Bulletin Daily Paper 04/03/10

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With bikes, a helping hand

in pursuit of a record

Volunteers provide bicycles for those in need • COMMUNITY, B1

LOCAL, C1

Lunging a mile

WEATHER TODAY

SATURDAY

Mostly cloudy, chance of mixed showers High 45, Low 22 Page C8

• April 3, 2010 50¢

Serving Central Oregon since 1903 www.bendbulletin.com

Some Our election coverage begins ELECTION Watch for this logo for regular stories, profiles and updates of Epic’s Last day Ballots Election jobs 1 3 to register: 27 mailed: 8 0 Day: might Former Mike Morgan, at watch on Sisters government remain TODAY: Deschutes County Circuit Court candidates, Page C1

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Juniper Ridge planners sue Bend

May

April

April

By Patrick Cliff

Before Mike Morgan moved to Sisters, he was a businessman. Since retiring, he has devoted his time to keeping tabs on local government.

The Bulletin

SISTERS — Mike Morgan believes that the louder he is, the more attention he’ll attract to problems he thinks need fixing in Sisters. But that bluster has come at a cost for Morgan, who has lived since 2001 in a tidy home with soaring ceiling and a backyard view of the Sisters Airport runway. A thick man with a full head of gray hair, Morgan has

Rob Kerr The Bulletin

earned some enemies in town, and even his friends acknowledge his style has chafed locals. When he speaks, he leans into each important phrase, eager for it to be understood. At public meetings, sometimes wearing an ill-fitting ball cap, Morgan is usually the most insistent member of the audience and the one with the largest pile of papers that, he hopes, will support whatever his case happens to be. See Morgan / A6

By Cindy Powers The Bulletin

The former master developers of Juniper Ridge have sued the city of Bend saying they have not been paid for their work on a $2.4 million land deal at the planned mixed-use development on the city’s north side. Juniper Ridge Partners principals Jeff Holzman and Ray Kuratek filed the lawsuit in Deschutes County Circuit Court asking for more than $146,000, which they say is their cut of an October 2008 land sale to Bend biotechnology company Suterra. The suit alleges the partners were entitled to 6 percent of the sale under a contract they signed with the city in August 2008. The contract, which provides for the payment to Holzman and Kuratek if they perform certain work to close land sales at Juniper Ridge, includes an attachment that names Suterra as a potential buyer. Kuratek could not be reached for comment Friday, and Holzman referred questions to the partners’ lawyer, Ed Fitch. “We have seen documentation where city officials have acknowledged assistance with Suterra by Juniper Ridge Partners and that they are entitled to 6 percent,” Fitch said. In September 2008, Bend City Manager Eric King told The Bulletin that Holzman and Kuratek were working with Suterra on a development deal at Juniper Ridge. But King said Friday that the partners’ efforts were “preliminary work” that “couldn’t have been more than a few hours.” See Lawsuit / A6

Mmmmmm, chocolate

Ryan Brennecke / The Bulletin

Eight-year-old Freddy Finney-Jordet gazes at a variety of chocolates on display Friday night during the Tour du Chocolat at the Tower Theatre. For $5, attendees received a beverage and five tastes of chocolates prepared by local chefs. Proceeds went to the Tower Theatre Foundation.

TOP NEWS INSIDE JOBS: Obama says we may have turned a corner, Page C3

INDEX Business

C3-5

Local

Classified

F1-6

Movies

C1-8 B3

Comics

B4-5

Obituaries

C7

Community B1-6

Sports

D1-6

Crossword B5, F2

Stocks

C4-5

Editorial

Weather

C6

C8

We use recycled newsprint The Bulletin An Independent Newspaper

MON-SAT

Vol. 107, No. 93, 66 pages, 6 sections

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For fake hips, no guarantees, price tags in the thousands By Barry Meier New York Times News Service

In January, William Morris’s artificial hip, just three years old, was failing so badly that it had to be replaced during an extensive procedure that cost about $50,000. The maker of the failed hip has since sent letters to Morris’s doctor, but none offering to cover replacement expenses for the device, which typically is expected to last 15 years. “They keep asking for the joint so they can look at it,” said Morris, a 52-year-old oil industry geologist who lives in Anchorage. When a car breaks, a com-

Inside • Latest on health care reform: Obama seeks to show some early benefits, Page A3 puter fails or a toaster flames out, the manufacturer is often liable under the product warranty. But that is not how the multibillion-dollar orthopedics industry tends to work, according to doctors, industry experts and three of the biggest device makers. The million or so artificial hips and knees implanted each

year in the United States, they say, are normally not guaranteed. Instead, the costs of replacing implants that fail early because of design or mechanical problems — devices that sell for as much as $15,000 each — are largely paid by Medicare, insurance companies and patients. Implants can fail for many reasons, but if only a small percentage of them fail prematurely because they are substandard, the costs to taxpayers, policyholders and patients can run into the tens of millions of dollars each year, health care experts estimate. See Orthopedics / A7

By Nick Budnick The Bulletin

PORTLAND — A bankrupt Bend airplane manufacturer could find new life as a local employer after a ruling Friday in federal court. Federal bankruptcy Judge Randall Dunn authorized the sale of the remaining assets of Epic Air to a Chinese government-owned company on the condition that it forge a deal with a group that wants to continue manufacturing planes at the Bend Municipal Airport. “We’re going to make this work,” said Daryle Ingalsbe, a member of the group that wants to continue Epic’s operations locally. “We will be building (aircraft) in Bend.” Dunn’s ruling points toward a potentially happy resolution for local officials, who’d hoped to keep as many jobs in Bend as possible after Epic, formally known as Aircraft Investor Resources, filed bankruptcy last fall. Three would-be owners emerged for Epic, including a Kansas aircraft parts firm, a Chinese aviation firm that wanted to move the company to China, and a group of former customers and pilots who wanted to keep the company going in Bend. Although the Chinese company, a Beijing subsidiary of Aviation Industry Corp. of China, submitted the highest bid at $4.3 million, the judge ruled that the greatest good would be served if the Chinese firm bought the company, but also licensed its technology to the customer group, called LT Builders Group, named for the Epic LT kit-built airplane. Under the judge’s ruling, the LT can continue to be manufactured in Bend. See Epic / A7

Kulongoski makes one more call for kicker reform By Tim Fought The Associated Press

Joshua Borough New York Times News Service

William Morris displays his recently replaced metal-onmetal hip joint. The replacement cost $50,000, and the maker of the failed joint has declined to pay any of that.

PORTLAND — In his first state-of-the-state speech, seven years ago, Gov. Ted Kulongoski acknowledged that “thousands of unemployed Oregonians are asking: ‘When will our lost jobs come back?’” On Friday, Ted Kulongoski deKulongoski livered his final s tate - of- t he state address and said he is “the first to acknowledge that 10.5 percent unemployment is not acceptable.” The 69-year-old Democrat is coming to the end of two terms that have looked like midwinter in the Willamette Valley — two big economic storms separated by a sunbreak. See Kulongoski / A7


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