Deschutes County
Accused Killer Lara Pleads Not Guilty
The former Central Oregon Community College security officer accused of killing a Bend woman pleaded not guilty to four counts of aggravated murder in Deschutes County Court Thursday August 25. Edwin Lara is accused of abducting Kaylee Sawyer on July 24, attempting to sexually abuse her, and then killing her. Sawyer’s body was found west […]
Side Notes 8/24-8/31
Urban Growth Boundary Expansion Amendment Moves Forward After a series of public meetings, on Thursday, Aug. 25, the City of Bend will move forward with its adoption of the long-overdue Bend Urban Growth Boundary Remand. Public testimony on the issue ended Aug. 18. The final plan would expand the City of Bend by a proposed […]
Latinos Rising
Locals shouldn’t be surprised by recently released U.S. census data showing consistently growing Latino populations in Bend, Deschutes County, and Oregon. After all, Spanish-speaking peoples settled this region in the-mid 1800s, long before other European cultures. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the Latino population in Deschutes County increased by 18.6 percent between 2010 and […]
More Money, More Problems
Communities place a lot of trust in local law enforcement. The uniform, the badge, and the title are bestowed upon trained professionals who are hired for peacekeeping and protection. That trust was violated by former Deschutes County Sheriff Office Captain Scott Raymond Beard, 46. Beard worked in the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office as head of […]
Senate Bill 1533 and Inclusionary Zoning
A reader named Krista recently wrote to the Source Weekly about Senate Bill 1533. She wondered whether the bill really accomplishes anything in terms of helping create affordable housing, and expressed concerns about the bill’s definition of affordable housing: “Affordable housing” means housing that is affordable to households with incomes equal to or higher than […]
Magic Realism Grows by Leaps and Bounds
The final award-winning literary artist featured in the 2015/16 Author! Author! series is New York Times best-selling author Alice Hoffman, who will speak Thursday, May 26 at Bend High at 7 p.m. The series began in October and included non-fiction, creative fiction, historical fiction and memoir authors, starting with Timothy Egan, 61, a Pulitzer Prize-winning […]
Rethinking City Council
Though City Council duties, meetings, committees, and hearings require 45 to 55 hours per week to fulfill, Bend City Councilors are considered volunteers, have no administrative support staff and receive no benefits. The archaic notion of an unpaid mayor and city council is not in step with the times within the paradigm of the exponential […]
Deschutes County Will Lift Ban on Rural Cannabis
Deschutes County Commissioners last week confirmed that they will eventually lift the temporary ban on cannabis businesses in unincorporated areas of the county. After receiving recommendations from the county Planning Commission, Marijuana Advisory Committee, and the public, the commissioners have concluded what even they described as lengthy deliberations and have begun the process of adopting […]
Teens Need Our Help to Stay Healthy
They don’t always ask, but teens need our help with so many things: homework, learning to drive, dating—and, yes, avoiding unintended pregnancy. While the teen pregnancy rate has declined significantly over the past two decades, it’s still a serious issue in Central Oregon. May is National Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month, and it’s a good reminder […]