Why has Bend’s elk herd doubled? • C1 MARCH 3, 2012
Wolf returns to Oregon • C1
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Health law is signed; session rolls on
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Obama on potential Iran strike: ‘I don’t bluff’ By Mark Landler New York Times News Service
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama, speaking days before a crucial meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, stiffened his pledge to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, even as Inside he warned Israel • Iran’s of the negative nuclear consequences sites are of a pre-emptive vulnerable, military strike experts on Iran’s nuclear say, A8 facilities. Seeking to reassure a close U.S. ally that contends it has reached a moment of reckoning with Iran, Obama rejected suggestions that the U.S. was willing to try to contain a nuclear-armed Iran. He declared explicitly that his administration would use force — a “military component” — to prevent Tehran from acquiring a bomb. The president also said he would try to convince Netanyahu, whom he is meeting here Monday, that a premature military strike could help Iran by allowing it to portray itself as a victim of aggression. And he said such military action would only delay, not prevent, Iran’s acquisition of nuclear weapons. Obama’s remarks, in an interview with The Atlantic magazine this week, were intended to reinforce a sense of solidarity between the United States and Israel without ceding ground on differences over the timetable or triggers for potential military action. “I think that the Israeli government recognizes that, as president of the United States, I don’t bluff,” Obama said in the interview with Jeffrey Goldberg, a national correspondent with The Atlantic. “I also don’t, as a matter of sound policy, go around advertising exactly what our intentions are. See Iran / A8
TOP NEWS TORNADOES: 27 dead in South and Midwest, A3 TODAY’S WEATHER Cloudy and milder High 51, Low 28 Page C8
PRINEVILLE MAN’S MYSTERIOUS DEATH
Cracking a murder case, 16 years later
By Lauren Dake The Bulletin
Submitted photo
Danny Sweet disappeared in October 1992. In January 1996, his remains were found in a remote area in Grant County. His death had remained a mystery until Oregon State Police pieced together the evidence and arrested two men suspected in his murder. This photo, provided by OSP, was taken during one of Sweet’s run-ins with law enforcement. By Sheila G. Miller
Places of interest
The Bulletin
Below are important locations in the case of Danny Sweet.
D
anny Kaye Sweet’s fully clothed remains were found on a rural patch of Bureau of Land Management land in 1996. Since
George Bogan
Portland Mitchell Bend Mount Vernon
Thomas Colbert
OREGON
Roseburg
then, law enforcement officers have been trying to figure out who mur-
IDAHO
dered the 36-year-old Prineville man. Now, nearly 16 years later, they believe they’ve got the culprits: George Shadrick Bogan, 46, and Thomas
C A L I F.
NE VADA
Allen Colbert, 51. Both were indicted and arrested in February. Since 1962, Central Oregon has seen more than a dozen unsolved murders and missing persons cases. But law enforcement experts keep working on these cases even when the trail runs cold. For Sweet, justice may finally be in the works, thanks to local Oregon State Police detectives and other agencies that kept collecting tips and conducting interviews years after
Sweet’s body was found. That group includes Oregon State Police Detective Tom Kipp, who served on the major crimes team tasked with solving the murder. Kipp retired Wednesday after 25 years with the agency, 20 of them as a detective. Sweet disappeared in October 1992 while staying with friends in Mitchell. Kipp described him as transient, a popular person with a lot of friends who came
and went from the area on a regular basis. That’s why no one reported Sweet missing until January 1993, when friends finally got suspicious and went to the Crook County Sheriff’s Office to share their concerns. Their report launched a fruitless missing persons investigation that was stymied until Jan. 21, 1996, when remains were discovered in rural Grant County, near Mount Vernon, by a
Indian Springs Las Vegas Andy Zeigert / The Bulletin
pair of teenagers looking for antlers. The remains, fully clothed and nearly intact, had not been buried. That’s when the Grant County Sheriff’s Office activated the major crimes team and Oregon State Police got involved. See Cold case / A4
SALEM — The mood at the state Capitol on Friday was both celebratory (the governor signed health care transformation into law) and tense (one lawmaker told another to “shut your mouth”) as the Legislature once again blew past its deadline for adjournment. The day started IN with the governor stating he’s “never SALEM been prouder to be an Oregonian.” In a room full of lawmakers and citizens, Gov. John Kitzhaber signed Senate Bill 1580, the health care reform legislation he believes will make Oregon a model for the rest of the nation. Those on the Oregon Health Plan soon will begin to receive preventionoriented health care provided by coordinated care organizations, which are supposed to be set up by the first of July. The motto of the health care transformation bill has been: better care at a lower cost. “This is Oregon at its best,” the governor said. The mood was less collegial later on the House floor. The state Constitution instructs lawmakers to adjourn by March 6. The goal since the beginning of the session, however, has been to wrap up by the end of February. But on Friday, two days after the self-imposed deadline, lawmakers voted on two other prominent measures introduced by the governor. The first, House Bill 4164, would create health insurance exchanges, a marketplace where small businesses and individuals can compare prices and health coverage. It passed the House but still needs to pass the Senate. “This is one more move toward us getting adequate affordable health care for all Oregonians,” said Rep. Mitch Greenlick, D-Portland. Representatives also passed a bill that aims to streamline the state’s early childhood education programs. Rep. Carolyn Tomei, D-Milwaukie, told lawmakers on the floor that House Bill 4165 is an “important step toward a streamlined and effective early childhood system that helps children arrive at school ready to learn.” See Session / A7
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For robot maker, the future is getting closer By Christopher Drew New York Times News Service
BEDFORD, Mass. — Ever since Rosey the Robot took care of “The Jetsons” in the early 1960s, the promise of robots making everyday life easier has been a bit of a tease. Rosey, a metallic maid with a frilly apron, “kind of set expectations that robots were the future,” said Colin Angle, the chief executive of the iRobot Corp. “Then, 50 years passed.”
Now Angle’s company is trying to do Rosey one better — with Ava, a 5-foot-4 assistant with an iPad or an Android tablet for a brain and Xbox motion sensors to help her get around. But no apron, so far. Over the past decade, iRobot, based outside Boston, has emerged as one of the nation’s top robot-makers. It has sold millions of disc-shaped Roomba vacuum cleaners, and its bomb disposal robots
have protected soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now, with Ava, it is using video and computing advances to create robots that can do office work remotely and perhaps one day handle more of the household chores. In late January, iRobot expanded a partnership with InTouch Health, a small company that enables doctors at computer screens to treat stroke victims and other patients from afar. And this
week, Texas Instruments said it would supply iRobot with powerful new processors that could help the robots be more interactive and gradually lower their cost. “We have a firm belief that the robotics market is on the cusp of exploding,” said Remi El-Ouazzane, vice president and general manager of the Texas Instruments unit that makes the processors. See Robots / A7
Ava, a 5foot-4-inch assistant by iRobot Corp., uses an iPad or an Android tablet as a brain and Xbox motion sensors to help her get around. Jodi Hilton New York Times News Service