News release: July 21-27 is Probation, Parole, and Community Supervision Week in Lincoln County Public invited to July 24 barbecue
July 18, 2024 – The Lincoln County Board of Commissioners proclaimed July 21-27, 2024, to be Probation, Parole, and Community Supervision Week in Lincoln County, recognizing the many contributions of the county’s parole and probation officers, who supervise approximately 450 justice-involved adults and juveniles in our community. These professionals work with the Oregon Department of Corrections and Criminal Justice Commission, Circuit Courts, Lincoln County District Attorney’s Office, mental health providers, substance abuse treatment providers, and other community partners to make referrals and create opportunities for justice-involved individuals that reduce criminal activity and recidivism, as well as make effective use of public resources. According to Lincoln County Community Justice Director Tony Campa, his department’s staff work within Oregon’s changing criminal justice landscape, adapting to legislative and regulatory changes to provide the appropriate level of intervention and behaviorchange services for all their clients. “I greatly admire our staff and their efforts on behalf of the people we serve,” Campa said. Commissioners unanimously approved the Probation, Parole, and Community Supervision Week proclamation during their regular meeting Wednesday, July 17. “I want to recognize our Community Justice team and their partners for leading the way in alternatives to incarceration,” Commission Chair Casey Miller said. “Their dedication to providing accountability as well as access to opportunities has enabled many pathways to a more successful, enriching life for community members involved in the justice system.” To celebrate Probation, Parole, and Community Supervision Week, the public is invited to a barbecue outside the Community Justice office in Newport on Wednesday, July 24. Everyone is welcome to come to 218 W. Olive St. between 11 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. to enjoy hamburgers and hotdogs with all the fixings. For questions, please contact Public Information Officer Kenneth Lipp at [email protected] or 541-265-4100.
SALEM, Ore. July 17, 2024 – Oregon House Republican Leader Jeff Helfrich (R-Hood River) and Senate Republican Leader Daniel Bonham (R-The Dalles) today called on Gov. Tina Kotek to remove Cass McLeod-Skinner from her position as director for the Oregon Board of Chiropractic Examiners over her amplification of comments supporting the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump.
McLeod-Skinner reposted a social media post that expressed disappointment that the shooter had not succeeded in murdering the former president and current Republican nominee for President of the United States.
Helfrich and Bonham said the following: “Political violence has no place in American politics. Certainly, those who believe that it does should not be in positions of authority in Oregon state government. With her amplification of pro-assassination messages, Cass McLeod-Skinner has demonstrated that she is unfit for the position she holds with the Oregon Board of Chiropractic Examiners. Gov. Kotek rightly denounced violence in the aftermath of the shooting, and now she has an opportunity to put her words into action by removing McLeod-Skinner from her position to signal that such dangerous rhetoric is unacceptable.” You can find a copy of a letter Republican Leadership sent Governor Kotek here.
It was a weekend for counterfeit bills to visit Lincoln City. The Lincoln City Police Department (LCPD) reported three separate instances of fake $100, $5 and $1 bills used or attempted to be used at the Chinook Winds Casino Resort on Sunday July 14. According to reports no arrests were made nor suspects noted.
On Friday 12 a counterfeit bill was intercepted at O’Reilly’s Auto Parts. Though an involved subject was noted, no arrest was made or citation issued.
The Lincoln City Police Department encourages citizens and business to be sure to take the time to examine the currency they receive, especially larger denomination bills to be sure they are real US currency and to contact the local law enforcement agency immediately if they receive any suspected counterfeit currency. Information regarding counterfeit currency and how to spot it is available at the police department free of charge.
