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FRIDAY October 26,2012 s.
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YOUR OFFICIAL GUIDE• INSIDE
bendbulletin.com ELECTION: SECRETARY OF STATE
LIBYA
Questions remain in blizzard
Newads for Brown say Buehler is too
of leaks, charges
extreme
By john Walcott
By Lauren Dake
B(oomherg News
The Bulletin
WASHINGTON — While six weeks of leaks and testimony have made it clear that the Obama administration had reports from the start that the assault on the U.S. diplomatic
SALEM — A newly formed committee coined "Too Extreme for Oregon" claims Bend-based
surgeon Dr. Knute Buehler, the Republican candidate for Oregon Secretary of State,is part of a
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ANALy5A5 mission in
Benghazi, Libya, was a terrorist attack, the partisan dueling still leaves at least three questions unanswered. The first is why the Obama administration
Photos by Rob Kerr /The Bulletin
Workers prepare to remove pipe along Tumalo Falls Road.Construction equipment will be removed and the road will reopen to the public Saturday. See story on page C1.
Bo r wn
"right-wing
extreme team." The other member of Buehler the team, the advertisement alleges, is Republican Sen. Bruce Starr, who is running for state labor commissioner against incumbent Brad Avakian. The television advertisement, running statewide, was funded by the Services Employees International Union, the Oregon Education Association and Win McCormack, the Portland publisher of Tin House, a literary magazine. The ad, which cost $190,000, urges voters to choose incumbent Secretary of State Kate Brown over Buehler and Avakian over Starr. Kevin Curry, Buehler's
persisted for days in saying the attack was a spontaneous demonstration that "seems to have been hijacked" by militants. A second is whether U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens, who died in the assault, ha d requested more bodyguards or other security. A third is how Stevens was lost if, as a State Department email during the melee reported, "the compound had been cleared." Republicans have seized on that email and another sent about 25 minutes after the assault started that said the mission was "under attack" as proof that the administration knew the assault was violent from the start. U.S. officials Wednesday confirmed the authenticity of the emails. Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said another email two hours after the attack reporting that an extremist group had claimed credit for it on Facebook "is not in and of itself evidence." "I think it just underscores how fluid the reporting was at the time and continued for some time to be," she said. See Libya /A5
By Hillary Borrud
geI
The Bulletin
City of Bend officials don't know yet how much the court-ordered delay of its stalled surface water project will cost, and it's too early to say if the delay will cause additional increases in city water rates. By the time a federal judge halted work on the water project with a temporary injunction last week, the city had signed contracts worth $38.7 million. Of that figure, $12 million had been paid out, according to the city. Residents have been paying for the Surface Water Improvement Project with water rate increases since 2008 and will likely face another increase in the summer of 2013, said city Finance Director Sonia Andrews. Back in March, city officials projected they would need to raise water rates by 5 percent in July 2013 in order to help raise the $38.7 million, Andrews said. The city plan is to issue approximately $33 million in bonds to be repaid with future water revenue and cover the remainder with cash the city saved up fromprevious rateincreases. The cityisbeginningto collectestimates of how much the delay will addtothe bill. The Surface Water I m provement Project is an effort to meet future water needs and satisfy new federal filtra-
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campaign spokesman, said Brown's "campaign is desperate and they are bringing in their political special-interest friends to do their dirty work." The two Republican candidates have favored giving tax breaks to the richest Oregonians, the ad states. Starr, it says, voted to cut the minimum wage. And Buehler is "so extreme" he"even questions Oregon's vote-by-mail" system, the ad says. See Ad/A5
A 1920s building houses the city of Bend's water intake facilityon Bridge Creek. An upgrade of the intake facility is part of the water project that was delayed when a federal judge in Eugene issued a preliminary injunction that stopped work. tion requirements. The work placed on hold by U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken of Eugene includes a new water intake facility at Bridge Creek and a new, 1 0-mile-long pipeline to B end. T he $38.7 million the city contracted pays for the construction ofthose components, legal bills and some engineering and other initial work on the entire
$68.2 million project. The City Council decided earlier this year to delay other elements of the water project — a hydropower facility and a filtration system. The cost to build those components is not included in the 5 percent rate increase projectedfor 2013, Andrews sa>d. See Water /A5
Medical pot growers not sogreen in forest Iran said to havefinished By Matt Weiser The Sacramento Bee
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California's annual medical marijuana harvest is just about done, but this year bringsa new revelation sweeping the nascent industry.
The feel-good herb may not, in fact, be so good for the environment. From golden Sierra foothills to forested coastal mountains, an explosion of pseudo-legal medical marijuana farms has dramatically changed the state's landscape over the past two years. A rush to profit from patient demand for pot has resulted in irresponsible forest clearing, illegal stream
diversions, and careless pesticide and fertilizer use. The result has been polluted waterways and killed wildlife, state and local government officials said. The problem has become so big and so unregulated that the California Department of Fish and Game has resortedto aerialsurveys to assess its scale. It has a new high-resolution, computer-controlled camera mounted in the belly of an aircraft to help pinpoint problem marijuana areas. In a recent flight over Nevada County, game warden Jerry Karnow was "astounded" at the increase in grows visible from the air. See Marijuana/A5
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nuclear enrichmentplant By David E. Sanger and William J. Broad New York Times News Service
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LezlIe Sterlingi The Sacramento Bee
California Fish and Game wardens use aircraftto find illegal marijuana farms such as this one in the Sierra foothills. With the advent of medical marijuana, large numbers of farms have dramaticaiiy changed the state's landscape over the past two years.
INDEX D I-6 Calendar B 3 C r osswords 85,F2 LocalNews C1-6 Stocks E2-3 Classified F1-4 Editorials C 4 M o vies GO! 26 TV B2
WASHINGTON — Intelligence officials from several countries say Iran in recent weeks has virtually completed an underground nuclear enrichment plant, racing ahead despite international pressure and heavy economic sanctions in what experts say may be an effort to give them leverage in any negotiations with the United States and its allies. The installation of the last of nearly3,000 centrifuges at a site called Fordo, deep under a mountain inside a mili-
ToDAY's wEATHER Increasing clouds
tary base near the holy city of Qom, puts Iran closer to being able to build a nuclear weapon, or come up to the edge, if its leaders ultimately decide to proceed. The United States, Israel and the United Nations have vowed to preventing that from happening, imposing increasingly tough sanctions on the country and using cyberwarefaretoslow its progress in obtaining a weapon. PresidentBarack Obama said last week that the time for a negotiated settlement was "running out." See Iran /A5
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