Trashy yet stylish outfits
Urban rustic Unique home decor
Environmental group organizes garbage fashion show • COMMUNITY LIFE, E1
AT HOME, F1
WEATHER TODAY
TUESDAY
Patchy freezing fog with late showers High 39, Low 32 Page C6
• December 7, 2010 50¢
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BIOMASS ENERGY
Labor driving appeal of plant
BUSH-ERA TAX CUTS
Skating under the stars Wyden
supports extension By Keith Chu The Bulletin
WASHINGTON — Compromise was the operative word in Washington, D.C., to start this week, as President Barack Obama announced a deal with Republicans to extend expiring tax cuts and U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden signaled a willingness to accept an extension for wealthy households, in exchange for a promise of wider tax reform in the future. Obama announced the tentative deal Monday evening to extend all of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts passed under President George W. Bush, which are due to expire at the end of this year. In an interview with The Bulletin earlier Monday, Wyden reiterated comments he made over the weekend that he would support a one-year extension of all of the Bush tax cuts, in exchange for a guarantee that comprehensive tax reform would occur next year. Wyden said simplifying the tax system by eliminating deductions and lowering tax rates was key to growth in the mid-1980s and is needed to jumpstart the sluggish U.S. economy. See Tax cuts / A4
By Scott Hammers The Bulletin
An appeal of a proposed La Pine biomass power plant is apparently being driven by organized labor representatives seeking a labor agreement on the construction of the estimated $75 million project. The plant, proposed by St. Helens-based Biogreen Sustainable Energy Co., would generate 24.9 megawatts of power by burning wood scrap that would otherwise be burned in slash piles on the company’s private forestland southeast of La Pine. The company is facing a fast-approaching deadline to gain local approval for the project — if Biogreen is unable to start work on the plant by the end of the year, it will be unable to qualify for a stimulus-related tax credit that company President Rob Broberg says is critical to its viability. The appeal, filed by John Williams of Portland on Oct. 19, asserts that the Deschutes County Community Development Department was in error when it approved Biogreen’s site plan. The appeal claims the decision failed to consider conflicting evidence about the amount of heavy truck traffic that will be created by fuel deliveries to the site and wrongly concluded that the plant would not have a significant negative visual and noise impact on nearby properties. See Biomass / A4
IN CONGRESS
Obama and GOP agree on tax cuts By David M. Herszenhorn and Jackie Calmes New York Times News Service
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama announced a tentative deal with congressional Republicans on Monday to extend the Bush-era tax cuts at all income levels for two years as part of a package that would also keep benefits flowing to the long-term unemployed, cut payroll taxes for all workers for a year and take other steps to bolster the economy. The deal appeared to resolve the first major standoff since the midterm elections between the Barack White House and newly empow- Obama ered Republicans on Capitol Hill. But it also highlighted the strains Obama faces in his own party as he navigates between a desire to get things done and a retreat from his own positions and the principles of many liberals. Congressional Democrats pointedly noted they had yet to agree to any deal, even as many Republicans signaled that they would go along. See Obama / A4
Clarification In a story headlined “St. Charles, workers at odds in union bid,” which appeared Saturday, Dec. 4 on Page A1, the number of housekeepers St. Charles Health System laid off earlier this year was unclear. The health system eliminated 16 positions in April, 12 of which were filled at the time. St. Charles currently employs 65 people in housekeeping positions in Bend.
Andy Tullis / The Bulletin
CATHOLIC ABUSE CASES
Accused priests proving hard to monitor in U.S. By Michelle Boorstein and William Wan The Washington Post
WASHINGTON — Ten years after the clergy sex abuse scandal exploded in the United States, lawsuits have been settled, reports issued, policies overhauled. But even as the crisis has shifted to Europe and the Vatican prepares to issue new guidelines on how to han-
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Want to learn ice skating and other winter sports?
As the sunlight fades, and holiday lights twinkle behind her, Gwen Newell, 39, of Bend, practices her skating on the rink at Seventh Mountain Resort during open skate Monday afternoon. Newell, who was alone for part of the session on the rink, said: “I think it’s great skating right now. It’s not snowing. It’s just perfect weather.” Hours of operation for public skate today are from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., and from 7 to 9 p.m. For more information about rink hours and lessons, call 877-219-3709.
dle sex abuse cases, something glaring is missing in this country: the accused priests. Although the vast majority were removed from ministry long ago — barred from celebrating Mass in public, administering sacraments, wearing their clerical collars — church officials say they have no way to monitor where the men are now. See Priests / A4
Humboldt’s marijuana growers team up to go legit By Peter Hecht McClatchy -Tribune News Service
EUREKA, Calif. — Joey Burger was 14 when his naturalist parents moved from Santa Cruz to settle in the coastal forest of Humboldt County. Local hippies and homesteaders welcomed the new kid in the woods. They schooled him in the regional art — growing marijuana. “It was never looked upon as a bad thing,” Burger said. Except before the fall harvests, when helicopters full of narcot-
The Bulletin An Independent Newspaper
Vol. 107, No. 341, 42 pages, 7 sections
Follow along in Community Sports on Tuesdays as Bulletin sports reporter Amanda Miles learns how to enjoy winter in Central Oregon. Her first installment in the series, ice skating, appears today on Page D1.
ics officers whipped through the sky. Neighbors rushed “to call their friends to make sure they were OK,” he said.
Adam Hineman grows his pot indoors and sells his “Big Bud Train Wreck” to fellow medical pot patients in California.
A new threat These days, it isn’t just helicopters that frighten Humboldt County’s pot culture. America’s most renowned bastion of illicit marijuana growing is threatened by cavernous, citytaxed cultivation warehouses soon to be licensed in Oakland. See Humboldt / A4
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
INDEX Abby
E2
Business
B1-6
Calendar
E3
Classified
G1-6
Crossword
E5, G2
Comics
E4-5
Editorial
C4
Community
E1-6
Horoscope
E5
Local
C1-6
Sports
D1-6
Movies
E3
Stocks
B4-5
Obituaries
C5
TV listings
E2
TOP NEWS INSIDE WAL-MART: Supreme Court considers largest class-action lawsuit, Page A3