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• July 17, 2010 50¢
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Rabid bat prompts public health warning Lithia Motors By Lauren Dake The Bulletin
After a bat tested positive for rabies in Madras, health officials are reminding people to vaccinate their pets and stay away from the winged creatures. “Our standard message is: Bats are wonderful,” said Paul Cieslak, manager of the communicable disease section of the Oregon
Public Health Division. “They kill insects. They are an important part of the ecosystem. Don’t touch them.” The rabid bat could have come into contact with several house cats. It did not come into contact with any humans. The house cats are being quarantined and re-immunized against rabies. “Bats are really the only reser-
voir of rabies in Oregon,” Cieslak said. “Reservoirs is where the virus naturally lives. ... If you come into any contact with a bat you should go to the doctor.” A bat that flies during the day, flops on the ground or seems disoriented is likely infected. People should not touch any bat, dead or alive. See Bats / A6
may set up shop in Bend
“If you come into any contact with a bat you should go to the doctor.” — Paul Cieslak, Oregon Public Health Division
Documents show Medford-based firm has plans for Bob Thomas site
A reason to smile
By David Holley The Bulletin
It appears one of the largest auto dealership chains in the nation, Medford-based Lithia Motors Inc., has plans to open in the Bend location that currently houses Bob Thomas Car Co., state and city documents show. Lithia has completed the necessary steps to be able to sell new Honda, Chevrolet and Cadillac automobiles at 345 N.E. Third St. In June, the Oregon Department of Motor Vehicles granted Lithia two dealer licenses to operate two businesses at the Bob Thomas location: Bend Honda and Chevrolet Cadillac of Bend. Lithia currently has 83 stores in 12 states and is publicly traded. Bob Thomas declined to comment on whether he is selling
Local program lets patients pay for braces through volunteer work By Sheila G. Miller The Bulletin
Chloe Richer needed braces. But orthodontia doesn’t come cheap. Then the 14-year-old and her family found out about Smile! Central Oregon, an orthodontic clinic that allows patients to pay up to half the cost of treatment through volunteer work. Now Chloe has braces and a busy volunteering schedule at High “(The program) Desert Museum, where gives them she participates in the teen summer program, responsibility, job working eight hours skills, networking. a week. She helps out in the exhibits, greets There are so guests and works with many things that children; she’ll continue volunteering a few are good about hours a month through- this.” out the school year until — Dr. Lisa Panchura, her braces come off. Dr. Julie Panchura founder, Smile! Central started Smile! Central Oregon Oregon in September 2008 after debating what to do as she neared retirement. “I was thinking about what I wanted to do, the contribution I wanted to make in the world,” she said. Would she fill her free time volunteering at the soup kitchen or helping out at a clinic here and there? Then Panchura realized that, with her skill set as an orthodontist, she could strengthen the community in another way. Now, for every day that she works on patients’ smiles, dozens of patients are out in the community volunteering and making Central Oregon a better place. “There is this whole access-to-care issue, specifically in dentistry and orthodontics,” she said. “Everyone wants straight teeth, but it’s really a luxury. It’s not a medically necessary procedure.” See Smile! / A6
his dealership to Lithia. If he is selling, it could be the end to the company Thomas’ grandfather, Walter Coombs, started 94 years ago in 1916. The Bob Thomas Car Co. also sells used cars and averages about 70 employees, according to a letter from August 2009 written by the company’s general manager, Bruce Klouda. Thomas sells only Honda vehicles currently, having sold all of his Chevrolet and Cadillac — brands owned by General Motors — inventory in 2009. Thomas’ company was one of hundreds of dealers informed in 2009 that General Motors planned to sever his franchise agreement as part of GM’s financial restructuring. See Lithia / A7
Court ruling raises bar for corruption, fraud prosecutions By Spencer S. Hsu The Washington Post
WASHINGTON — A Supreme Court ruling last month that gutted an anti-corruption tool favored by federal prosecutors is jeopardizing high-profile investigations into politicians and business executives, including several related to convicted ex-lobbyist Jack Abramoff, according to legal experts and new court filings. Since the June 24 decision, U.S. District Judge Ellen Huvelle in Washington has delayed sentencing for one close Abramoff associate, Michael Scanlon, and ordered the government to explain why the court should not dismiss several charges against another, Kevin Ring. Legal experts anticipate a flood of similar litigation by defense lawyers based on the Supreme Court ruling. The court ruled unanimously that a 1988
Rob Kerr / The Bulletin
SMILE! Central Oregon orthodontics patient Chloe Richer, 14, speaks with High Desert Museum visitors Friday afternoon. Richer volunteers at the museum to help pay for her braces.
federal statute that makes it a crime to “deprive another of the intangible right of honest services” is unconstitutionally vague. The justices limited the law’s application to bribes and kickbacks, which several former prosecutors say will make corruption convictions against members of Congress more difficult. “I am worried about whether there is sufficient evidence to sustain an indictment with the new definition of bribery/materiality,” Huvelle told lawyers at a July 6 hearing in advance of Ring’s trial, scheduled for next month. She asked both sides to file briefs assessing the recent decision. In their June decision, the justices directed lower courts to reconsider the honest-services fraud convictions of former Enron executive Jeffrey Skilling, another business leader and a former state lawmaker. See Corruption / A6
If medium is message, what do human bones say? Artist’s odd choice raises practical, legal, ethical questions regarding sale, use of skeletal remains By Monica Hesse The Washington Post
“That’s the first question that everyone asks,” says Benjamin Kelley. “Where I get the bones.” Kelley, 26, is talking about his conceptual art, which is made with bones. Human bones. Femurs, mostly. The bones are pulverized, the powder is mixed with resin, and the mixture is poured into molds of Cadillac hood or-
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naments, where it dries into a golden color. The resulting art, he says, represents the dehumanization of modern society and the way car culture impacts people’s lives in Michigan, where Kelley is from. Conner Contemporary Art gallery in Washington is currently showing two of his pieces. “The overall focus of my work is industry, and the automotive industry in particular,” says Kel-
ley. “Growing up in Mich —” But where do you get the bones?! Kelley sighs: He gets them online, of course, where everybody gets everything. The niche bone industry, in all its Gothic magnificence, does a small but steady trade. In the market for a coccyx, perhaps, or a tibia/fibula matching set? You might stop by — or visit the Web sites of — Skulls Unlimited International (based out of Oklahoma City), Maxilla & Mandible or Evolution (New York City), or
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the Bone Room (Berkeley, Calif.), whose site offers everything from assembled skeletons to pathological skulls displaying the effects of disease. One helpful prompt: “Need just a vertebra?” A complete arm at the Bone Room will set you back around $650; individual carpals can be purchased for $10 a pop. Just now on eBay: a pearly cranium, sold with its own carrying case, current bid $779. The item description notes that the skull is “used.” And how. See Bones / A7
INDEX Abby
B2
Comics
B4-5
Editorial
C6
Movies
B3
Stocks
B5
Obituaries
C7
TV listings
B2
Weather
C8
C3-5
Community B1-6
Horoscope
Classified F1-14
Crossword B5, F2
Local
Business
C1-8
Sports
D1-6
C4-5
Artist Benjamin Kelley holds one of his creations, a mixture of pulverized human bone and resin shaped in the form of a Cadillac hood ornament. Tracy A. Woodward The Washington Post
TOP NEWS INSIDE FRAUD: Department of Justice arrests 94 in connection with health care fraud, Page A2