A wing and a pen
Balloons Over Bend In this sky this weekend
Aviators turned authors, a Sisters couple reflect on years flying the Arctic • COMMUNITY, B1
LOCAL, C1
WEATHER TODAY
SATURDAY
Sunny, warmer High 87, Low 48 Page C8
• July 23, 2011 75¢
Serving Central Oregon since 1903 www.bendbulletin.com
Out of the Tour, ready for what’s next
Hey, llama’s owner! Stick your neck out and call the sheriff!
Interviewing Chris Horner
• SPORTS, D1
Part bar. Part bike.
All legal.
How Bend’s Cycle Pub passes the road test
New tax deferral limits surprise Legislators’ mortgage fixes leave some seniors hanging By Sheila G. Miller
By Megan Kehoe
The Bulletin
The Bulletin
Joan Snyder opened her mailbox three weeks ago to find an envelope from the Oregon Department of Revenue about a state program she participates in that defers property taxes for qualifying elderly and disabled people. It contained a twopage application that took her three hours to complete. Confused by one piece of the application, Snyder called the revenue department. That’s when she discovered that she and other holders of reverse mortgages will no longer be allowed to defer their property taxes at all. Snyder, 73, is one of thousands of Oregonians likely to be affected by the 2011 Legislature’s decision to restrict the Senior and Disabled Property Tax Deferral program, which is designed to help poor senior citizens remain in their homes. The Legislature made the changes to help with the state’s budget crunch, but now legislators acknowledge the cuts may have unintended consequences. Up to now, the program required that applicants be at least 62 and prove an annual taxable income of no more than $39,500. The program now sets more limits on who can qualify: A person’s net worth cannot exceed $500,000; a person must have lived in the home at least five years and have homeowner’s insurance; and the real market value of the home can’t be more than 100 percent of the county median real market value. See Deferred / A6
“Bahama the Llama” has been in the custody of the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office since June 16, when he was picked up while roaming through northwest Redmond. The county would like nothing more than to free him and, to that end, would like his owner to come forward. Bahama, a nickname given by the Sheriff’s Office, is an un“Bahama the nuetered male Llama,” found between 3 and in Redmond. 5 years old. The shaggy, brown llama has been at the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office Livestock Rescue and Shelter since officers detained him. Before he was picked up, Bahama spent several months wandering near state Highway 126 and west of Northwest 101st Street. Prior attempts to capture him had been unsuccessful. It’s unknown why Bahama was on the lam, but county officials suspect financial hardship may be to blame. “We’re finding that a lot of people are not quick to claim animals because of climbing hay prices,” said county spokeswoman Anna Johnson. “But we’re hoping that’s not the case here.” Bahama’s owners have 29 more days to file a claim with the Sheriff’s Office. Otherwise, authorities will try to find him a new home, following procedures associated with found property laws, according to Lt. Shane Nelson. See Llama / A6
INDEX Abby
B2
Local
C1-8
Business
C3-5
Movies
B3
Classified
E1-6
Obituaries
C7
Comics
B4-5
Sudoku
B5
Community B1-6
Sports
D1-6
Crosswords B5, E2
Stocks
C4-5
Editorial
TV listings
C6
B2
Clarification In a story headlined “Bus stops now meet accessibility standards,” which appeared Thursday, July 21, on Page A1, the deadline for when the city of Bend needed to bring its transit system up to Americans With Disabilities Act standards was not fully explained. The city had until 2012 to make its bus stops ADA-compliant. It had until 2014 to fix sidewalks and curb ramps next to the bus stops.
Photos by Pete Erickson / The Bulletin
Patrons eat and drink on the go Friday, pedaling through downtown Bend on the Cycle Pub. The concept is thought to be unique to Central Oregon, to the point that the traveling bar’s status under the law is murky. However, it is, by city standards, perfectly legal — so hop on and enjoy a drink (but bring your own).
By Scott Hammers • The Bulletin
P
art bar, part bicycle, the Cycle Pub is all but
Too late for a debt deal?
unchallenged for the title of the most extraordinary vehicle on the streets of Bend.
Roughly 20 feet long and bearing a passing resemblance to a San Francisco cable car, the Cycle Pub features 12 barstools, six on either side of a bar running down the middle. A driver sits in front with a steering wheel, and passengers work the pedals under each barstool to propel the Cycle Pub, most often enjoying glasses of beer as they go. Most evenings this summer, owner James Watts’ two Cycle Pubs have been slowly making the circuit from their home base at GoodLife Brewing on Century Drive, past 10 Barrel Brewing on Galveston, and onward to the several brewpubs downtown.
Oregon Liquor Control Commission spokeswoman Joy Evensen said Bend’s two Cycle Pubs are thought to be the only ones of their kind in the state — and, as such, their status in the eyes of the law is slightly murky. But because the Cycle Pub does not sell hard liquor — passengers supply their own food and drink — it requires no license from the OLCC, Evensen said. The agency has received a few inquiries from people looking to set up similar operations elsewhere in the state, she said, but the legal status of a Cycle Pub is a matter for local governments. See Cycle Pub / A6
“This isn’t Las Vegas. ... I’m trying to keep an upscale, highbrow, classy image around town.” — James Watts, who owns the two Cycle Pubs, meaning heavy drinkers aren’t his target customer base
By Ezra Klein and Dylan Matthews The Washington Post
HOW IT WORKS The 20-foot-long “Cycle Pub” features 12 barstools. A driver steers the vehicle as passengers work the pedals under their stools — all while enjoying food and cool beverages.
Troubled Mars mission has a date, and a destination By Kenneth Chang New York Times News Service
We use recycled newsprint The Bulletin An Independent Newspaper
MON-SAT
Vol. 108, No. 204, 74 pages, 7 sections
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House Speaker John Boehner abandoned talks with the White House on Friday over a landmark debt-reduction deal, throwing into chaos efforts A N A L Y S I S to raise the legal limit on government borrowing just 11 days before the U.S. Treasury is due to run out of cash. Facing the specter of the government’s first default, a furious President Barack Obama summoned congressional leaders to the White House for an emergency morning meeting. Five proposals are in the works to avoid default — though some aren’t likely to pass, and others won’t even get as far as a vote. Read on for a synopsis of the deals that Congress is considering to raise the debt limit, ranked (as of Friday night) from most to least likely. See Debt deals / A3
NASA computer image
NASA has chosen Mars’ Gale Crater for the rover’s landing, which will happen in August 2012. Why? One of the dots in the middle intrigued scientists — it may, in fact, be one of the tallest mountains we can examine.
NASA’s next Mars rover — the ambitious, beleaguered, delayed Mars Science Laboratory — finally has a destination. Mission scientists announced Friday that the rover, a nuclear-powered vehicle the size of a small SUV, would head to Gale Crater, a 96-mile-wide depression near the Martian equator. What attracted them there is a mountain that rises upward nearly three miles at the center, making it taller,
for example, than Mount Rainier, outside Seattle. “The thing about this mountain is it’s not a tall spire,” Dr. John Grotzinger, the project scientist, said at a news conference at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington. “It’s a broad, low, moundlike shape. What it means is we can drive up it with a rover. So this might be the tallest mountain anywhere in the solar system that we could actually climb with a rover.” In addition, the rover — which can travel
as far as 14 miles — will explore what may well have once been a river gorge like the Grand Canyon and will climb hundreds of yards up the central mountain. Scheduled to launch after Thanksgiving, the Mars Science Laboratory — less formally known as Curiosity — is to arrive on Mars the following August, landing on the flat portion of the crater. The area is covered by sediments that were probably washed there by flowing water long ago. See Rover / A6