For some time I have heard around town about the Bend police and Deschutes County Sheriff's department being rather abusive of their power. However, recently things appear to have completely spiraled out of control with both of these departments. Their priorities seem to focus on preying on the average hard-working, tax-paying citizen, rather than actually doing real police work and focusing on criminals. There is a simple answer for this; we are easy prey. The D.A. office enjoys this. It keeps them busy spending our tax dollars prosecuting regular citizens who many times find it easier to plead guilty than fight whatever the violation may be.
A Broad Brush
Posted inOpinion
Notes From a Backroom Deal
Editor's note: Like those great old timey radio shows, we're taking the unprecedented step of running the following letter in two installments. If you just can't wait for the dramatic conclusion go to tsweekly.com, Letters. You Luddites will just have to wait another week.
Somewhere in the middle of a big state, the good citizens of a small town have fallen asleep at the wheel and have unknowingly gone back to the future…
Posted inOpinion
A Stud Convert
Wow, what a mean-spirited, arrogant letter from B. Graham regarding studded tires. Despite the fact that the author tries to use carefully selected science to refute, even mock other letter-writers' experiences and opinions, I would like to add a few studies and accounts of my own to the debate. I feel that I am well qualified to do so as, prior to moving to Bend 5 winters ago, I lived in the Colorado Mountains at 9,000 feet for 12 years. During our first fall in Bend I was shocked, and amused, to hear the rattling of studded tires down Wall street after one, insignificant, snow storm: I commented to my wife, "Oh my God, look at all of these California weenies!" I had never seen so many studded vehicles (or late-model cars with designer rims…but that's another topic!) Over the course of the next few weeks I proceeded to: 1) Slide down the hill, right out of my driveway, through a stop sign and onto Portland Avenue 2) Coming out of work on Mt. Bachelor Dr. slide through (over, actually) the roundabout at Reed Market 3) slide completely out of control down the hill onto the Bill Healy bridge, careening off of the curbs 4) get hopelessly stuck on relatively flat ground in the parking lot at Tumalo Falls.
Posted inCulture
Nature’s Face Blanket: Why we love our winter beards
Winter beards, and beards in general, have become increasingly acceptable in the past couple years. Gone are assumptions that the bearded man is homeless, a logger, a homeless logger, a 19th century sailor, an iconic Christmas figure, a sexual predator, or, God forbid, a hippie. It's come to the point that a man can have a beard and a job. In fact, some 71 percent of the Source's male staffers and contributors are currently bearded.
Upfront columnist Mick McMenaminuses sports a trimmed black number that features largely clean cheeks, resident beer specialist Ric E. James is currently sporting a "rebirth beard" (a beard that is grown immediately following the shaving of the previous facial hair installment), while I myself have an increasingly unruly face full of hair that currently smells like Cheetos. Yes, I had Cheetos with my lunch today.
Posted inOutside
Carpe Diem: A Central Oregon dilemma
Winter is back! After a long drought, new snow arrived this past week just in time to make WinterFest feel like WinterFest and prevent local powderhounds from committing hara-kiri. In fact, it presented us with a classic Central Oregon dilemma: What is the best way to utilize a perfect powder weekend? Which, of course, is part of the much grander existential question of how to maximize a lifetime of powder, waves, singletrack, endorphins, full moons and sunshine. I've been pondering such things lately.
Posted inCulture
Any Way You Slice It
How to kill a ninja:
You can always kill a ninja with a flurry of indiscriminate sword-swings. But ninjas are resilient little suckers-almost as durable as you are. It can take a lot of sword-swings, which just isn't practical when you're facing a whole pack. If you really want to put a ninja to rest quickly and efficiently, you'll want to bisect them.
Posted inCulture
Jason No-Die! – Friday the Umpteenth adds nothing new to formulaic concept
Ahoy there!The same team responsible for the remake of Texas Chainsaw Massacre is
back again with less fervor and a rote take on an already tired genre.
With the newest Friday the 13th nothing has changed to reinvigorate the
worn-out formula. Jason, it seems, has been resurrected for the sole
purpose of raking in box office revenue. (Which he did, by the way to
the tune of $24 million over opening weekend - tops at the box office)
What the film sorely lacks is something dastardly different. Slasher
flicks depend on originality because we've seen it all before.
While
I found it sacrilege to remake TCM, Friday the 13th sinks to new
depths.The original film added suspense to the grisly killings with a
secret killer whose identity was revealed at the end. Only in
serialized sequels does the saga of hockey-masked Jason Voorhees
commence. Here in redux land we get a mini intro explaining the
decapitation death of Jason's mom and his subsequent rampage. The first
part of the movie is strong, reminiscent of 2002's Cabin Fever.
Marginally interesting characters actually seem like they're
interacting, and the inevitable demise of the oversexed, weed smoking
campers is hilarious, frightening and, true to any early slasher flick,
ripe with abundant sex, gore and nudity.
Posted inCulture
Money Walks: Run Lola Run director misfires with bloated bank thriller
Owen and Watts make a lonely run on the bank. I have never been to the Guggenheim Museum in New York City, but I
imagine the trip would be a heckuva lot more fascinating with non-stop
Uzi fire and fountains of spurting blood. That is one thing The
International understands pretty well. Unfortunately, it doesn't have a
firm grasp on much else.
Tom Twyker, the German-born director of
1998's cult hit Run Lola Run, helms The International with the
intention of producing a film that is equal parts James Bond and
political thought piece. The problem with trying to straddle two very
different worlds is that you usually end up with a cramp in your groin
and fall flat on your face. That's sort of what happens here.
Posted inFood & Drink
Quick Bites – Restaurant Rebound
The once bustling merenda space will reopen as 900 Wall in April. After being courted by several big name chains, the space formerly
occupied by Merenda has a new tenant in 900 Wall, a local group
spearheaded by former Merenda GM Mike Millette who plans to open his
new restaurant in early April. The restaurant will include some minor
touchups of the restaurant's interior, which has sat unused since
Merenda closed its doors in early January. Millette said the restaurant
will be instantly recognizable to Merenda fans, but will feature a
retooled menu, which former Merenda and Deep chef Cliff Eslinger is
testing right now. The new menu will put focus more on dishes that are
accessible and recognizable to the general public. Millette said the
restaurant would like to expand from its base of upwardly mobile urban
diners to casual and family diners.
"Jody's food was tremendous,
but there are some people who were really not that knowledgeable about
food," Millette said. "We're still a meat and potatoes town."
Posted inFood & Drink
Quick Bites – Restaurant Rebound
The once bustling merenda space will reopen as 900 Wall in April. After being courted by several big name chains, the space formerly
occupied by Merenda has a new tenant in 900 Wall, a local group
spearheaded by former Merenda GM Mike Millette who plans to open his
new restaurant in early April. The restaurant will include some minor
touchups of the restaurant’s interior, which has sat unused since
Merenda closed its doors in early January. Millette said the restaurant
will be instantly recognizable to Merenda fans, but will feature a
retooled menu, which former Merenda and Deep chef Cliff Eslinger is
testing right now. The new menu will put focus more on dishes that are
accessible and recognizable to the general public. Millette said the
restaurant would like to expand from its base of upwardly mobile urban
diners to casual and family diners.
“Jody’s food was tremendous,
but there are some people who were really not that knowledgeable about
food,” Millette said. “We’re still a meat and potatoes town.”