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Clella Thomas named Citizen of
the Year
Clella Thomas was named Citizen
of the Year by the Bend Chamber
of Commerce at the Chamber’s
annual recognition dinner
Saturday at The Riverhouse. She
was one of the original members
of the Education Foundation for
the Bend-La Pine Schools.
Members of the Chamber also
voted to award Bend Garbage and
Recycling the large
distinguished business of the
year, Sign Pro of Central Oregon
as small business of the year
and Bethlehem Inn as
organization of the year. Bend
Garbage and Recycling, a family
run business that owns Bend
Garbage, Deschutes Recycling at
Knott Landfill and High Country
Disposal in Redmond, is owned
and managed by Bruce Bailey and
his wife Karin, their son, Brad
Bailey, and their son-in-law,
Chris Crownover. Sign Pro of
Central Oregon has been serving
Central Oregon since 1992. Its
owners are Tess Tompos, Susie
Decker and John Larkin. The
Bethlehem Inn’s mission is to
break the cycle of homelessness
in Central Oregon by providing
beds, meals, case management,
transportation, educational
opportunities and employee
assistance. Led by Executive
Director Liz Hitt, the Inn
offers two types of emergency
housing.
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Economic forecast up; Senate
scheduled to vote today on
“kicker”
The Oregon Legislature has
received some good news: In its
annual quarterly economic and
revenue forecast, the state
Office of Economic Analysis is
estimating that the state will
take in an addition $34 million
in income in the 2007-09
biennium, which means the state
is expected to have about $13.04
billion in revenue. In the
forecast, economists said that
Oregon has been experiencing
almost flat growth in employment
in recent months, and business
spending “suddenly cooled” in
the fourth quarter of 2006.
However, the economists also
predicted a rebound in business
investment spending and no
recession. In another
legislative matter, the state
Senate today is scheduled to
vote on a bill that would direct
approximately $270 in corporate
“kicker” taxes to a “rainy day”
fund. Much debate still remains
on whether keeping the “kicker”
should be a one-time thing, or
whether a measure should be put
before voters on May 15 that
would permanently end the
corporate “kicker.” Whatever
happens, both Republicans and
Democrats apparently agree that
small businesses should be “held
harmless” from any changes.
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Bend’s airport
taking off
In a happy occasion on
Wednesday, city of Bend
officials broke ground on a $10
million project that will extend
the runway by 195 feet and
improve taxiways. The
construction, expected to be
completed by the end of October,
will allow larger airplanes to
land and take off. The airport
already has made plans to expand
industrial development on the
airport’s east side, and has
attracted a restaurant (Café
3456) that is doing well.
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Daylight savings time either
positive or a pain
Last week’s survey question was,
“Does early daylight savings
time make any difference to your
company?” A few businesses said
they’re affected, but people
especially are. Some responses:
“Our company is affected because we have offices in
state that do not change, so we
cannot do an overall server fix
for the time change, so people’s
scheduled meetings and tasks are
affected and the people who
travel with laptops need to make
sure they know how to change. If
it causes the price of gas to go
down, I’m for it!”
“It is such a disruption to your sleep habits, I think
we should be on daylight savings
time year-round. It is also a
hazard for the staff, getting
off work in the dark and walking
to their cars.”
“In real estate it gives us longer daylight hours
to show property. Of course, it
also usually has us spending
more hours at work.”
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Tell the city what you think
about BAT
The city of Bend is planning to
adjust the routes and schedules
of its Bend Area Transit (BAT)
system, and wants to hear what
the public wants. Two workshop
meetings will be held for anyone
interested. The first is
scheduled for 4 to 5:30 p.m. in
the DeArmond Room at the
Deschutes County Services
Building, and the second will be
held at the same time on
Tuesday, March 27 in the Brooks
Room at the Deschutes Public
Library. Information: 317-3000.
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This week’s survey question
How often do you use the Redmond
or Bend airports? Please e-mail your
responses to:
jeff@bendchamber.org.
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