Letters to the Editor, Week of Sept. 17, 2026

Guest Opinion: Hope for the Sheriff’s Office

Headlines describe the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office as troubled, scandal-ridden, and drowning in costly litigation. Concerned citizens are asking me when it will end and how we can fix it. Both candidates for Sheriff in November have been accused of bad conduct on duty or on the campaign trail. But it’s important to remember that the County has come a long way already and that key structural changes from late 2024 will help us navigate the current drama.

During Shane Nelson’s tenure as Sheriff (2015-2024), he launched investigations into multiple employees and took disciplinary actions that led to allegations of civil rights violations. Deputy Eric Kozowski, Sargent Crystal Jansen, and Captain Deron McMaster responded with litigation that resulted in judgments, settlements and attorney fees of over $3 million of taxpayer dollars.

Nelson seemingly believed that the Sheriff’s Office was independent from the County. He maintained his own Sheriff’s Office Legal Counsel and avoided consultation and coordination with County Legal Counsel. He retained external investigators to perform ‘independent’ investigations. He relied on Sheriff’s Office finance staff more than the County Finance department, supporting the belief that the Sheriff’s Office was in a better fiscal position than it was.

While operating with his own legal counsel, utilizing external ‘independent’ investigators, and cultivating a fiscal picture untethered from reality, it’s easy to understand how the Sheriff’s Office became such a mess.

At the end of Sheriff Nelson’s tenure in late 2024 the County eliminated the position of Sheriff’s Office Legal Counsel. Now, the sole source of legal advice for the Sheriff’s Office is County Legal Counsel, under the oversight of the Board of County Commissioners. Independent investigators are thoroughly vetted and selected in consultation with other key County staff. Fiscal managers for DCSO now have strong working relationships with the County Finance department.

We can see progress even in the embarrassing chapter of Sheriff Kent Vander Kamp. While the timing could have been better, the system worked in this case. Vander Kamp’s dishonesty about his education was uncovered by the DA’s Office, DPSST took away his license, and he was forced to resign. No Sheriff’s Office Legal Counsel or external ‘independent’ investigators tried to protect him and no massive taxpayer payout was needed to make things right. And while lying about your education under oath is foolish and sad, I don’t believe it’s as harmful as firing an employee for running against you for office.

I expect the same from any investigations of candidates McLaughlin and Rupert. If there are legitimate reasons to investigate either of them, appropriate authorities will arrange for fair and impartial inquiries. The Oregon Government Ethics Commission, DPSST, Secretary of State, and Deschutes County will do their jobs and appropriate actions will follow.

The re-integration of the Sheriff’s Office into the County and the late 2024 structural changes will help right the ship. Seeing the best from our Sheriff’s candidates and effective legal and fiscal oversight by county commissioners will also help us get to a better place.

—Phil Chang, Deschutes County commissioner

Measure 9-185

A Source editorial recommends voting against Measure 9-185. If passed, the measure would create five districts, two urban and three rural areas, with voters in each district electing their own commissioner. If the measure is defeated, elections will likely revert to at-large contests. By opposing the measure, the Source advocates giving Bend’s leftists control of the county administration and its taxing authority. That is a bad idea and here is why.

Bend leftists have a fitness fetish. It was apparent in 2003 when Garrison Kiellor’s NPR Prairie Home Companion show in Bend noted the audience was full of handsome slender people. That comment reinforced the city’s ideological policy of community fitness through walking and biking. Cascade Business News recently compared the planned and actual distribution of transportation funds. Planned funding for bike and pedestrian work was 26.4%; actual bike-pedestrian spending is 47%. This is serious over-spending and is not warranted.

St. Charles Hospital is the county’s largest employer with about 5,500 employees. During recent hospital visits over several days, parked bikes were counted. Daily, around 14 bikes were observed at the main entrance and about eight more at the Cardiac and Oncology entrance. Deducting night shift workers and Redmond staff, the Bend hospital is estimated to have about 4,000 day-shift workers. Of that workforce, just 22 or 0.55% ride bikes. Extrapolating that bike ride rate city wide means the bikeway expenditure is a massive waste. This is an example of the Bend electorate’s ideological decision making and is why the rural citizens need the protection offered by Measure 9-185.

—Jared Black

A Thank You to Juniper Swim & Fitness Center

I’m long past guppyhood, a goldfish now, circling the bowl. Larkspur pool is closed for a scraping and sealing of the sides. A school of us slithered ourselves, against our DNA, to Juniper.

“We warmed it up just for you,” the greeter said, for bones that creak and curve.

Pools and dry decks, slides, diving boards, a shallow pool for littles, a rope swing. Juniper has it all.

The fry’s flippers dangle off the board, they leap, spread out like a starfish, the skin slaps the water. The crackling echoes; we shudder, eyes clamp shut.

A middle-aged swinger went out with their glasses on. We made bets — stay on or off. He looked to the lifeguard; all of us waited while the swinger dove into the deep. Next turn, glasses stayed poolside.

An octogenarian friend, who walks two hours a day and rarely misses one, bought a wetsuit top and dove back in.

Next time they drain Larkspur, I might be the one circling the drain.

—Laurie Clark

Letter of the Week:

Cute tale, Laurie! Come on by for your Letter of the Week gift card.

—Nicole Vulcan, Editor in Chief

This article appears in the Source September 17, 2026.