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SATURDAY, JULY 12, 2014
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Sticker shock: The bill for care of vets
ouble iplomas
North Bend students finish high school careers, earn associate degrees simultaneously
BY MATTHEW DALY AND ANDREW TAYLOR The Associated Press WASHINGTON — Stung by sticker shock, members of Congress are scrambling to lower the cost of a bill to fix veterans’ health care amid a growing uproar over long waits for appointments and falsification of records to cover up the delays at Veterans Affairs hospitals. At the same time, deficit hawks fear that letting veterans turn more to providers outside the VA for health care could cost far more if Congress, under pressure from powerful veterans groups, decides to renew that program rather than let it expire in two years. Lawmakers in both parties agree on the need to reform Affairs Veterans the Department’s health care network — the largest in the country — following reports of veterans dying while awaiting appointments at VA hospitals or clinics. The resulting election-year firestorm forced VA Secretary Eric Shinseki to resign in May. A half-dozen other VA officials have resigned or retired since then. The VA’s inspector general has confirmed that at least 35 veterans died while awaiting appointments at the agency’s Phoenix medical center alone, but he has yet to report on the results of investigations into whether delays in treatment were responsible for any of the deaths. The latest analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates a Senate-passed bill would cost $35 billion through 2016 to build new clinics, hire doctors and make it easier for veterans who can’t get prompt
BY CHELSEA DAVIS The World
NORTH BEND — Two high-schoolers decided simply finishing high school wasn’t enough. Last school year, 826 high-schoolers beefed up their schedules with courses at Southwestern Oregon Community College. In June, two graduated high school and received associate degrees at the same time: Jordan Le Blanc and Haley DeAndrea. At SWOCC’s commencement ceremony last month, college President Dr. Patty By Lou Sennick, The World Scott said this is the first time a Laker — let Haley DeAndrea is one of two local students to get their high school diploma at the same time getting alone two — completed both simultaneoustheir associate degree from Southwestern Oregon Community College. She took classes at the college ly. while she was being home-schooled. “Can you imagine doing high school and college at the same time?” she said.
Jordan Le Blanc Le Blanc was on the verge of dropping out of high school his freshman year and getting his GED. “I was really bored,” Le Blanc, now 18, said. “And freshman year I wasn’t really social, either. I spent all my time ... in the library reading a book or out in the courtyard reading a book.” Then he met a high school senior who had earned 68 college credits at SWOCC, and thought, “I could do this.” His sophomore year, he started dual enrolling in classes through Talent Search before switching to Upward Bound. By the time he walked across the stage last month, he had earned a whopping 94 college credits, setting a record at North Bend High. By the end of the summer term, he’ll have 98 credits. “I saw a lot of growth from Jordan just from his interactions over Summer Academy,” said Grant Gill, North Bend High’s Upward Bound coordinator. “He became a leader.” In just three years, Le Blanc’s shyness faded as his academic success grew. “I’m proud to say that I did improve,” he said. “Senior year, I didn’t spend a single lunch period in the library.” But Le Blanc isn’t your typical Upward Bound student. “An Upward Bound student is typically struggling academically,” Brown said.
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By Alysha Beck, The World
Jordan Le Blanc, 18, sits in his human anatomy and physiology class at Southwestern Oregon Community College, where he earned his associate degree at the same time that he graduated from North Bend High School. He plans to attend Oregon State University in the fall to study microbiology. “They have to have a reason to be in Upward Bound. It’s typically academic, social, lack of support at home.” Foster and homeless youth are immediately eligible for the program. “On average, if a kid goes every summer, they will have nine college credits from Upward Bound when they graduate high school,” Brown said. “They’re learning how
to be successful in all aspects of college before they even get to college.” While his grandfather is an assistant professor of biotechnology and his mother is a phlebotomist (“I can’t deal with drawing people’s blood — the complaining, really”), it was a book that drew him to a career SEE DIPLOMAS | A8
SEE VETERANS | A8
North Bend honors Aqua man for 20 years of service
By Lou Sennick, The World
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DEATHS
INSIDE
Chris Richmond is the aquatics director for the North Bend Municipal Pool. He has been working at the facility next to the high school for 20 years.
Inge Swainston Gerene Calhoun Mabelle Chamley, Coos Bay Rubye Hall, Oregon City Katherine Wright, Coos Bay
NORTH BEND — Chris Richmond took over as the aquatic director for the city of North Bend in 1994. This week, the City Council honored him for his two decades of service. Much has changed for the better under his watch, but Richmond is the first to say it has been a team effort. The phone rings at a regular rate
Rick Draper, North Bend Stella Williamson, Coos Bay Clyde Jackson, Coos Bay H. Wayne Wade, North Bend
Obituaries | A5
inside the building at 2455 Pacific St. More often than not, the caller on the other end is greeted with a confident, but friendly, male voice that gets right to the point. “North Bend Pool.” The confident and friendly voice belongs to Richmond, 64, who was born in Coos Bay and spent his first five years in Reedsport before his family moved to Colorado. “I grew up in the water basically,” he says, “my mom and my older siblings were involved in lesson programs in Colorado and they had agreements with motel pools where SEE RICHMOND | A8
FORECAST
Chris Richmond has helped lead a renaissance at the city’s Municipal Swimming Pool ■
Partly sunny 62/56 Weather | A8
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TIM NOVOTNY