Bulletin Daily Paper 06/11/10

Page 1

Saddle up —

A record for Eaton

The Sisters Rodeo kicks off tonight

And the decathlon isn’t even over yet • SPORTS, D1

WEATHER TODAY

FRIDAY

Mostly cloudy early, mostly sunny late High 66, Low 35 Page C6

• June 11, 2010 50¢

Serving Central Oregon since 1903 www.bendbulletin.com

Local schools take stock after Portland incident

SPUD SPAT

Oregon politicians dig in to include taters in aid program By Keith Chu

7-year-old remains missing; area officials say it’s a reminder of security’s importance

Rob Kerr / The Bulletin

The Bulletin

WASHINGTON — In Washington, D.C., even potatoes are political. Potato growers, with help from Oregon’s U.S. Congressional delegation, are pushing for the U.S. Department of Agriculture to let low-income pregnant women and new mothers buy spuds with federal assistance vouchers. Currently, the humble white potato is the only vegetable excluded from the Women, Infants and Children program, which provides vouchers for women to buy a handful of nutritious items. Yams are OK. Sweet potatoes, yes. All other potatoes are considered white potatoes and excluded. See Potatoes / A5

Final bell Redmond’s Evergreen Elementary, a school since 1921, shuts its doors • C1

By Sheila G. Miller The Bulletin

Over the past week, police have combed the area surrounding Portland’s Skyline Elementary searching for any sign of missing 7-year-old Kyron Horman, who disappeared from his school on June 4. Kyron was last seen around 9 a.m. at the school. He’d been there beginning at about 8 a.m.,

looking at science fair projects with his stepmother. Since then, as authorities have mounted a massive search effort for the child, Portland Public Schools has reevaluated its safety policies. And districts around Central Oregon are also looking at Kyron’s disappearance as an unfortunate reminder of the importance of adhering to security policies. District officials here say they

If you build it, they will water-ski

Inside • Search of area around Skyline Elementary continues, Page C3 • Local volunteers to lend a hand, Page A4 have plenty of safeguards in place to prevent a similar problem from happening on their campuses. In Bend-La Pine Schools, spokeswoman Julianne Repman said, safety precautions are numerous. See Security / A4

Tests cause some Bend educators to question technology By Sheila G. Miller The Bulletin

Rob Kerr / The Bulletin

Russ Brewer slices the surface of Windy Lake, a 12-acre body of water on private land between Redmond and Prineville. The lake, which opened last summer on what was once a feedlot, is the first of its kind in Central Oregon and home to the River Run Ski Club. Club members say the calm water, lack of other boats and design of the lake make for “perfect water conditions.” See story in Sports, Page D1.

England’s Wayne Rooney has garnered notice for his language in a warm-up match.

For refs in South Africa, a world of obscenities

The Associated Press

By Nancy Armour The Associated Press

Inside

RUSTENBURG, South Africa — Watch those mouths, boys. Same for fingers, elbows, fists and anything else that could be construed as, uh,

• Progress puts pressure on U.S., Page D1

TOP NEWS INSIDE ARLINGTON: Scores of errors reported at national cemetery, Page A3

INDEX Abby

E2

Business

B1-6

Calendar

E3

Obituaries

Editorial

C4

Sports

D1-6

E1-6

Stocks

B4-5

C1-6

TV listings

E2

Weather

C6

Family

Classified

F1-8

Local

Comics

E4-5

Movies

GO! 31

MON-SAT

We use recycled newsprint

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C5

The Bulletin An Independent Newspaper

Vol. 107, No. 162, 70 pages, 7 sections

The crash course in cursing is thanks in part to hot-tempered English star Wayne Rooney, who ran his potty mouth during a warm-up match this week. See World Cup / A5

Lawyers are making their cases as claims loom over Gulf oil spill By John Schwartz

Crossword E5, F2

universal gestures. The Brazilian referee and his assistants for Saturday’s England-United States game at the World Cup are brushing up on the lexicon of Englishlanguage obscenities.

New York Times News Service

“Oil spill damages? You May Be Entitled to Compensation,” reads a billboard in LaFourche Parish, La. It is just one of the tactics lawyers are using to sign up clients to sue BP, along with running advertisements on Gulf Coast television stations, buying Internet addresses like Gulf OilSpillLawFirm.com and holding informational seminars — with free food and drinks — for those who feel the oil company owes them something.

Lawyers across the nation have filed nearly 200 lawsuits related to the April 20 oil disaster, including death and injury claims for those aboard the rig, claims of damage and economic loss for people whose livelihoods are threatened by the slick, and shareholder suits over BP’s plunging stock. Cases have even been filed on behalf of the oil-coated fish and birds. Lawyers also plan to file a civil racketeering action alleging a corporate conspiracy with the Bush administration. At a seminar on Tuesday at the

Inside • Estimate of leaking oil is doubled, Page A3 Emerald Grande hotel in Destin, Fla., 150 residents and business owners heard a presentation by two lawyers, Robert McKee, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Stuart Smith, of New Orleans, about dealing with the BP claims process. See Oil / A4

Bend-La Pine principals and district officials have puzzled over recent preliminary writing test scores showing students who took the online version of a state writing test scoring lower than students who completed a paper version. Some administrators have suggested various culprits, from a lack of spell-check on the test’s word-processing program to students writing fewer drafts before turning in the test. But the preliminary test scores raise an issue about teaching writing, spelling and grammar in an age when students spend so much time on a computer. Bend-La Pine Schools Chief Academic Officer Lora Nordquist, who oversees curriculum for the district, said elementary school students still learn spelling and basic grammar in a traditional manner. “Students in the formative years, we are really focusing on them learning the skills,” Nordquist said. “Spelling is absolutely part of their instruction, as is usage and mechanics. ... Most of them are not diagramming sentences, but definitely the focus in elementary school is on teaching fundamental skills.” Part of the reason students study those subjects traditionally, Nordquist said, is limited access to laptops or computers on a regular basis. “That’s really primarily at middle school where that begins happening,” she said. “And a little of that at middle school is dependent on what the availability of computers is, so it differs a little from middle school to middle school.” When students use computers for writing, Nordquist said they’re trained to use tools like spell-check and grammar-check. “I think we would be remiss as teachers if we didn’t do that,” she said. “We’re not teaching writing for the Oregon state assessment. We’re teaching it because it’s important to do. In the adult world, all of us make use of these technology tools.” Oregon is offering the state writing exam to high schools in both online and paper-based formats; some middle schools tested the new online format this year. See Tests / A5


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