>> Tee to Green • May 1,
2010 • The Bulletin
Central Oregon
In today’s Bulletin
The golf guide
The stars come out for The Tradition
The year’s top
• Fred Couples, below, and Tom Watson are among the big names expected for this year’s Champions Tour event in Sunriver, Page 4
Golf Preview
volunteers
A guide to the courses ofthe regi need to know to play golf on on, and everything you the High Desert this year
Places to play • Event calendar • The Tradition
COMMUNITY LIFE, B1
Central Oregon course guide • A capsule on every public and private course in the area, with detailed information and descriptions of each
WEATHER TODAY
SATURDAY
Morning clouds, afternoon clearing High 56, Low 26 Page C8
• May 1, 2010 50¢
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Who is ‘Jason Evers’? ‘He’s an impostor,’ says the father of the child whose identity the ex-Bend OLCC officer may have assumed By Nick Budnick and Cindy Powers The Bulletin
The man Central Oregon liquor licensees know as Jason Evers may have stolen the identity of a boy killed in Ohio 28 years ago, explaining why the longtime state employee is behind bars in Idaho.
Before big one, oil rig had history of spills, fire By Frank Jordans and Garance Burke The Associated Press
During its nine years at sea, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig operated by BP suffered a series of spills, fires — even a collision — because of equipment failure, human error and bad weather. It also drilled the world’s deepest offshore well. But Deepwater Horizon’s lasting legacy will undoubtedly be the environmental damage it caused after it exploded and sank, killing Inside 11 crew and re• Disaster leasing an estifeared as spill mated 210,000 nears shore gallons of oil a day into the • Cleanup a Gulf of Mexico. cruel irony What likely for fishermen destroyed the • BP response rig in a ball of criticized, fire last week Page A8 was a failure — or multiple failures — 5,000 feet below. That’s where drilling equipment met the sea bed in a complicated construction of pipes, concrete and valves that gave way in a manner that no one has yet been able to explain. Oil services contractor Halliburton Inc. said in a statement Friday that workers had finished cementing the well’s pipes 20 hours before the rig went up in flames. Halliburton is named as a defendant in most of the more than two dozen lawsuits filed by Gulf Coast people and businesses claiming the oil spill could ruin them financially. Without elaborating, one lawsuit filed by an injured technician on the rig claims that Halliburton improperly performed its job in cementing the well, “increasing the pressure at the well and contributing to the fire, explosion and resulting oil spill.” Remote-controlled blowout preventers designed to apply brute force to seal off a well should have kicked in. But they failed to activate after the explosion. See Spill / A8
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Few details about the criminal case against the former Bendbased regional manager of the Oregon Liquor Control Commission claiming to be Evers were released Friday. But Portland-based Oregon U.S. Assistant Attorney Lance Caldwell did say the man has been charged in federal court
with providing false information on a passport application. Not even authorities know his true name. An Ohio man believes, based on a phone call from a federal investigator, that the man claiming to be Jason Evers apparently assumed the identity of the Ohio
The original Jason Evers: a life cut tragically short
man’s murdered son. “He’s an impostor,” said Bob Evers, of Cincinnati, in a phone interview. Evers’ son, Jason, was kidnapped and murdered at the age of 3, and his family is now fighting to keep the child’s killer behind bars. Bob Evers said he got the call from a federal agent about an investigation of a 31-year-old Oregon state employee using the name Jason Evers. See Evers / A7
By Nick Budnick The Bulletin
Jason Evers was killed at age 3 in Cincinnati.
The real Jason Evers was buried 28 years ago in Ohio. Bob Evers, 57, a retired postal employee, spoke of his son’s death in matter-of-fact tones during a phone interview Friday from Cincinnati. When told the birth date listed by the Jason Evers who was once the Bend-area regional manager of the Oregon Liquor Control Commission, Bob Evers responded, “That’s right … that’s my 3-year-old son.” See Ohio / A7
Earmark battle in D.C. touches local companies By Keith Chu
DNA study shows risks ... and which pills to take
The Bulletin
WASHINGTON — With an election looming, Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. House are battling over who will be toughest on federal pork. But there’s one thing they both agree on: Earmarks that benefit forprofit companies need to go. But while House members said cutting back on that pork will eliminate the potential for corruption, most U.S. senators haven’t signed on to the earmark restrictions. Oregon’s senators have requested tens of millions of dollars worth of earmarks for for-profit companies, including at least three in Central Oregon. One local company that would be affected by an earmark ban is WaveTech Engines, a one-man Redmond firm that’s trying to develop a new, highly efficient engine. The company has a design that’s gotten good early reviews from technical advisers, but it hasn’t been able to get the funding to turn the design into a marketable product, said owner Brad Raether. “The problem the WaveTech engine has in today’s financial markets is it’s really hard to get funding to bring technology to fruition,” said Raether, 52. Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden, both Oregon Democrats, jointly submitted a $2.5 million earmark request for WaveTech, to be included in the Defense spending bill, which is in the process of being crafted in the Appropriations Committee. That committee’s members make the final call on what earmarks are funded. See Earmarks / A6
By Rob Waters Bloomberg News
On the Web A sortable database of earmark requests jointly submitted by U.S. Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden is available at www.bendbulletin. com/earmarks
Ryan Brennecke / The Bulletin
Brad Raether, president of WaveTech Engines, stands by a prototype engine his company has been developing. Raether hopes to modify the engine that currently operates on compressed air to run on 50 percent less fuel than most automobile engines. Oregon Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden have put in a $2.5 million earmark request for WaveTech.
The Bulletin An Independent Newspaper
Vol. 107, No. 121, 90 pages, 7 sections
TOP NEWS INSIDE
INDEX Abby
B2
Comics
B4-5
Editorial Horoscope
Business
C3-5
Community
B1-6
Classified
F1-6
Crossword
B5, F2
Local
C6
Movies
B5
Obituaries
C1-8
The most extensive analysis of one person’s DNA, for a Stanford University gene-mapping innovator, found what drugs might help him best and revealed his risk of diabetes and a rare heart condition that can cause sudden death. The risk analysis was made by assessing the gene variants of the 40-year-old professor, Stephen Quake, along with his family history and previous findings on links between certain gene mutations and disease. The research, published in the journal Lancet, also showed he may not respond well to Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.’s blood thinner Plavix. Quake’s entire genome was sequenced last year at a cost of less than $50,000 using a machine from a company he founded, Helicos Biosciences Corp., and technology he developed. The cost is expected to drop in the coming decade to $1,000, enabling more people to know their health risks and which drugs to take and avoid, said the study’s lead author, Euan Ashley. “This is the first time that an individual’s whole genome has been carefully analyzed for its medical implications,” said Hank Greely, a Stanford law professor and a co-author of the study. “This marks the beginning of the transition of whole-genome sequencing as a research tool to its use as a medical tool.” Quake decided to do the analysis after discovering a worrisome health problem in his family without knowing how it might affect him. Two years ago, the son of his cousin died of a sudden heart attack at the age of 19. “That was very distressing” for the family, especially the dead teenager’s parents, Quake said in a telephone interview Thursday. “They wanted to know if there are other things they should do for their kids. It led to a lot of family discussion.” See Genome / A6
Sports
B3
Stocks
C7
TV listings
B2
Weather
C8
D1-6
C4-5
ARIZONA: Groups call for boycotts as backlash builds against the state’s new immigration law, Page A2