Source Weekly

The World Cup started in… Bend. Yes, downtown Bend and more precisely at Cafe Sintra on June 11th where a room full of fan/customers braved the 7 a.m. chill to watch the opening match. After that, I jumped on a plane and flew to my home town of Santos, Brazil to continue along with other fanatic Brazilian fans to cheer the national teams on, the U.S. and Brazil. Since arriving here on the 15th of June, I have enjoyed not having to contend with ongoing over the top clamor for the heads of Democrats, the defeat of the Kagan nomination and the fabricated resurgence of Republican candidates. I can't say I totally succeeded in keeping away but at least the Brazilian press is focused on really important things: News from South Africa and the world of football.
Brazil and Brazilians were, or so we thought, totally ready for the tournament. The green and yellow colors of the flag adorned peoples clothing, buildings, cars, busses and every imaginable surface – the energy was magnificent in this land of Pelé, the land of the “beautiful game.” The country just about stopped during the games involving the national team and a nice surprise for this Brazilian-American, the U.S. team was viewed with great favor. We (son Trevor and I) traveled south to Iguassú Falls, the spectacular falls near the confluence of the rivers Paraná and Iguassú, a place where Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina meet. We watched a U.S. game at a roadside truck stop and ate a delicious meal of home cooked food just about 200 meters from the border. As the only two “gringos” in the joint, we cheered when Landon Donovan scored to propel the U.S. onto the next round.

Recycling Deschutes County leaders have shown their complete lack of environmental responsibility when they recently announced that they would be shutting down the West Bend – Simpson Road recycling depot on July 31st due to revenue/funding shortfalls.
Hundreds of west Bend residents who recycle and used the nearby depot will now have to make a 14-mile roundtrip to the Knott Landfill on 27th Street. I am sure they will all be purchasing carbon offsets to cover the fuel/carbon footprint for this adverse county action. This ludicrous government decision (can cancelling high school football be far behind?) is from the same Deschutes County that “found the funding” to consider opening an onsite health clinic for county employees and is spending heavily on upgrades to roundabouts that are only a few years old.

I was in my local paint store recently and I heard a woman very crassly say, “It's too bad the city didn't know those goose nests were in that little pond — they would have poisoned them all.” When she left, the nice gentleman behind the counter assured me the city did not poison geese.
Sadly he was wrong. I saw the geese in the park being rounded up the day they were killed. I didn't know what was happening, otherwise I would have tried to stop it.

Kill them! Yes, kill them! Surely that is the answer (isn't it always?) these procreating, defecating, yin-yang residents of our clipped, fertilized, poisonous and gorgeous green grass in Drake Park. I mean, my God, they're not even American! They're Canada geese.