Greetings dear Homepage readers and welcome to the inaugural edition of “The week in review, what I think about it.” 

Over the last year, since assuming the mantle of publisher of the Lincoln City Homepage and administrator of the Lincoln City Homepage Community Facebook page I’ve had many people approach me to ask me to offer my thoughts on items in the local news.  So, being a benevolent dictator, I have agreed to pontificate (and even bloviate) on what I found interesting around town.

Note: This series of editorial commentaries are my own and no way reflect the opinions of anyone but me.

But where to start? The end of February and the first few weeks of March are not big news generating times.

Really, the biggest news (if our Facebook feed is any indicator) is the success of the Finders Keepers program run by Explore Lincoln City (formerly the Visitor and Convention Bureau)

Post after post with pictures of disembodied hands holding blown glass orbs appeared almost daily.  It was easy to sense the joy each finder shared and equally easy to hear (through virtual grinding teeth) the frustration of those that have yet to find their prize yet they felt compelled to offer congratulations with a hopes of not jinxing their chances by appearing to be a jerk. Is the program of randomly dropping glass bobbles on the beach a success or worth the cost?  Hard to say.  In terms of goodwill and marketing for our city it’s a home run.  As to actual cost versus income produced,  no numbers exist except anecdotally.  I know several business owners who give it a fiscal thumbs up.  I also know a few beach walkers that despise the extra traffic. Oh well, ain’t that life though?  What do I think about it? It’s fun for some and not others but really doesn’t cause harm to anyone.  One downside that I have witnessed was a group of scavenging humans swarming the beaches and gathering floats to then sell at beach entrances.  Not cool, but enterprising.

I think that coming in a close second on Facebook was a fake post concerning the Dancing Man of Lincoln City Mr. Stephen Goetz. The post was a wickedly cheap attempt to pull at the heartstrings of anyone that has met Stephen by making it seem (via an edited video) that he was destitute and in need of money.  I saw through the scam and didn’t allow it to be published on our site but it made it onto the Facebook feed.  Fortunately a relative of Stephens was able to quickly dispute the video and let everyone know that Stephen is doing just fine.  The internet has it’s plus side but, man oh man, does it foster the worst in some people. This type of human debris reminds me of nature films where hyenas cackle and plot around the carcass of a wounded animal or one that another animal has slayed.  Unable to provide for themselves they seek to steal what belongs to others.  This is why I still believe that public shaming is the only way to deter those who seek to commit crimes anonymously. What would my idea of public shaming look like?  Bring the criminal to a very public place for all to see and have them tell the world who they are, where they live and explain what they did.  For good measure, some type of embarrassing corporal punishment might be thrown in.  But that’s just my opinion.

For more information see Justin Werner’s definitive story about Stephen.

Getting some local attention was the stocking of trout into Devils Lake.  Most of the comments on our Facebook page concerned themselves with lake health issues and that they had “heard” that the lake is polluted and the fish weren’t fit to eat.  Most of the comments along that line were from people who have no more interest in the affairs of the lake than they have in the affairs of the city.  Frankly I doubt they could find the lake without an assist from Google Maps.   But without a world full of morons what fun would social media be?  The fish are fine to eat and lake front property owners aren’t dumping poo into the water.  Devils Lake, however, is coming off a bad stretch of grass growth that was choking the life out of it.  Devils Lake Water Improvement District manager Boone Marker says the latest survey of the lake (by an independent third party) shows the grass is currently in a major recession.  Mechanical harvesting and the newly introduced grass carp will play a huge part in determining this summer’s success concerning lake health. I’ll be out on the lake a lot this summer fishing from my 48 foot yacht.  Be sure to wave hello.

There were a couple of State of Oregon stories.  One was about wind farming off the Oregon coast.  This was given the federal ok despite every vested group, including our local legislators, in the state saying no to it.  But, I guess, if I learned one thing about big government is that if enough of the right people will be making buckets of money the projects will go through.  I hate to sound cynical but I’ve been involved in local government where thankfully there are enough checks and balance and transparency to stop this kind of garbage before it starts.  When the dollar numbers involved start with the letter ‘B’ and no one will ever have to account for the success or failure of a project, this is what we end up with. 

I’m not saying I’m against the project (even though I think it’s a giant waste of money).  What I am against is that no one that I have heard from wants this, yet it continues.  I’m waiting for a gentle pat on my head to tell me that I need to be a good boy and let the adults take care of everything.

Anyway, that’s all I have to say about that.  My fingers are tired from typing and my dogs need to go out to pee.

See you next week.