A departure from the brew news and reviews this week to offer a congratulations to Silver Moon founder Tyler Reichert who along with his wife, Renee, celebrated the birth of their first child this past week. Reichert, who started Silver Moon as a home brew shop and tasting room off Division Street a decade ago, is the father of a bouncing baby girl, who as of our press deadline was still without a formal.
Eric Flowers
Posted inNews
What Happens in Wisconsin… Facing similar budget woes, Oregon prepares to tackle its own union issues
Adalia McDonald is bracing herself for the coming storm. A unemployment specialist in Bend, McDonald, like a lot of state employees, isn't sure exactly what her job or her paycheck is going to look like next year as the legislature prepares to take up a budget that continues to hemorrhage cash amidst the recession-stricken economy. That's a concern for McDonald, who is trying to help put two kids through college while keeping up with her own bills. But McDonald, who will take 10 unpaid days this year to help the state pinch its pennies, isn't holding out much hope that she and her fellow workers will be spared significant hardship.
Posted inFood & Drink
Little Bites: Pilot Butte Drive-In Eyes Westside – Lease Negotiations ongoing; Pine Tavern re-opens
Bend's king of burgers, Pilot Butte Drive-In, which also happens to feature a mean breakfast menu, is tentatively planning to open a new location on Bend's westside. Owner Bill Falconer told The Bulletin that the eastside dining stalwart is in the process of negotiating a lease somewhere near South Century Drive and could have a deal in hand soon that would allow Pilot Butte to begin serving its popular burgers, fries and shakes soon on the westside.
Posted inFood & Drink
Taste of the Town Tonight and Tomorrow
One of Central Oregon's biggest gatherings of local restaurants happens this weekend at COCC's Mazama Gym with the Taste of the Town. The event which features food from Thyme, Anthony's 10 Below, Tate and Tate and Deschutes Brewery among others is a fundraiser for the COCC foundation that provides scholarships to students in Central Oregon.
Posted inCulture
Running the Table: Inaugural high school billiards league takes hold in the High Desert
The inaugural Bend high school pool league has taken root in Bend, thanks in large part to the efforts of Marshall Fox, owner of Fox's Billiards.
It's a little after four on a recent weekday afternoon and Carly Fristoe stands over what must look like a sea of green felt, surveying her next shot – what could be the winning stroke to close out her match against classmate Devon Holler, who hovers nearby hoping the match will be extended. Just a few feet away, patrons have packed the bar area and are chatting noisily over cocktails and post-work beers, oblivious that Fristoe and Holler are making state high school sports history.
Fristoe seems equally unfazed by the din of the bar area as she measures her shot, checking the angle with her cue before bending down and drawing on the eight ball. It's then that I'm reminded that this isn't the national nine-ball finals at the MGM Grand Casino as Fristoe scratches, stuttering forward with her cue instead of crisply and deliberately striking the ball. The tip of her cue rolls off the top of the white ball, which moves maybe an inch. Fristoe shrugs her shoulders and steps away and Holler moves in for the kill placing the cue ball behind the eight ball and cracking it into the corner pocket.
Posted inSpecial Issues & Guides
The Doctor: Clarence Carnahan
It's not that Clarence Carnahan doesn't know what to do with his golden years. Carnahan plays tennis twice a week. He likes to travel and play golf. But the 83-year-old doctor still makes the trip into the Veteran's Affairs (VA) office in Bend once a week to meet with ex-soldiers, some whose service dates back to World War II, to help them deal with the lingering effects of combat.
A veteran himself, Carnahan was drafted into the service during the Second World War, but gives little thought to his own service, which he describes as light duty. The men he has treated over the years as a VA psychiatrist are the heroes, Carnahan says.
Posted inSpecial Issues & Guides
The Teacher: Robert Tadjiki
Robert Tadjiki spends his days helping special needs students overcome disabilities by making sure that they focus on what they can do. A special education teacher at Bend High School, Tadjiki has been recognized for his outstanding work by the Oregon governor's office. In 2005, USA Today named Tadjiki to its annual teacher all-star list for his innovative approach to instruction. But it was a trip to China that truly expanded Tadjiki's horizons. There he met the director of a local orphanage who was selling traditional Chinese artwork in a public square. Tadjiki introduced himself and learned that the work was the product of Chinese orphans and that the proceeds were used to support the orphanage. The chance encounter led to the formation of a novel non-profit business, EChO (Educating Chinese Orphans) that is building schools for Chinese orphans, a la Greg Mortenson and Three Cups of Tea in Pakistan.
Posted inSpecial Issues & Guides
The Soldier: Ryan James Craig
The word “hero” is sometimes applied quite literally, which is the case with Madras native Ryan Craig.
He joined the Army after doing a stint as a carpenter and was nearly killed by a sniper's bullet that pierced his combat helmet during a patrol in Kabul. Ryan, 23, was scrambling to assist a pair of injured soldiers after his unit came under fire from insurgents when he was hit. A brawny young man who played both offensive and defensive line for the Madras High School football team, Ryan literally carried the big gun in his patrol, a .308 caliber, Mach 48, designed to pin down enemy soldiers and keep them hunkered.
Posted inOpinion
Give The Geese A Chance
It is encouraging that so many have responded to the Bend Park District's call for volunteers in its geese program.
The Park Volunteer Coordinator stated that she was “feeling really good about the quantity of volunteers who have stepped up” for this effort.
Posted inCulture
Keeping It Simple: Mario Sports takes the path of least resistance and gets results
For years the Mario Sports games have made an art out of simplicity. Where other sports videogames try to recreate the game’s action through elaborate controls, Nintendo has been taking away as many controls as possible. Instead of a gamebook full of rules and two fistfuls of buttons to handle, Mario Sports
games gave me a simple goal and a single button to push. The results – a series of stripped-down takes on tennis, golf, soccer and baseball – are all-ages friendly and surprisingly challenging.
So when I first saw Mario Sports Mix, I assumed it was a medley of past Mario Sports games – a four-for-one repackaging of Nintendo’s classic athletic adventures. But I don’t remember Mario playing dodgeball or volleyball. He has been affiliated with hockey in the past, but I’ve never seen the whole Mushroom Kingdom gang out on the ice. And while they’ve played basketball before, the tippity-tappity handheld Mario Hoops 3-on-3 is better forgotten.