Donald Trump escorted by Secret Service agents(photo WP)
(Miriam-Webster’s dictionary)
assassination noun 1: murder by sudden or secret attack often for political reasons : the act or an instance of assassinating someone (such as a prominent political leader)
2: treacherous destruction of a person’s reputation character assassination
Saturday June 13th found me taking a breather from some weekend chores around our house. Normally, I park my cell phone on its charger and studiously avoid news and most entertainment channels on the television. This is my land, my castle, my sanctuary and I don’t lightly invite strangers in-especially strangers that want to lie to me, depress me or attack the things that I believe in. Such is current popular culture, network news and the hurricane of voices on the internet.
As I took a moment to appreciate the cleanliness and order of the refrigerator something prompted me to pick up my phone and open the “X” app. Posts were flowing in like an avalanche speeding down a mountainside. Post after post were showing a photo of Donald Trump, blood trickling from his ear down his cheek and onto his lips. Each post had a variation on the news that he had been shot or shot at. The news was just breaking and no facts were available for confirmation except that everyone posting from the event or being interviewed on site agreed that shots had been fired at the former president’s campaign rally.
As the proverbial dust began to settle and order returned from chaos, the horror of the moment was beginning to be realized; someone tried to kill Donald Trump. That person was dead on a roof 130 yards away.
A rallygoer in the bleachers behind the speaker’s podium was dead. Two other people in the bleachers had been wounded. An emergency room doctor on scene, his white t-shirt soaked with blood and perspiration described, on camera, to a reporter how he tried to save the man that died.
So many thoughts rush through my mind at these moments of unfathomable evil. And, oddly, they usually begin with asking myself; “When did this first seem like a good idea to this person (the perpetrator)?”
I recall my stint in rehab and a point brought up by a psychologist who shared with us the cycle of use of an addict. He said (paraphrasing) “Everything begins with a decision and is followed by planning.” For alcoholics like me that hit home. Drinking always involved the decision to drink on any particular day and ended with a plan to make it happen.
The same thing happened with the the assassin. For whatever reason-under whatever influence-he made a decision to shoot Donald Trump dead. The last days of his short life were consumed with planning.
“Similar to patients with orbitofrontal cortex lesions, substance dependent individuals (SDI) show signs of impairments in decision-making, characterized by a tendency to choose the immediate reward at the expense of severe negative future consequences… One of the important characteristics of human drug addiction is the continuous consumption of abused substances, despite a rise in negative consequences, including medical, social and legal problems.”
What substance was the shooter abusing? That is not known. What can be clearly extrapolated is that he was consuming something-whether drugs, alcohol or ideas that filled his brain with the notion that killing Donald Trump would solve his problems.
He was, like all addicts, consuming a product that was torturing him and seeking a way to ease the self induced pain.
According to a paper titled, “American Presidential assassins and would-be assassins by S. Cain published in PubMed, “…revealed substantial evidence to suggest that most U.S. assassins have been psychotic at the time they attempted to kill their victims and that the most frequently rendered diagnosis was ‘paranoid schizophrenia’. It was also reported that many of the assassin subjects had either sent threatening correspondence to their victims prior to the assassination attempt or had recanted the justifiable nature of their ‘heroic deed’ in letters or personal diaries which were recovered shortly after the assault.”
If, indeed, the shooter is found to have been a paranoid schizophrenic but free from chemical substance abuse he surely was a consumer of ideas that made him believe that the death of a complete stranger would quell the demons in his mind.
From WebMd, “Schizophrenia is the most common example of this mental illness. It is a kind of psychosis, which means your mind doesn’t agree with reality. It affects how you think and behave. This can show up in different ways and at different times, even in the same person. The illness usually starts in late adolescence or young adulthood.”
I keep returning to what the shooter’s mental diet consisted of. Was it a steady diet of character assassination in print and broadcast form? Because of this moment I recalled old friends who no longer will speak to me because I voted for Trump. In fact they wouldn’t visit our mutual dying friend or attend his funeral because he also voted for Trump. Their derangement is nearly inexplicable except that they were huge consumers of left wing media and found soul mates for their failures in life. Like the Nazis and modern day Iranians it’s easier to have a pretend enemy in Jews instead of facing their own shortcomings and working to improve them.
