Species, proceed!
Back on top: Summit track and field
Hundreds celebrate Bend’s Earth Day parade • LOCAL, B1
SPORTS, D1
MORE THAN
130
$
IN COUPONS INSIDE
WEATHER TODAY
SUNDAY
Partly cloudy High 66, Low 35 Page B8
• April 25, 2010 $1.50
Serving Central Oregon since 1903 www.bendbulletin.com
Uphill fight as timber payments fade away
Why Oregon? • What attracts people (and entrepreneurs) to this state and region — even in bad times? And can this trend last?
BUSINESS, G1
6 financial fixes that go past reform By Sewell Chan and Binyamin Appelbaum New York Times News Service
Congress is consumed by the proposed legislation to overhaul the financial system, with lawmakers clashing over the best ways to regulate derivatives, protect consumers and end taxpayersupported bailouts. Most proposals in the Senate bill supA N A LY S I S ported by the president amount to • Goldman Sachs variations on e-mails show the current how crash system of regulation. turned into But some cash, Page A2 scholars in finance, law and economics — perhaps less inhibited by practical considerations — see an opportunity to revolutionize the financial system. In books, papers and presentations, they have proposed an avalanche of ideas — some more outlandish than others. See Financial / A5
TOP NEWS INSIDE
Last year, region saw more than $5 million in federal aid through program, set to expire next year By Keith Chu The Bulletin
RACING FOR BECCA With his late fiancee as inspiration, a young Bend man seizes his chance to break into professional auto racing
WASHINGTON — To hear lawmakers tell it, the last county payments extension, in November 2008, was a near-miraculous event, dependent on the meltdown of the U.S. financial sector and a deal with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. Extending the program again? That will almost certainly be harder. “What Senator (Ron) Wyden was able to do with four years was considerable, a perfect political stroke,” said Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore. “This would be even more difficult.” County timber payments, formally the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act, provide more than $100 million a year to rural Oregon counties and schools. Wyden, D-Ore., co-wrote the original bill in 2001 as a way to soften the blow of the decimated logging industry. The program was set to expire in 2006, but it was extended for a year in 2007 and then got another lease on life in 2008, when it was attached to the Wall Street bailout just days before its final passage. It’s now set to expire at the end of 2011. Now the association of rural counties and schools that led a campaign to continue the program is gearing up again to keep the federal money flowing. See Payments / A9
By Mark Morical • Photos by Rob Kerr • The Bulletin
A
year after the young Bend man lost his soul mate, he turned to another of his passions to begin filling the painful void in his life. The story of Justin Simpson and Rebecca Asla is an all-American love story.
The story of Justin Simpson and auto racing is, likewise, an all-American love story. He started racing at Madras Speedway in 2000, when he was 13 — three years before he could test for a driver’s license. At 16, he drove his father’s car in the adult racing class. In his first race, he nearly lapped the entire field. “My pit crew said, ‘You know
you’re out of a driving job, don’t you?’” recalls Justin’s dad, Wayne Simpson. Now, at 22, Justin could be on the verge of breaking into professional auto racing. He was one of just 12 drivers selected for the inaugural Richard Petty’s Driver Search, a
training camp and competition for aspiring race-car drivers (see below). Justin travels this weekend to North Carolina, where the four-day camp starts Monday at Charlotte Motor Speedway, a motor-sports mecca and the home base of NASCAR. See Racing / A6
Submitted photo via New York Times News Service
Warrior Transition Units, created after 2007’s Walter Reed scandal, were intended as sheltering way stations for injured soldiers. But the units are far from sanctuaries. “It is just a dark place. Being in the WTU is worse than being in Iraq,” says Spc. Michael Crawford, an Army specialist who was a sniper in Iraq, above.
GRIDLOCK: Sen. Graham angrily protests ‘political ploy’ — and could grind immigration and climate legislation (two domestic priorities for Obama) to a halt, Page A2
Mistreatment and neglect in Army’s trauma care units
N. KOREA: News trickles out on succession process and likely heir, Page A3
By James Dao and Dan Frosch New York Times News Service
INDEX Movies
C3
Business
G1-6
Obituaries
B6
Classified
E1-8
Oregon
B3
Abby
C2
Community C1-10
Perspective F1-6
Crossword C9, E2
Sports
D1-8
Editorial
F2-3
Stocks
G4-5
Local
B1-8
TV listings
C2
Weather
B8
Milestones
C6
We use recycled newsprint
ABOVE: At his parents’ shop in Bend on Friday, Justin Simpson, 22, prepares a race car to be put in a trailer, with his dog Rocky keeping step. Justin is in North Carolina this weekend for Richard Petty’s Driver Search. AT TOP: Justin wears the memories of hard times with a yellow Livestrong bracelet that reflects his battle with cancer and an engagement ring on a necklace for his fiancee, Becca Asla, who died suddenly in 2008. An air-brushed image of Becca adorns the Ford Mustang he and his father restored a few years back. “He’s been through a lot for a young man,” says Scott Asla, Becca’s father, “and he’s done it with composure.”
The Bulletin An Independent Newspaper
SUNDAY
Vol. 107, No. 115, 56 pages, 7 sections
U|xaIICGHy02330rzu
Richard Petty’s Driver Search • What: A training camp and competition for aspiring race-car drivers. Participants will demonstrate their abilities and learn from experts in key aspects of professional racing. At the end of the four-day training camp, one driver will be awarded an opportunity to qualify for an Automobile Racing Club of America Racing Series event at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway on June 5, the day before a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race.
• When: This Monday through Thursday • Where: Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway • Who: 12 drivers from throughout the U.S. who qualified through an application process and pay to participate • More information: www.pettydriversearch.com
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — A year ago, Spc. Michael Crawford wanted nothing more than to get into Fort Carson’s Warrior Transition Battalion, a special unit created to provide closely managed care for soldiers with physical wounds and severe psychological trauma. A strapping Army sniper who once brimmed with confidence, he had returned emotionally broken from Iraq, where he suffered two concussions from roadside bombs and watched several platoon mates burn to death. The transition unit at Fort Carson, outside Colorado Springs, seemed the surest way to keep suicidal thoughts at bay, his mother thought. It did not work. He was prescribed a laundry list of medications for anxiety, nightmares, depression and headaches that made him feel listless and disoriented. His once-a-week session with a nurse case manager seemed grossly inadequate to him. And noncommissioned officers — soldiers supervising the unit — harangued or disciplined him when he arrived late to formation or violated rules. In August, Crawford attempted suicide with a bottle of whiskey and an overdose of painkillers. By the end of last year, he was begging to get out of the unit. See Army / A8