Those Gordon Smith ads chiding Jeff Merkley because the Oregon Legislature spent millions on redecoration during his tenure as House speaker prompted a snarky editorial from The Oregonian yesterday.
Is it just our imagination, or is Bend looking weedier (and seedier) than usual this summer?
Ballot Measure 59, an initiative pushed by professional anti-tax crusader Bill Sizemore, would cost Oregon more than a billion dollars in revenue over two years and benefit only the most affluent 25% of the state's nearly two million taxpayers.
You want a skatepark? Then get your ass out there and build yourself one. That is the philosophy that fuels a group of local skateboarders looking to build a park below the Highway 97/Division Street underpass.
The fact that there is a faction of Bend's skateboard community out to create a new facility is hardly news - the issue of skate parks in Central Oregon has been a hot button topic for more than a year. First it was the vandalism and petty crime going down at the skate park at Ponderosa Park, then it was the debacle surrounding the skate facility at Awbrey Butte's Quail park, which ultimately led to the beginner's park being removed. But it's when you hear Jason Chinchen of the Division Street Skatepark Project discuss his goals that the polyurethane wheels of intrigue start to spin.
Chinchen has been riding a skateboard since 1984 and in short, his plan for the Division Street project, is to create a skate park for the people and by the people. This is how he describes, albeit perhaps less Lincoln-esque, his plans for creating a premier-level skateboard park. It's not a city project or a Parks and Rec project, it's a skater project, Chinchen says while leaning against one of the many boulders that currently occupy the patch of land currently under the control of the Oregon Department of Transportation.
"People don't really realize that we're going to build it. You're going to build it. The guys reading this article are going to build it," Chinchen says as we stroll through the currently vacant lot that he wants to transform into 15,000 square feet of skateboarder paradise.
The state treasurer campaign of Democrat Ben Westlund, hit last week by a Republican revival of an old "sex scandal," has struck back with charges that one of rival Allen Alley's top campaign aides was involved in shady practices four years ago.
Democratic state senator and treasurer candidate Ben Westlund, under attack from Republicans over an 11-year-old "sex scandal," got help from an unlikely quarter: the conservative blog Oregon Catalyst.
File under "Yeah, THIS Is Gonna Fly": Oregon Senate Republicans want to sell Oregon water to "water-poor" out-of-state customers.
The blogosphere - or the Republican neighborhoods in it, anyway - is abuzz with news of a "sex scandal" involving Democratic state senator and state treasurer candidate Ben Westlund and a former State Capitol aide.
Conor Oberst brought his newly formed Mystic Valley band to the Domino Room last night and played a set that showcased material from his soon to be released self-titled record, which he’s releasing under his actual name, rather than his Bright Eyes alias. Last night’s show may have disappointed those looking to hear a Bright Eyes hit list, but surely impressed everyone who can appreciate an artist like Oberst, who very well might be his generation’s greatest singer songwriter.
With the economy tanking, gasoline prices soaring, the war in Iraq dragging on and the war in Afghanistan heating up, Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden has trained his sights on … dangerous cigarette lighters.
Wake up seven days a week with the Cascades Reader. Get local news, event information, podcasts, discounts and more. Sign up now!
We'll send a verification code to %EMAIL%.
Get the best of The Source - Bend, Oregon directly in your email inbox.
Sending to:
