Keeping the Beat Going: You don’t know Diddley, R Kelly’s home cinema, and closet dwellers

Letter of the Week
On May 22, The Bulletin ran an article concerning trail use in the Deschutes National Forest. In it a representative of the Deschutes County 4-Wheelers argued for the construction of "more trails that are designed with boulders and logs and things.

I wish you would take the subject of Ellie Mae in the correct context. I am a birder and a lover of animals but the "scene" at the Museum is 1880.

This past weekend one of my employees witnessed a man beat his dog, not once, but three times, each time climbing further into his vehicle and punching the dog harder and harder until the car shook. This occurred down at the Farewell Bend Park.

I have to agree with Jim. What is the determination of "overrun by Golden Mantles and mice plus assorted chipmunks?"
A non-native predator (cat) on the run is really not acceptable in the setting of the High Desert Museum.

On Sunday morning May 24th 2008, I decided to go for a leisurely bike ride. With me were two young children who rode their bikes following close behind.
The route I chose would take me south on Mt. Washington past the Skyline sports park. As we approached the area near the softball fields, which were located to my right, I noticed a very common sight. However, on this morning what I witnessed was more disturbing than usual. We were forced to move from the bike lane into traffic because there were vehicles parked illegally in the bike lane ahead. Luckily, we were able to stop and navigate this detour without serious incident. We then continued on our way southbound. Some time later, we were returning home in the opposite direction. We also encountered more illegally parked vehicles directly in our path. Once again, we were forced to detour into the traffic lane to avoid these cars. I would estimate that between both southbound and northbound bike lanes, there were approximately 20 vehicles in violation of clearly posted No Parking signs.
My complaint is two-fold. First of all, you don't have to like or dislike what I choose to do for recreation. However, it is not acceptable for someone else's behavior to create an unsafe environment for me to enjoy my form of recreation. I highly doubt that parking a large number of vehicles on the softball fields would be allowed. Especially if I were to totally disregard the posted signs stating that it was illegal.

I would like to take a minute to talk about bands that go unrecognized here in Bend. I love the fact that you support music, mostly Portland-based bands, but I think you guys should focus on the local bands too.

As a resident of Bend and a loyal skier at your mountain (I was a season pass holder from 1999-2006 and I still ski primarily at Mt. Bachelor), I find the promotion of animal cruelty in your 2008 pond skimming "championship" video clip to be outrageous (not to mention insipid given the lack of creativity of the participant you chose to highlight).