Back in Blog Mode

My winter break from school turned into a sort of mental break from all things controversial and intellectually taxing. I have not only neglected my tens of readers here; I have neglected email, willfully failed to keep up with the news, and (this is pathetic) still have Christmas presents to mail. I suppose it is no small feat that I worked 60 hours per week for the past few weeks, however, with a minor road trip crammed into my final two consecutive days off for the forseeable future.

Now that school is back in session and my schedule predictably weird once more, I hope to carve out enough time for at least a few posts each week. Hopefully you'll still carve out time to read 'em.

I've missed a few big stories in town and will attempt to catch up in the next few days. The fate of the Whiteside Theater is still undetermined, District Attorney Scott Heiser has resigned due to conflicts with Circuit Court Judge Janet Holcomb and two candidates are now vying for his position, the owners of Albright and Raw are throwing in the towel and closing up shop, and murder suspect Joel Patrick Courtney has been deemed mentally competent for court in the Brooke Wilberger case.

Lots of relatively minor stories as well, such as the proposed new riverfront park behind Michael's Landing in the area of the boat ramp. People already treat this area like a park, camping out in chairs along the river, especially during any type of event such as the July 4th fireworks or OSU crewing meets. Might as well make it official and bring back some native grasses, as opposed to the current mud/gravel mix. However, the Oregon Department of Transportion currently owns a portion of the land, designated as a possible landing site for the Highway 34 bridge revision. So far, they seem amenable to the idea of selling the land to the city. Corvallis only has about 35 parks already, so we desperately need another. Okay, not so desperately... but the parks are among the reasons Corvallis is so darn livable, so adding another is always a good idea.