A few updates to previous Corvallist rantings

Before diving back into current news, a few updates:

• Brenda Duran (formerly Kirkelie) has entered a guilty plea to a lesser charge of first-degree manslaughter in the 1982 shooting death of her husband. She will probably serve 20 years, after a nice long 24-year vacation.


• The Corvallis Police Department has determined that two of the police officers who posed with scantily-clad college girls acted inappropriately. Can I hear a resounding "Duh" from the audience? Ryan Thayer, who later started sleeping with one of the coeds when he was supposed to be rounding up bike thieves and stopping all those teenage drunks from running rampant in town, stated that now the public will "be able to see what we have to deal with, what type of people we deal with on a daily basis." Girls in lingerie? Poor baby.


• Sheriff wannabee Jack Burright, who claimed he never used his fake Farington University degree for advancement or promotion, apparently lied again. He listed the degree on an application seeking a lieutenant position in 2004. Burright is currently on administrative leave during the investigation. I'm surprised at the number of people writing in to the Gazette-Times to support his candidacy, but an awful lot of them seem to be old farts who have a problem with the idea of a gurl being sheriff. One of them, Tim Smith of Corvallis, even wrote a diatribe disclosing that Diana Simpson's "real name" is actually Diana Godfrey-Simpson. Oh no! She actually hyphenated her married name? Must be one of those feminists or something.


• The Corvallis city council passed the cell phone tax, despite the bizarre "Say no! SAY NO!" mass mailer sent out by the Oregon Telecommunications Association.


• The city planning commission rejected plans for the Seventh Street Station development, asking the developers to create a new plan that takes neighbors' complaints into consideration. Fair enough.


• And finally, our favorite local presidential candidate, Michael Smith, is holding a fundraiser this Saturday, May 20th, at the Benton County Fairgrounds. Go dance with the Hilltop Big Band from 7 to 9:30 p.m. and cough up a little pocket change to support the campaign.