Category: Local

While the $1.94 average in Oregon is one of the top in the Nation right now, California, Arizona, Nevada and Hawaii are all still higher than us — but not by much.

You just have to love Oregon. We’re famous for our high gas prices, our nasty unemployment, Tonya Harding, the City of Half.com, our whale disposal methods, the New Carissa, and Bob Packwood. Hell, Monica Lewinsky even went to college here. Can it get any worse? I guess I could live in Nebraska with Gregg … ‘eh, nevermind. This is God’s country, after all.

Fellow Oregonians: Am I missing anything else here? Are there things that I’m missing that should definitely NEVER get mentioned on Oregon tourism brochures?

And KATU in Portland has started a blog about the events in Portland, and Rob is on top of things as well. It looks like a mess in Portland — I’m curious as to what’s going to happen when they hit Bend. Unfortunately, we don’t have nearly the quality media outlets around here, but keep on top of Bend.com for the best coverage (I just hope Barney brings a digital camera with him).

Update @ 1:35: President is in the air and on his way to Central Oregon. The reception in Central Oregon should be much warmer than the one he got in Portland — Central Oregon is, by and large, a very Republican area, but there are still bound to be protesters. Rumor has it that the one-mile strip of road between the fairgrounds and the airport is lined with American flags, but I’m not in Redmond to verify that.

I also heard on the radio that they did indeed sell 500 tickets to the $2,000-per-plate lunch in Portland, raising Bush a cool $1-million. Must be nice to raise that kind of cash after only being in the state for a few hours.

Update @ 3:15: Bush landing in Redmond about an hour ago. By now he’s probably taken the tour over the fire, and is about to give a speech to the folks there at the Fairgrounds. He was welcomed warmly in Central Oregon, though there is a small group of protesters setting up shop at the fairgrounds. Meanwhile, back in Portland, the protesters aren’t giving up and are still making a mess out of things.

Update @ 4:45: The motorcade just went flying by my office here. They’re headed out towards the Crosswater, so I’m assuming he’s staying there (as the Resort owns a few homes out there).

President Bush is making a trip to Oregon and is also making an Air Force 1 pit stop in Redmond. He planned on making a stop in the Camp Sherman area (just outside of Sisters) to discuss environmental and forestation issues, but a fire up in that area which may move Bush somewhere else. The Santiam Pass is closed because of the fire, and probably won’t reopen for a few days.

The area is certainly getting ready for his arrival. Protests are being planned (though some folks are already protesting). Many of the Oregon Bloggers in the Portland area (like Emma, Jack, Rick, and Rob), will undoubtedly be blogging something about the mess that’s likely to come about in the next couple days. We’ll just have to wait and see.

On a side (but related) note, my mom got a call from the Secret Service the other day. My mom is the trauma coordinator at St. Charles Medical Center (SCMC). SCMC is the largest hospital in Eastern Oregon, and the main trauma center for this half of the state. Basically, my mom’s there to make sure that things are done right when big accidents or disasters come. She writes the hospital’s disaster plans, runs drills, etc… .

So she gets this call from these folks. My mom had only planned on working a couple days this week as she worked on a PILE of stuff last week so she could take it easy. Then the white house staff wanted to meet with her, and then the secret service asked her to make sure she was working on Thursday while Bush was here, just in case something were to happen. I do understand the government’s concern. It scared the heck out of mom to pick up the phone and hear the secret service on the other end. Granted, my mom never makes threats on the President’s life, nor does she counterfeit money (the secret service’s jurisdiction), but I would imagine talking to them would still be intimidating. I remember one time coming home to a message from the Justice Department. It was for a job reference for an old friend of mine, but it still scared the hell out of me.

Update on 8/21: Because of the fires, Bush will be speaking around 3:45ish at the county fairgrounds. I’ve heard rumors where he might be staying in Central Oregon tonight (actually, I’m 90% sure), but since I don’t want to piss off the secret service, you ain’t getting that information out of me.

