Song in my Head: I caught you knockin' at my cellar door ...I love you, baby, can I have some more....Neil Young

In Season: From Baghdad to Little Beirut


Hood River vs. Wally World

Super Wal-Mart plan denied

...Wal-Mart representatives turned back in Cascade Locks Tuesday afternoon, stated a company fax read in the hearing by county administrator Dave Meriwether. The Wal-Mart fax claimed it feared for “life and limb of our team.”

However, Christine Cook, the attorney for the appellant Citizens for Responsible Government (CRG) drove from Portland Tuesday, as did the county’ hydrologic consultant Ken Vigil. Both testified in the hearing (link)

Is it a fair hearing if Wal-Mart reps don't show due to difficult weather conditions? Hood River County Commisioners think so. Round one goes to the citizens of Hood River.



Alter-Abled News


[Oregon] Medical marijuana law celebrates 5th anniversary (link)


More patients opting for medical marijuana

The number of cardholders grows by 25 percent. Five years after Oregon passed its groundbreaking medical marijuana law, it seems to be experiencing a boom.

A recent round of favorable federal court rulings appears to have prompted more ailing Oregonians to seek state-issued cards allowing them to smoke, grow and possess marijuana and at the same time emboldened more doctors to endorse the practice.

From Oct. 20 to Jan. 2, the number of people holding the cards jumped from 6,040 to 7,584, a 25 percent increase, state records show. (link)


Can Disabled People Be Forced to Crawl Up the Courthouse Steps?

When George Lane showed up at the Polk County Courthouse with a crushed hip and pelvis, he had a problem. His hearing was on the second floor, there was no elevator, and the judge said he had better get upstairs. Mr. Lane, both of whose legs were in casts, somehow managed to get out of his wheelchair and crawl up two flights of stairs. "On a pain scale of 1 to 10, it was way past 10," he says.

While Mr. Lane crawled up, he says, the judge and other courthouse employees "stood at the top of the stairs and laughed at me." His case was not heard in the morning session, he says, and at the lunch break he crawled back down. That afternoon, when he refused to crawl upstairs again, he was arrested for failing to appear, and put in jail. (link)

If this doesn't infuriate you, you are reading the wrong blog. Shoo.


Exhibit of work by [alter-abled] disabled artists will visit UO (link)