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JUNE 22, 2012
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Clarke says he only witnessed slaying
Brothers will be sent to Mexico • Their foster mother is ‘heartbroken’ that the boys’ deported dad will get custody By Sheila G. Miller The Bulletin
By Holly Pablo The Bulletin
Accused killer Richard Ward Clarke has sat silently during the past three weeks of his murder trial as witnesses close to him testified about his alleged anger problems. But a calm and amiable Clarke took the stand Thursday at Deschutes County Circuit Court to convince jurors he was only a witness to the crime. Dressed Clarke in a dark gray shirt, black tie and matching dress pants, Clarke took the oath, walked up to the witness stand and began recounting the events of Oct. 17, 2010, the day his roommate, Matt Fitzhenry, was killed. Jurors scribbled away on their notepads as they listened to Clarke’s testimony. The 27-year-old appeared confident and charming throughout direct examination, looking directly at the jury while speaking. See Trial / A5
Ryan Brennecke/The Bulletin/ File photo
Shylo and Michael Walker and their adopted son Eli, 4, sitting on Michael’s lap, play with their two foster children at their home.
The two brothers at the center of an adoption fight will be sent to Mexico next week. Shylo and Michael Walker, the boys’ foster parents, hoped to prevent their return to their biological father, who was deported to Mexico after pleading guilty to a domestic violence charge in 2010. “I’m just heartbroken. I’m devastated right now,” Shylo Walker said. “I can’t imagine them leaving, and only giving
us five days’ notice is not very considerate.” The Walkers, who live in Crooked River Ranch, have fostered the boys since September 2010, and said they had obviously suffered neglect at the hands of their biological parents. The boys’ mother, Melissa Ihrig, is in the Jefferson County jail awaiting trial on a slew of drug-related charges. She is likely to be sent to prison for several years, and had agreed to an open adoption with the Walkers.
But the Oregon Department of Human Services, which seeks to reunite biological families whenever possible, tracked down the boys’ father, Faustino Sanchez-Valerio, in the Mexican state of Veracruz. He first expressed interest in getting custody of his sons about eight months ago, and began having weekly phone calls with the boys. In previous interviews, the Walkers and Ihrig’s attorney said Sanchez-Valerio had not parented the boys before his deportation. One of the boys refers to him as “that man.” See Brothers / A5
MCKENZIE PASS OPENS FOR SEASON
‘Congress’ a word many candidates are avoiding By Rosalind S. Helderman The Washington Post
Across the country, something is missing from the campaign ads of men and women running for Congress: the word “Congress.” Likewise, “Senate,” “senator” and “representative” are making only rare cameos in these campaign ads. The absence is especially pronounced in the case of incumbents who are asking voters to re-elect them in November. “How do you go from working in a family seed business in Iowa to fighting for Iowans at the highest levels?” a narrator intones in an ad for Rep. Tom Latham, R-Iowa. The highest levels of what, exactly? The ad notes that Latham took “Iowa common sense” to Washington and voted against the stimulus package. But it never exactly spells out that he has served at the highest levels of the U.S. government — in Congress — since 1995. See Congress / A5
Pete Erickson / The Bulletin
Martin Loew, on vacation from Prague, Czech Republic, snaps a photo of a small tree growing from the lava during his visit Thursday to McKenzie Pass. The pass opened Thursday for cars and small trucks.
As fire threat grows, aircraft fleet shrinks By Jack Healy and Matthew L. Wald New York Times News Service
BROOMFIELD, Colo. — With a low roar, the 1954-vintage warplane barreled down the runway and heaved itself into the air, wobbling for a moment as its engines toiled to pull skyward. “They’re not exactly leaping off the runway,” said Paul Buxton-Carr, a Canadian pilot, as he watched the potbellied plane, designed to hunt submarines, climb toward its latest mission: dousing wildfires in the American West. As federal authorities confront the destructive start of what threatens to be one of the fiercest wildfire seasons in memory, they are relying on a fleet of ancient planes converted from other purposes to do the dangerous, often deadly, work of skimming the smoldering treetops to bomb fires with water and flame retardant. See Planes / A5
EXECUTIVE PRIVILEGE
A tricky situation for the president By David Nakamura The Washington Post
Colorado National Guard / John Rohrer / The Associated Press
An aircraft drops a load of fire retardant above the High Park wildfire near Fort Collins, Colo. The number of aircraft available to the firefighters has shrunk from 44 to nine in a decade.
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama’s decision Wednesday to assert executive privilege to shield his attorney general and the Justice Department from congressional investigators reignited a long-running Washington debate over the limits of White House power in which Obama has argued both sides. In 2007, Obama, then a senator with higher ambitions, chided President George W. Bush for employing his executive authority to block then-senior White House adviser Karl Rove from testifying before Congress in a scandal involving the firing of nine U.S. attorneys. See Privilege / A5
The Bulletin An Independent Newspaper Vol. 109, No. 174, 74 pages, 7 sections
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INDEX Business Calendar Classified Comics
E1-4 B3 F1-6 B4-5
CrosswordsB5, F2
Editorials C4 Family B1-6 Horoscope B3 Local News C1-6 Movies GO! 31
Obituaries C5 Oregon News C3 Sports D1-6 Stocks E2-3 TV B2
TODAY’S WEATHER
Showers High 68, Low 45 Page C6
Correction In a story headlined “Bend council puts windfall to work,” which appeared Thursday, June 21, on Page A1, the story’s headline gave an incorrect figure for the unexpected property tax revenue collected by the city of Bend. The correct figure is $1.18 million. The Bulletin regrets the error.
TOP NEWS SUPREME COURT: No decisions on health care, immigration, A3 EGYPT: Results delayed again, A3 TRIAL: Son alleges abuse, A3