Month: March 2014

A former Bend and Portland attorney who embezzled more than $1.1 million from clients was sentenced Monday to more than five years in federal prison and ordered to repay the money, prosecutors said. US. District Judge Michael McShane sentenced Bryan Gruetter, 55, of Portland to 63 months in prison and ordered him to pay $1,144,487.97

The Sisters Ranger District of the Deschutes National Forest closed a portion of Forest Road 16 near the entrance of Upper Three Creeks Sno-Park last week. A major culvert received storm-related damage and repair work will not begin until weather conditions are more favorable. A detour route into Upper Three Creeks Snow Park will begin

KIDS Center is excited to announce The Blue Ribbon Campaign in Central Oregon starting April 1st. Bonnie Finney of Virginia started the Blue Ribbon campaign in the spring of 1989 in memory of her grandson, Michael Dickenson. The three-year-old died at the hands of her daughter’s abusive boyfriend. Bonnie tied a blue ribbon to her

The Oregon DMV said Monday it will no longer offer commercial driver license skills tests after March 31 at its offices in southeast Portland, Bend, Roseburg and Coos Bay. DMV has been phasing out commercial drive tests at its field offices in favor of third-party test providers as part of DMV’s efforts to become more

A Bend native and backcountry heli-skiing guide has been moved to an Anchorage hospital and remains in critical condition after being buried Saturday in an avalanche southwest of Haines, Alaska State Troopers said Sunday. The Anchorage Daily News reports Aaron Karitis, 31, was swept more than 800 feet in a snowslide in the Kicking Horse

The Ochoco National Forest has released the Final Environmental Impact Statement and draft Record of Decision for the Ochoco Summit Trail System Project, which proposes to designate a system of routes and trails for motorized recreation. A 45-day objection period follows public notification of availability in the Federal Register and the newspaper of record. The

Tips and complaints from the public helped lead to a drug raid Sunday evening and the arrest of a woman accused of selling heroin from her southeast Bend trailer, police said. A week earlier, Clackamas County sheriff’s deputies asked Bend police to find and arrest Karla Marie Fisher, 40, on a no-bail arrest warrant stemming

Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) today announced Monday he has introduced the Forest Access in Rural Communities Act (H.R. 4272) to stop the problematic travel management rule on national forests in the West and promote local control over future proposals to restrict forest access. “For too long, the input and wishes of local citizens have been

The Ford Institute Leadership Program ame to Prineville three years ago, in 2011, in what was the beginning of a five-year investment in Crook County by the Ford Family Foundation. Currently, the program is in year three and the second cohort’s project is getting underway. The cohort will be enhancing and beautifying the communities of

Oregon Adaptive Sports (OAS) announces that Peter Gilmore has joined its board of directors. Gilmore is retired from the athletic shoe industry, having worked for both adidas and Nike in the Portland area, before moving to Bend in 2004. Gilmore also operated his own retail shoe store for six years. Prior to moving to Portland,

A speeding drunk driver pulled over for Bend police early Saturday but then took off, leading to a nearly 2 mile chase at up to 70 mph before he stopped and surrendered, officers said. An officer tried to pull over a 1998 Mercedes SUV around 1:30 a.m. Saturday for speeding, erratic driving and suspicion of

More than 350 hand-made bowls were on sale at Ridgeview High Sunday, an effort to tackle hunger in Redmond. The high school held its first “Empty Bowls,” event, similar to a yearly Bend event each fall, in this case to raise money for Jericho Road, a soup feed and auction to benefit the needy in

A Bend man was arrested on arson charges early Sunday, shortly after police and firefighters doused a blaze set in pallets and a Dumpster behind a pet supply store near the corner of NE Third Street and Greenwood Avenue, police said. Police responded shortly after 3 a.m. to the reported fire behind Mini Pet Mart

A property owner east of Bend who checked the burn information line Friday did a ditch burn Saturday – but by then, burning was closed due to expected winds, the fire escaped and nearly nine acres of fields and trees burned, officials said. Bend firefighters responded around 3:20 p.m. Saturday to the escaped burn in

Disc golfing has become a popular pastime in Central Oregon. “It’s my release, is what I call it,” Stevie Pittman, OSU-Cascades student and avid disc golfer, said Friday. “I have a bad day, and I need to go play around and release a little bit.” Construction at Central Oregon Community College will make playing a

Two men injured in a head-on motorcycle crash in an off-road area east of Bend Saturday afternoon were taken to the hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries, Deschutes County sheriff’s deputies said. County 911 dispatch got the report around 2:45 p.m. of the crash that had occurred on Trail 50, about a mile north of

It was a scary Saturday afternoon for a northeast Bend woman and her infant when their home caught fire. Luckily, the flames were stopped fast, and nobody was injured. Deputy Fire Marshal Dan Derlacki said the fire was reported around 2:20 p.m. on the side of the two-story home at 2926 NE Jill Avenue. Fire

A Sisters teen faces reckless driving and reckless endangering charges in connection with the rollover crash of his station wagon while passing another car in the Sisters Industrial Park, Deschutes County sheriff’s deputies said Saturday. Fortunately, no one was injured in the rollover crash, which occurred on Friday, March 7 th around 3:20 p.m. on

It’s been nearly two weeks since downtown Sisters became a scene of mud and ripped up roads, but business owners told NewsChannel 21 that they’re not complaining. “We’re excited,” said Sisters Log Furniture and Home Decor Owner Chris Wilder. In a joint effort with the Oregon Department of Transportation, the city is redoing the main

Residents who visit and businesses in a shopping center in Redmond are complaining about teenagers in the area. “It gives us something to talk about — ‘Did you see that kid?’,” Jenifer Derrick, Great Clips manager said Friday. They say that kids are taking over the shopping center at lunchtime. They come to hang out,