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Bend High program features a global curriculum
Bend teen Connor Doran’s talent for kite flying led to a brush with fame — and a chance to touch the lives of others
Learning to fly
Students working toward International Baccalaureate diploma
Oregon lawmakers consider steering deposits away from national institutions
By Sheila G. Miller The Bulletin
The International Baccalaureate program is under way at Bend High, and already more than two of every five juniors and seniors are taking at least one of the highly rigorous classes. The high school is the first in Bend to offer the program, which is recognized worldwide as a special global curriculum that challenges students to analyze information. “That’s the beauty of it, it’s really spreading around,” said Pandie Anderson, the IB program coordinator. “It’s been the effort of everyone.” The school was approved to offer its students IB certificates and diplomas, distinctions recognized at colleges and universities around the world, after undergoing a two-year application process. Now, any student can take IB classes, which include both required and elective courses. Students interested in earning an IB diploma must study at least six IB subjects and complete a variety of additional requirements, including a long-form essay and community service. In 2007, the district estimated it would cost more than $200,000 over the two years to get the program up and running, and the International Baccalaureate Organization charges about $9,600 each year to keep the school’s IB endorsement. Right now, 31 juniors are enrolled to earn the full IB diploma. See IB / A6
TOP NEWS INSIDE U.N.: Obama urges Arab nations to support Mideast peace talks, Page A3
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C8
By David Holley The Bulletin
Rob Kerr / The Bulletin
Mountain View High School senior Connor Doran, 17, flies an indoor kite on Wednesday evening in the school gymnasium. Connor, who has been flying kites competitively for a few years, was a contestant on the television show “America’s Got Talent” this year, making it all the way to the semifinal round in August before being voted off.
By Erin Golden • The Bulletin
E
xcept for the squeak of shoes on the wood floor, it was quiet as Connor Doran’s kite soared just below the rafters and under bas-
ketball hoops in the gym at his high school. Unlike a few weeks ago, when the 17-year-old from Bend had a big brush with fame as a semifinalist on the television show “America’s Got Talent,” there were no glowing spotlights or celebrity judges. Instead of a packed studio audience and 11 million viewers at home, there was only his mother, Amy Doran, standing near the wall, marveling at her son’s skills — and the impact he seems to have had on people
— Connor Doran, on practicing indoor kite flying for the TV show “America’s Got Talent”
ESCAPED COBRAS MENACE CHINESE VILLAGE
Businessman sees profits slither away Entrepreneur’s idea comes back to bite him when dozens of the snakes he was raising get loose By Tom Lasseter McClatchy-Tribune News Service
An Independent Newspaper
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With complaints nationally from small businesses about a lack of lending by banks, Oregon lawmakers may try to direct more deposits by state and local governments into local Oregon banks and credit unions, out of the hands of national banks. Because financial institutions use deposits to make loans, the idea is to incentivize or require governments to deposit more local tax money in Oregon financial institutions, sparking loans to Oregon small businesses. It is one of a few possibilities related to smallbusiness growth that Oregon Speaker of the House Dave Hunt, D-Clackamas, is considering for the 2011 legislative session. Hunt said Thursday part of the goal is to create smaller loans — $50,000 to $200,000 — for more businesses. “Too much of Oregon’s deposits today are with national banks,” he said. “Our focus is not so much on the means, it’s more so on how can we get more credit and capital to small businesses.” Hunt’s other ideas include streamlining and encouraging more direct government-to-business lending, and lowering the amount of collateral banks must put up when they accept taxpayer deposits. The details of possible 2011 legislation are still in development, but Hunt said he’s meeting with banks, credit unions and businesses to get ideas. See Banks / A4
The Associated Press file photo
The Bulletin
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across the world. “I still sort of don’t believe it,” she said, shaking her head. Connor’s rise to TV talent show star and YouTube video sensation — search for his name, and you’ll turn up videos that have been viewed hundreds of thousands of times — began in earnest last year. But before he filled out an online application, auditioned in Portland and wowed the judges all the way
to the show’s last rounds, Connor learned how to fly. About five years ago, Amy began competing in kite flying, both outdoors and indoors. When she traveled to kite festivals around the region, Connor often came along. When one competition offered an open event for anyone who wanted to try indoor kite flying, he decided to give it a try. It didn’t take long for him to get hooked on the sport, which requires a specific combination of focus, creativity and athleticism to power lightweight kites without wind. For about a year, Connor competed with a basic indoor kite. “Then I realized, ‘All right, it’s been a year, it’s time to up my game,’” he said. Amy had been flying a specialized kite that’s controlled by four lines. See Connor / A4
“It was hard to do. But I had to tell myself: ‘It’s all going to pay off.’”
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Vol. 107, No. 267, 76 pages, 7 sections
A boost for local banks, credit unions?
The Associated Press file photo
Various species of cobras can be found in Asia, Africa and South America, among other places. Recently, several hundred of them were found in the Chinese village of Xianling — much to the dismay of local residents.
XIANLING VILLAGE, China — Local businessman Cai Yong thought it would be a good idea to buy 3,000 cobra eggs and then hatch the snakes at an abandoned school building in homemade cages of plywood, brick and netting. It wasn’t. Cai’s plan to make money by selling cobra venom for traditional Chinese medicine fell apart when more than 160 of the serpents slithered through a hole
in the wall and threw the remote village of Xianling into bedlam. Starting at the beginning of this month, cobras were spotted in outhouse toilets, kitchens, front yards and the mah-jongg parlor in this speck of a farming community in southwest China. “I saw one in the bathroom,” said Zhang Suli, the 47-year-old wife of a local corn and rice farmer. “I was scared, and I started screaming.” See Cobras / A6
Opiate painkillers and other prescription drugs are being targeted by thieves, and authorities want the public’s help.
Fight against crime moves into medicine cabinet By Abby Goodnough New York Times News Service
BOSTON — Police departments have collected thousands of handguns through buyback programs. Now they want the contents of your medicine cabinet. Opiate painkillers and other prescription drugs, officials say, are driving addiction and crime like never before. The crimes, and the severity of the U.S. drug abuse problem, have so vexed the authorities that they are calling on citizens to surrender old bottles of potent pills like Vicodin, Percocet and Xanax. See Drugs / A6