The Wandering Eye

Judging from the tone of the front-page story in yesterday's Bulletin, you'd assume St. Charles and local physicians have come up with the magic cure for what ails our local health care system.

While sadly pondering Bend's economic troubles yesterday, as I often do, I hit upon an inspiration: What this town needs is a poet laureate.

Remember how a few months ago our downtown merchants were in a dither about the horrible panhandler problem? That worry seems to have faded, but now they've got a new one: young people creating a "disturbance."

Kathie Eckman might have jeopardized her standing in the Bend Good Old Boys and Girls Club yesterday: She cast the deciding vote to repeal the meal exemption from the city's room tax.

Once upon a time - 36 years ago, to be exact, when Gov. Tom McCall signed a bill making Oregon the first state to decriminalize possession of small amounts of pot - our state was a forerunner in the fight for sensible marijuana policies. Since then we've fallen behind, but we may have a chance to play catch-up next year.

The Eye wandered downtown yesterday to take in the Bend Summer Festival. There was a huge crowd - of exhibitors, that is, who seemed to outnumber the festival-goers.

Oregonian blogger Jeff Mapes has noticed some strange bumper stickers showing up in Portland this summer. Their message: "One Less Prius."

Is Ted Kulongoski turning Oregon into a banana republic? If you believe a new Republican radio ad, he is.

Since the opinions expressed in this blog are those of The Wandering Eye and not of the Source, The Eye feels free to express the following opinion of the guest commentary by Bryce Ward, Ed Whitelaw and Andrew Kenny that appears in this week's issue:

The Eye wandered into Starbucks yesterday morning for my usual cup of coffee and copy of the New York Times. Ahead of me in line was a well-dressed, middle-aged man - mid-30s to early 40s, I'd guess. For some reason he looked like a lawyer.