I mentioned earlier I’m very protective of what enters both my home and my mind. There was a time when I was mentally unstable due to alcohol consumption and the loneliness that it brings along with it as a playmate. I knew paranoia and delusion and I was open to nearly any kind of stupidity that wafted into my brain. Fortunately, violence against someone else was never an option. I physically only punished myself-but by extension punished my family and friends.
My deluded mind that said I was fine did not agree with the reality that I wasn’t.
So the question begs, what rot was filling this 20 year old mind? What images of Donald Trump had he conjured because of the media he was consuming? How great a threat was Trump to him and how heroic a figure would he have been (in his own mind) if he had succeeded?
It’s clear that the man was not an acquaintance of Trump’s. He had no personal interaction with the former president so he really did not know him. Rather he formulated an opinion based on the thoughts of others. He necessarily had reinforced his hate on a steady consumption of opinions that lead him to believe that Donald Trump posed a large enough threat that he needed to die.
New Republic cover with Trump mirroring Hitler.
Bottom line: Donald Trump lives on. A brave firefighter named Corey Comperatore, by the act of protecting his family, is dead. A sad, sick and confused young man is dead.
The Holy Bible says in the book of James Chapter three paragraph 16 through 18:
” For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”
My prayer is that good fruits will come of this tragedy and the voices of hate that poison young minds will find peace.
The Siletz Bay Music Festival has named Sue Parks-Hilden as their 2024 Dick Hyman For Love of Music Award honoree and will present the award at the festival’s August 23 benefit event at the Chinook Winds Casino Resort.
The Dick Hyman Award is presented annually to a festival supporter who personifies the love, enthusiasm and exuberance that Dick Hyman brings to his playing. Hyman is a national endowment of the arts jazz master fellow, an Emmy and ASCAP Award winning pianist, composer and arranger, and was a mainstay of the Siletz Bay Music Festival from its inception until his retirement in 2018.
Sue Parks-Hilden helped found and shape the Siletz Bay Music Festival with the late Artistic Director, Yaki Bergman. She served as the organization’s first Executive Director, and has participated as a board member, board chair and currently, as advisor to the board. She has also been active in many Lincoln County initiatives and organizations and has lent her support and advocacy to Family Promise and to the children of Lincoln County’s public schools.
Portland-based dance party band, ironically named “Mr. Vale’s Math Class” will help animate the dance floor at the event. With notes of funk, Latin beats, saxophones, trumpets, bells, and catchy cheers, the band’s music adds up to a fun musical experience for both toe-tapping at the table or dancing on the floor. The band’s exuberant performances have earned accolades from Portland press, which hailed them as “Most fun band in Portland right now.”
The August 23 event is billed as a “low-key fundraiser.” Although donations will be gratefully accepted, there’ll be no auction, no paddle raise, no pressure.
Tickets for this year’s benefit dinner are $85 and are available, along with all other festival events, at siletzbaymusic.org.
The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) will join Union Pacific Railroad, The Portland Board of Transportation (PBOT), Metro, TriMet and Multnomah County in the coordinated corridor cleanup from I-5 to I-205.
PORTLAND — Five miles of Interstate 84 will close in both directions to rail and highway traffic overnight from 11 p.m. Saturday, July 13 to noon Sunday, July 14 for graffiti cleaning and trash removal between I-5 and I-205.
In addition to the I-84 closure in Sullivan’s Gulch, northbound Interstate 5 will be closed over the Marquam Bridge with traffic diverted onto northbound Interstate 405. Crews will take advantage of the overnight closure to carry out bridge maintenance activities. The Morrison Bridge and North Weidler Street ramps to northbound I-5 will remain open.
The coordinated effort by six agencies — ODOT, Union Pacific Railroad, TriMet, the Portland Bureau of Transportation, Metro and Multnomah County — will target one of the most visible parts of the Portland area and an area particularly hard hit by graffiti and trash.
