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A WEEK AT THE FAIR Deschutes County Fair • Today through Sunday Check out Local this week for each day’s events • Getting there by shuttle? See Page C5 BEND-LA PINE
District sued over classroom dog bite
Thunder, lightning — and fires Home struck, another set ablaze; more strikes forecast regionwide
The Bulletin
TOP NEWS INSIDE WAR: Democrats divided as funding for Afghanistan passes House, Page A3
Jeff Wick / The Bulletin
Bend firefighters work to put out a lightning-caused house fire on Wecoma Court on Tuesday afternoon. A second lightning strike was reported on a house in southwest Bend shortly after the fire was reported on Wecoma.
By Erin Golden The Bulletin
Lightning strikes apparently hit two homes in Bend on Tuesday afternoon and sparked dozens of fires in Central Oregon and elsewhere along the Cascades. Bend firefighters were called to a lightning-caused house fire on Wecoma Court in southeast Bend around 4 p.m. As crews were working to get the fire under control, a second lightning strike was reported on a house on Amethyst Street, in the southwest part of the city. Off-duty firefighters were called in to help, and a crew from Sunriver was sent to man a fire station in Bend. Residents of the house on Wecoma Court saw a lightning strike behind their house and then saw smoke coming from the eaves of their home, according to a news release from the Bend Fire Department. Firefighters were able to put out a fire burning in the attic, but the home suffered
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New fires More than 40 new fires were reported in the region, but almost all of them were less than one-tenth of an acre in size, said Central Oregon Interagency Dispatch spokeswoman Lisa Clark. There were about 4,000 lightning strikes in an area stretching from Klamath County to southeast Washington. Clark said agencies handling the fires around the region have called in smoke jumpers, engines and hand crews, and so far have not had a problem finding enough resources. The largest fire, located about 13 miles north of Clarno on the John Day River, was about 4 acres in size.
The Bulletin
Bend City Councilor Jim Clinton’s dream to open a nonprofit applied research center to help foster high-tech business growth in the city may receive $200,000 in seed money from the federal government. Though Clinton revealed his job creation plan less than a year ago, U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., has inserted a $200,000 earmark for the councilor’s proposal in the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations bill in an attempt to help the city move forward with the idea. If realized, this center could provide training, business guidance and access to research facilities, such as laboratories, for small high-tech companies that are looking to expand or get off the ground. It would also be a link for these businesses to investors and universities that want to develop new products or services. See Research / A5
Erin Golden can be reached at 541-617-7837 or at egolden@bendbulletin.com.
On the Web, secrets stream, and leave little legal recourse By David G. Savage and Noam N. Levey McClatchy-Tribune News Service
WASHINGTON — The WikiLeaks disclosure of classified war reports from Afghanistan has brought home to the nation’s capital what Hollywood has seen of late with the raw tapes of Mel Gibson’s angry voice: The Internet has fundamentally transformed how secrets are disclosed. No longer can lawyers for the government or a big star rush to court or phone a top media executive in hopes of heading off a damaging disclosure in a newspaper or on television. Now, the raw secrets are posted online for the world to see or hear. And in the case of WikiLeaks, which operates mostly outside the United States, the government could not easily put the hands of the law on those who are posting the war reports. See Leaks / A4
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New culprit for a controversial chemical BPA’s been detected in 93% of Americans. A surprising source? Store receipts
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By Lyndsey Layton We use recycled newsprint The Bulletin An Independent Newspaper
Vol. 107, No. 209 42 pages, 6 sections
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About 30 fires were reported Monday, adding to about 14 sparked over the weekend. All of those fires were extinguished by Tuesday, Clark said. Joe Solomon, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Pendleton, said Central Oregon is expected to get more lightning strikes today. A red flag warning issued over the weekend will remain in effect through this evening. Solomon said the warning means the conditions are right for fires. “The fuels have to be dry, receptive to lightning strikes,” he said. “A lightning strike is very hot. If it hits a tree, it could set that tree on fire. If it hits a post, it could start that post on fire and then spread to the grass. Then all you need is a little bit of movement for that fire to grow.”
— Joe Solomon, with the National Weather Service in Pendleton
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extensive smoke and fire damage. The lightning strike on the house on Amethyst put a hole through the roof but did not start a fire. No one was injured in either incident.
“A lightning strike is very hot. If it hits a tree, it could set that tree on fire. ... Then all you need is a little bit of movement for that fire to grow.”
INDEX Abby
By Nick Grube
IN CONGRESS
By Sheila G. Miller The family of a child allegedly bitten by a teacher’s dog in her elementary-school classroom is suing Bend-La Pine Schools for more than $164,000. According to the lawsuit, filed July 6 in Deschutes County Circuit Court, Linda Taylor’s 7-yearold daughter attended Ensworth Elementary in 2009 as a secondgrader in Brooke Davis’ class. Davis, the lawsuit states, regularly brought her pet German shepherd to the classroom, although parents were not told of the dog’s visits. On Jan. 9, 2009, the lawsuit states, Davis, who did not return calls for comment, brought both the German shepherd and its puppy to the classroom; the 7-year-old tried to hug the dog goodbye at the end of the day and was attacked. “The German Shepherd attacked her, bit her face and tore a section of skin from her scalp, immediately above her left eye, which was left hanging from a flap,” the lawsuit reads. In an interview Tuesday, Taylor said she was working at MountainStar Family Relief Nursery, across the street from Ensworth Elementary, when the call came from Principal Michael Hyder. When Taylor got to the school, she said, her daughter had a bloody cloth held up to the cut. “I have four kids, so I know that head injuries bleed,” she said. “But when we got to the emergency room I could see her skull. It was quite frightening.” The bite resulted in 33 stitches, done by a plastic surgeon. See Lawsuit / A4
Earmark may help launch research center
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What is BPA? Bisphenol A is a chemical commonly used in the production of plastics for many food containers. Questions about its safety, though disputed, have caught the attention of the FDA and lawmakers. In the past, legislators have sought to make Oregon one of a few states that bans BPA.
The Washington Post
As lawmakers and health experts wrestle over whether a controversial chemical, bisphenolA, should be banned from food and beverage containers, a new analysis by an environmental group suggests Americans are being exposed to BPA through another, surprising route: paper receipts.
The Environmental Working Group found BPA on 40 percent of the receipts it collected from supermarkets, automated teller machines, gas stations and chain stores. In some cases, the total amount of BPA on the receipt was 1,000 times the amount found in the epoxy lining of a can of food, another controversial use of the chemical. Sonya Lunder, a senior ana-
lyst with the environmental group, says BPA’s prevalence on receipts could help explain why the chemical can be detected in the urine of an estimated 93 percent of Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “We’ve come across potentially major sources of BPA right here in our daily lives,” Lunder said. See BPA / A4
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