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Serving Central Oregon since 1903 www.bendbulletin.com
911 director fired, even as handling of situation is criticized
VA soon will offer better care in Bend Local clinic will expand primary, specialty and mental health services as early as next year. The common refrain: fewer trips to Portland.
Professor emerging as Republican favorite to beat Wyden By Keith Chu
By Hillary Borrud
The Bulletin
The Bulletin
WASHINGTON — Longtime Lewis and Clark Law professor Jim Huffman is running for the U.S. Senate as a Republican, but there’s only one word to describe his political philosophy: libertarian. From his seat at the Portland law school, Huffman has spent the past 30 years vociferously opposing federal environmental reg ulations, state zoning laws and, most Jim Huffman recently, the health care overhaul bill that became law last month. While the 65-year-old professor has never held political office, his long record of advocating for limits on federal power made him well-known in conservative circles and quickly made him the favorite of the state GOP, despite a crowded field of Republicans seeking to challenge incumbent Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. See Senate / A5
TOP NEWS INSIDE QUAKES: Sunday’s jolt boosts risk of disaster in California; Indonesian island rocked, Page A3
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Inside • Meet Jim Huffman, Page A5
“I think we would have enough to cover all the veterans in the Bend area for primary care, mental health and the specialties, so they don’t have to come up to Portland.”
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WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs plans to more than double the size of its Bend clinic. That means that as soon as next year, far fewer veterans will have to make a trip to Portland for basic medical care. The department recently started a search for a new facility in Bend, where it plans to dramatically expand the medical services it will offer Central Oregon vets, VA spokesman Mike McAleer said Tuesday. “I think we would have enough to cover all the veterans in the Bend area for primary care, mental health and the specialties, so they don’t have to come up to Portland,” McAleer said. An expanded clinic would save many veterans more than six hours of round-trip driving to get to Portland’s VA hospital, said Anne Philiben, president of Central Oregon Veteran’s Outreach.
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“I think it’ll just be so great that so many really sick people, elderly and blind people don’t have to go to Portland for their health care,” Philiben said. “That’s massive, that’s huge, a big relief for the people in this area.” The exact range of services at the new clinic hasn’t been decided, McAleer said. “We’ll be looking at how to best serve the veterans around Bend,” McAleer said. “We’re going to of course expand mental health, the eye clinic with ophthalmology and optometry. We’ll also increase the amount of primary care.” See Veterans / A5
“We’ve needed this so badly. Some of these men who are younger than I find it difficult to get in a van and drive three, four hours to Vancouver and Portland. They shouldn’t be forced to do that. They served their time.” — Ole Anker, 81-year-old Marine Corps veteran from Bend
“I use the clinic in Bend because I’ve got a whole long list of disabilities. … If I have specialized care I have to go to either Portland or St. Charles sometimes. If it’s an emergency, you have to go to St. Charles.” — Michael Ward, 65year-old Air Force veteran from Bend
Marijuana tempts cash-starved states By David Harrison Stateline.org
Mary Lou Dickerson had seen enough. After wrenching cuts to Washington’s state drug and alcohol treatment programs, Dickerson, a Democratic representative, introduced a bill this year to sell marijuana in state liquor stores — and tax it. Dickerson is an unlikely cru-
• The Tea Party movement spawns a field of challengers • The Democratic lineup, including Wyden
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— Mike McAleer, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
“Wait and see when it happens. When I see it, I’ll believe it. … I think it’ll be really great if they get it going here. It’ll be really nice.” — Andy Carroll, 59-year-old Army veteran from Bend
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Pete Erickson / The Bulletin
Navy veteran Russ Haupt, 67, gets an eye exam by Dr. Richard Gardner at the Veterans Affairs specialty clinic in Bend on Tuesday. The VA plans to more than double the size of its current treatment in Bend, adding services specialists including eye doctors. Local veterans are pleased they won’t have to drive six hours round trip to Portland, except for major procedures. “If it’s something that they referred me to Portland then sometimes I go there,” says Haupt, of Bend. “… Even if it costs me something to go to a civilian doctor in town, sometimes it’s better than making a trek to Portland.”
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Deschutes County 911 officials voted to fire the dispatch center’s director Tuesday, but several used the occasion to raise concerns about the process leading to the vote. Officials said their decision was based on 911 Director Becky McDonald allegedly lying to them about her romantic relationship with a 911 dispatcher’s husband and Becky that she could McDonald no longer lead the district. Officials plan to discuss later this month whether the district needs to be restructured to avoid problems in the future. Some members of the district’s board said it was difficult to communicate and get all parties together to make a decision. And County Administrator Dave Kanner said it made him uncomfortable the 911 board pursued an investigation based on a complaint from the dispatcher, Theresa Joye, since she had made comments suggesting she wanted to get McDonald fired. Kanner only sits on the 911 board for issues related to its director. McDonald disagrees with her dismissal and plans to appeal it to the Deschutes County Commission, her attorney, Katherine Tank, said Tuesday morning. Only Kanner voted against terminating McDonald. The 911 district’s governing board placed McDonald on paid administrative leave in early December, after Theresa Joye filed a worker’s compensation claim against the district saying the 911 center had become a hostile workplace because of McDonald’s relationship with her husband, Kyle Joye. See 911 / A6
sader for marijuana legalization. A 63-year-old grandmother who doesn’t use it, she says money was the only reason for proposing her controversial bill. “According to the state’s own estimates, it would bring in an additional $300 million per biennium,” she says. “I dedicated (in the bill) a great deal of the proceeds from the tax on marijuana
to treatment.” This has been a bumper year for marijuana legislation, according to state policy observers. Crushing state budget deficits gave advocates in California, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, New York and elsewhere an opening to pitch marijuana as a new source of tax revenue. See Marijuana / A4
Pot laws Oregon was the first state to decriminalize marijuana; after 1973, possession of less than 1 ounce of pot was no longer a crime in the state. • See Page A4 for a history of marijuana laws throughout the nation.
Bombing video brings notice to a notorious fringe Web site By Noam Cohen and Brian Stelter New York Times News Service
Three months ago, WikiLeaks, a whistle-blower Web site that posts classified and sensitive documents, put out an urgent call for help on Twitter. “Have encrypted videos of U.S. bomb strikes on civilians. We need super computer time.” Somehow — it will not say how — WikiLeaks, which calls itself “an intelligence agency of the people,” found the necessary computer time to de-encrypt a graphic video, released Monday, of a U.S. Army assault in Iraq in 2007 that left 12 people dead, including two Reuters news agency employees. The video has been viewed more than 2 million times on YouTube, and has been replayed hundreds of times in television news reports. The video’s release is drawing attention to the once-fringe Web site, which aims to bring to light hidden information about governments and multinational corporations — putting secrets in plain sight and protecting the identity of those who help do so. See WikiLeaks / A4