In response to H. Bruce Miller's recent article on outdoor cats [Posted on the Wandering Eye Blog, 9/24] I have a few questions. Mr. Miller seems to believe that the sole reason for the disappearance of birds from his neighborhood is due to the increased housecat population created by a new housing development nearby. Mr. Miller, do you think it could be the new development itself, and subsequent loss of habitat that could be the reason for the bird decline? In fact, in numerous studies done on the topic the number one cause of bird population decline is loss of habitat. Mr. Miller's solution to the problem of outdoor cats is to require that they be licensed the same as dogs. Who will be responsible for enforcing this? With an estimated 45,000 cats in Deschutes County, will we hire hundreds more animal control officers? Then what? When the “bird-killing” cats in question are hauled to the Humane Society, will the Humane Society be responsible for processing them, housing them and euthanizing them when their owners don't show up to claim them? I'm pretty sure they have their hands full as it is!
Cat Licenses Aren't The Answer
Homeless Man Held In Double Murder Case
The Deschutes County Sheriff's has arrested a Bend homeless man as a suspect in an alleged double murder at a homeless camp north of Bend.
Here's a copy of the press release that just came out this morning.
What’s With The Weather?
As I write this it’s cold and rainy outside. That’s cold, according to The Weather Channel, as in twenty-five degrees below normal for this time of year.
UK Soul Rockers The Heavy are Coming to the Silver Moon
Sitting at the computer last night, my e-mail blinked at me with a message entitled “UK Rock/Soul Band The Heavy Plays Silver Moon.” I stared at the e-mail subject line, figuring that it must be referring to some other Silver Moon in some other town.
Fixing Health Care in Five Minutes or Less
Can Jeff Merkley solve America’s health care problems? The verdict on that is still out, but he’s a pretty slick operator with a Rubik’s Cube.
A new video shows Oregon’s junior senator fiddling with a cube as he explains: “Just as this cube is all mixed up, so is our health care system messed up.
Troubled Waters
We, my friend Steve and I, went in search of big rainbow trout. Destination Diamond Lake where the successful ridding the lake of chubs and assorted crap fish has helped bring back a healthy rainbow population.
Economists: Tax Increases Will Boost Economy
Moderate tax increases will help Oregon climb out of the recession more than holding down revenues and cutting state services, according to a group of more than three dozen Oregon economists.
Initiatives to repeal two legislative measures that would raise corporate income taxes from the current minimum of $10 a year and hike personal income taxes for the most affluent 3% of Oregonians apparently have qualified for the January ballot.
A Cool Empty Space Orchestra Video and Ruins of Ooah Report
First off, this should be a post with some video from last night’s Ruins of Ooah/Basin and Range show at the Summit, but I’ll be damned if the dang battery on my video camera was dead when I got there. Lame.
The Incredible Shrinking Toilet Paper
Today The Eye turns from inconsequential matters like health care reform, the state budget deficit and real estate fraud and focuses on an issue of more intimate concern to our readers: the shrinking size of the toilet paper in public restrooms.
I’ve been noticing this trend for the past couple of years, but I was pushed over the brink of outrage when I went into the men’s room in Café Yumm in the Old Mill District the other day and saw a roll of toilet paper that appeared to have been made for a dollhouse.
BendFilm: The Movies and the Parties
Today I entered the Liberty Theater for the first time ever (the largely empty space has been closed for a few years now thanks to some legal troubles from prior owners), to pick up some info on the BendFilm Festival, which kicks off tonight with an opening reception and screening at the Tower Theatre.
To open the festival, BendFilm is screening A Film With Me In It, a feature-length narrative that focuses on a pair of down-on-their-luck slackers who watch as everyone else living in their Dublin apartment building dies.