Deschutes County’s Economy: Nature, Equity and Growth

Posted inOpinion

Deschutes County’s Economy: Nature, Equity and Growth

Intern

Monday, June 22, the Oregon House of Representatives passed legislation that would ban destination resorts in the Metolius Basin. It had already passed the Oregon Senate, and by the time you read this, Governor Kulongoski likely will have signed it. Opponents have branded supporters as, among other things, anti-growth. They're wrong. And their error stems in part from failing to see that the issue involves more than growth; it also involves equality, conservation and sustainability.

We three know enough economics and enough about Oregon and Deschutes County to know why they're wrong. Ward is a 4th-generation Oregonian, has a doctorate in economics, and just finished teaching a term of labor economics at the U of O. Whitelaw is a 13-year resident of Deschutes County and 40-plus-year resident of Oregon, also has a doctorate in economics, began teaching at the U of O in 1967, with classes focused on the economics of the Pacific Northwest, and in recent years on economic growth in Deschutes County. Kenny-will graduate soon in economics from the U of O, has fallen in love with Oregon, plans graduate school elsewhere, and sees himself returning to Oregon for many of the same reasons the other two of us are here.

Posted inNews

The Nature of Words Announces Authors

The Source Staff

Last night, The Nature of Words - Bend's annual literary celebration - announced the authors for the 2009 event. At the top of the list is a Source favorite in Sherman Alexie, the author of Smoke Signals as well as The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, a hilarious tale of a boy on a Northwest Indian reservation that made waves in Central Oregon when Crook County schools decided to ban the book from their curriculum.

Posted inOpinion

Time To Bring Cats Indoors

Intern

To those tuned into natural rhythms, things seem to be quieting down in the Central Oregon bird world with much of the calling at a distance from the nest site, or in the subtle, or at times not so subtle, exchange between nestlings and adults during feeding bouts. An urban exception at our house in Bend is the sundown chorus of robins and doves.

Posted inOpinion

Cell Phone Drivers Are A Danger

Intern

Regarding what happened to Andrey, the guy who works at WebCyclery and was hit from behind while riding his bike on Shevlin Park road a couple of weeks ago, he is lucky to be alive. The driver was on the phone, drifted into the paved bike lane and never saw him until he was on the hood.

Posted inCulture

That’s Dwight!: Rainn Wilson, the man behind Schrute, tells us about faith, art and ninjas

Mike Bookey

Where's the mustard-colored shirt and wrist calculator?We caught up with Rainn Wilson, as in "the guy who plays Dwight Schrute on The Office," last week to talk about the part-time Central Oregonian's upcoming philosophical lecture at the Old Stone Church on Thursday. Here's what he had to say about his hit TV show, his cerebral website and his new projects, especially his script centered on a "down-and-out ninja."

tSW: The title of your talk here in Bend is "Art and Faith," can you tell me more about what you'll be talking about?
Rainn Wilson: It's essentially just talking about some of the ideas behind the website that I helped create called Soul Pancake (www.soulpancake.com). It has to do with stuff that really intrigues me and turns me on. When I was in high school I took a great books course. We spent a couple of years just debating the great books, the philosophers, books of the Bible, religious thinkers, fiction writers and the ideas that underpinned their work and came to realize that there are only a handful of life's big questions. There's no place on the Internet that deals with life's big questions. As I became more famous and well-known, I wanted to just make a place to be able to dig into life's big questions and specifically for me, the links between creativity and spirituality, which for most cultures in the world are quite obvious…our culture kind of compartmentalizes these things.

Posted inOutside

Leave Baby Wildlife Alone: Those fawns don’t need your help

Jim Anderson

One of thousands of Mule Deer fawns lying about Central Oregon these days. Please, leave them alone!Editor's note: Some folks didn't recognize Jim Anderson's column last week as a bit of naturalist humor because editors at the Source swapped the photo that served as his punch line. So if the piece on mushrooms left you scratching your head, you weren't alone. Sorry for the confusion.

This is the time of year when well-meaning – but way off base – people pick up fawns because, in their minds, the baby has been "abandoned." In almost all cases, the fawn has not been abandoned, but has been left by its mother because it's safer where it is than out wandering around while she is feeding. PLEASE! Leave fawns alone; avoid them; go away and forget them; everyone and everything in the world of nature, and our world will go a lot smoother if you do.
Tom Worcester, who lives near Sisters, can tell you how it works when a fawn is left alone. He called one morning around 8 a.m. to tell me he had a brand new fawn in his yard, and was worried that it had been "abandoned." At 10:30 a.m. he called back to say, "I had a good wildlife education this morning, this is a story with a happy ending. Momma deer came back for her baby, and the last I saw of them, the fawn was following along on wobbly legs, but keeping up." That's the way it works in Nature.

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