Bulletin Daily Paper 05/02/10

Page 1

Oregon’s unique hotels Skip the chains and go for lodging with character • TRAVEL, C1

MORE THAN

330

$

IN COUPONS INSIDE

WEATHER TODAY

SUNDAY

Partly cloudy High 60, Low 38 Page B8

• May 2, 2010 $1.50

Serving Central Oregon since 1903 www.bendbulletin.com

Coming Monday

Buying up Bend

Central Oregon’s quarterly health and fitness magazine

Investors are quietly purchasing hundreds of lots in unfinished subdivisions; a California congressman with a heavily scrutinized business record has emerged as a leader in the practice — and he, like others, has his eyes on the return, not development.

SPRING / SUMMER 2010

D E S E R T

PULSE Healthy Living in Central Oregon

Stage zero breast cancer

Is the treatment worse than the disease?

The Bulletin

P

almer’s Motel & Cafe in northeast Bend serves up home-style breakfasts, advertises monthly rental rates — and doubles as a California congressman’s base of operations for buying up several of Bend’s partially built subdivisions. Since last summer, the motel has been listed as the business address for Long Term Bend Investors LLC, a company backed by U.S. Rep. Gary Miller, R-Calif., and prominent California homebuilder Harry Crowell. Miller and Crowell have emerged as some of the largest real estate investors in Deschutes County. Their company has quietly spent more than $6 million to buy about 390 lots in Bend and Redmond subdivisions that foundered after the housing market crash. The land came with sidewalks, utilities and even mailboxes for homes that were never built. The two men are part of a small group of investors who are betting big that Bend’s plummeting

By Sheila G. Miller The Bulletin

It all started with a cupcake. Clara Mitchell’s son, recently on a gluten-free diet, came home from school and told his mother there had been a party in class that morning. He’d received a cupcake, and when he told his teacher he was on a new diet, she suggested he just eat the frosting. Mitchell was frustrated, so she sent out an e-mail to some friends. Turns out, she’s not the only parent with students in the Bend-La Pine school district concerned about snacks and sweet treats offered to children when they’re not in the lunchroom. Mitchell banded together with other parents and started the Smart Food Initiative, which two weeks ago presented its concerns to the school board and other district administrators. Their goal is to educate district officials about the dangers of junk food and ultimately persuade teachers and principals to cut back on the treats. But administrators say the district already has a wellness policy that encourages healthy eating, and compliance varies depending on the school. See Schools / A7

27th St. Butler Market Rd.

Bend Parkway

Deschutes Market Rd.

d. ey R

Butler Market Rd.

Voltera Pl.

3

6 Seller: Sheldon Development Inc. Price: $1.2 million Date: Feb. 26, 2010

Bear Creek Rd.

3 Seller: Liberty Bank Price: $450,000 Date: Aug. 13, 2009

7 ay 9 ghw

4

Pinebrook Blvd.

Brookswood Blvd.

Perspective F1-6

Crossword C7, E2

Sports

D1-8

Editorial

Stocks

G4-5

TV listings

C2

Weather

B8

6 7 Buck Canyon Rd.

MILES

97

0

Knott Rd.

Woods Valley Place

97

U|xaIICGHy02330rzu

Antler Ave.

ber

Me

Garrison Dr. ado

wD

r.

27th St.

28th St.

Cedar Ave. 29th St.

Vol. 107, No. 122, 52 pages, 7 sections

Am

126 126

30th St.

An Independent Newspaper

Seller: Bank of the Cascades Price: $2 million Date: March 15, 2010

Dogwood Ave. 31st St.

The Bulletin

REDMOND

Brookswood Blvd.

Spencer Crossing Lane

Elm Ave.

We use recycled newsprint

U. S 7 Seller: Sterling Savings Bank Price: $768,000 Date: March 18, 2010

U.S. Highway 20

1

1/2

Rd.

Mason Rd.

Grand Targhee Dr.

r e ll

27th St.

Rd.

5

Romaine Village Dr.

Par

B3

Mason Rd.

op

Oregon

15th St.

E1-8

tu

Parrell

Classified

Sedalia Lane

r. ry D

Lo

Reed Market Rd.

McClatchy-Tribune News Service

. Hi

Was hing ton D

Greg Cross / The Bulletin

97

A university forever linked with tragedy By Carol Biliczky

Geary Dr.

ger

14th St.

20

Sorrento Pl.

Sa

Third St.

Pilot Butte State Park

BUS 97

Cen

Blakely Rd.

Neff Rd.

Providence Dr.

B6

SUNDAY

5 Seller: Badger Partners LLC Price: $728,000 Date: Aug. 13, 2009

Badger Rd.

