Posted inOpinion

Betting on the Bulletin

Stop the presses; the Bend Bulletin just endorsed Chris Telfer. Wow, I never saw that coming.
But seriously, I know a lot of locals consider The Bulletin's editorial board to be a bunch of ill-informed, predictable, and intellectually dishonest knuckleheads who do little more than carry water for the local builders, developers and the Republican Party. But I'm not sure I buy it. In fact, I think all The Bulletin's editorial positions and endorsements are the result of a long, hotly debated, deliberative process. Because if they weren't, then some clown like me could sit down several weeks before the election and, with great certainty, make a list of who will eventually receive that paper's backing. But because The Bulletin has no bias, and my name isn't Nostradamus, I could never do such a thing.
But maybe I should try, ya know, just to prove my point. Maybe I should make a list of all the candidates the Bulletin would simply have to endorse if they were in fact surrogates for the development community and the Republican Party. I think I will.

Posted inOpinion

Outta Control Burning

Come on…let's face it: the Controlled Burning in Oregon is outta control.
Hmmm, Let's see…It's a No Brainer that early this past Wednesday winds were extra strong from the get go…Not talking a little breezy here, we're talking strong, forceful, steady, blustery winds. Could it be a dangerous type of person with a mindset to "Get on with outta controlled burning" that allowed the now Wizard Fire to spread uncontrollably on Thursday, Mr. Forest Service Man? No question about it, there's your mysterious answer; search no further Mr. Ranger Man. So forget your heroic pledge, how you, "Vow a complete review to see what went wrong, and work to prevent any repeats of this problem." The only "Sequence of Events that took place that need corrective measures" is you and the mindless decision to forge forward to burn Thursday.
Let’s take another perspective of burning, a different view from another angle of LIFE. Let's say there are plenty of forest fires from spring to fall, none of them landed remotely near or around where controlled burning has left all life dead and trees charred from past years. So now what? What on Earth cajoles the human mind into believing that these controlled burns are in fact saving more LIFE than they KILL? Now that's the Real Mystery for sure!

Posted inCulture

Great Expectations: Driving Miss Daisy succeeds at Tower Theatre

It's only the second performance by the cast of Driving Miss Daisy, but
it seems like the 100th. Cast members Michael Learned, Willis Burks II
and Dirk Blocker are seasoned acting veterans and it shows. As the show
ends and the lights on the stage go out, the nearly full theater for
Sunday's matinee performance is immediately on its feet and the
applause echoes off the walls of the Tower Theatre. The three actors
take their bows and exit stage left. With several local theater
companies in Bend putting out quality productions on a regular basis,
the cast of Driving Miss Daisy had some high standards to live up to.
After all, this wasn't a community theater performance where you expect
a few mistakes here and there. These were professional actors and the
audience wanted a production akin to those in New York, Los Angeles or,
at the very least, Portland and Seattle. Thankfully, this play lived up
to all the expectations.

Posted inOutside

A Bad Rap: Follow a few rules in rattlesnake country

Whoa there, that’s a western rattlesnake.Among the magnificent variety of reptiles you may meet up with as
you're wandering around the Northwest is the much maligned, greatly
feared and infamous Great Basin Rattlesnake, a subspecies of the
Western Rattlesnake, Crotalus viridis (spp).
Contrary to popular
opinion, rattlesnakes are not "poisonous," they are venomous, and as
such, they do pose a threat to humankind. However, the idea of
"impending doom" to humans has been exaggerated to the point of
absurdity. If you are in rattlesnake country, you should use the same
amount of caution when you drive your vehicle through a construction
project or school zone.
If you traveled any distance in a motor
vehicle to visit the land of rattlesnakes, you have experienced a
greater threat to your safety and welfare than meeting up with a snake.
Motor vehicle accidents have killed and maimed – and are still killing
and maiming – thousands of times more people than all the rattlesnake
deaths in the US ever since we began keeping records about such things.

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