Lighten Up

The county administrator wasn’t kidding when she said, “We have completely changed the culture at the county.” When before have you seen the sheriff opening the doors of the jail and telling inmates — who have not served their time — to bug out?

The Register-Guard hounds Rob Handy regularly on its editorial pages even after the poor man lost his seat on the Board of Commissioners. My advice to Mr. Handy: If you want ever to have peace in your life again, give in and renew your subscription. 

The other paper in town reported that the proponents of a county tax levy to run the jail said that the extra money would “possibly cut the number of early releases of jail inmates.” Well, that’s almost enough to make me possibly consider voting for the measure.

According to the new city ordinance governing student parties, a lot of law-breaking can go on at these events: “Some of the typical offenses include obstruction of public streets, assault, menacing, harassment, disorderly conduct and criminal mischief.” And those are just the offenses committed by the police.

A poll of county residents showed that 51 percent would vote for a tax increase to fund more jail beds. My guess is that that number would go to 71 percent if some of the money could be used to pay developers not to build any more student housing.  

Don’t you think that the way Chip Kelly darted from the Ducks to the Eagles makes him look flighty?

Good news for a change. Scorecard on Duck football post season: Oregon 35 — Kansas State 17, Oregon 1 — NFL 0.

Taxpayers are surely getting their money’s worth from hard-working Lane County Administrator Liane Richardson. In addition to her other duties, Ms. Richardson has now taken on the role of sheriff of Free Speech Plaza.

Romney has made no long-range plans for life after the election. For now he’s just going to screw up one day at a time.

It helps to have a sense of humor when making a transition to life in the country. My daughter Anna, her husband, Will, and their seven-year-old son Ian, moved last year from Austin, Texas, to a small farm west of Eugene. When the chores are done they bring chairs from the house and place them in front of a screened window in the chicken coop. From there they can see the birds scratch for food, take dust baths and act out their pecking order. They call it watching chicken TV. 

In his last run against Peter DeFazio, Art Robinson said Social Security was bad and he would try to end it. This time around he complains that Social Security isn’t paying out enough in benefits. Isn’t this like the guy who told his waitress that his meal was awful, and then complained that the portions were too small?

After reading the R-G’s editorial endorsing Juan Carlos Valle for City Council over Betty Taylor — where Taylor is described as “a woman of incorruptible conviction,” as a person who is “willing to stand for what she believes in,” and as unwilling to compromise those beliefs — I felt like moving to her ward just so I could vote for her.