Eagle Rd.

Obituaries

C6

2 Seller: Edge Vertical Development Corp. Price: $10 and “other consideration” Date: Sept. 23, 2009

2

The Associated Press file photo

John Filo’s Pulitzer-winning photo of Mary Ann Vecchio on the Kent State campus on May 4, 1970, the day National Guardsmen shot dead four students. Within days, 4.3 million students were protesting nationwide.

U.S. Highway 97

e.

Reed Market Rd.

Dalton St.

C3

G1-6

Milestones

. R il

Deschutes Market Rd. Empire Av

27th St.

1

Capella Place Daly Estates Dr.

Rd. Riley

97

Aurora Ave.

Business

B1-8

Pettigrew Rd.

Roper Lane

O. B.

BEND

INDEX

Local

Caleb Place

Cooley Rd.

20

r.

F2-3

4 Seller: Northstar Developers Inc. Price: $10 and “other consideration” Date: Sept. 16, 2009

Glen Vista Rd.

For an interactive map, including photos of the lots, visit www.bend bulletin.com /buyingbend

Movies

News that federal authorities are questioning the identity of a former Bend liquor agent has local business owners and public officials wondering about the security and screening practices of the Oregon Liquor Control Commission. U.S. marshals on Tuesday arrested the former OLCC regional manager known as Jason Evers in Idaho on a federal charge of providing false information on a passport. Authorities say they can’t be sure who he actually is and an Ohio man believes — based on information from federal investigators — that Evers stole the identity of his 3-year-old son, who was murdered 28 years ago. That information, and the fact that Evers’ most recent assignment in Nyssa was to focus on licensing, has some licensees questioning whether personal and financial information they’ve given to the OLCC is secure. See Evers / A6

KENT STATE — 40 YEARS LATER

1 Seller: Liberty Bank Price: $1.1 million Date: Oct. 19, 2009

Long Term Bend Investors has spent millions of dollars since last summer to buy up bare lots in partially completed subdivisions. Public records show the following purchases:

Mt.

Community C1-8

Palmer’s Motel & Cafe in Bend is listed as the business address for Long Term Bend Investors. Crowell says the motel’s owner, David Langmas, son of a former Bend mayor, had been trying to get him to invest in Bend real estate for years.

Brittle Brush St.

The subdivision lots involved

ANALYSIS: Contrasting a disastrous oil spill vs. a need to drill, Page A2 ALSO: Oil may drift east

C2

The Bulletin

Hillary Borrud / The Bulletin

TOP NEWS INSIDE

Abby

By Cindy Powers

Their home base

real estate values have bottomed out and are buying subdivisions from banks and distressed developers. Investors have snapped up 600 to 900 lots in ready-to-build subdivisions in the past six to nine months, said Bruce Kemp, a partner at Compass Commercial Real Estate in Bend. Long Term Bend Investors is probably the largest real estate investment outfit active in Bend and Redmond, he said. “(Lots are) being purchased … at or below the cost of infrastructure, so your underlying land value is really free or in some cases slightly negative,” Kemp said. The influx of cash shows investors believe real estate prices have hit the bottom, he added. Most of these buyers plan to hold the land three to five years to get a 20 percent return on their money, and some are hoping for “a double-your-money play,” Kemp said. Both Miller and Crowell have worked for decades in the homebuilding business, but they do not intend to develop their land in Deschutes County. See Investors / A6

By Hillary Borrud

Bend-La Pine parents take aim at policy on junk food

Long Term Bend Investors LLC, backed by Gary Miller, left — a Republican congressman from California — and California homebuilder Harry Crowell, has emerged as one of the largest investors in Bend and Redmond real estate since the housing market crash.

O. B

The Dash You can do it

Big-time investors

Eagle Rd.

Fresh fuel Kick-start a balanced Healthy Day

Purcell Blvd.

H I G H

With OLCC official in jail, area licensees fear personal info’s at risk

KENT, Ohio — Seventeen students were killed on college campuses by police between 1968 and 1971, but it was four deaths at Kent State that galvanized a nation. Even 40 years after the shootings, Kent State University is indelibly linked to student protests over the Vietnam War. “Anywhere that you go in the world, people know about Kent State,” said President Lester Lefton, who was a graduate student at the University of Rochester when the shootings occurred, “although they may not necessarily know why.” Even from a distance of 40 years, the events of May 4 defy explanation. Four days of unrest over the U.S. invasion of Cambodia culminated in the deaths of four students and wounding of nine at the hands of 28 Ohio National Guardsmen armed with gas masks, rifles and bayonets. See Kent State / A4


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.
Bulletin Daily Paper 05/02/10 by Western Communications, Inc. - Issuu