Top 10 Local News Stories From 2008

Posted inNews

Top 10 Local News Stories From 2008

Eric Flowers

1. Juniper Ridge Buyout: After earning the ire of the local business and real estate development community, the city of Bend cuts ties with its "Mater Developers" at the beleaguered Juniper Ridge high tech business campus. Juniper Ridge Partners agrees to hand over its "Master Plan" for the project in exchange for a roughly $2.6 million buyout and retains a portion of the profit from some future real estate sales. The deal follows reports that one of JRP's principals was negotiating side deals with property owners adjacent to Juniper Ridge. Who you calling "Good Ol' Boy"?
2. Merkley - Smith Campaign: In the most costly and arguably snarkiest campaign ever conducted in Oregon history, Former state representative, Jeff Merkley rides a wave of voter discontent with Republican rule to victory over Sen. Gordon Smith.
Careful what you wish for… Smith's name has been floated as the likely Republican candidate for governor in 2010 when incumbent Ted Kulongoski will have to step aside because of the state's term limit law.
3. Obama Mania: Okay so this isn't a local story per se, but the fact that Barack actually came to Central Oregon during the primary campaign stoked local Obama mania, helping "Obama 08" officially unseat Not Another Wal-Mart as the preferred bumper sticker of Bend progressives.

Posted inOpinion

A Word On Internet Shopping: Charity Auction results, iPod “excessories,” and adios Homer

Eric Flowers

As a newspaper supported entirely by local advertisers (i.e. mom and pop businesses) we're not huge fans of Internet shopping, which serves as a giant cash vacuum, siphoning dollars out of the local economy to some faceless corporation. The notable exception is our annual Charity Auction, which turns the whole Internet cash vacuum model on its head.

Each year the Source, working with local businesses that donate all of the items for the auction, donates all the proceeds from the annual bid-fest to a local non-profit. This year the auction raised almost $4,000 for the Partnership to End Poverty, a local umbrella group that works to coordinate and fund local initiatives aimed at addressing the root of poverty in Central Oregon. It's an issue that's come into sharp focus as of late as the local and national economy falters, unemployment climbs to double digits and families are having a hard time making ends meet.

Posted inCulture

Frumpy, Fugly Fun: Ugly Christmas sweater parties – the new intentionally tacky holiday tradition

Mike Bookey

Oh so tacky.Great aunts, grandmothers and the overzealous knitters in your family
sometimes have the misguided idea that everyone should own a holiday
sweater. While some are more "tasteful" in their selection process,
others feel that nothing says "Happy Holidays" better than a blazing
red knit creation complete with three dimensional snowmen, glitter,
sewn-on ribbons and bells and, if you're lucky, some battery-operated
lights. While this attempt to spread holiday cheer is typically
well-meant, this nightmare apparel is about as subtle as Santa Claus
beating you over the head with a sack of broken Christmas lights
screaming "Merry Christmas" and about as desirable as an STD - until
now that is. Holiday sweaters have a new purpose in life and are a
reason for celebration with the increased popularity of ugly Christmas
sweater parties. So get excited when you unwrap the latest holiday
sweater from Aunt Gertie - you no longer have to fake acting thankful
and now have a perfectly acceptable way to show it off and even win
prizes.

Posted inCulture

The Right Stuff: Bleak Swedish vampire tale hits all the right veins

Mike Bookey

Oh, the sad plight of the young vampire.While it stands on its own as an atmospheric art movie, Let the Right
One In could be interpreted as the ragingly popular Twilight's polar
opposite - human boy meets vamp girl instead of the reverse. Adolescent
love grows between pre-pubescent 12 year olds instead of
hormone-frenzied 17 year olds, the plot and direction being realistic
and bleak, rather than fantastical and uplifting.

This movie sucks
you in from the eerie opening scene: through a window an anemic-looking
blonde boy Oskar (Kare Hederbrant) brandishes a knife in front of a
mirror, pretending he is telling someone to "squeal like a pig."
Oskar's morbid side stems from the bullying he confronts in school on a
daily basis. He's a weird kid for sure, but not as weird as his
neighbors. Eli (Lina Leandersson) and her "dad" (Per Ragnar), move in
next door, revealing a relationship that is bizarre beyond belief. Set
in a remote Swedish town, most of the action takes place in a park
between an apartment complex and an elementary school.

Posted inCulture

Bad Humans, No Planet: Latest in end-times Keanu melodramas works…as a sleep-aid

Mike Bookey

Dude, I don’t need this. I was in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure.If you're like me, you may have serious concerns about the Keanu
Reeves/apocalyptic-star-vehicle industry. Is the stock spiking?
Plunging? Should we ask Congress for a bailout?

Well, with The Day
the Earth Stood Still, an impossibly boring, humorless, pedestrian
remake of the 1951 sci-fi classic, I am proud to inform you that
industry is receiving a stimulus of sorts. Turns out crappy Keanu
movies are like Detroit sedans: quality doesn't matter, as long as they
sell.
Reeves is back in Neo/Messiah mode, as Klaatu, an alien
diplomat who travels across the cosmos with his robot, nicknamed
"GORT." Klaatu takes human form in an effort to observe people, and
ready Earth for his plans.

Sign up for newsletters

Get the best of The Source - Bend, Oregon directly in your email inbox.

Sending to:

Gift this article