Source Weekly, Author at The Source - Bend, Oregon

The Last Big Eddy Run: A cautionary tale

The Big Eddy stretch is anything but a smooth ride.

Source WeeklySeptember 26, 2012August 5, 2024

It seemed easy enough. I’d guided rafts through the Big Eddy stretch hundreds of times, I thought, as I sat in my little yellow kayak above the rapids. And I’d kayaked plenty of class IIIs and IVs.
But none of them were so thoroughly lined with lava rocks as sharp as these.
All summer long, I’d played the “should I or shouldn’t I?” game with this stretch—the rocks in the river here, just above Lava Island, are young, geologically speaking, and razor sharp.
But as the raft of a friend who would run safety for me rounded a bend, I knew my summer’s worth of contemplating was over.

Opinion

Redmond High School Blues

Source WeeklySeptember 19, 2012October 24, 2023

It was Friday night at the new Ridgeview High School in Redmond and the excited crowd watched the football team overwhelm the opposing team in their first game. The weather was perfect for the game and a “blue” moon was emerging.
It would have been even better had the crowd of fans, noise and congestion from the traffic been located in a more urban setting. Unfortunately, Ridgeview was constructed along the edge of a rural environment. Wheel lines irrigate green pastures within a quarter of a mile of the school. Roads have been widened and sidewalks constructed in anticipation of the traffic that will be generated by the school.

Opinion

Farms Are for Farming

The Downs application gets the Boot this week.

Source WeeklySeptember 19, 2012August 25, 2024

Kerry and Deborah Downs have a nice little spread out in Powell Butte, growing 80 acres of hay. Kerry Downs says the farm grosses about $20,000 a year.
But Downs, who pitches stocks in Bend when he’s not wearing overalls and pitching hay down on the farm, would like to make more. He wants permission from Deschutes County to host as many as six weddings a year in his barn, for about $2,000 per.
It won’t be the first time Downs has tried that route for making a bit of cash on the side. County staff have been working with Downs for several years to bring them into compliance with the county and state land use laws that prohibit mass gatherings on land that has been zoned for exclusively for farming.

Culture

Our Picks For 09/20-09/26

Events happening in the area this week that we are sure you will enjoy.

Source WeeklySeptember 19, 2012April 11, 2025

Oregon Natural Desert Association Conference and Wild and Scenic Film Festival
thursday 20 and friday 21
How often do you think about the desert? Not enough we’re guessing. Now’s your chance to find out more about the landscape you live in. Sit next to desert experts, land managers and wilderness advocates at workshops and panels for two days of in-depth discussion on the most critical issues facing the deserts of Oregon. Conference activities will be held mostly during the day on Thursday and Friday. Check out onda.org/desertconference for more information. If you can’t get out of work, make sure to get yourself to the Wild and Scenic Film Festival starting at 6:30 p.m. Thursday night. Go to see beautiful places and be inspired. Old Stone Church, 157 NW Franklin Ave.

Culture

I Will Follow: One powerful relationship—not an assault on Scientology—fuels the extraordinary The Master

Joaquin Phoenix and Phillip Seymour Hoffman star in the newest film The Master.

Source WeeklySeptember 19, 2012June 14, 2023

Is The Master, Paul Thomas Anderson’s hauntingly intimate epic, about Scientology? That’s been the focus of attention for many with only peripheral interest in the film itself, hoping perhaps for some kind of searing roman-a-clef takedown of L. Ron Hubbard and his movement. And, after all, it’s easy enough to do a certain kind of math in putting together the inspiration for Lancaster Dodd (Phillip Seymour Hoffman), the author/philosopher/guru from whom the film takes its name. If you’re looking for clues that The Cause is in fact a thinly-disguised stand-in for Dianetics, you’ll find them.
You’ll also be missing something fairly extraordinary.

Opinion

HELP STOP THE FRACKING OF THE NEWBERRY VOLCANO!

Source WeeklySeptember 12, 2012July 29, 2025

Efforts to stop plans to “frack” (i.e. hydraulically fracture) the Newberry Volcano have hit a critical juncture. The help of every concerned citizen is needed now. An Appeal of the BLM’s decision to permit AltaRock Energy, LLC to proceed with a “demonstration” of “new” technology in an “exploratory” project has been filed, but we are not lawyers, so it may not work. There are two remaining permits needed before their plans can be implemented: one to allow the use of the water for this reason, and one to allow the use of the water in this location. The persons responsible for the decisions to issue these permits, or not, welcome public comment at this time.

Opinion

Mongol Horde Shuts Down Foghat

Foghat gets this week’s Glass Slipper.

Source WeeklySeptember 12, 2012June 5, 2025

Members of the Mongols Motorcycle Club have been convicted of offenses including meth trafficking, firearms violations, robbery, assault and murder. The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club is described as an organized crime syndicate by the US Department of Justice; the list of its criminal activities is so extensive that it rates its own entry in Wikipedia.
The two clubs have a history of bad blood – literally. In 2002 they had a little disagreement in a Nevada casino that resulted in one Mongol being stabbed to death and two Hells Angels being shot to death.

Culture

Our Picks For 09/13-09/22

Events happening in the area this week that we are sure you will enjoy.

Source WeeklySeptember 12, 2012May 12, 2025

Accelerate Bend Celebration
thursday 13
Over the summer, Bendites dreamed up dozens of ways to “accelerate” bringing their visions for the future into reality. Go check out their cool ideas. Free. All ages. 6-8 p.m. COCC’s Campus Center, 2600 NW College Way.
Mexican Independence Week
thursday 13 – saturday 15
Three different events in Bend, Sunriver and Redmond will commemorate Mexico’s liberation. U of O history professor Stephanie Wood lays the historic foundation Thursday night at the Bend Public Library with a discussion of early colonization efforts as told through colonial-era maps. 6:30 p.m. Free. All ages. East Bend Public Library. On Friday, historian Robert Hacket will discuss the post-Cortez Mexico, noon at the Sunriver Public Library. The week ends with a celebration at the Festival of Cultures in Redmond that includes kids booths, family activities, flamenco dancing, Mexican folklore and is capped by a naturalization ceremony for newly minted American citizens. Free. All ages. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Redmond Centennial Park.

Opinion

For the 35 percent who “don’t really care”

Source WeeklySeptember 5, 2012January 16, 2023

On August 13 , KTVZ asked viewers
”What do you think about Mitt Romney’s choice of Paul Ryan as running mate”?
49 percent responded: “like it”
17 percent responded: “don’t like it” and
35 percent responded: “don’t really care.”
To the 35 percent who “don’t really care,” I hope that this condensed summary of one of the important issues, Medicare reform, that Republican VP candidate, Paul Ryan has addressed will capture your interest.

Opinion

Senior Portrayal Was Unfair

Source WeeklySeptember 5, 2012January 24, 2024

Erin Foote Marlowe,
Just what do you know about symbols of senior citizens? Your article on “Seniors Want Their Money Back” displays “people” with walkers, with canes, with wheelchairs but no name attached: Is the man with the cane Neil Bryant? Is the man with the walker Mr. Buchanan? Surely they are not senior citizens. Most Elders walk with both feet and without assists.

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