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Bobby Mote 2nd in bareback
There’s a lot at stake – for both teams – in today’s game • SPORTS, D1
WEATHER TODAY
SATURDAY
Patchy freezing fog early, a few snow flurries High 34, Low 24 Page C8
• December 4, 2010 50¢
Serving Central Oregon since 1903 www.bendbulletin.com
Pitch-perfect pedigree
John Beland, Chris’ newfound father
Local singer-songwriter Chris Beland
Read their story on Page B1
Woman, 23, of Bend, faces charges in car crash that killed 2
PREPPING FOR BEND’S CHRISTMAS PARADE
By Betsy Cliff The Bulletin
Frustrated by some of the decisions of hospital management, about 600 employees at St. Charles Bend are seeking to join a union. The group filed a petition at the end of November with the National Labor Relations Board and will likely vote next month on whether to become part of a chapter of the Service Employees International Union that represents about 7,000 hospital employees in Oregon and southwest Washington. “We decided we needed to organize because we were losing a lot of our voice in company decisions,” said Joanne Kennedy, a pharmacy technician at the hospital. “We have departments that are short-staffed, and we were concerned about staffing issues.” Hospital management is against the move, and the effort has caused tension between staff and management. “We respect the right of all (employees) to decide whether they want to be represented by a union,” said Katy Vitcovich, senior vice president of human resource for St. Charles Health System, parent company of the hospital. “But management does not feel we need a third party to speak with us about (employees).” “If there are issues with morale or work conditions, we should hear about them,” directly, Vitcovich said, rather than through a union. Kennedy said efforts to organize began last summer because employees were worried about losing their jobs after the hospital laid off its housekeepers and contracted for the service instead. See St. Charles / A7
By Erin Golden The Bulletin
Dean Guernsey / The Bulletin
The full length of the parade route will be closed to traffic starting at around 11 a.m. Streets will be reopened as the parade passes, and all streets should be open to traffic by around 2 p.m. The parade should cross the Newport Avenue bridge at noon. t.
St .
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Galvesto n Ave.
Or eg on Av Mi e. nn es ota Fra Av nk lin e. Lo uis Av e. ian aA ve . Br oo ks
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ture of Norwegian folklore, as they prepare
Bend Christmas Parade through downtown. The parade begins at noon, and the theme is
Br oa dw ay W all St . St . Bo nd St .
r Ha
W all S
Ne wp ort Av e.
Start/ Finish
Lina Menegus, 4, who holds a Nisse, a crea-
a float sponsored by the Sons of Norway for today’s
Newport Ave.
BEND
E
dna Powell holds Jackson Powell, 2, and
Bend Christmas Parade route
m a De sch rmo on Av ute n P e. sR a ive rk Riv D r e
The 23-year-old Bend woman who was behind the wheel in a crash that killed two young people in August is now facing charges of manslaughter, assault and drunken driving. Prosecutors say Stacia Roberts had at least three controlled substances in her blood when she swerved off U.S. Highway 20 near Black Butte, crossed the oncoming lane of traffic and smashed into a large tree. At about 7:30 a.m. on Aug. 17, Roberts was driving east on Highway 20 with three friends in the car: 19-year-old Joshua Herrin, of Bend; 18-year-old Nina Blackmore, of Sisters; and 20year-old Casey Hoyle, of Bend. According to a search warrant affidavit filed by a Deschutes County Sheriff’s deputy, Roberts said later that the four young people had spent the hours before the crash at Cougar Hot Springs, where they drank beer and smoked marijuana. When it was time to head home, the four decided that Roberts was in the best shape to drive. But as she headed east on Highway 20 in a Ford Escort, Roberts reportedly had trouble handling the car. According to the affidavit, a witness who had been in a car behind Roberts for several miles told investigators that the Escort was moving at erratic speeds and was weaving within the lane. See Crash / A7
“Christmas Carols on Parade.” See map at left for areas closed to traffic.
Inside • Christmas kayakers on Mirror Pond, Page C1
Andy Zeigert / The Bulletin
TOP NEWS INSIDE ECONOMY: Blow to recovery hopes as jobless rate rises, Page C3
INDEX Abby
B2
Business
Local
Silicon Valley shows signs of a new dot-com deal frenzy By Jenna Wortham and Evelyn M. Rusli
C1-8
C3-5
Movies
B3
Classified
F1-6
Obituaries
C7
Comics
B4-5
Sudoku
B5
Community B1-6
Sports
D1-6
Crossword B5, F2
Stocks
C4-5
Editorial
C6
TV listings
B2
Horoscope
B5
Weather
C8
St. Charles, workers at odds in union bid
New York Times News Service
In a memorable scene in the movie “The Social Network,” Sean Parker, the investor played by Justin Timberlake, leans over the table and tells the founders of Facebook in a conspiratorial tone: “A million dollars isn’t cool. You know what’s cool? A billion dollars.” These days in Silicon Valley, a bil-
lion dollars seems downright quaint. The enthusiasm for social networking and mobile apps has venture capitalists clamoring to give money to young companies. The exuberance has given rise to an elite club of start-ups — all younger than seven years and all worth billions. Successive investments in Twitter have reportedly cranked its value 33 percent, to $4 billion, while Zyn-
ga, creator of the popular Facebook game FarmVille, is worth more than $5 billion. Google was willing to pay $6 billon for Groupon, an online coupon company that was valued at $1.35 billion only eight months ago. And Groupon was willing to reject it Friday evening, presumably because it could sell for even more money later. See Startups / A6
Teacher ratings get new look, pushed by a very rich watcher By Sam Dillon New York Times News Service
PRINCETON, N.J. — In most American schools, teachers are evaluated by principals or other administrators who drop in for occasional classroom visits and fill out forms to rate their performance. The result? Nine out of 10 teachers get top marks, according to a prominent study last year by the New Teacher Project, a nonprofit group focusing on improving teacher quality. Now Bill Gates, who in recent years has turned his attention and considerable fortune to improving American education, is investing $335 million through his foundation to overhaul the personnel departments of several big school systems. A big chunk of that money is financing research by dozens of social scientists and thousands of teachers to develop a better system for evaluating classroom instruction. See Teachers / A6
Travis Dove / New York Times News Service
A digital video recording device is set up in a classroom in November as part of a teacherevaluation program at a school in Charlotte, N.C.
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Vol. 107, No. 338, 66 pages, 6 sections
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Produce good, processed bad: Weight Watchers upends points system By Elissa Gootman New York Times News Service
NEW YORK — Their world had been rocked, and the questions came fast and furious: A 31-year-old teacher who had barely touched a banana in six years
wanted to know if she could really consume them with impunity. A small-business owner wondered whether she was being nudged to part with that second (or third) glass of wine. And a woman with silky brown hair, on her way out the door
after a Weight Watchers meeting in the basement of an office building, had a particularly urgent need. “I just have one question,” the woman said. “How much is a potato latke? I need to know for tonight.”
They and others had been searching for answers and grappling with their implications since Sunday, when Weight Watchers began unveiling its first major overhaul to its cultlike points system. See Watchers / A7