LOCALNEWS
News of Record, C2 Editorials, C6
THE BULLETIN • SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2011
www.bendbulletin.com/local
LOCAL BRIEFING
Targeting polluters, EPA alters standards for boilers
PRINEVILLE
3 men arrested in robbery Three Bend men were arrested in connection with a robbery that occurred near Ponderosa Park on Monday afternoon. Police said Gustavo Rodriguez, 19, Raul Valencia, 18, and an unidentified 17-year-old robbed a 15-year-old boy of money and marijuana during a drug transaction. The 15year-old met the three suspects in a vehicle near Ponderosa Park to sell them marijuana. Once he was inside the vehicle, Valencia pulled a pistol on the teen and demanded money and marijuana, police said.
By Andrew Clevenger The Bulletin
Man arrested in sex crime A Bend man was arrested Wednesday in connection with a sex crime that occurred on Nov. 26, police said. Patrick William Kelley, 26, was arrested on suspicion of unlawful sexual penetration, sex abuse and attempted sodomy for an incident that took place the week before. The alleged victim is a woman who was sleeping at a friend’s house when she was awakened by an unknown male who was having unwanted sexual contact with her. The woman left the residence and contacted the police.
Former fire chief is convicted Earl Henry Cordes Jr., the former chief of the Jefferson County Fire District, has been convicted of third-degree sexual abuse. The crime is a Class A misdemeanor. Cordes will serve 30 days in jail and five years’ probation. — From staff reports
Pete Erickson / The Bulletin
Bob Orlando sets up the Nativity scene at the Prineville City Hall on Thursday. Orlando is renting the space from the city for $5 per day. “I thought the people in the town should take this over,” he said. “No government entity should be responsible,” he said. “It’s not a battle. It’s Christmas.”
A Christmas compromise • Controversial Nativity scene at City Hall makes its return after city, residents find solution A complaint last December threatened to end the long-standing display of a Nativity scene on Prineville-owned property. But public property will feature a Nativity scene once again this season, thanks to a solution that addresses the concerns of civil libertarians. Last December, the nonprofit Freedom from Religion Foundation complained that the presence of a Nativity scene on city property violated the Constitution by showing preference for a particular religion. The complaint angered many Prineville residents, about 100 of whom showed up at a City Council meeting to insist that the Nativity scene remain in place. City officials struggled to devise a compromise. Early this year, the City Council considered a resolution establishing a “holiday
zone” in the public plaza west of City Hall that would provide space for the Nativity and other holiday displays. The proposal was rejected after the Oregon American Civil Liberties Union expressed concerns about its legality. The problem ultimately was solved by setting up a Nativity scene on rented public property. Bob Orlando, who is also a member of the city’s planning commission, was busy Thursday setting up Nativity figures on a downtown plaza owned by the
city and county. He’s rented space there for the entire month of December at a rate of $5 per day. This is the same rate a group of local farmers pays to hold a Saturday market on the site from June through October. Orlando wrote an open letter to Prineville residents in March and set up an account that allowed people to contribute. So far, Orlando said, residents have contributed more than $2,000, and donations continue to trickle in. See N a tivity / C2
Tree lot is a holiday gift for charities By Leon Pantenburg
Doby Fugate, 72, operates Doby’s Christmas Trees in La Pine. Proceeds from the lot, usually between $600 and $900, are donated to local charities. This year’s charity is the La Pine Christmas Basket Association.
For The Bulletin
• Clatsop County • Portland
• Umatilla County
• Clatsop County: Animal rights activists get circus ban on ballot. • Portland: Occupy Portland plans to camp in another downtown park. • Umatilla County: Commissioners approve 99-megawatt wind farm. Stories on C7
WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency proposed slightly revised standards for boilers and incinerators Friday, tweaking its proposed enforcement of the Clean Air Act so that it focuses mostly on the biggest polluters. The proposed changes do not apply to industrial boilers, but concentrate on boilers that are commonly used in commercial establishments, medical centers, schools and municipal buildings. The changes do not apply to the 1.3 million boilers that use natural gas for fuel. About 14,000 boilers that emit large amounts of toxic material will face heightened regulation, but this amounts to less than 1 percent of the nation’s boilers, according to the EPA. Of the 187,000 smaller polluters that are covered, more than 183,000 face only periodic tune-ups and maintenance to comply, the EPA said. Some 7,000 coal-burning plants may face additional modifications to reduce emissions. See Boilers / C7
By Duffie Taylor • The Bulletin
LA PINE
STATE NEWS
C
Obituaries, C7 Weather, C8
Tree lots, full of cut evergreens, are a sign of the Christmas season. But a lot at the corner of Coach and Huntington roads in La Pine also symbolizes a way to raise money for local charities. For the past six years, Doby Fugate, 72, of La Pine, has set up a lot to sell Christmas trees. The proceeds, generally between $600 and $900, are donated to a local charity. This year, the money will go to the La Pine Christmas Basket Association. Donations are badly needed this year, says association secretary Laura Luft. The association provides food baskets to families in need in south Deschutes County during the holiday season. Last year, the organization sent 50 baskets to the Gilchrest area and provided another 610 baskets to La Pine area residents. This year, she said, is projected to be the association’s biggest distribution ever. “The economy is so bad, and people are out of work and the need is just so much greater,” Luft said. “We’re expecting to give out over 675
Pete Erickson The Bulletin
baskets this year, and that will be the most we’ve ever done.” All those charitable efforts require money, and that is why Fugate started selling Christmas trees. He moved to La Pine 18 years ago from Roseburg after retiring from 37 years in timber management, he said. While Fugate and his wife love the recreational opportunities south Deschutes
County provides, Fugate said he “can’t sit still.” “I’ve retired three times, and I get bored just sitting around,” he said. “I like being outdoors and came up with this idea a few years ago.” Every year, shortly after Thanksgiving, Fugate has 200 trees delivered from commercial tree farms in Eastern Oregon. His lot space is donated, this year from the La Pine Community Health Center. A
fence is set up around the trees, Fugate sets up a burning barrel for warmth and opens for business. Hours are from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. “The best part about the tree lot is that we sit around the barrel and talk,” Fugate said. “I know everybody in town, and there will be several of us sitting around (talking) and selling trees. We’re having a good time, and it’s a good cause.”
Ochoco officials warn of trucks at sno-parks By Dylan J. Darling The Bulletin
The Ochoco National Forest is warning snowmobile riders to watch out this winter for log trucks on roads close to sno-parks near Prineville. “We don’t want competition between snowmobiles and log trucks,” said Beckie Zimmerman, special forest products program coordinator for the Deschutes and Ochoco national forests. “I think I know who would win.” The warning is for roads near Ochoco Divide and Walton sno-parks, as well as Mark’s Sled Hill and Lookout Mountain, Zimmerman said. Log trucks could be rolling through the winter on forest roads 22, 42, 2210 and 2630. She said she’s working on a map that should be out later this week. Ochoco Snow Sports — a club representing about 50 families, mostly snowmobile riders — grooms trails around the Ochoco sno-parks, said Lee Romine, a past president of the group who lives in Prineville. He said the group is waiting to see the map. “We have to figure out how we are going to dodge roads where they are logging,” he said. Zimmerman said there are two timber sales prompting the warnings, a 5-million-board-foot sale to Interfor in Gilchrist and a 3-million-board-foot sale to High Cascade Forest in Carson, Wash. See Logging / C7