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It’s possibly one of the last few sunny Sundays this fall, but Joe
Kimmel is inside, working hard in his studio. Thirteen wood panels lean
up against the concrete walls of Kimmel’s space, many of them still in
progress.
"I definitely have to look at it as coming to the office," says Kimmel,
"whether it’s to make progress or just check in." It is obvious through
our conversation that while it may be artwork, it is what Kimmel lives
and breathes.
Isn't it great to live in a state that has vote-by-mail? You have time to read up on the issues and the candidates and give them some careful thought. You can vote from the comfort of your own home, as the cliché goes - a real godsend for elderly folks and the disabled.
Randomly wandering thoughts as we near the conclusion of Campaign 2008:
Obviously Bend can’t expand the UGB fast enought to keep up with this kind of demand.By all accounts, the 16 months it took for the Bend Urban Area Planning Commission to define and approve a new urban growth boundary for the city seemed like a lifetime, but judging by the raucous applause erupting from the more than 50 people sitting in on the October 28 hearing, many local property owners seemed to approve the plan.
Critics however, are questioning whether the proposed boundary map is anything more than a blueprint for sprawl and a giveaway to builders and developers.
The commission voted 5-1 (Commissioner Nathan Hovekamp cast the only "nay" vote and Commissioner Steve Miller did not attend the hearing) in favor of expanding Bend’s UGB by 8,943 gross acres. The majority of new growth would occur on land bordering the city’s western, northern and eastern edges, with a small portion on Bend’s south side.
The Eye doesn't agree with Bulletin Editor John Costa about very many things, but one thing Costa says has always made a lot of sense to us: You can't offer less and charge more and expect to get more customers.
Our November Endorsements Reprised
Federal
For President: Barack Obama
For U.S. Senate: Jeff Merkley
It was a scene right out of Pop Warner football. A player makes a good play, then commits a dumb penalty and the coach summons him to the sideline for an earful.
The
player's benched. He pouts a little bit. And after the coach has some
time to think, tells the player, "You know what. Why don't you head on
home. I don't want you on the field right now."
Except on Sunday,
this wasn't Pop Warner football. It was new San Francisco 49ers Head
Coach Mike Singletary putting his stamp on the woeful team he inherited
after coach Mike Nolan was fired.
The moment of clarity for
Singletary happened after 49er tight end Vernon Davis caught a short
pass in a game the 49ers were losing to Seattle. After the play, the
Seahawks defender started chirping and Davis slapped his facemask,
drawing a 15-yard personal foul penalty.
Singletary benched Davis
after the play. According to ESPN.com, Singletary told his oft-troubled
tight end, "I told him that he would do a better job for us right now
taking a shower and coming back and watching the game than going out on
the field. Simple as that."
Snow Geese & MonarchsThis is it, Good People, the time when Mother Nature's Children must
obey the Sun. Whether it be Monarch butterflies, Snow Geese,
hummingbirds, night hawks, plovers, whales or Flammulated Owls, they
can not stop themselves from obeying the Call of the Sun. Even human
Snowbirds traveling south in their gas-guzzling Mini-Winnies must obey
the call of our Sun.
Way back, when most of you were just a gleam in
your daddy's eye – and for some, even before that – I was a
duck-hunter. Yes, I do love to eat mallards and geese. Every
Thanksgiving I would head off for Summer Lake to shoot snow geese, and
Crane Prairie Reservoir for Canada Geese and mallards. (When I
discovered I was killing families of Canada Geese and leaving orphans,
I realized the error of my ways and quit.)
It was the discovery
of Russian bands on snow geese harvested at Summer Lake, however, that
also gave me further insight on the migration of birds. At the same
time, some of the pin-tail ducks I killed were also wearing bands
BEATING SAD
Sunset over Maui: not very SAD.At 2am on Sunday November 2, we "fall back." I call it
the "Saddest Day of the Year." Thank goodness the Energy Policy Act of
2005 extended Daylight Savings Time one extra week, but all too soon it
will be dark when you go to work and dark when you come home, a
depressing situation for a solar-powered person like me. At least we're
not in Portland, where the incessant grayness can make one suicidal. I
lived in Portland through the icestorms of '95 and the mudslides of
'96. We went months on end without seeing the sun and I couldn't seem
to shake the gloominess. Eventually, I diagnosed myself with Seasonal
Affective Disorder (SAD) and bought an expensive, high-intensity,
full-spectrum light for my cubicle. It attracted co-workers to my desk
like moths to a flame, but it didn't really solve the problem, so I
finally told my doctor how unhappy I was. He said, "Well, I can
prescribe some anti-depressants… or you could move to Central Oregon!"
Shortly thereafter, I picked up and moved to Bend… and never looked
back.
As our well-placed promotion in last weekend's Warren
Miller ski flick, Children of Winter, touted, "In Bend, the number of
days of sunshine competes with the number of inches of snow." That's
our saving grace. Mt. Bachelor's average annual snowfall is 370 inches
at the base and Bend claims 300 sunny days per year (which I think is a
marketing stretch), so I think the edge goes to the snow, but it would
be an interesting statistic to track.
Relocating to Central Oregon is one way to defeat SAD. A few other suggestions follow.
The Norton effect. A family of Irish cops and police corruption… sound familiar? Yes,
Pride and Glory has all the makings of a formulaic, seen-it-before
storyline, but at the hands of writer/actor/director Gavin O' Connor
(Tumbleweeds) it takes on an original, seedy life of its own. This is
actually a pretty good movie.
Dark and disturbing from the beginning,
there is not one lighthearted moment. From the initial body-laden
bloodbath of dead cops and drug dealers to the yelling, crying,
relentless violence and inevitably bitter end, this movie doesn't let
up. Shot in gritty and grainy blue hues depicting the evil beating
heart of NYC, Pride and Glory takes its stand among such movies as
State of Grace, Serpico, King of New York, Training Day and (the
underrated) Monument Avenue.
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