Upwards of 100 workers from the six agencies will join private contractors to remove trash and clean graffiti along the corridor, working from west to east. All on-ramps leading to I-84 will be closed as well.
For real time traffic information during the closure, go to TripCheck.com. This work is weather dependent and the schedule may change.
As a detour, motorists should use I-205 or local roads to bypass the overnight closure. Travelers should plan ahead and expect delays in the area.
During the closure, Union Pacific may need to run a train on occasion through their corridor.
TriMet may need a couple of hours to resume MAX service once I-84 has reopened as crews will need to reenergize the system.
You can sign up now for service alerts to arrive by email or text by going to trimet.org/emailupdates.
All highway lanes will reopen by noon Sunday, July 14. MAX Blue, Green and Red Line trains will also be disrupted during the closure between the Gateway/NE 99th Ave Transit Center and NE 7th Ave to allow crews to access the right of way. Shuttle buses will serve closed stations during the disruption.
2024 Paris Summer Olympics Rings in front of Eiffel Tower (Getty images)
Breakdancing. Surfing. Sport Climbing. What do these three popular hobbies have in common? All three will be events in the upcoming 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris, France.
Remember the Olympics? Can anyone tell me where the 2020 Summer Olympics were held? That’s right, they weren’t held anywhere in 2020 because of the worldwide COVID pandemic. Instead the Tokyo Olympics were held in 2021 viewed by the smallest U.S. television audience since the U.S.A. boycotted the 1988 Olympics in Moscow.
This summer, Paris is going all out to renew international interest in the games. These Olympics will have several unique events while holding on to the traditions that people expect from the quadrennial event.
Beginning of Paris Olympics torch relay (photo by IOC)
Traditionally, there is an extended torch relay that begins in Athens, Greece, where the original ancient Olympics began. The torch was lit back in April from the eternal flame that continuously burns in Athens.
The torch has already traveled across the Mediterranean Sea to France. According to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), “150,000 people were waiting for the arrival of the Flame for an exceptional, spectacular and festive day of celebrations on the Vieux-Port in Marseille, the first stopover town for the Torch Relay in France.” It is currently making a tour of France and scheduled to enter Paris on July 14, (which is also Bastille Day), to celebrate the memorable times and places associated with the history of France.
For many, the opening ceremonies are their favorite part of each Olympics. Typically held in the home country’s largest outdoor stadium, where each participating country marches their athletes in behind the flag of their own country. This year’s ceremony, scheduled for July 26, will look much different. It will take place In a 4-mile long procession of barges floating down the Seine River with several hundred thousand spectators expected to watch from the river bank along the route.
Computer-generated image of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics on the River (france24.com)
This year’s Olympics will be comprised of over 75 events. I am really looking forward to watching the Basketball competition. The United States Men’s Basketball team, loaded with the top American NBA players, such as Lebron James and Stephen Curry, are the gold medal favorites. Competition will be tough as many countries feature foreign-born NBA All-Stars on their teams. France has the young 7’4″ phenom, Victor Wembanyama (sound it out slowly). Greece features “the Greek Freak” Giannis Antetokounmpo (pronounced Greek-freak), and Team Canada with its roster full of the most polite NBA veterans, eh.
The first USA men’s basketball game will be broadcast on NBC, Sunday, July 28, at 8:15 am PDT (5:15 pm in Paris).
Track & Field, beginning on August 1, is another of my favorite competitions to watch. There are several intriguing personalities taking part in the running, jumping and throwing. Pay close attention to the very unique race-ending routine of men’s sprinter, Noah Lyles, competing in both the 100m and 200m. Also, Women’s sprinter, Sha’Carri Richardson, who was suspended after qualifying for the 2021 Tokyo Games. She is seeking redemption in the 100m sprint.
Olympic gold medalist Ryan Crouser (photo IOC)
Of local interest, Ryan Crouser, a Portland area native, is the world record holder in the shot put. He will be participating in his third Olympics, having won gold medals in the previous two competitions.
