It’s all about the eggs
It’s Census Day Have you been counted?
An unlikely connection between Easter and fishing • SPORTS, D1
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WEATHER TODAY
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• April 1, 2010 50¢
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More work, less money hurts clinics treating the uninsured By Keith Chu The Bulletin
WASHINGTON — The crush of economic distress in Central Oregon has caused a spike in people without insurance who are straining the resources of the region’s health clinics. As unemployment remains high across Central Oregon, Mosaic Medical’s clinics in Bend, Prineville and Madras are seeing more than 10 percent more unemployed patients than a year ago. Meanwhile, federal funding for those patients has been frozen for three Related years. The re• Small sult: Central businesses Oregon’s health struggling care safety net to provide is beginning to health fray. insurance, Mosaic offers primary Page F1 care and obstetrics services to patients, with no one turned away for being uninsured. It charges patients on a sliding scale, depending on ability to pay, although the majority of its patients have some kind of insurance. Help for health centers like Mosaic may be on its way through an $11 billion fund included in the recently passed health care reform law, but even the agency charged with administering the health center program said this week it’s not sure how the funding will be distributed, or when the money will be available. In the meantime, all of those uninsured patients have put a major strain on Mosaic’s resources, said board member Scott Cooper. See Mosaic / A4
FROM IRAQ TO AFGHANISTAN
No shortcuts when the U.S. moves a war By Stephen Farrell and Elisabeth Bumiller New York Times News Service
JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq — In trying to speed 30,000 reinforcements into Afghanistan while reducing U.S. forces in Iraq by 50,000, American commanders are orchestrating one of the largest movements of troops and materiel since World War II. Military officials say that transporting so many people and billions of dollars’ worth of equipment, weapons, housing, fuel and food in and out of both countries between now and an August deadline is as critical and difficult as what is occurring on the battlefield. See Logistics / A5
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A cat has been stuck 40 to 60 feet up a tree in La Pine since March 23, and her family says no one’s willing to help
Blackberry
in a jam The Bulletin
hile she may not
By Patrick Cliff
have nine lives,
The Bulletin
REDMOND — The Redmond School Board voted Wednesday to abandon the four-day school week after just one year and return to a five-day week in the fall. Whether it stayed with a fourday week or not, though, the district had decided it would reinstall preparation time into the class day. That’s the time when teachers do things like plan for classes and grade tests. Because of that decision, class sizes would have increased across the district next year and many electives would be cut. The 4-1 vote — with only Dan Murphy dissenting — came as the district begins preparing its budget for the 2010-11 school year. Going back to a five-day week will cost about $400,000, according to district projections. That means the district faces a $1.5 million budget deficit for next year, according to staff projections. That shortfall means more cuts to the district that could include staff. Last year, the district adopted a four-day schedule and cut 59 teaching positions in response to state school funding cuts. With the job cuts alone, the district saved about $4 million. See Schools / A4
Blackberry the cat has now logged nine days in the top of a tree — and counting. The year-old cat has been camped 40 to 60 feet in the sky in a lodgepole pine in La Pine since March 23. Crystal Herbert, 16, said Blackberry, who lives with her, her father and a roommate at their home off Day Road, has been crying constantly, but has refused to come down despite miserable weather. “There’s been snow and rain and hail and wind, and she’s still up there,” Crystal said. It’s not clear what prompted Blackberry to climb the tree. Crystal said they hadn’t seen the cat for most of the day when they heard her meowing, and traced the sound to the tallest tree on their property. Blackberry has ventured downward two to three branches a few times, Crystal said, only to head back up. Crystal is worried Blackberry can’t last much longer without food and water, and said she’s been frustrated by her family’s inability to recruit help to mount a rescue. She said her father called the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office, Midstate Electric Coop and the La Pine Rural Fire District, and was turned down by all three. “I don’t see why no one can take the few minutes it would take to get up there with a ladder and get the cat,” she said. Chief Mike Supkis with the La Pine Rural Fire District said he expects Blackberry will eventually come down on her own. Fire departments will risk endangering firefighters to save human lives and sometimes property, he said, but will rarely do the same for an animal. See Cat / A5
“I was sworn to secrecy for 47 years.” — James Noce, who worked for the CIA at Area 51
Area 51 vets speaking out By Erik Lacitis The Seattle Times Andy Tullis / The Bulletin
Crystal Herbert, 16, of La Pine, looks up at the tree outside her family’s home where Blackberry has been stuck for nine days. Crystal’s family has been trying to find someone to help them rescue the cat, who’s 40 to 60 feet up, because their tallest ladder is only 10 feet tall.
“I don’t see why no one can take the few minutes it would take to get up there with a ladder and get the cat.” — Crystal Herbert, 16, one of Blackberry’s owners “It’s an urban myth that fire departments run around with these big, huge ladders and rescue cats out of trees” — Chief Mike Supkis, La Pine Rural Fire District
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Vol. 107, No. 91, 38 pages, 7 sections
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VANCOUVER, Wash. — After nearly five decades, guys like James Noce finally get to tell their stories about Area 51. Yes, that Area 51. The one that gets brought up when people talk about secret Air Force projects, crashed UFOs, alien bodies and, of course, conspiracies. The secrets, some of them, have been declassified. Noce, 72, and his fellow Area 51 veterans now are free to talk about doing contract work there for the CIA in the 1960s and ’70s. See Area 51 / A5
TOP NEWS INSIDE
INDEX Abby
5-day week returns in fall Switching back from controversial 4-day plan to cost $400K
By Scott Hammers
W
REDMOND SCHOOLS
C5
Stocks
B2-3
RUSSIA: Militant claims subway attacks, Page A3
CHURCH ABUSE: Cardinal defends pope, Page A3