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OCTOBER 19, 2011
WEDNESDAY 75¢
Serving Central Oregon since 1903 www.bendbulletin.com
Parents are again urged to limit tots’ TV exposure By Benedict Carey New York Times News Service
Parents of infants and toddlers should limit the time their children spend in front of televisions, computers, selfdescribed educational games and even grownup shows playing in the background, the American Academy of Pediatrics warned on Tuesday. Video screen time provides no educational benefits for children under age 2 and leaves less room for activities that do, like interacting with other people and playing, the group said. The recommendation, announced at the group’s annual convention in Boston, is less stringent than its first such warning, in 1999, which called on parents of young children to all but bar television watching for children younger than 2 and to fill out a “media history” for doctor’s office visits. See TV / A5
Most important facilities for Bend households 1. Soft-surface trails 2. Multipurpose pools 3. Recreation/activity pools 4. Hard-surface/ multi-use trails 5. Off-leash dog areas Source: Leisure Vision/ ETC Institute survey for Bend Park & Recreation District
Park & Rec pinpoints needs By Nick Grube The Bulletin
Bend residents really like their trails. And even though the Bend Park & Recreation District already maintains about 56 miles of paved and unpaved pathways, park users would like more. The district also could please a lot more people if it added an ice hockey rink, a new skatepark, a whitewater play area on the Deschutes River and an indoor running track to its
list of offerings. A recent survey found that the district is falling short in meeting many of these needs, particularly when it comes to facilities it doesn’t yet have, such as an ice rink and indoor track. The survey also said the district has responded to other community needs over the years, including those in which residents asked for a better trail network and more sports fields. See Survey / A4
Pete Erickson / The Bulletin
Ann Cook leads a class at Juniper Swim & Fitness Center.
Pumpkin patch faces penalty
Number of note • In one survey, 90 percent of parents said their children younger than 2 watched some form of media, whether a TV show like “Yo Gabba Gabba!” or a favorite iPhone app.
U.S. launches new offensive on Haqqani stronghold By Shashank Bengali and Habib Zohori McClatchy-Tribune News Service
KABUL, Afghanistan — Explosions and gunfire erupted in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan Tuesday as U.S.-led international forces and Afghan soldiers began what seemed likely to become a new, coordinated offensive against insurgents whom American officials blame for a series of recent major terrorist attacks in Kabul. The joint operation against the Haqqani network follows months of escalating tension between the United States and Pakistan over an increasingly fearsome insurgent group that NATO says has caused the deaths of more than 1,000 Afghan civilians and coalition troops — and whose leadership reportedly enjoys safe haven over the border in Pakistan’s tribal areas. See Haqqani / A4
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Pete Erickson / The Bulletin
Central Oregon Pumpkin Co. owner Matt Lisignoli, shown in a field of pumpkins on the property, says he isn’t violating the law.
• Deschutes officials say Central Oregon Pumpkin Co. must apply for a commercial use permit By Rachael Rees The Bulletin
For many years, grown-ups and kids have wandered through corn, petted animals and bought future jack-o’-lanterns at the Central Oregon Pumpkin Co.’s pumpkin patch and corn maze in Terrebonne. This fall, many of them have encountered something new: a petition blasting Deschutes County for deeming the pumpkin patch and corn maze a commercial activity and requiring “a commercial use permit
to continue our fall activities.” Deschutes County Community Development Department Director Tom Anderson said the county opened a code enforcement case against the farm about a year ago following a complaint. He said county staff spoke with owner Matt Lisignoli and indicated that he’d need to obtain land use approval before opening up the corn maze and pumpkin patch this year. At issue is the nature of commercial activity allowed on county farmland without triggering a re-
By Julia Moskin New York Times News Service
American food lovers have long taken for granted that only olive oils from the Mediterranean are worth buying — preferably with an olive tree, an Italian flag and words like “authentic cold pressed” on the bottle. But in the past decade, California
Peter DaSilva New York Times News Service
The Bulletin Vol. 108, No. 292, 38 pages, 6 sections
sonal activity (corn maze) related to a commercial use ... has commenced on the property” and asks Lisignoli to apply for land use approval. Anderson said Lisignoli could face a $720 fine if he doesn’t comply. Lisignoli, who owns and farms on the property, has not complied. He says the costs of the permit and improvements to bring the farm into compliance with the county’s code would exceed the profits he makes from the pumpkin patch and maze. See Pumpkin / A5
California’s growing olive oil trade rivals Europe’s
Freshly milled oil comes out of a separator at the California Olive Ranch mill in Artois, Calif., the largest U.S. producer of extra-virgin olive oil.
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quirement for additional permitting. County officials argue in a Jan. 4 letter to Lisignoli that “land use related to pumpkin patch and corn maze events on your property appear to require land use approval as a commercial use in conjunction with farm use” and points out that “there may also be building safety and waste disposal requirements related to the use which would not be known without an actual site plan review.” A letter dated Oct. 4 following a “drive by review” states that “sea-
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producers have mounted a major effort to bring back the domestic olive oil industry, planting thousands of acres, building mills and producing oils that are fresher, purer and cheaper than all but the finest imports. The California olive oil trade, started by 16th-century Spanish missionaries, was almost dead 10 years
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ago, except for small-scale producers on the coast and in the wine country. “Many people loved the romance of olive oil,” said Deborah Rogers, an owner of the Olive Press, a mill and orchard in Sonoma, Calif. “But no one could figure out how to make any money at it.” See Olive oil / A4
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