Going the distance
Don’t want census workers to come knocking? Here’s what to do
Runners tackle Peterson Ridge Rumble 60K, 30K • SPORTS, D1
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• April 12, 2010 50¢
Serving Central Oregon since 1903 www.bendbulletin.com
Deschutes County may crack down on code violations
MAKING AN EXTREME GREEN HOME: PART IV Rainwater collection 1 To collect water
2 Rainwater would
for home use, the couple would collect rainwater from the roof.
be stored in a large cistern, possibly capable of holding 35,000 gallons.
3 The rainwater would be filtered and treated to meet drinking water standards.
4 Collected water
could be used for drinking, sinks, showers and irrigation.
By Hillary Borrud The Bulletin
Two months after Marty Fraser’s neighbor began building a garage and what looks like an apartment without a permit, Fraser can’t understand why Deschutes County’s code enforcement technicians didn’t stop it earlier. Fraser, 73, and other neighbors who live in their subdivision southwest of Bend, have called county code enforcement on an almost daily basis, but the county did not stop Matthew Eitel from finishing the structure, Fraser said. “Snow, rain, whatever it was doing, Matt Eitel was building,” Fraser said. “I called the county, they said they went out and warned them. (The Eitels) weren’t supposed to do anything else. It kept going, and now the building’s up.” Deschutes County’s current code enforcement policy is to work with people who break the code, and get them to voluntarily fix problems. But the Deschutes County Commission is now considering whether to change that, and county commissioners have said people who flagrantly disregard laws regarding buildings, solid waste, environmental health and land use should face stiff consequences. The issue is slated for discussion at Wednesday’s commission meeting. See Code / A5
Ryan Brennecke / The Bulletin
Marty Fraser, 73, of Bend, is frustrated by an unpermitted garage and what appears to be an apartment above it that her neighbors recently built.
‘Patient dumping’ burdens hospitals By Michael Vitez The Philadelphia Inquirer
PHILADELPHIA — When the afternoon sunlight streamed in her hospital window, slashing through the venetian blinds, the shadows made Soon Ja Kim, 83, look as if she were behind bars. In a real sense, she was. She was admitted Dec. 23 and spent all winter in a private room at Abington Memorial Hospital. She watched the record snows outside her window and was still there for the purple crocuses of spring. Kim was approved for discharge Dec. 27, four days after she arrived. But she had nowhere to go. Her family had left her in Abington’s emergency room with no intention of returning to get her. See Patients / A4
Neither of the 2 front-runners has ever held elected office, but some analysts say that’s an advantage
Rethinking water usage
By Nick Budnick The Bulletin
SALEM — Political analysts say outsider candidates should enjoy 2010, and Oregon’s two Republican gubernatorial frontrunners certainly hope so. Businessman Allen Alley and former NBA player Chris Dudley have never held elected office. But pollsters say that either one, despite being relatively unknown to voters, has a realistic chance at becoming the state’s first Republican governor in 24 years. In fact, Bob Tiernan, chairman of the Oregon GOP, says this year’s election represents Republicans’ best shot at the governor’s seat since Dave Frohnmayer’s 1990 bid was foiled by independent Al Mobley’s run as a social conservative. In terms of voters’ moods, Tiernan said, “I think this is a much better time than when Frohnmayer ran.” Though there are nine candidates running on the Republican side, only Alley, a former hightech CEO who ran for state treasurer in 2008, and Dudley, an investment manager who played for the Portland Trail Blazers, are being given a real chance at winning the nomination. In terms of political stands, neither candidate can point to any significant differences in their platforms. Both are pro-business, social moderates who say they will bring a badly needed dose of fiscal conservatism to Oregon’s state government. Both men say they will tackle a projected $2.5 billion hole in Oregon’s 2011-13 budget immediately upon taking office, and both plan to make program cuts as well as take on growing costs from Oregon’s Public Employees Retirement System. See Republicans/ A5
Bend couple wants their home to run on rainwater and graywater, but getting permits is proving tricky
GREEN
By Kate Ramsayer The Bulletin
Editors note: Tom Elliott and Barbara Scott invited The Bulletin to follow their building project — to build the greenest home possible — from start to finish to share their goals, decisions, costs, concerns, problems and achievements, and to be an open book on what it takes to build such a home. The Bulletin will follow the couple’s project through periodic stories. This installment examines the challenges facing the home’s water and wastewater plans.
T
om Elliott and Barbara Scott should get used to hearing, “No.” The couple, who are designing a sustainable and efficient dream home in northwest Bend, are pushing the envelope of what city planners and regulators are used to approving, said Morgan Brown, a water specialist with Idaho’s Whole Water Systems. They’re proposing to collect rainwater for all household uses — including drinking water — and to treat and reuse wastewater. And those kinds of new efforts, especially within city limits, are bound to run into obstacles, Brown warned. “Normally, within a sewer district, the first 20 answers will be, ‘No,’” he said last week at a meeting in the home of Elliott and Scott. But with three months left until they hope to begin construction, the couple and their design team are brainstorming ways for their house to be as independent as possible from the city of Bend’s water and sewer system, in order to meet the requirements of the Living Building Challenge. “It’s a lot of thinking. It’s not (just), ‘Hook up to the city and
turn the faucet,’” Scott said. “It’s really putting us to the test.” The Living Building Challenge sets strict standards for sustainable houses, including producing all the necessary electricity on-site and only using nontoxic, environmentally friendly building materials. The water requirements are designed to “really redefine the way we think about water, pushing that notion that water really is a precious resource,” said Eden Brukman, vice president of the International Living Building Institute, based in Seattle.
ELECTION
Rainwater and graywater To meet program standards, the home can only use collected water from rain and snow. “The precipitation that falls on the building site is what’s available — which in our climate is tight,” said M.L. Vidas, owner of Sustainable Design Services and part of the team working on Elliott’s and Scott’s house. So the first thing to do, she said, is ensure all of the plumbing fixtures — showerheads, toilets, the washing machine, dishwasher and more — are as water efficient as possible. See Water / A4
Coming Tuesday • A closer look at the Democratic gubernatorial primary
Graywater recycling 7 While the
6 Graywater would
5 Graywater from
homeowners hope one day to use treated graywater to irrigate landscaping, currently the only approved use in Oregon is to flush toilets.
be pumped through a lined, constructed wetland, where plants and microbes in a gravel bed would treat the water.
showers and sinks would be collected in a separate graywater tank, equipped with an overflow valve that leads to the sewer.
Alan S. Weiner / New York Times News Service
Retired psychologist Clark Martin says he benefited from his participation in an experiment with a hallucinogen.
Scientists tuning in to hallucinogens again
TOP NEWS INSIDE POLAND: Nation mourns president but shows political resilience, Page A3
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GOP likely to bet on newcomers in race for governor
OTECH Bend-based solar products company PV Powered has plenty on its plate
GREEN Is the troubled Energy Star program still trustworthy? SCIENCE Rare syndrome presents unique challenges
New York Times News Service
As a retired clinical psychologist, Clark Martin was well acquainted with traditional treatments for depression, but his own case seemed untreatable as he struggled through chemotherapy and other grueling regimens for kidney cancer. Counseling seemed futile; so did antidepressants. Nothing had any lasting effect until, at age 65, he had his first psychedelic experience. He left his home in Vancouver, Wash., to take part in an experiment at Johns Hopkins medical school involving psilocybin, the psychoactive ingredient found in certain mushrooms. Today, Martin credits that six-hour experience with helping him overcome his depression and profoundly transforming his relationships with his daughter and friends. See Hallucinogen / A4