After reading recent comments by Randy Grove, human resources director at Paratransit Services, I'm wondering if bulbous red clown noses are a management perk.
Grove says BAT workers want a 135% wage increase totaling $2.8 million. I've been following the transit union negotiations pretty closely, and I sure don't recall numbers that come remotely close to these outrageous claims.
The Bozos of BAT
Bring Back Those Sunny Healy Days
To Matt Janney, president and general manager, Mt. Bachelor:
Hey man, remember those good old Healy days of summer? Yeah, those days when the mountain would stay open for all us snow lovers almost as long as the snow lasted? Dude, you were there and loving it all too! What happened, man? What happened to all those sunny summer mornings cruising down the hill under a hot summer sun? What happened to Bill's mountain, what happened to skiing thru July 4? What is up with May 18? That closing is so lame, man!
SMART’s Dumb Move
Oregon's SMART (for "Start Making a Reader Today") program got started in 1992 with a handful of volunteers and one simple idea: that having a grownup spend a little time each week reading with a young child would encourage a love of books and improve the child's reading skills, confidence and school performance.
King’s Inspiration
Earlier this month we marked the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King's death, or should I say his assassination, in Memphis, TN. Hours have been spent on radio and television commemorating the event. Articles, some at great length, have been written about what this Baptist preacher accomplished not only for his race but for the problem of segregation we have in America.
What never seems to be mentioned is what context, motivation and background motivated this great man. Sure, he was a Baptist preacher, but what made him do what he did, say what he said, motivated this man?
High Priorities, Low Budgets: A conversation with Bend-LaPine’s new schools superintendent
(Editor's Note: Ron Wilkinson will be taking over from Doug Nelson as superintendent of Bend-LaPine School District in July. This is an edited transcript of a conversation between Wilkinson and Source Weekly Senior Writer H. Bruce Miller.)
War? What War?
"War in Iraq"??? It ended on an aircraft carrier with "Mission Accomplished"!
Hard-Hitting Tax Day Coverage
Kudos to the local TV station for positioning a reporter outside the 4th Street post office on April 15. What a strategic place to pin down the people of Bend and ask some hard-hitting questions about taxes! I approached the reporter to offer my view: Paying taxes sucks when nearly 50% goes to military spending and not even 5% goes to education and social services.
Merkley Goes Into Kitchen Sink Mode
The conventional wisdom advises that when a political candidate is trailing, what he should do is go negative against his opponent - and it looks like Jeff Merkley is following that advice.
Thin Edge of the Broadband Wedge?
BendBroadband's plan to offer faster connections but charge heavy users extra inspired the technology site Gizmodo to post an article headlined: "The Future of Broadband: We're Totally Screwed."
Life as Art: Cristina Acosta is making her art at all costs
Brushing up on tile work. Bend artist Cristina Acosta is challenging the old truism that art imitates life. A painter, Acosta has learned to let her art into her everyday world.
"At one point I realized that I needed to take my art off of the canvas, and put it into my life," says Acosta
Acosta's vivid and joyful painting ranges from traditional Mexican influenced Madonnas and tri-paneled ex-votos to her "Paint Happy" series of flowing still lifes. They all explode with the color of an artist doing more than putting paint to canvas. Acosta has transformed her art in a business with her tile painting and color consultation services.
Originally trained at the university level in fine arts, Acosta has branched out dramatically - although this was not necessarily easy. The elite art world of the 1980's didn't necessarily encourage disciplines like tile painting and home decor. However, she says, "I realized that everything could start becoming art for me, and that was incredibly fun. It opened up a whole new world for me."

