Alleged drunken, drugged Oregon Mayor arrested after head-on crash

The Mayor of Monument was arrested on several
charges, including DUII, on Saturday after crashing his pickup head-on
into an oncoming car and then fleeing the scene.

Oregon
State Police troopers from the John Day worksite are continuing the
investigation into Saturday evening’s three-vehicle injury crash on
State Highway 402 near the small eastern Oregon community of Monument.
The alleged impaired-related driving crash sent 3 people to the
hospital, including a 2-year old child, and led to the arrest of
Monument’s mayor on multiple charges.

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Earthquake Hits Portland

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Police: Woman Used Stolen Card in Lottery

Kalle sent us the following email… I totally missed this story… thanks dude!  Yes indeed Southern Oregon is a freak show, especially this White City, which we refer to as "Quite Shitty".

Dude… tell me you’ve heard of this!?  How can Medford have spawned
two lottery winners???  From what you’ve said about Medford, this
sounds about right. :)  Oh irony, sweet irony.

MEDFORD, Ore. - A woman bought a winning lottery ticket worth $1
million with a stolen credit card and could wind up with nothing if
convicted, police said.

Christina Goodenow, 38, of White City in southern Oregon faced
numerous theft-related charges, forgery and possession of
methamphetamine, said authorities, who searched her home Thursday. The
card belonged to a deceased relative, they said.

If convicted of any of the charges, Goodenow will not be able
to collect prize money from the winning ticket, said police Lt. Tim
George.

Oregon Lottery officials refused to discuss specifics of the case because an investigation is still under way.

"I’ll be fascinated to see how this shakes out," Lottery
spokesman Chuck Baumann said. "In my 12 years with the Oregon Lottery,
this is the first time I’ve encountered something like this."

Goodenow purchased the winning ticket Oct. 9 using a credit
card that had belonged to her mother-in-law, who died more than a year
ago, police said.

Goodenow traveled to Oregon Lottery headquarters in Salem on
Oct 12 to accept an installment payment of $33,500. The $1 million
grand prize is paid out over 20 years.

Detectives began tracking Goodenow on Wednesday after learning
that she had used the credit card to purchase several items, including
the ticket.

A search warrant served at her home Thursday turned up some methamphetamine, but little money, George said.

"Our investigation is still trying to determine what happened to the $33,500," George said.

We’re Safe! FBI: Portland’s Crime Rate Drops Again

PORTLAND, Ore. - You may think crime in Portland is at a dangerous high
when you hear news about shootings in downtown or a wild shootout with
police in north Portland, but the numbers show otherwise.

According to crime statistics released by the FBI on Monday, Portland is one of the safest cities in the United States.

The Portland area’s per capita violent crime rate is actually
low - lower than in Tacoma, Seattle and roughly half of what you would
see in Los Angeles or Albuquerque. READ MORE.

No vitamins at school?

OREGON CITY, Ore. - An Oregon City High School student who was
suspended for bringing vitamins to school was allowed back in class
Monday afternoon.

Jessica Booth was on a five-day suspension after school officials say she brought vitamins to school without prior notification.  READ MORE

World’s largest Wi-Fi cloud is right here in Oregon

   
   HERMISTON, Ore. - Parked alongside his onion fields, Bob
Hale can prop open a laptop and read his e-mail or, with just a
keystroke, check the moisture of his crops.

   
   As the jack rabbits run by, he can watch CNN online, play a
video game or turn his irrigation sprinklers on and off, all from
the air conditioned comfort of his truck. READ MORE…

Chuck Palahniuk

Portland is lucky enough to have one of the finest fiction writers living right here.  (part time anyhow)  Chuck Palahniuk has written many great books, a lot of you have no doubt read one or more of them.  His most popular work is Fight Club, which was also made into a damn fine film.  So visit Chuck’s website and give a look around, you can submit stories, and read tons of great articles.  If you like stories that twist your mind, chuck is your man. I would recommend picking up Invisible Monsters or Survivor, if you’ve already read Fight Club.  If you plan on visiting Portland soon, or are just interested in bizarre and fun things to do while in Portland, check out Chuck’s book Fugitives and Refugees : A Walk in Portland, Oregon

County commissioner from Oregon engaged in battle over real estate with local tribe says “Nothing against Indians, but they are stealing our land.”

Rising animosity between two Douglas County
commissioners and the Cow Creek Band of the Umpqua Tribe of Indians has
taken a new turn. The tribe has asked for copies of thousands of pages
of documents detailing the activities of Commissioners Dan Van Slyke
and Marilyn Kittelman.

At the same time, the tribe has accused
Kittelman of making disparaging remarks about the tribe while dining
with her husband over the summer at a Rice Hill restaurant. Kittelman
has denied saying anything negative about the tribe.

Last month,
Steven K. Blackhurst, an attorney with Ater Wynne, a Portland firm
representing the tribe, asked the county to supply him with copies of
e-mail messages from the two commissioners, along with appointment
books, calendars, telephone logs and cellular phone records. READ MORE…

Oregon woman countersues RIAA

This is the case peer-to-peer file sharers
have been waiting for. Tanya Andersen, a 41 year old disabled single
mother living in Oregon, has countersued the RIAA for Oregon RICO
violations, fraud, invasion of privacy, abuse of process, electronic
trespass, violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, negligent
misrepresentation, the tort of "outrage", and deceptive business
practices.

read more | digg story

You have to love Oregon!

Order it here

Strip club T-shirt sales are taking off
            
            PORTLAND
(AP) ? A T-shirt boasting about Oregon strip clubs has become a best
seller for a major retailer that caters to teenagers.
            

The
$18 T-shirt has become the most sought among 50 state-themed shirts
rolled out last spring by Hot Topic, a mall-based retailer that sells
edgy apparel for teens at about 600 stores nationwide. The slogan says:
"Come for the fishing. Stay for the strip clubs.”

It turns out
there’s truth to the slogan, created by an employee at the retailer’s
outlet at Washington Square. Oregon has 93 such clubs, or 2.6 per
100,000 residents ? second only to West Virginia’s 53 clubs, or 2.9 per
100,000 residents.

The slogan doesn’t bother Todd Davidson, chief executive for the state’s tourism board.

"It
starts by encouraging people to come for the fishing, and that’s
year-round,” he said. "I guess the other thing isn’t seasonal either.”

It
could’ve been worse. Consider some of the T-shirt slogans for other
states, including California’s "Break me off a piece of that” and
Washington state’s "Way less murders than Washington, D.C.”