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JULY 4, 2012

Golf’s growth initiative • D1

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$29 million park bond to be on fall ballot 500 local By Scott Hammers The Bulletin

New trails, a covered ice rink, safe passage through the Colorado Dam spillway and more will be on Bend ballots in November.

Guns draw increasing attention as wildfire catalysts

acres sold to benefit schools Ready, load, explode

The board of the Bend Park & Recreation District made it official Tuesday, voting unanimously to put a $29 million bond measure before voters. District Director Don Horton said it will mark the

first time the district has asked residents to approve a bond to fund new improvements. For a home with an assessed value of $200,000, a park district resident would pay $48 per year to

fund the bond. Trail improvements would consume 41 percent of the bond dollars, Horton said, allowing for the completion of the Deschutes River Trail. See Bond / A4

FOURTH OF JULY

• State auctions Deschutes, Crook, Jefferson parcels for $662,000 By Lauren Dake The Bulletin

SALEM — The state recently sold more than 500 acres of land in Central Oregon in an attempt to get rid of some of its least valuable property and create more money for the state’s Common School Fund. “We’re trying to cherry-pick the ones that are lowest-performing and small and harder to manage,” said John Russell, the asset manager with the Department of State Lands. The properties, which included more than 230 acres in Crook County, 160 acres in Deschutes County and 120 acres in Jefferson County, were sold in a public auction, raking in more than $662,000. The move is part of a strategy to rid the state’s portfolio of land that isn’t producing much revenue and target property with more potential. “We’re refining our direction and really it’s all about trying to increase returns to the Common School Fund,” Russell said. The fund has distributed more than $300 million to Oregon’s schools since 2000. The state also owns about 640 acres in southeast Bend, outside city limits, that it’s trying to annex into the city. The same goes for large parcels outside of Redmond. There, the state owns 950 acres it wants to be included in the urban growth boundary so it can be used for industrial use. And outside Prineville, the state has 160 acres it would like to see included within city limits so it can develop or sell the property at a higher value. See Land / A4

By Nicholas K. Geranios and Brian Skoloff The Associated Press

SPOKANE, Wash. — Campfires, fireworks and even lit cigarettes can spark wildfires. In the tinder-dry West, there is growing concern about the threat from guns. This year, officials believe target shooting or other firearms use sparked at least 21 wildfires in Utah and nearly Inside a dozen in • Air Force Idaho. Shoottankers ing is also beback in lieved to have the air, A3 caused fires in Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico. Those concerns come as states grapple with ways to cut the risk of new fires ahead of the Fourth of July holiday when many people fire their guns to celebrate the nation’s independence. Officials have been asking the public to scale back shooting as legions of firefighters contend with one of the busiest and most destructive wildfire seasons to ever hit the West. In Utah, Republican Gov. Gary Herbert took the unusual step of authorizing the top state forest official to impose gun restrictions on public lands after a gunfire-sparked fire. The official is expected to do so within days. Herbert said his decision doesn’t limit gun rights but is a commonsense response to dry conditions. Guns rights advocates, meanwhile, were skeptical that firearms use can cause so many wildfires. Clark Aposhian, chairman of the Utah Sports Shooting Council, said that perhaps 5 percent of the wildfires in the state have been caused by target shooters this year. “I don’t know how much of a problem it really is,” he said. See Guns / A4

Tibetan monks tackle science By Tim Sullivan The Associated Press

Ryan Brennecke / The Bulletin

Pat Olsen, the lead pyrotechnician for Homeland Fireworks, prepares to load a series of shells Tuesday for tonight’s grand finale while setting up for the Fourth of July fireworks display on Pilot Butte. The display will be launched from the top of Pilot Butte in Bend starting at 10 p.m.

Other fireworks displays • La Pine at 10 p.m.; the meadow near Third and Walker streets • Madras at 10 p.m.; Sahalee Park at Seventh and B streets

• Prineville at 10 p.m.; the viewpoint off U.S. Highway 26 • Redmond at 10 p.m.; Deschutes County Fair & Expo Center, 3800 S.W. Airport Way; gates open at 7 p.m.

SARAH, India — The shouts of more than a dozen Tibetan monks echo through the small classroom. Fingers are pointed. Voices collide. When an important point is made, the men smack their hands together and stomp the floor, their robes billowing around them. It’s the way Tibetan Buddhist scholars have traded ideas for centuries. Among them, the debate-asshouting match is a discipline and a joy. But this is something different. Evolutionary theory is mentioned — loudly. One monk invokes Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle. Another shouts about neutrinos. In an educational complex perched on the edge of a small river valley, in a place where the Himalayan foothills descend into the Indian plains, a group of about 65 Tibetan monks and nuns are working with American scientists to tie their ancient culture to the modern world. See Tibet / A4

Also ... Fireworks explained, A2 • Events and parades, B3 • Holiday closures, C1 • The Fourth by the numbers, E1

Blaming the brain for chronic back pain By Sarah C.P. Williams ScienceNOW

The vast majority of adults have had a sore back at some point in their lives. If they’re lucky, the pain subsides after a few days or weeks. But for some, whose initial inju-

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ries appear no different than the fortunate ones, back pain lasts for years. Now, researchers have discovered a difference in brain scans between the two groups of patients that appears early in the course of the pain. The finding could lead to

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Vol. 109, No. 186, 32 pages, 6 sections

not only ways of identifying patients who are the most at risk for long-term pain but to new treatments for chronic pain. “This is the very first time we can say that if we have two subjects who have the same type of in-

jury for the same amount of time, we can predict who will become a chronic pain patient versus who will not,” says neuroscientist Vania Apkarian of Northwestern University, who led the new work. See Pain / A4

INDEX Business Calendar Classified

E1-4 B3 F1-4

Comics B4-5 Community B1-6 Crosswords B5, G2

Editorials C4 Local News C1-6 Obituaries C5

Altaf Qadri / The Associated Press

Tibetan Buddhist monks work on their laptops at an educational complex in Sarah, India. For six hours a day, six days a week, professors from Emory University in Atlanta teach everything from basic math to advanced neuroscience.

TODAY’S WEATHER Sports D1-6 Stocks E2-3 TV & Movies B2

Mainly sunny High 76, Low 44 Page C6