Is Bend, Oregon on its way to becoming known as the national capital of weirdness?
This morning at sunrise, Kent Couch took off from his gas station at Highway 20 and 27th Street in a lawn chair suspended from more than 150 giant helium balloons in an attempt to fly 300 miles across Oregon to Idaho.
Couch, you’ll remember, tried the feat last summer but made it only 193 miles to La Grande before he ran low on helium and came down in the sagebrush. He’s equipped with a parachute (good idea), a BB gun to pop balloons if he needs to lose altitude, and 15 gallon jugs of Kool-Aid as ballast.
This morning’s dramatic launch was covered live by The Oregonian and picked up by The AP’s national wire, which sent the story across the country. Even the Tampa Bay Tribune ran an item, although it inexplicably said Couch was from Grant’s Pass.
If you’re interested, you can track the progress of Couch’s flight on his website. As The Eye writes this, he has made it as far as Prineville.
Meanwhile, Thomas Beatie, Bend’s Famous Pregnant Man, gave birth to a healthy baby girl last Sunday at St. Charles Medical Center. According to a People magazine video report, the baby, who has been named Tracy, was delivered normally, not by Caesarean section, and father/mother and baby are now at home and doing fine.
Back in the day, Bend used to be known as “Bend the Beautiful.” Now it seems we’re aiming for a new title: “Bend the Bizarre.”
This article appears in Jul 3-9, 2008.
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Bend is a pretty bizarre place, however were a town of many milestones. A pregnant Man that gives birth, will only make this place more popular now.
Let’s not forget Paul Karason, the infamous blue man who lived in Bend.
bugs me about “the guy” having a baby. He went thru a sex change but kept his “female organs”. He’s still a she…. theres no miracle here
And the highest percentage of street beggars per capita
Bend is very far from being “national capital of weirdness”. My dears, you really must explore more of the world (or at least the US…if you find the happenings mentioned here bizarre, prepared to be shocked. CA, anyone?). The fact that a few people whom some find “strange” reside here, does not in any way distinguish Bend as “weird”, “bizarre”, “strange”, or otherwise. In fact, Bend’s lack of these elements actually makes it (in my opinion, please take no offense) a pretty dull place to live. In all honesty, if I had the means to move I would.
In conclusion, if you find Bend to be a bizarre town, I suggest you be prepared for the overwhelming strangeness the rest of the world will present to you.
Just some food for thought, my dears.
I would like to add – in response to Pablo – the Bend does not have nearly as many homeless people residing here as many other cities in the United States(per capita or otherwise). If you wish to make statements as such, please provide a reference to a reliable resource which supports said statement.
Good day.
Last time I checked, a dude-ette packing a vagina is not a man. What happens if this abomination commits a felony, goes to prison? Which prison does he/she/it/they/what/? go to? If it’s a male prison, can you imagine all the incarcerated Happy Campers?
Bend has always been a place for one of kind mavericks, weirdos and empty shell casings… No one in their right mind would move here…
I believe “no one in their right mind would move here” for quite the opposite reason.
Dear Sylvia, The current estimate of homeless in Bend is 3,000 to 3,500 individuals. You do the simple math based on total Bendites and “OMG!!!”, it easily exceeds, on a per capita basis the national average. Let’s hear your new rebuttal (the last one had no facts to back up your ramblings)
Dear Pablo –
When you cite a statistic you have to give an attribution or it’s just more bullsh@t. Don’t be calling out Sylvia with some made up stat or you are going to the woodshed!
So, Sylvia, why did you come here in the first place? Or were you born here?
OOHHH, The woodshed! I think I might like that ….wood in a shed….mmmmm
On it’s way? Son, that boat left the harbor around 1977.
My mother lives here and in recent years had taken seriously ill – I came to Bend to help her out. Now that she is recovering (she beat breast cancer), I would like to move, but cannot afford to.
To Pablo, please back up these stats with a reference.
Though no specific city is listed, the Nevada Department of Health and Human Resources government site(‘http://dhhs.nv.gov/’), states in a PDF file(‘http://dhhs.nv.gov/ICH/docs/2008-04-08Alternatives_for_Homelessness.pdf’, see the slide “State Policy Issue”) that “Nevada leads the 50 states in the union with the highest per capita rate of homelessness”.
Also, my last post was fairly short because I accidentally posted without finishing, and did not have time to correct said post. However, I figured that it wasn’t necessary to add on the reasons why Bend is far from “a place for one of kind mavericks, weirdos and empty shell casings”.
Good Day
Sylvia: Sorry you got stuck here, but I’m glad your mother is better.
I don’t know your age or marital status, but I imagine Bend would not be the most terrific place for a young single person to live, socially speaking. I was 39 and married when I moved here, so I didn’t mind the lack of a singles scene (even more so then than now).