newsprint Vol. 117, No. 329, 14 pages, 1 section DAILY graduates is not keeping up with the number of jobs,” Coffin said. “We do have relationships with several companies in bioscience and biotech and so those relation- ships can help build experiences for students. Our goal is to edu- cate students and get them ready for their next step after gradu- ation whether that is graduate school, medical school or working in an industry.” Oregon Gov. Kate Brown announced Tuesday that she is commuting the sen- tences of all of the state’s 17 inmates awaiting execution, saying all of their death sentences will be changed to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Brown, who has less than a month re- maining in office, said she was using her executive clemency powers to commute the sentences and that her order will take effect on Wednesday. “I have long believed that justice is not ad- vanced by taking a life, and the state should not be in the business of executing people — even if a terrible crime placed them in prison,” Brown Brown said in a state- ment. One of those commutations goes to Randy Lee Guzek, who was convicted of two counts of aggravated murder in the killing of Rod and Lois Houser in Terre- bonne in 1987. Appeals led to three re- trials of the penalty phase. His death sen- tence was upheld by the courts four times. Oregon has not executed a prisoner since 1997. In Brown’s first news confer- ence after she became governor in 2015, the Democrat announced she would continue a moratorium on the death penalty imposed by her predecessor, for- mer Gov. John Kitzhaber. So far, 17 people have been executed in the U.S. in 2022, all by lethal injection and all in Texas, Oklahoma, Arizona, Missouri and Alabama, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Like Oregon, some other states are moving away from the death penalty. In California, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom imposed a moratorium on exe- cutions in 2019 and shut down the state’s execution chamber at San Quentin. A year ago, he moved to dismantle Ameri- ca’s largest death row by moving all con- demned inmates to other prisons within two years. In Oregon, Brown is known for exer- cising her authority to grant clemency. During the coronavirus pandemic, Brown granted clemency to nearly 1,000 people convicted of crimes. Two district attorneys, along with family members of crime victims, sued the governor and other state officials to stop the clem- ency actions. But the Oregon Court of Appeals ruled in August that she acted within her authority. The prosecutors, in particular, ob- jected to Brown’s decision to allow 73 people convicted of murder, assault, rape and manslaughter while they were younger than 18 to apply for early re- lease. Brown noted that previously she granted commutations “to individuals who have demonstrated extraordinary growth and rehabilitation” but said that assessment didn’t apply in her latest de- cision. “This commutation is not based on any rehabilitative efforts by the individ- uals on death row,” Brown said. “Instead, it reflects the recognition that the death penalty is immoral. It is an irreversible punishment that does not allow for cor- rection.” The Oregon Department of Correc- tions announced in May 2020 it was phasing out its death row and reassign- ing those inmates to other special hous- ing units or general population units at the state penitentiary in Salem and other state prisons. U|xaIICGHy02329lz[
