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McLane’s role reversal: from ‘nerdy budget guy’ to main policy player By Lauren Dake
In court via video, RPA chief is silent during arraignment
Michael Bremont appears via video before Deschutes County Circuit Court Judge Alta Brady on Friday. He is due back in court Wednesday.
By Scott Hammers The Bulletin
The Redmond Proficiency Academy director accused of sexually abusing a student made his first court appearance Friday, appearing by video from the Deschutes County jail. Michael Bremont, 39, faces nine charges relating to alleged sexual con-
Rob Kerr The Bulletin
The Bulletin
SALEM — Lawmaker Mike McLane might be a rookie, but he’s getting a lot of game time this legislative session. Last session, the freshman representative from Powell Butte spent evenings poring IN over budgets SALEM and crunching numbers. He didn’t introduce any policy bills, and any behindthe-scenes negotiating garnered McLane little attention. But in this abbreviated session, McLane lobbied hard for a bill preserving a tax exemption for Facebook’s data center in Prineville. The bill grabbed headlines across the state. And now, with the session slated to wrap up next week, another of McLane’s bills is at the heart of the debate between the two political parties. “It’s the nerdy budget guy, stepping into the policy game,” said McLane, a Republican. Both sides are pushing for jobs. The governor, a Democrat, believes those will be created through his education and health care reform proposals. House Co-speaker Bruce Hanna, a Republican, has made it as clear that his jobs agenda includes McLane’s Columbia River bill. The measure would permit the diversion and storage of winter flows, which would be used largely for irrigation. McLane said the bill has the potential to create 1,400 jobs. The bill’s future — and its contents — are in flux. At a press conference Thursday, the governor said he heard his staff and McLane had reached an agreement. Hanna countered that wasn’t the case. See McLane / A7
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RUTGERS: Dorm spying trial begins, A7
Taming budgets proves arduous • ‘High-save’ approach keeps organization indebted to county
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By James Risen and Mark Mazzetti Redmond Spokesman file photo
Mike Daly resigned as president of the board this month.
Ryan Brennecke / The Bulletin
Humane Society of Redmond volunteer Tom Brueckheimer greets a dog named George at his kennel door before taking him on a walk Thursday afternoon. The shelter continues to operate at a loss more than three years after it received a $1.5 million loan from Deschutes County. Board President Mike Daly recently resigned in frustration because he said other board members would not rein in spending on a dog trainer and other programs. By Hillary Borrud
I
t’s been more than three years since the Humane Society of Redmond received a $1.5 million loan from Deschutes County to keep its doors open, but the organization continues to oper-
ate in the red. As a result, the Humane Society must rely upon a TODAY’S WEATHER
Despite Iran nuke report, U.S. sees no bomb threat
HUMANE SOCIETY OF REDMOND
The Bulletin
SYRIA: Nations demand Assad halt attacks, A3
tact with a female student who attended RPA, the school he ran since the beginning of the 2009-2010 school year. Court documents indicate the girl was under 16 when the alleged abuse took place on multiple occasions over the course of about 11 months, beginning in October 2009. See Bremont / A4
line of credit of up to $100,00 from the county, adding to its debt. Friction over the shelter’s spending prompted the former president of the society’s board, Mike Daly, to resign earlier this month. Daly, a former county commissioner, said he grew frustrated by the reluctance of some board members to reduce spending in order to decrease the shelter’s reliance on the county. For example, the society spent $14,000 since July 2010 on a dog trainer who charges $75 per hour, which Daly views as an expense the shelter cannot afford. Interim County Administrator Erik
Kropp expressed concern about the Humane Society’s financial condition and recently declined to advance the full amount of a loan requested by the organization. Meanwhile, some of Daly’s former Humane Society board colleagues say he should have spoken to them before taking his financial concerns to county officials. “By performing in this manner, deliberately avoiding the advice and consent of the board as a whole, acting inde-
pendently of the board of directors, you have lost the trust of the majority of the board,” current President Don Wayne wrote in a Dec. 22 letter to Daly. Wayne said this week that rebuilding the shelter’s reputation — and the willingness of people and foundations to give money — is a slow process. “You don’t turn a light switch on and off to make this organization sustainable,” he said. Despite the disagreement that led to Daly’s departure, both sides had good things to say about each other. “The shelter would never be in this condition if it hadn’t been for him,” board Vice President Steve McCoy said of Daly this week. “He’s done more to help us than anybody.” The shelter is doing good work, Daly said this week, but some of the animal lovers who run it proved they cannot cut programs or make other difficult decisions needed to get the shelter on firm financial footing. See Humane / A7
New York Times News Service
WASHINGTON — Even as the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog said in a new report Friday that Iran has accelerated Inside its uranium • IAEA: Iran is making enrichment fuel at a program, protected U.S. intelsite, A8 ligence analysts • A glimpse continue into Iran’s to believe nuclear there is ambitions, no hard A8 evidence that Iran has decided to build a nuclear bomb. Recent assessments by U.S. spy agencies are broadly consistent with a 2007 intelligence finding that concluded that Iran had abandoned its nuclear weapons program years earlier, according to current and former U.S. officials. The officials said that assessment was largely reaffirmed in a 2010 National Intelligence Estimate, and that it remains the consensus view of the United States’ 16 intelligence agencies. At the center of the debate is the murky question of the ultimate ambitions of the leaders in Tehran. There is no dispute among U.S., Israeli and European intelligence officials that Iran has been enriching nuclear fuel and developing some necessary infrastructure to become a nuclear power. But the CIA and other intelligence agencies believe that Iran has yet to decide whether to resume a parallel program to design a nuclear warhead — a program they believe was essentially halted in 2003 and which would be necessary for Iran to build a nuclear bomb. Iranian officials maintain their nuclear program is for civilian purposes. See Iran / A8
The Bulletin An Independent Newspaper Vol. 109, No. 56, 72 pages, 7 sections
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Bill would require Utah’s alcohol panel to include drinkers By Kirk Johnson New York Times News Service
During a job interview, it is usually not a good idea to enthusiastically volunteer that you enjoy a drink
now and then. But in Utah, it could soon be a requirement, at least for those seeking appointment to the state’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission.
In the dry upper reaches of Utah’s government, dominated by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the commission that oversees alcohol sales has a
reputation — inside the state and beyond — for being less than friendly to the product, or at least unfamiliar with it. A bill in the state Legislature, which advanced by a
crucial committee vote Friday, would address that concern by requiring that at least two people on the five-member commission be drinkers. See Utah / A4