Oregonian covers McCartney’s ‘Ram’ B1 •
FEBRUARY 11, 2012
Bend High girls clinch IMC • D1
SATURDAY 75¢
Serving Central Oregon since 1903 www.bendbulletin.com
Bills would ease timber counties’ fiscal limitations
Les Schwab workers win overtime suit By Jordan Novet The Bulletin
A jury verdict stood by assistant managers for Les Schwab Tire Centers in the state Tuesday in Multnomah County Circuit Court. The case revolves around the responsibilities and compensation of assistant managers who work for the tire retailer. The jurors concluded that salaried assistant managers worked 66 hours a week on av-
erage and believed they would be paid a fixed salary for the hours they worked, but weren’t eligible for overtime, according to the verdict. In the months to come, Judge Marilyn Litzenberger will determine the judgment, which will include how much overtime pay, penalties and interest assistant managers are entitled to. The verdict affects current and former assistant managers who worked at the company’s
A Les Schwab employee at a Bend tire center in 2009. The tire retailer plans to appeal Tuesday’s ruling in favor of assistant managers.
Oregon stores between September 2008 and Feb. 7. “It’s a lot of money. It’s multimillions of dollars,” said Jennifer Palmquist, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs in the class-action lawsuit. Les Schwab, a chain of more than 430 stores in the western United States, started in Prineville and is now based in Bend. The company wants to appeal the case. See Les Schwab / A7
funds to help pay for highway patrols. Currently, state law SALEM — Lawmakers plan requires such funds to be used to introduce measures next only for road infrastructure. week that could ease the fiscal The second bill would ease IN plight of rural counties depenrestrictions on the use of funds dent on timber payments. SALEM from the Department of Revenue “We are 10 days in a short that help cover costs of assessing (legislative) session and we’re and collecting taxes. To receive trying to find items we can take ac- such funding, counties must contribute tion on that can provide some or any a certain amount. The proposed legisassistance,” said Co-Speaker of the lation would allow qualifying counties House Bruce Hanna, R-Roseburg. to use the state’s money even if they The first proposed bill would let so- failed to pony up much of their own. See Counties / A6 called timber counties dip into road By Lauren Dake The Bulletin
Dean Guernsey The Bulletin file photo
New visa rules shut loopholes in oft-abused labor program
SNOWMOBILES — AT 100 MPH
By Andrew Clevenger The Bulletin
Rob Kerr / The Bulletin
Wearing a decorative helmet, Susie Fagen-Wirges, 60, of Bend, hits the throttle on her 800cc Polaris snowmobile Friday on the drag strip at the Frank Ellis Sno-park. Snowmobile drag races will feature a variety of racers today and Sunday at the sno-park west of Bend. Central Oregon Snowblasters president and event coordinator Matt Mahoney said some competitors will reach speeds of 100 mph on the head-to-head 500-foot track. He said the fastest machines crank 350 horsepower and weigh 500 pounds.
Swamped by phone thefts, police call on cell providers to allow remote shutdowns By Clarence Williams and Cecilia Kang The Washington Post
WASHINGTON — Police chiefs everywhere say that smartphone robberies are rocketing. They’ve offered cash rewards, set up decoy crews in subway stations and urged iPhone owners to be wary. But the robberies keep coming. Now, police are expressing their frustration in plain terms, publicly asking regula-
MON-SAT
We use recycled newsprint
U|xaIICGHy02329lz[
tors and wireless-network operators to allow stolen devices to be shut down remotely through unique identification numbers within them. That could make it less likely that robbers would point a gun at a victim, knock someone down or steal someone’s smartphone, officials say, because the device’s resale value would plummet. “This is a national issue,” D.C. Police Chief Cathy La-
“Thefts of mobile devices are growing at an alarming rate,” said FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski. Bloomberg News file photo
nier said Friday at a news conference. “We have done all we can at the local level.” Lanier, who says electronics-related crimes has “clobbered” her department, wants wireless companies to use existing technology to let people who report stolen phones ask their service providers to shut
The Bulletin An Independent Newspaper
Vol. 109, No. 42, 72 pages, 7 sections
them down using IMEI numbers, a unique registration akin to a fingerprint. The United Kingdom uses a similar system, Lanier said, and police officials in the United States are asking federal regulators to urge the industry to implement it here. See Phone / A6
Business Classified Comics
C3-5 F1-4 B4-5
Crosswords B5, F2 Dear Abby B3 Editorials C6
Horoscope Movies Obituaries
Viagra found to aid kids who develop rare cysts By Erin Allday San Francisco Chronicle
Stanford researchers may have found a drug for a rare and often untreatable disease that leaves children with massive, sometimes deadly, growths on their faces and necks. Here’s the twist: The drug is Viagra. In very early reports, sildenafil — best known under the brand name Viagra and sold as a treatment for erectile dysfunction — re-
TODAY’S WEATHER
INDEX B3 B2 C7
Sports D1-6 Stocks C4-5 TV B2, ‘TV’ mag
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor announced Friday that it is closing loopholes in a widely criticized employment program that paid four Oregon companies more than $7 million in 2010 to hire workers to complete forestry projects in Oregon. Under the H-2B visa program, which was part of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, companies could IN D.C. import foreign labor for nonagricultural seasonal work if they were unable to find Americans to fill the positions. Companies had to advertise only in states where the jobs “originated,” which often were not the states in which the work occurred. The companies could self-attest that they were unable to find U.S. workers before asking permission to hire foreign labor. This meant that people looking for work in Oregon, which had double-digit unemployment at the time, may never have learned about job openings for local forestry projects. In addition, state workforce agencies where the jobs “originated” failed to forward job openings to Oregon, as required. Consequently, local job seekers, who may have had forestry experience and expertise, had no way of knowing that the jobs existed. Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Springfield, demanded an investigation after reading a series of Bulletin articles about how four Oregon companies used the H-2B program to hire foreign workers in 2010. See Labor / A8
Early showers High 46, Low 20 Page C8
“Some of these kids have no other hope.” — Dr. Al Lane, pediatric dermatologist
duced the size of growths in three children with lymphatic malformation, a disease that causes spongy cysts to swell and clog up the lymphatic system. See Viagra / A7
TOP NEWS BIRTH CONTROL: To calm furor, Obama softens coverage rule, A3