I was reading through Oregon Blogs, and found there’s actually another blogger here in Bend. So there’s a whole two of us now that are at least listed (I’m not quite sure where High Desert Skeptic is based, but I’m sure he’s in Bend or close by here). Anyway, Jon Abernathy and chuggnutt have been blogrolled.

Looks like some areas East of Bend are on fire. Thanks to several consecutive days of 100+degree temps and very dry conditions, this entire county is going to go up in smoke in no time at all. Many of our guests here at work have tee-times today and tomorrow at Lost Tracks Golf Club — and the road getting to the course is closed because of the fire.

So it looks like we’re going to be having a bunch of angry guests calling us because they can’t golf. They’ll hold us accountable, because they know we were the ones that started the fires. It’s amazing to me how tourists leave their brains at home when they travel.

Update on 7/24: The golf course is open, and actually being used — they’re taking water from the course’s ponds and dumping it on the fire. The fire is now 2000 acres, and luckily the winds are blowing it away from Bend. The smoke in the air is pretty thick (as the fire’s about 10 miles Northeast of my office) and there’s a bit of ash on my car. Full Story on bend.com.

I remember looking up at Pilot Butte (and big ol’ butte right in the center of town) last night and looking at all the cars driving up to the top to see the fire. There were cars wrapped all the way up the butte full of people gawking at it.

This guy was in trouble before, and is at it again — he was arrested on two outstanding warrants Sunday at his permanent home in Lake Oswego.

“On July 1, the Jefferson County District Attorney’s office received information that McCulloch was trying to purchase a rifle from a gun store in Tigard — five days after Circuit Court Judge Daniel Ahern told McCulloch he could remain out of jail as long as he didn’t possess alcohol or firearms.” (emphasis mine)

You’d think you wouldn’t have to warn a pastor about such a thing. Moron…thanks Harry for the link.

In what has become standard procedure this time of year, a wildfire is burning — with no sign of control — in Central Oregon. The fire is about an hour south of where I work, and the smoke was billowing into Bend. If you look at Sunray’s Web Cam, you’ll see it’s pretty gray out here. I feel bad for the triathletes that are racing today about 30-miles from the fire. The air is thick and nasty, which surely isn’t ideal conditions for endurance athletes.

Update on 6/30 @ Noon: The Davis Lake fire’s up to 13,000 acres (the big jump is partially because of better measuring equipment). Click on the news story above for more info (it’s an updated link). The fire is 30% contained. Wickiup

I had a buddy who was in the duathlon yesterday, and he said that the smoke was a bit thick up there.

I’ve been trying to keep up with more Oregon-based blogs to see what people around the state think about things. ORBlogs.com has been slightly redesigned to have a city-based listing, as well as a listing for when a blog’s been updated. I notice I’m the only one on the east side of the Cascades. All them Valley folks probably think all of us cowboys and ranchers don’t know how to work a computer or something. Oh well…they don’t know what they’re missing.

This morning was the annual Balloons Over Bend event here in town. I completely forgot about the festival until a balloon nearly landed on my roof at 6:45 this morning. I was wondering what that weird noise was outside, and went outside to figure out what it was to find a balloon basket probably a mere 15 feet above my house. He ended up landing in Stover park (1/2 block from my house), as I think he was having trouble with balloon. Since I was awake, I sat and watched about a dozen more float over my house. It was quite a sight, but very cool to watch.

Of course, now they’re trying to use the event as a tourist draw, which I’m not really happy about, but that’s another story entirely.

Harry up in Madras sent me this story of a Lutheran pastor who allegedly threatened an Alcoholics Anonymous group with both an ax and shotgun. While that’s funny in and of itself, Harry pointed out to me how the guy looks a lot like Michael Caine:

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Update: According to a story in yesterday’s Bulletin (who, unfortunately, has barely any content on their site), a priest in Bend plead guilty to drunk driving and assault charges. I think Central Oregon has a problem with their religious leaders.