Other popular events I will enjoy watching this summer are swimming, gymnastics, boxing, and, beach volleyball, and, of course, the newest events: Surfing, Sport Climbing, and Breaking.
Surfing for gold in 2024 (photo IOC)
Interestingly, the surfing competition will take place almost 10,000 miles (16,000 kilometers) from Paris on the world-renowned waves of Tahiti. I believe they should use the Nelscott Reef. Lincoln City is less than half the distance from Paris as Tahiti (Think of the airfare savings). Competition begins on August 27.
Sport Climbing returns (photo NBC)
Sport climbing, known to the casual observer as rock climbing, made its little-known debut as one event in 2021 at the Tokyo Games. This summer there will be two separate events, Speed and Boulder-and-Lead Combined for both men and women. The speed event is simply getting up the wall as fast as possible. The boulder-and-lead combined is a bit more complicated as it is two separate skills that focus on climbing high and climbing accurately. Beginning on August 5, this could be a very interesting competition.
“Breaking” debuts as an Olympic event in 2024 (Photo DW)
Finally, Breakdancing will make its Olympic debut this year. Beginning on August 9, it will be the last event to get started at these games. Alternatively called breaking, b-boying, and b-girling by those in the know, this sport(?) rose from its humble beginnings in the early 1980’s on the streets of the Bronx, New York. “Toprock”, “downrock”, “pops” and “locks” are just some of the names of moves to watch for in this event for men and women athletes.
After the poorly-attended and almost-forgotten Tokyo games of 2021, there is much to be excited about later this month in Paris. From the unique opening ceremonies to the breakdancing at the end of the games, this will be an Olympics spectacle like no other. Follow all the sports on all NBC-affiliated channels (https://www.nbcolympics.com/schedule).
Enjoy the competition and “Vive la Olympics”! Go USA!
Absent for the last few years from Independence Day celebrations (like the Gleneden Beach Parade), the Devils Lake Boat Parade returned triumphantly like Washington crossing the Delaware on Christmas Day 1776.
While it must be acknowledged that no British were hurt (or captured) during the day’s festivities, spirits were as high as the American flags being flown from every boat and nearly every roof, balcony and yard that surround the lake.
Boats of every shape and size traveled the parade route
As over 50 boats of every make and model gathered near Regatta park at 4p.m. people waved back and forth between the crafts with occasional shouts of “Happy Fourth of July!”
A classic pontoon boat still emblazoned with “Blue Heron Landing” on its side lead the route around the lake. As all the boats trailed respectfully behind there truly was an air of happiness at being together again after so long an absence.
Onlookers cheer the boats as they pass byPicnics and a parade made for a great day on the lake
What was even more impressive than the number of boats on the lake were the number of onlookers waving American flags and cheering on the sailors.
Happy Birthday America!
Thanks go to the Devils Lake Neighborhood Association (DLNA) for organizing and promoting the boating parade. DLNA is also sponsoring the fireworks show on July Fifth 2024. If you would like to contribute to the group to help pay for the privately funded show, click here.
Photo by Don Williams, Lincoln City Homepage Publisher
While waiting in line at a local grocery store on July second, I overheard a kindly cashier say to the fella in front of me; “Have a safe Fourth!” He responded politely and went on his way.
But, of course, the interaction bothered me. Why? Don’t know. Like most things in this life that I find troublesome I have to think it through for awhile until I can get a conclusion to gel in my gray pudding of a brain.
As I thought about the admonition to “Have a safe Fourth,” I finally figured out what was bothering me: It’s the two words “safe” and “Fourth(of July).” It just seems to me that those two words should never be mentioned together to a guy if one wants to have some fun or…freedom.
I know that this will be a leap for some of my kind readers but, truly, what does Independence Day and “safe” have in common? Nothing, nothing at all-at least historically.
