FRIDAY
September 21, 2012
Serving Central Oregon since 1903
The shrinking power of wind BUSINESS • PAGE E1
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bendbulletin.com
Firefighters hope to keep flames from watershed
Since starting on Sept. 9, the Pole Creek Fire has burned nearly 25,000 acres southwest of Sisters.
The Bulletin
SISTERS — Fire lines should stop the Pole Creek Fire from burning closer to Sisters or into the Bend watershed, but it will likely continue to spread through wilderness at the foot of the Three Sisters, fire bosses said Thursday. “Truly the only thing that will put this out is some rain,” said Brian Watts, the incident commander for the fire. “And there is none of that in the forecast for the near future.” The largest fire in Central Oregon this year had burned through 24,392 acres, Watts told about 125 residents at a public meeting at Sisters Elementary School. The Pole Creek Fire is now 45 percent contained, he said, more than twice the area contained a couple of days ago.
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By Dylan J. Darling
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Pole Creek Fire
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THREE SISTERS WILDERNESS
• A plan to reduce fire risk in Whycus Canyon has been delayed by a dispute over grant money, C1
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Fire origin
While more than 1,200 firefighters remain assigned to the fire, Watts said, some crews have already been released as firefighting winds down. Crews strengthened fire lines in recent days by burning forest along Three Creeks Road, between the containment line and the wildfire, hoping to bar the fire’s advance to the north and east, Watts said. That should prevent it from reaching the Bridge Creek watershed, which supplies water for Bend, or subdivisions near Sisters. See Fire / A5
North Sister
Pole Creek Trailhead
DESCHUTES NATIONAL FOREST
Middle Sister
South Sister Green Lakes
Perimeter of fire on Thursday
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Completed bulldozer line
Three Creek Lake
MILES 0
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Broken Top
Sources: U.S. Forest Service
Bend gets OK to start pipeline
Greg Cross / The Bulletin
GETTING READY FOR THE LEADMAN
• Work on the water project is set for October after the Forest Service rejects an appeal to delay it By Hillary Borrud The Bulletin
The city of Bend is preparing to break ground in October on a $20.1 million upgrade of the city system to capture and deliver water from Bridge Creek following a favorable decision from the Forest Service earlier this week. Pacific Northwest Regional Forester Kent Connaughton on Tuesday upheld an earlier decision by the Deschutes National Forest that the city water project will not significantly impact federal lands. Bill Smith, Clarence Sanders and Central Oregon LandWatch had appealed the Forest Service decision on the project over the summer. Connaughton denied the appeal, paving the way for the Forest Service to issue the city a special-use permit for the water project. “Our intent is to move forward with construction,” City Manager Eric King said Thursday. “If we were to wait, we would have to essentially rebid out the project, as well as the resequencing of rebuilding Skyliners Road.” The city plans to replace sections of waterline beneath Skyliners Road before Deschutes County begins a road rebuilding project in spring 2013. Fall construction plans are part of a larger city surface-water project that could ultimately cost $68.2 million. Work in the fall would include a new water intake facility at Bridge Creek and a 10-mile-long pipeline through Forest Service land. If the project were delayed, the cost would be “significant,” King said. See Water / A6
Rob Kerr / The Bulletin
Elevation Tents and Events employee James Steel, 22, sets up one of several tents Thursday in Bend’s Old Mill District in preparation for the Leadman triathlon, scheduled for Saturday. The triathlon’s organizers are seeking volunteers to help with the event. Anyone interested should email rmansour@bendbroadband.com.
Mexican gang gets inside help to stage mass jailbreaks
FORCED LABOR
Florida county a ‘perfect storm’ of human trafficking
By Tim Johnson McClatchy Newspapers
By Brett Clarkson
MEXICO CITY — Needing to replenish its ranks, Mexico’s brutal Los Zetas crime gang has refined the tactic of springing hundreds of its members in mass jailbreaks. But unlike the Hollywood version, the jailbreaks don’t involve overcoming guards, crawling through dingy tunnels and scattering once outside the fence. Instead, scores of dangerous inmates simply walk or drive out the gates in cahoots with wardens and prison guards. The jailbreaks, including one this week in which 129 inmates fled a state prison near Piedras Negras, across from Eagle Pass, Texas, lay bare Mexico’s broken penitentiary system, where wardens either bend to organized crime or face death. See Jailbreaks / A6
Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel
MON-SAT
We use recycled newsprint
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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Recruited from the Philippines and other developing nations, the workers were promised jobs that paid $7.50 an hour as servers at the Polo Club of Boca Raton. It was a lie. After arriving in the U.S. with temporary work visas, they were shipped out in a pickup truck to a grubby trailer on the edge of the woods in Purvis, Miss., where they would work 12 hours a day, six days a week picking pine
The Bulletin An Independent Newspaper
Vol. 109, No. 265, 68 pages, 7 sections
straw, which is used to make mulch. At night, they slept in a filthy, unheated trailer with no potable water. It was November 2009 and there was snow on the ground. “We were afraid,” said Regie Tesoro, 35, one of the victims. “We didn’t even know about why these people were doing this to us — just for money.” Tesoro is one among thousands of victims of human trafficking, a crime federal investigators say is growing across the country — and in South Florida. Palm Beach County, with
its agriculture and tourism industries always on the lookout for low-cost labor, is a “perfect storm” for human trafficking, investigators say. “It’s a multibillion-dollar business,” said Carmen Pino, assistant special agent in charge of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Office of Homeland Security Investigations in Miami. “It’s everywhere.” Pino said the crime is creeping into everyday life in South Florida, even though many people might not realize it. See Trafficking / A6
INDEX Business Calendar Classified
E1-4 B3 F1-4
Crosswords B5, F2 Editorials C6 Family B1-6
Local News C1-8 Movies GO! 23 Obituaries C7
Unproductive, unloved Congress slinks out of town By David Lightman and William Douglas McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON — The most disliked, unproductive Congress in decades planned to leave Washington this week until after the November election, departing without agreements on virtually every big issue it deals with: taxes, defense, spending, farms, even post office policy. Lawmakers spent Thursday pointing fingers and charging opponents with cynical political posturing. Among Congress’ last decisions was a characteristic 2012 judgment: Punt action until later. It will let the farm bill, a broad measure that sets the nation’s agriculture and food and nutrition assistance policies, expire Sept. 30. Congress also exits without any serious effort to edge away from the “fiscal cliff,” the prospect of economy-damaging budget chaos if it doesn’t act by year’s end. Bush-era tax cuts are due to expire, and automatic spending cuts will take effect unless alternatives are passed. The public is noticing, as the legislative failures stir uncertainty and further roil an already-weak economy. See Congress / A5
TODAY’S WEATHER Sports Stocks TV
D1-6 E2-3 B2
Sunny High 82, Low 43 Page C8
TOP NEWS SYRIA: Bombs kill at least 30, A3 CHINA: Orchestrated protest? A4