Bulletin Daily Paper 01/11/12

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In step with shoe clubs • E1

Strange days at area golf courses D1 •

JANUARY 11, 2012

WEDNESDAY 75¢

Serving Central Oregon since 1903 www.bendbulletin.com

Walden blasts FEMA, defends county on grant funds By Andrew Clevenger The Bulletin

WASHINGTON — Rep. Greg Walden, R-Hood River, has thrown his support behind Deschutes County in its dispute with the Federal Emergency Management Agency over the interpretation and application of a fire-prevention

High court hears Idaho case pitting landowners against EPA

grant. In a letter dated Jan. 6 that was released Tuesday, Walden wrote to FEMA Administrator W. Craig Fugate that the county should be praised for finding ways to stretch the grant money in order to clear more acres of trees and brush to prevent potentially cata-

strophic wildfires in residential areas. “The county should be commended for being careful with the public’s hard-earned money; instead your agency is seeking to punish them for its outside-the-box thinking,” Walden wrote. “This is exactly the kind of bureaucratic think-

ing that makes taxpayers lose their faith in government agencies.” In 2007 and 2008, Deschutes County, along with Crook and Klamath counties, received a total of $6.7 million from FEMA in pre-disaster mitigation grants. See FEMA / A5

Walden

How low snow? is the

The Bulletin

TOP NEWS

Snowpack for water year 2012 The area’s snowpack is at 38 percent KEY of average and about 20 percent of peak. Water year 2012 Snowpack is at 32 percent of 2011 levels. Water year 2011 Average 1971 to 2000

Jan.10

30 inches

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DEATH: N. Jersey loses top GOP lawmaker, A5

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Note: Water years begin in October

Obituaries C5 Shopping E1-6 Sports D1-6 Stocks B3-4 Sudoku E5 TV & Movies E2

Andy Zeigert / The Bulletin

Prescription drug shortages worsen By Patricia Anstett Detroit Free Press

The Bulletin An Independent Newspaper Vol. 109, No. 11, 36 pages, 6 sections

MON-SAT

We use recycled newsprint

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Nancy Forrest, of Redmond, and Frank Massari, of Bend, go for a hike Tuesday at Virginia Meissner Sno-Park after deciding the footing was good enough to leave their snowshoes in the car. A dry end to 2011 left a low snowpack around the Deschutes and Crooked rivers basin, prompting the Natural Resources Conservation Service to warn Tuesday of possible water shortages come summer. As of Wednesday, the basin’s snowpack was 38 percent of average for this time of year, said Melissa Webb, a hydrologist for the agency in Portland. But with the basin’s five reservoirs holding about 75 percent of capacity and more storms likely this winter, “it is still early, and there still is time for recovery,” Webb said.

Source: Natural Resources Conservation Service

Sunny and cold High 35, Low 14 Page C6

Business B1-6 Classified F1-6 Comics E4-5 CrosswordsE5, F2 Dear Abby E3 Local News C1-6

By Lauren Dake The Bulletin

• It’s about 38 percent of average, but ‘there is still time for recovery’

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INDEX

• DeHoog is the only applicant for the circuit court job who did not get a rejection letter

Rob Kerr / The Bulletin

SYRIA: Assad vows to crush opposition, A3

TODAY’S WEATHER

Search for new judge narrows SALEM — Last week, the governor’s office sent seven rejection letters to local attorneys who were vying to replace retired Deschutes County Circuit Court Judge Stephen Tiktin. The eighth applicant, and the only attorney who did not receive a rejection letter, is Roger DeHoog, who works in the special litigation unit of the Oregon Department of Justice. Because Tiktin retired at the end of December, before his term expired, Gov. John Kitzhaber will appoint his successor. DeHoog confirmed he had not received a rejection letter from the governor’s staff, but neither had he been alerted to the possibility that he could be Tiktin’s replacement. “Certainly, I would be honored if I were, in fact, the finalist and chosen,” he said. “But I don’t have anything official yet, so I’m certainly eager to hear the governor’s decision — and I think I’ll hear that next week.” Members of the governor’s staff declined to say if a replacement had been chosen. They said the process, including background checks, was ongoing. “We’re working through our process to make the appointment to the Deschutes County Circuit Court,” said Steve Powers, deputy general counsel with the governor’s office. “The governor’s timeline is for a target appointment for (mid-January). And we’re on track to announce the appointment around that time.” See Judge / A6

By Andrew Clevenger

WASHINGTON — Because the Environmental Protection Agency can issue cease and desist orders without a hearing, two Idaho landowners had no opportunity to dispute the agency’s determination that their lot included federally protected wetlands before facing financially ruinous sanctions, the couple’s lawyer argued before Inside the U.S. Su• Justices preme Court tackle on Monday. indecency Mike and case, A3 Chantell Sackett dispute the EPA’s determination that their residential lot in a developed subdivision next to Priest Lake contains wetlands that are part of a larger water system, said Damien Schiff, the attorney with Sacramento-based Pacific Legal Foundation who represented them. But had they followed the EPA’s procedures, they would either have had to apply for a permit that they didn’t believe they needed before breaking ground, or face up to $37,500 a day in fines for violating a compliance order that they had no opportunity to contest in court. See EPA / A5

DESCHUTES COUNTY

Andre J. Jackson / Detroit Free Press

Theresa Hart feeds her mother, Ellen Phelan, who has Alzheimer’s. Hart is having a difficult time finding Adderall to treat her ADHD.

DETROIT — Theresa Hart has encountered major problems filling her prescription for Adderall, the hyperactivity medicine she has taken for 10 years. She, her pharmacist at Kroger in Lake Orion and her doctor spent months repeatedly calling around in search of a supply of the medicine. Finally, Hart decided to try a similar drug, Vyvanse, but she doesn’t think it gives her the same fo-

cusing power as Adderall. Dr. Joel Young, Hart’s Rochester Hills psychiatrist and a hyperactivity disorder specialist, said he has patients who have to call five or six pharmacies just to get their medication. “It’s been terrible in the last quarter,” Young said. Prescription drug shortages — a national issue for the past few years — are getting worse, raising new safety concerns for patients, delaying treatment plans and even surgeries. See Drugs / A5

ANALYSIS

Elise Amendola / The Associated Press

GOP presidental hopeful Mitt Romney, with his wife and sons, waves during a rally in Manchester, N.H., on Tuesday.

New Hampshire puts Romney in the driver’s seat By Dan Balz The Washington Post

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Mitt Romney got virtually everything he needed out of the New Hampshire primary Tuesday night. He won a decisive victory that put him in a dominant position to win the Republican presidential nomi- Related nation, and he will move on to • Romney’s win leaves South Carolina with his opporivals in sition badly splintered and rundisarray, ning out of time to stop him. A3 The Palmetto State, which has far more evangelical Christians than New Hampshire does, will provide a different test for the former Massachusetts governor. But he will begin that contest in a stronger than expected position, based on his success in Iowa and New Hampshire and the disarray among his rivals. See Romney / A6


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