What a difference the popping of a bubble makes. Two years ago, Bend made the Top 10 on Money magazine's list of the 100 Best Places to Live in America. This year we didn't make the Top 10.
A bank has begun foreclosure proceedings against the developers of The Shire, the Tolkien-inspired project off Parrell Road that became a sort of emblem of the excesses of the Bend real estate boom.
WTF is up with this?? FundRace 2008 reports that Democrat Barack Obama beat Republican John McCain by a ratio of almost 2 to 1 in contributions from Bend residents in the second quarter of this year.
The scars on Kate Dunning's knees run about six inches from her kneecap to the top of her shin. She is neither shy nor self-conscious about the marks, which are indicative of 17 days in the hospital, three months in a wheelchair, six months of missed work, and four surgeries.
The scars are most precisely a reminder of July 2, 2002 - the day Dunning was hit by a car while riding her road bicycle through Tumalo on Highway 20. The Ford sports utility vehicle crossed the highway, its teenage driver never seeing Dunning until it was too late to stop. Both of her legs were broken (including her left femur) and to this day she still can't run, which was once a passion of hers.
Whether it's on the front page of the Oregonian or in the form of
impassioned blog posts on the Source website, the discussion of
"sharing the road" between cyclists and motorists has been nearly
ubiquitous in recent months. And if Dunning's experience proves
anything, it's the seriousness of what can happen when bicycles and
cars fail to coexist on Central Oregon roads.
"This was kind of a
freak accident, the guy was looking to cross a busy highway and just
didn't see me," said Dunning, an accountant who's lived in Bend for 12
years. She continues, however, to say that although she's returned to
her bike, she still is continually baffled by cyclists who ignore even
the most basic riding etiquette. She is equally miffed by the faction
of motorists who seem to have it out for cyclists, including the
youngsters who once tossed a Coke with ice at her as they drove past.
Loren Parks, the eccentric octogenarian multimillionaire from Nevada, continues to be the main money man behind right-wing causes in Oregon, contributing more than half of the total raised to put initiatives on the state's November ballot.
The Gordon Smith campaign is out with another TV spot ripping Jeff Merkley as a tax-and-spend liberal. In this one, we actually see Merkley saying: "I advocate for tax hikes every night in living rooms across Oregon."
How easy or hard is it to get around your neighborhood without a car? The Eye spotted a handy little tool on the Web that tells you.
Next weekend just got a bit more affordable for music fans as the folks at the helm of next weekend’s 4 Peaks Music Festival announced today that they’ll be cutting the ticket prices for the second annual gathering in Tumalo. Organizers also announced that the festival will move from it’s Rockin’ A Ranch location in 2009.
In a development that has to make Republicans everywhere a little jittery, Rasmussen Reports has just released a poll showing that Jeff Merkley has narrowly pulled ahead of incumbent Republican Sen. Gordon Smith.
Hallelujah — Bend has made another of those "Top 10" lists. This time it's NorthWest Crossing being hailed as one of the "Top 10 Cottage Neighborhoods" in America by Cottage Living magazine.
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