Eric Flowers

editor@tsweekly.com
Posted inNews

Muddying The Waters: Mirror Pond sedimentation offers no easy solutions

Eric Flowers

Before event organizers moved the Pole Pedal Paddle
upstream to the Old Mill in 2004 it wasn't unusual to spot
frustrated canoeists and kayakers trying to free their boats from the muck that had gathered just inches underneath the surface of Mirror Pond. Today boaters know better than to venture out of the narrow channel when they paddle Mirror Pond, if they paddle at all.
The iconic feature that has framed many a postcard and just happens to adorn the label of Bend's flagship beer is being choked to death by sediment. But fixing the problem involves more than just scooping out a few shovelfuls of dirt.
Initial estimates to dredge the pond run between $2 million and $5 million at a time when the city of Bend doesn't have cash to support basic services like buses and road maintenance. And while the city has taken the lead on solutions for our disappearing pond, officials now say they aren't going to foot the bill or subsidize a solution with staff time.

Posted inOpinion

“Green” Developers’ Scorched-Earth Tactics

Eric Flowers

To hear the developers of the Metolian tell it, they're the greenest, tree-huggingest, Earth-lovingest guys who ever walked the planet.

But the tactics the developers and their supporters have been employing look more like a scorched-earth policy. They seem to have adopted William Tecumseh Sherman as their role model instead of John Muir.
A little background: The Metolian is the smaller of two destination resorts originally proposed for development within the Metolius Basin. Responding to the pleas of thousands of lovers of this irreplaceable scenic, recreational and ecological resource, Gov. Ted Kulongoski asked the state Land Conservation and Development Commission to draw up a plan for its protection.
The LCDC plan would allow limited development of both resorts within the basin in exchange for the rights to put larger resorts outside it. Ponderosa Land and Cattle Co., the owner of the land where the bigger resort was supposed to go, apparently feels it can live with that deal. But Dutch Pacific Resources LLC, which wants to develop the Metolian, is fighting the plan because it would be able to build only two residences in the basin if a site can be found elsewhere for its "eco-resort."

Posted inOpinion

Take A Memo: Our favorite interrogations, Chavez’s handshake, Cletus, and more

The author has been sent on the road to discover a lost country formerly known as America. He is reporting from a garbage dump, after
Eric Flowers

The author has been sent on the road to discover a lost country formerly known as America. He is reporting from a garbage dump, after cleaning up cigarette butts, patchouli packaging, and signage from recent "Earth Day" events statewide, on assignment for Or-Bust.com and The Source Weekly.
Waterboarded, How Many Times?
"If you look at what this really comprises, if you look at the documents that have been made public, it says 'top secret' at the top. The definition of top secret is information which, if revealed, would cause grave harm to U.S. security." offered former CIA top-snoop-chief Michael Hayden, when informed that the Obama Administration has released details of top secret (i.e. over-the-top) interrogation (= torture) techniques. Among the memos released was the disturbing acknowledgement that two top al Qaeda suspects were waterboarded at least 266 times. 266 - one was drowned (all in jest) for over 30 seconds at a time. Good thing Bush reassured us that "America does not torture." While releasing the memos, Obama staffers noted that those involved in the actual techniques should not be prosecuted yet deftly did not include immunity for those who drafted the techniques, like Hayden, John Yoo, and others in the Bush-Cheney junta all too eager to cite "security" and "terror" as reasons why BDSM at the CIA should go undisclosed.

Posted inOpinion

Leaving Downtown: Contemplating the end of an era and a dream

Mid-morning. Spring. A low gray sky. Snowflakes dive-bomb my windshield. I turn into the Mirror Pond parking lot. I pull into a slot on the
Eric Flowers

Mid-morning. Spring. A low gray sky. Snowflakes dive-bomb my windshield. I turn into the Mirror Pond parking lot. I pull into a slot on the south-end and turn off the ignition. Sitting under the park's white arbor are two punks in soiled white hooded sweatshirts, hoods up, shoulders hunched. One is smoking. Both are on their cell phones. Swell. Something about the irony of so much white. The punks are part of the daily dealing and scoring scene back here on Brooks Street.

I grab my purse and brown bag lunch. The countdown has begun. One week. Six days. Santee Alley the store my store closes. Empty. Gone from this very downtown. I am part of a battalion of Bend boutiques, retail businesses and restaurants morphing into ghosts of commerce. There's no solace though in the "strength in numbers while heading into war" theory. This war is like a Chinese proverb, both understood and not, all at the same time. I lock the car and look around knowing the weather will keep "Parking Nazi" from patrolling. No need to pay for a parking voucher today. Sweet. Another seven dollars not spent.

Posted inOpinion

Mr. Saturday Night Special

This afternoon, I thought of writing a letter pointing out that every gunman responsible for his share of last month’s carnage had the legal right
Eric Flowers

This afternoon, I thought of writing a letter pointing out that every gunman responsible for his share of last month's carnage had the legal right to own a gun. The officers killed in Pittsburgh? Their shooter was a registered gun owner. The eight killed at a nursing home in North Carolina? He owned his gun legally. The family of five killed in Washington? The ten in Alabama? The shooters were all signed off as responsible citizens with full rights to their firearm.
But we've all heard the comebacks: guns don't kill people, people do. If someone set someone else on fire with gasoline, do you outlaw gasoline? I thought, yah, enough of that debate. It never goes anywhere.

Posted inOpinion

Rent Vs. Reality

I start by saying I love the Source Weekly-it brings some great things to light. Like the article a couple of weeks ago about homelessness
Eric Flowers

I start by saying I love the Source Weekly-it brings some great things to light. Like the article a couple of weeks ago about homelessness in Deschutes County.

Posted inOpinion

A Slippery Slope

Ostensibly, the potential implementation of DUI checkpoints/roadblocks in Oregon is a righteous moral mission undertaken by the state to liberate sober drivers from the overwhelming
Eric Flowers

Ostensibly, the potential implementation of DUI checkpoints/roadblocks in Oregon is a righteous moral mission undertaken by the state to liberate sober drivers from the overwhelming threat of tyrannical, legally drunk drivers on the road and unburden taxpayers of the associated costs of consequent accidents. Similarly, the pretext for the U.S. invasion of Iraq was to liberate oppressed Iraqi individuals, spread democracy, displace a brutal, threatening dictator and encourage freedom across the globe.
In both cases, these claims look great on paper. But anyone who hasn't surrendered or atrophied her natural capacity for critical thought and who has but a vague awareness of historical events beyond the weekly conclusions of American Idol, can see that beneath these official motives lies a thinly cloaked impetus of some kind.

Posted inOpinion

Don’t Knock Our Coast

I think that Bruce Miller should explore the entire Oregon Coast before he forms an opinion. The Oregon Coast has one of the most different
Eric Flowers

I think that Bruce Miller should explore the entire Oregon Coast before he forms an opinion. The Oregon Coast has one of the most different forms of landscapes of any coastlines in the world.

Posted inFood & Drink

Little Bites: On The Upswing

On The Upswing
Eric Flowers

We’re not ready to call the Great Bend Restaurant Shakeout over just yet, but lately we’ve been hearing more about restaurants opening than closing. Following a wholesale massacre that brought down dining titans Merenda, Deep, as well as Volo, Bistro Corlise and, earlier, Blue Fish Bistro, the downtown scene is poised for a rebound of sorts. Over on the corner of Minnesota and Wall the former Merenda staff, led by Mike Millette, is putting the finishing touches on their new and retooled restaurant, dubbed 900 Wall. Millette said the business is tentatively scheduled to open its doors on May 6.

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