Sheriff warns commissioners of
crisis looming at jail
At a work session on Wednesday,
Deschutes County commissioners
heard some good news and some
very bad news about law
enforcement in the county. The
good news: All cities, as well
as the sheriff’s office, are
adding new patrolmen who are
making more arrests. The bad
news: Those who are convicted of
all but the most serious crimes
have little chance of serving
full sentences because the
Deschutes County jail is
overcrowded. To house new
inmates, especially those who
are awaiting trial, the jail is
forced to release inmates
already in custody before their
sentences have been completed in
a process known as “matrixing.”
Repeat offenders know this, so
there’s little incentive for
them to change their behavior.
What’s the solution? The county
eventually will need to expand
the jail, but a short-term
solution being explored is to
spend $40 million to remodel the
former work release center and
add on to the existing jail to
add 260 new beds. If the
matrixing out of dangerous
inmates becomes a serious threat
to public safety, which isn’t
too far out, the county will
consider renting beds at other
jails. Commissioners made no
decision and will further
discuss the matter in May.
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How important is tourism in
Central Oregon? Read this
Also at the county commission
meeting on Wednesday, the county
agreed to a contract with the
Central Oregon Visitors
Association (COVA) to provide
funding to the association. In
the next fiscal year, COVA will
get approximately $1 million
from county transient room tax
receipts (the tax the county
collects for visitor lodging
such as hotel rooms and
condominium rentals). Thanks to
the many resorts that have been
built in Deschutes County, the
county now collects over $3
million a year in room taxes.
The money that doesn’t go to
COVA is used mainly for public
services such as police
protection. Responding to a
question from a commissioner,
COVA President and CEO Alana
Audette said that a state survey
found that tourism spending this
year in the tri-county area
should be close to $500 million.
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Support widespread for gas tax
increase to fix roads
Last week’s survey question was,
“Would you support a 2 to 4-cent
increase in fuel taxes dedicated
to improving Oregon’s roads?”
While there were some “no”
answers, most respondents said
“yes.” Some comments:
“Yes, I would support a fuel tax increase, and while
we are at it let’s correct a
mistake we made and put state
troopers back in the fuel tax.”
“Only if the state would spend more money on roads. I
am tired of having highway funds
going to light rail and other
mass transit issues that
relatively nobody uses. The
billions that have been spent on
light rail would have gone a
long way towards diminishing the
current traffic issues that we
face in this state.”
“No. The state doesn’t need to waste any more of our
money on its bloated
bureaucracy. It should privatize
highway construction,
snowplowing, etc., to save a lot
of money.”
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FireFree clean up a big success
Bend-area residents apparently
took to heart an opportunity to
get rid of yard waste and create
defensible zones for wildfire.
The first FireFree weekend at
Knott Landfill set a record,
with 5,835 cubic yards of
flammable yard waste brought in.
Through this Sunday, residents
can bring yard waste to Knott
Landfill free of charge. Hours
daily are 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
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Candidate forums scheduled for
Bend-La Pine Schools
The League of Women Voters of
Deschutes County is sponsoring
two public forums for candidates
who have filed for
Administrative School District
No. 1 – Bend-La Pine. Both will
be held at the Bend-La Pine
Schools Administration Building
on Wall Street, Room 314. The
forum for zones 5 and 6,
at-large, is set for 5:30 to
7:30 p.m. Monday, April 30. The
forum for zones 2 and 3 will be
the same time on Monday, May 1.
The public is invited.
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Depressing news on home prices
The National Association of
Realtors projected this week
that its index of home prices is
expected to fall in 2007 for the
first time since the index was
started nearly 40 years ago. The
group said the median price of
an existing home is expected to
end the year down 0.7 percent;
just a month ago, the Realtors
had forecast a 1.2 increase for
2007. Because of problems with
the subprime mortgage market,
the group also has cut its sales
forecast by 100,000 to 6.34
million homes, which would be
about 2 percent less than the
6.48 million homes sold last
year. Especially hard-hit are
higher-priced markets in the
East and West, the Realtors
said.
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