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Community Mediation Services (CMS) of Eugene is pleased to announce the establishment of its new Restorative Peer Court (RPC) program. Peer courts (youth or teen courts) across the country give youth defendants the opportunity to participate in an alternative court system where offenders are allowed to be heard and judged by their peers. Continue reading
The mood in Salem’s Hot Air Society took a turn for the worse this week as Democratic leaders opened up hearings last Tuesday on PERS (Public Employees Retirement System). I was hoping that Speaker Tina Kotek and Senate President Peter Courtney would form a special joint committee dedicated to PERS alone. Instead, they combined the House and Senate Rules into a joint committee for the purpose of taking testimony on the various PERS measures out there. Continue reading
People have had an intimate relationship with water. Not only is it our bodies’ life source and without it nothing on Earth could grow, but also it has been utilized as a means of transportation all over the world prior to industrialization. Our waterways were once our highways. All across North America varying kinds of canoes were tailored to fit the type of water they would be used on. These canoe-carving skills were acquired through years of trial and error and passed down through family lineage. The canoe was a vessel for transport and an essential part of our everyday lives. Continue reading
As Spring arrives, the 77th Hot Air Society is devolving into Salem’s version of our national political gridlock. Republicans are showboating with an unacceptable PERS reform proposal and refusing to negotiate over new taxes. Meanwhile, Democrats are hiding the ball on specific PERS reforms, quite understandably, until the Ways and Means picture is clearer. Continue reading
One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things. – Henry Miller Continue reading
Lane County has pulled out all the stops on promoting Goshen as an up and coming industrial job center for Lane County. But before we go ga-ga over Goshen I’d like Lane County to answer a few questions. How much is it going to cost? How long is it going to take? We already know it’s the public who gets to pay, but who is going to benefit? Are there other interests besides the landowners who will benefit at the public’s expense? Continue reading
The last time you tried to explain why you support marriage equality, did you mention civil rights? Justice? Equal access to benefits? Did you call it “gay marriage?” Wrong, wrong, wrong and waay wrong! Who knew? I always thought the “liberty and justice for all” argument was a pretty good one. I mean our Constitution does guarantee equal justice under the law. But we can talk about equal rights and justice till we’re lavender-blue in the face — it just turns people off. At least the still-undecided voters. Dang. Continue reading
When we did PERS reform in 2003, we didn’t attach it to the budget as severely as you’re seeing in this 2013 version of the Hot Air Society. It’s stunning to see both parties and two branches of state government simultaneously tying the funding of education, public safety and human services so tightly to one target. Continue reading
I had a strange dream last night. In my dream the lights were low … there, stage right, the Chicano devil, wearing a black fedora, pointed black shoes, pock-marked face, oversized styled black pants, bright red shirt, thin black moustache, full-on zoot suit. I hear him whispering in my ear, “Go ahead, stick ’em, it’s OK, go ahead, do it.” I abruptly awoke. Continue reading
During the first two months of any Oregon legislative session, early in the game, the fringe usually shows up. Single-issue, uncompromising intimidators beat their wedge issue drums for all to hear. The self-righteous anti-choice wackjobs — with their red roses and plastic fetuses — for example. And the angry Second Amendment crowd — with their paranoid delusions. These folks collectively make the Capitol building look more like a concentrated confederacy of dunces than usual. Continue reading