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Walden authors new rules for House
MT. BACHELOR
Avalanche hits ski area
By Keith Chu The Bulletin
WASHINGTON — It’s not quite New Year’s Day, but U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, R-Hood River, may have already made his most important contribution to next year’s U.S. Congress. Walden was the primary author of 33 pages of rules that will almost certainly be passed next week and serve as the foundation for business in the U.S. House for the next two years. Beyond the usual naming of committees and confirmation of traditional Rep. Greg procedures, Walden, the rules also R-Hood River make an early statement in the debate over federal spending, and make the body more open to outsiders. Walden, who represents Central, Eastern and most of Southern Oregon, said the rules reflect promises the GOP made during the last election.
By Nick Budnick The Bulletin
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No one was hurt in a small avalanche at Mt. Bachelor ski area Wednesday morning that shut down the upper portion of the Cliffhanger run for the day. The resort expects operations to return to normal today. Director of communications Andy Goggins said a resort guest reported the avalanche at around 10 a.m. near the top of the Skyliner Express chairlift, where snow from farther up the mountain had slid down across the Summit Crossover trail. Ski patrollers arrived quickly, Goggins said, and began searching the area for anyone trapped under the snow. After completing the resort’s multistep avalanche response procedure, patrollers determined no one was caught up in the snowslide. When an avalanche occurs at Mt. Bachelor, Goggins said, patrollers bring out long poles
Avalanche at Mt. Bachelor
Century Dr. 46
The Cinder Cone (Hike zone)
West Village Lodge Nordic center
Source: Mt. Bachelor
that they use to poke the snow for evidence of people stuck beneath the surface. They also deploy dogs trained to smell a skier or snowboarder caught in an avalanche. Additionally, patrollers
Andy Zeigert / The Bulletin
do electronic scans, both for the transponder units some skiers and snowboarders wear, and the RECCO system, a small device sewn into many newer pieces of winter clothing that reflects a ra-
By Jack Dolan C1-6
B1-6
Health
The Bulletin
dar signal broadcast by rescue crews. Goggins said Wednesday’s avalanche occurred in a location known to be susceptible to avalanches. Ski patrol crews regularly use explosives and other means to trigger avalanches when skiers and snowboarders are not on the mountain, he said, in order to avoid experiencing an avalanche during operating hours. “We do extensive inbounds avalanche control daily, particularly over the past week, and we’re going to continue to monitor and do our routine avalanche mitigation and make sure it’s safe for our guests,” Goggins said. As of Wednesday afternoon, Mt. Bachelor had received 39 inches of new snow over the past three days, with the current storm expected to ebb by midday today. Scott Hammers can be reached at 541-383-0387 or shammers@bendbulletin.com
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Los Angeles Times
LOS ANGELES — Before group therapy begins for mentally ill maximum-security inmates at California prisons, five patients are led in handcuffs to individual metal cages about the size of a phone booth. Steel mesh and a plastic spit shield separate the patients from the therapist, who sits in front of the enclosures wearing a shank-proof vest. When the lock clanks shut on the final cage — prison officials prefer to call them “therapeutic modules” — the therapist tries to build the foundation of any successful group: trust. See Cages / A5
Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times
Therapist Daniel Tennenbaum, right, plays guitar and sings “Sitting on the Dock of the Bay” with inmates in containment cages during a music therapy session at California Medical Facility in Vacaville, Calif.
SALEM — Outgoing Gov. Ted Kulongoski on Wednesday called for an independent review of a contract awarded to Bend consultant Cylvia Hayes, girlfriend to incoming Gov. John Kitzhaber, after an investigation of state employees led to no criminal charges. The Oregon Department of Justice has investigated the Cylvia Hayes matter since August, reportedly because state Department of Energy officials were suspected of steering a contract to a partnership that included Hayes. However, prosecutors concluded they could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that any criminal wrongdoing had taken place, according to a letter that a top state prosecutor sent Kulongoski on Wednesday morning. Kulongoski announced he will appoint an “independent reviewer” to see if any state employees should be fired or disciplined. By appointing an outsider, Kulongoski hopes to spare his successor a politically difficult situation, he said in an interview. “I think the best thing for everybody is to get this (decision) away from him, as far as possible,” Kulongoski said, citing Kitzhaber’s relationship with Hayes. Kulongoski added that he will probably appoint a lawyer versed in contracting and public employee collective bargaining to look into the matter. Hayes did not respond to an e-mail and voicemail requesting comment, but in an e-mail last week she reiterated her earlier statements: “I am not the target or subject of the investigation but rather have been contacted as a witness.” See Contract / A4
Iraq scrubs Saddam from its history, but relics remain By Shashank Bengali McClatchy -Tribune News Service
Business
Education
By Scott Hammers
Use of cages in prisons questioned in California
DENMARK: 5 arrested for alleged plot against newspaper, Page A3
Abby
No one caught in morning slide; area closed for safety
yli
“To begin to restore trust with the American people, Republicans have pledged to operate Congress differently: with real transparency, greater accountability and a renewed focus on the Constitution,” Walden said in a written statement. “The sweeping reforms offered in this package make clear we intend to keep that promise.” Republicans are scheduled to consider the rules and propose amendments on Jan. 4, with a vote on Jan. 5, the first day of the new Congress. See Walden / A4
Andy Tullis / The Bulletin
An employee of Mt. Bachelor ski area, center, gives directions to a snowboarder, sending him around a section closed because of an avalanche above Cliffhanger run near the top of Skyliner Express chairlift Wednesday.
Sk
‘Begin to restore trust’
Governor calls for additional review of contract
BAGHDAD — Deep inside the walled-off Green Zone, in an air-conditioned room watched by around-the-clock security, is a particularly grisly collection of Iraqi memorabilia: leg irons, bone fragments, a hangman’s noose and photographs of skeletons unearthed from mass graves, some still wearing their clothes. They are relics of the most brutal periods of the Saddam Hussein era, collected by U.S. and Iraqi investigators as evidence in the ex-dictator’s trial for crimes against humanity. He was executed on Dec. 30, 2006. The Iraqi court official who holds the only key to the evidence room says it will open to the public as a museum sometime in 2011. It would mark an extraordinary addition to the
historical record of this wobbly young democracy, whose new leaders so far have been eager to scrub out nearly all signs of Saddam’s three decades in power. “This is a very long period of our history,” said the court official, Sattar Jabbar. “Other generations have to know what the old regime did and what crimes were committed in Iraq.” The facility housed at the Iraqi High Tribunal, the special court set up to try Saddam and other members of his regime for atrocities, has not been named yet, but Jabbar has a suggestion: the Saddam Criminal Museum. That alone would be unique. Four years after his death, even Saddam’s name, which had been affixed to countless mosques, neighborhoods and public buildings, has practically vanished from Iraq. See Saddam / A5