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Many races uncontested and already decided, except in La Pine • LOCAL, C1-2
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• March 19, 2011 50¢
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MENINGOCOCCAL DISEASE
2nd case confirmed, but they don’t seem to be linked By Erik Hidle The Bulletin
A second case of meningococcal disease has been confirmed in Crook County, but health officials do not believe there is an elevated risk to members of the community. Karen Yeargain, Crook County’s communicable disease coordinator, confirmed Friday afternoon that a 24-year-old man had tested positive for a case of meningococcemia, a type of meningococcal infection that infects the blood. The unidentified man first showed signs of the disease Thursday afternoon. Yeargain said the newest case does not appear to be related to that of 16-year-old Crook County High School student Colbey Cloutier, who was hospitalized with the disease on March 9. “At this time in our investigation, there is no evidence the two cases are connected,” Yeargain said. “Sometimes this just happens where you have two isolated occurrences. It is uncommon, but not unheard of.” The last reported case of the disease in Crook County was 2002. Yeargain said there is no broad risk to the community for the time being, but she is working with the state to monitor the situation. See Infection / A8
Police again search Meyer home By Scott Hammers The Bulletin
Police searched the house of Sandy and John Meyer again Friday in hopes of uncovering clues in Sandy Meyer’s disappearance.
Capt. Jim Porter of the Bend Police Department said he used officers who had not previously been to the Meyers’ Mountain High home because he wanted “a new set of eyes” to look for evidence that may have been
overlooked in earlier searches. Porter did not say if anything was found. Police and the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office have set a meeting for Monday afternoon to determine the next steps
in the search for Sandy Meyer, who has now been missing for more than a week. Sandy Meyer, 72, was reported missing March 10 by her husband, John Meyer. See Meyer / A6
Sandy Meyer was reported missing March 10 by her husband, John Meyer, who was found dead Wednesday.
Fewer helicopters to fight fires? New firefighting requirements
WIRE STRIKE KIT
Here are some examples of new U.S. Forest Service requirements for small call-when-needed helicopters and where they would be installed.
Added for safety reasons, the wire strike addition is designed to cut power lines if a helicopter runs into them, reducing the chance of a fatal crash.
STROBE LIGHT
HEATED DEFROSTER
Added to bring aircraft into compliance with Federal Aviation Administration regulations.
A safety-based addition, designed to ensure the windshield can be cleared on cold mornings.
BAGGAGE COMPARTMENT FLOOR PROTECTOR In the past, cargo in the compartments without the protector has been damaged, according to the Forest Service, resulting in damage claims to the agency. The protectors are to increase operational efficiency. Compartments generally are just behind one of the rear passenger doors.
KEEPERLESS CARGO HOOK
‘Black swans’: unlikely events, unparalleled dangers By Joel Achenbach The Washington Post
Disaster bureaucrats talk about black swans: calamities from out of the blue, terrible and strange. The world is now transfixed by the black swan disaster of Japan — an earthInside quake larger • Stranded than seismoloin Japan’s gists thought danger zone, could happen in Page A3 that part of the country, leading to a tsunami too big for the sea walls, and now a nuclear crisis that wasn’t supposed to be possible. “People talk about the Big One. This is it,” said Tom O’Rourke, a Cornell professor of civil and environmental engineering and a member of the federal Advisory Committee for Earthquake Hazard Reduction. “This is what the Big One looks like. We’ve had an imaginative idea of what the Big One would be like if it struck a major, populated, modern society.” See Disaster / A8
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Cargo slipped off some of the old hooks, according to the Forest Service, so the requirement is a safety addition. Photo by Ryan Brennecke / The Bulletin Graphic by Mugs Scherer / The Bulletin
Copter owners say cost of upgrades will reduce available fleet Junction City. “The last couple years have been slower; they haven’t had as many fires, so it’s not a big deal. But if they have a bigger (fire) season. …” Jennifer Jones, spokeswoman with the Forest Service’s National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, said it’s too soon to determine if the new regulations will shrink the available helicopter fleet enough to cause concern. Bids for the agency’s solicitation for call-when-needed helicopters were due only last week for the Oregon and Washington region, so officials don’t yet know if there will be any impact, she said. Jones added that she can’t
By Kate Ramsayer The Bulletin
New U.S. Forest Service standards for some firefighting helicopters could require contractors to spend as much as $50,000 per helicopter to upgrade the aircraft. Some in the helicopter industry say the high cost of upgrades could reduce the number of helicopters in the “callwhen-needed” pool come fire season. “My guess is they’re just going to have less helicopters available to them,” said John Henderson, owner of Henderson Aviation, which operates out of the Redmond Airport as well as
speculate on what the agency would do if it did find itself short of that particular type of helicopter during a busy fire season, but said it would be unlikely that the Forest Service would ease up on the safety requirements. “We do plan pretty carefully for our aviation resources,” she said, “being mindful that we have exclusive-use contracts as well.” The Forest Service has different kinds of contracts with helicopter operators. Exclusive-use contracts guarantee helicopter operators a certain amount of pay for a certain number of days during fire season. The For-
est Service relies primarily on exclusive-use craft, Jones said. Call-whenneeded contracts create a kind of reserve pool, in which the agency pays operators to make choppers available as needed to dump water or retardant on bigger fires or to transport firefighters. The new standards apply only to call-when-needed contracts, Jones said. And they apply only to the Type III, smaller type of helicopters used for dropping between 100 and 300 gallons of retardant and transporting up to eight firefighters. See Helicopters / A6
Twitter backlash: joyous tweets and the envy they bring By Amy Harmon New York Times News Service
@emilyolson: And ... I’m eating a taco next to Danny DeVito. #sxsw @jacobwe: Should I go to Google Party? Tired, but also hungry. #Davos Twitter users are tiring of it: the pang of envy that comes when someone they
are following on the social networking site is clearly having a better time than they are — right now. Recent tweets from attendees at elite conferences like TED and the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, have prompted bitter ripostes, accusing the authors of showing off rather than shar-
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Vol. 108, No. 78, 66 pages, 6 sections
ing. (From @davewiner: “can’t breathe their air, don’t want their tweets.”) Even those tweeting from warm weather spots have felt the jealous wrath — or “jealz,” in Twitter shorthand— of followers stuck in frosty climes. (@Courtni_ROSE: “I get it already!!!!”) And this week, as thousands of the
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nation’s Twitterati gathered at the South by Southwest technology and music festival in Austin, Texas, their exhaustive, real-time accounts of barbecue, beta tests and Jake Gyllenhaal sightings have prompted a backlash by those not in attendance. See Twitter / A6
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LIBYA: Gadhafi announces cease-fire; rebels say attacks continue, Page A2