From the moment John Hancock and 55 other men signed their names at the bottom of a piece of paper that was bound for England to shove in the face of King George-their lives and all they possessed-became worthless. The risk those men (and families and associates) took to write:
“In Congress, July 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.” cannot be overstated.
They treasonously declared that England held no hold on them, their land or the states they had established as once British citizens.
They continued; “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”
The line “deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” must have really pissed off a king who thought his power to rule came directly from God.
Jeremy Bentham ghost wrote a response from Great Britain at the time; “How this Declaration may strike others, I know not. To me, I own, it appears that it cannot fail — to use the words of a great Orator— “of doing us Knight’s service.” The mouth of faction, we may reasonably presume, will be closed; the eyes of those who saw not, or would not see, that the Americans were long since aspiring at independence, will be opened; the nation will unite as one man, and teach this rebellious people, that it is one thing for them to say, the connection, which bound them to us, is dissolved, another to dissolve it; that to accomplish their independence is not quite so easy as to declare it: that there is no peace with them, but the peace of the King: no war with them, but that war, which offended justice wages against criminals. — We too, I hope, shall acquiesce in the necessity of submitting to whatever burdens, of making whatever efforts may be necessary, to bring this ungrateful and rebellious people back to that allegiance they have long had it in contemplation to renounce, and have now at last so daringly renounced.”
Needless to say, a war did come to our American shores. Many on both sides perished for their ideals but the Colonist prevailed. And today is the day we celebrate not just a piece of paper or the men who risked everything to write and sign that piece of paper, or the men who died to secure our liberty, but we celebrate FREEDOM.
A freedom to make our own decisions about how we will individually and collectively run our lives. A freedom that always sits so tenuously on a point that it could teeter off into oblivion if not cared for and protected.
So, have a free Fourth of July and be as safe as you damned well want to be.
A five-mile stretch of Interstate 84 will be closed in both directions to rail and highway traffic overnight from 11 p.m. Saturday, July 13 to noon Sunday, July 14 for graffiti cleaning and trash removal between I-5 and I-205.
In addition to the I-84 closure in Sullivan’s Gulch, northbound Interstate 5 will be closed over the Marquam Bridge with traffic diverted onto northbound Interstate 405. Crews will take advantage of the overnight closure to carry out bridge maintenance activities. The Morrison Bridge and North Weidler Street ramps to northbound I-5 will remain open.
The coordinated effort by six agencies — ODOT, Union Pacific Railroad, TriMet, the Portland Bureau of Transportation, Metro and Multnomah County — will target one of the most visible parts of the Portland area and one particularly hard hit by graffiti and trash.
Upwards of 100 workers from the six agencies will join private contractors to remove trash and clean graffiti along the corridor, starting from west to east. All on-ramps leading to I-84 will be closed as well.
For real time traffic information during the closure, go to TripCheck.com. This work is weather dependent and the schedule may change.
As a detour, motorists should use I-205 or local roads to bypass the overnight closure. Travelers should plan ahead and expect delays in the area.
During the closure, Union Pacific may need to run a train on occasion through their corridor.
TriMet may need a couple of hours to resume MAX service once I-84 has reopened as crews will need to reenergize the system.
You can sign up now for service alerts to arrive by email or text by going to trimet.org/emailupdates.
All highway lanes will reopen by noon Sunday, July 14. MAX Blue, Green and Red Line trains will also be disrupted during the closure between the Gateway/NE 99th Ave Transit Center and NE 7th Ave to allow crews to access the right of way. Shuttle buses will serve closed stations during the disruption.
News release: July 21-27 is Probation, Parole, and Community Supervision Week in Lincoln County
It was a weekend for counterfeit bills to visit Lincoln City. The Lincoln City Police Department (LCPD) reported three separate instances of fake $100, $5 and $1 bills used or attempted to be used at the Chinook Winds Casino Resort on Sunday July 14. According to reports no arrests were made nor suspects noted.
