We have some hopes, wishes and some likely foolish prognostications for 2025.

For incoming Deschutes County Sheriff Kent Vander Kamp, we wish for less turmoil under his leadership. One of the most disheartening things to hear during the campaign for the new sheriff was when Vander Kamp and his opponent, William Bailey, talked about the tense atmosphere in their workplace. Law enforcement and running the jail are difficult enough without that.

For OSU-Cascades, may this be the year the Legislature provides the money so the campus can have what every other public university campus has: a student health and recreation center.

For the Deschutes National Forest and any fire department in the region, we wish for a boring, not fiery 2025. Our hopes are similar for Central Oregon law enforcement. We hope it’s a mostly uneventful year.

For Central Oregon school districts, we hope for improvement in graduation rates and other academic performance. And we hope the staff can continue to afford to live here. Maybe more districts could do what Bend did and set aside land for staff housing.

For Central Oregon’s cities, may you find solutions to keep residents housed and help the homeless find homes.

For the Bend Park & Recreation District, we wish for less graffiti and vandalism in the parks. And may the district find land to create more parks at a good price. Do you have some land to donate to the district?

Now let’s get to the rather foolish task of making some prognostications. If they prove wrong, maybe you didn’t read this far down or maybe you will forget them. Seer or prophet we are not. We do think Oregon’s public defense crisis is going to continue for years.

Just days after Christmas on Dec. 27, there were 3,746 unrepresented defendants in Oregon. Those are people who are entitled to an attorney and Oregon has failed to provide them. Another 1,741 individuals were previously unrepresented and failed to appear in court.

One year ago on Dec. 27, the numbers were 2,791 and 1,225, respectively.

Two years ago on Dec. 27, the numbers were 678 and 519, respectively.

The state has begun making changes. The Oregon Public Defense Commission has plans it is implementing. The commission has moved under Gov. Tina Kotek’s control in the executive branch. Let’s see improvement by Dec. 27, 2025, if not much sooner. If the state can’t provide attorneys for defendants that need them, justice in Oregon is struggling.

Sticking at the state level, we have one more foolish attempt at prognostication: Legislators are going to pass legislation in 2025 to gradually implement a road mileage fee. Taxing fuel is a dead end for collecting revenue for roads and transportation with the increase in high mileage and electric vehicles. We’d guess legislators will put the actual implementation date for a pay-by-the-mile fee some time away to give Oregonians time to adjust.

We hope they find a way to encourage people to switch to the state’s program, OReGO. Right now people with electric vehicles and vehicles that get 40-plus miles to the gallon can get $35 to $115 a year off their DMV registration fees. That hardly seems worth the hassle.

Happy New Year!