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Letter of the Week 
This week's illustrious Letter of the Week award goes to Liz Nahnsen for bringing to our attention the exciting world of "Godvertising." 
As a resident on the Northwest side of town, I can't help but notice Westside Church's newish row of banners along Newport Avenue. Usually they are banal church advertising, but they are getting increasingly bold, and unpleasant. A few weeks ago the theme screamed at passing motorists "FAMILIES IN CRISIS," with a background of a man's ominous fist and some needles and stuff obviously depicting a drug theme.
Today I noticed the bravest signage yet: A photo of a man and woman's feet poking out from under bedcovers with a bright red caption "PURE SEX." I'm no prude, and as I write this I'm sure I'm creating just the sort of controversy the marketing folks at Westside Church are going for, but my dislike of these signs has little to do with the message. Although I strongly dislike fear or alarmist-based selling of anything (be it religion, political affiliations, or elliptical machines), what frosts my cupcakes about the Godvertising is that these banners loom over a huge block along Newport Avenue - a very popular and pretty walk/bike/drive. For those yet to experience these hulking morality memos, they are reminiscent of other innocuous ("Happy Holidays!" - city of Bend) or interesting ("You Can't Not Think" OPB), or informative ("0% Financing Until Your Children Graduate College!") except that 1) the signs are not voted on by representatives of the area, and 2) they are not displayed to the enrichment/education/entertainment of the population that views them regularly. I am not familiar with ordinances addressing such advertising on the business' own property, but legalities aside, how about a little consideration for those who just want to get from point A to point B without a graphic lecture?
Other businesses along this stretch have modest, informative, often humorous signage and are respectful of all the different sensibilities to be found on the west side. When the Westside Church complex completed building, we were excited to see evidence of a good neighbor: lovely landscaping with waterfall feature, an open volleyball court, and unobtrusive religious iconography on the property. I encourage them to be considerate of their diverse neighbors and keep the morality memos inside.
Liz Nahnsen

This letter is concerning the state of trail building and mountain bike development in the region and, most likely, will strike some nerves. For that, I apologize.
For many years, the COTA (Central Oregon Trail Alliance) has done an incredible job of building, maintaining and promoting the mountain bike trails in this region. This is the work of a handful of very dedicated people and the volunteers they have been able to mobilize. The area would not be the excellent biking destination it is today without these folks, and as a former cross country racer and dedicated rider, my hat is off to these people. There is no doubt that their efforts have directly influenced the economy of Bend.
That said, there is an issue on the horizon which is starting to cause grumbling and dissention among riders where it doesn't have to exist. And that is in the developing freeride style of biking. I am also a freerider and trail builder. While freeride mountain biking has been around for some time now (one look at the photos in any bike magazine will make that obvious,) it is a relatively new phenomenon to the Bend area. There are, however, a growing number of very accomplished riders in this area. This type of riding is growing in popularity, and while it has taken some time, the local riders are beginning to become organized. This type of riding, which can be available to all ability levels, does take a large amount of construction work to become sustainable. And the riders are willing to do this work: Witness the Lair, the Whoops trails, the Slalom Loop at Phil's trailhead, the now-defunct Powers Road area and several "hidden stashes" including the upcoming inclusion of the Cline Buttes downhill and dirt jump trails. These riders are also willing to travel to ride new exciting locations. That means there is the potential for this style of riding to be a benefit to the entire community.

I've written many letters in support of gay rights. On May 1 this year, one of my letters was published in the Source.

In the debate between intelligent design (ID) and evolution there is often an important element that is left out: The scientific method. And while there can be an endless debate on definitions of the word "science," it's important to remember how science is used to arrive at certain conclusions before we use it to conclude that some vague concept of intelligence created the universe.
It's logical to conclude that for something to be "scientific," someone used the scientific method to come to that conclusion. And what is the scientific method? If we remember from elementary school, roughly it is observation, hypothesis, prediction, experimentation, and conclusion. Now, when one says that ID is scientific, he or she is forgetting an important detail, and that's the experimental step of the scientific method. If someone observes that the physical world is extraordinarily complex, makes the hypothesis that there must have been an intelligence that designed everything, predicts that this is the case, and concludes that an intelligence or god or whatever designed it all, an important step was missed, experimentation! So far, there have been no experiments set up that give conclusive evidence that an intelligent being or force designed things.