The OSU Barometer is a pretty cool campus newspaper that by virtue of it’s primary audience (college students) provides a different outlook from the Gazette-Times. See the Tuesday, November 10 issue. The cover story is about something called Roadtrip Network, a TV show in which college students “step outside their comfort zones” and decide what they want to do with their lives by interviewing a specialist in their field of study.
The idea of leaving one’s comfort zone by interviewing a specialist in their field of study doesn’t seem like much of a stretch. The three OSU students featured for the show are 20 year old Juniors in electrical and computer engineering. They received a $1,000 grant to do this. I considered how much trouble I could get into in an entirely unfamiliar city with $1,000. The bodyrush shudder and alien laugh that escaped me flashed memories of ancient out of control brushes with mortality. -jtc

The ASOSU legislature unanimously passed a resolution asking for more transparency from OSU administration on departmental changes.

Speaker of the House, Paul Aljets, explained the resolution was sent on behalf of students who are being caught off-guard by the structural changes happening within colleges and departments, such as the new division structure and the elimination of classes and programs.

"The resolution is essentially a way for the students to send something to Ed Ray and administration to say 'don't forget about us' and to say that we still need to know what is going on," Aljets said.

Aljets said it is rare for ASOSU to send a resolution to administration, but feels student concerns need to be addressed by administrators.

"I really think they have just been caught up in what is going on with all the meetings about restructuring and finances, and that students are really not at the forefront of their thoughts," Aljets said. "That is not really a bad thing in this particular case because they need to think about the nuts and bolts of the issue."

Aljets gave an example of a student who was taking Italian classes and then had the class cancelled without warning.

"He didn't know it was coming, there was no way for him to prepare, and that sort of thing should absolutely not happen," Aljets said. "Even if programs are going to be cut and the structure of OSU is going to be moved around, if nothing else the people need a heads up."

Aljets said that students need to be able to plan better for their academic future and also have an understanding of what issues they should or should not support.

"I would argue if they don't know what is going on, they can't really take steps for or against the policies (administration is) trying to enact," Aljets said.

Aljets also said that the ASOSU was hoping for a website that could outline what the changes are and specifically how these changes are going to impact students, so that students will know if and by when they need to prepare. He stated it could be beneficial if it was outlined why these changes are necessary.

Karyn Kaplan is a passionate person, especially when it comes to water.

Kaplan, the program manager for the University Recycling Program, has been working since May on the Free Bottled Water campaign, hoping to decrease the amount of bottled water students and faculty consume on campus and possibly proposing a campus-wide water bottle ban to completely stop the consumption.

This Thursday, the Campus Recycling Program, as part of the University’s Student Sustainability Coalition, will show the movie “TAPPED,” a behind-the-scenes look into the unregulated and unseen world of the water bottle industry. Campus Recycling will table the event providing information regarding bottled water consumption on campus.

On Earth Day last spring, Kaplan said they held their first event for the Free Bottled Water campaign on campus. Kaplan and crew held a blind taste test and asked students to choose which water they preferred — tap or bottled.

“We ask them a couple of questions about their water consumption, ask them to sign a pledge to not buy bottled water again, and give them a free stainless-steel bottle,” Kaplan said. “This is just one small thing we can do to decrease our carbon footprint.”

Globally, the United States is the world’s leading consumer of bottled water. Americans drank 26 billion liters of bottled water in 2004, or approximately one 8-ounce glass per person every day. In a paper written by Food and Water Watch, a non-profit organization that works with grass-roots organizations to promote sustainable practices, the authors wrote that bottled water is not guaranteed to be any healthier than tap water, and that roughly 40 percent of bottled water begins as tap water.

More locally, in June 2007, Gov. Ted Kulongoski signed a revised state bottle bill that expanded the existing drink container deposit to cover bottled water containers, motivated by environmental harm from waste created by the product’s disposal.

“But the bottle bill doesn’t address the whole issue,” Kaplan said.

In 2007, Kaplan wrote a proposal to the University’s Environmental Issues Committee urging them to pressure the University to reduce its water consumption, and instead of answers, she got money. Kaplan used the money to install 10 refillable water bottle spigots — five in the EMU, and five scattered around campus — hoping she’d show students that they have other options.

“If we want to be truly sustainable, we have to do what we can with what we have,” Kaplan said. “Sustainability should be the rule, not the exception.”

Kaplan and the University Recycling Program started the Free Bottled Water campaign in May and are planning to hold more events like Thursday’s in the coming months.

“This is a growing sentiment within the environmental community at large,” said senior architecture student and Recycling Program member Tyler Polich . “I mean out of all the things that are frivolous expenses, bottled water makes a huge impact and it really needs to be addressed.”

For Polich, a campus ban for the University would cause a lot of heads to butt.

“A lot has to do with where the contracts lie with bottled water companies,” Polich said. “It’s a dilemma, and not an invested interest in this campus area.”

One of Kaplan’s biggest issues lies with University Catering and the catered events that supply bottled water.

“(The Recycling Program) would walk around after the event and find that most people would take a couple of sips from the bottled water and then recycle them,” Kaplan said.
“It takes a vast amount of energy to create (the bottles) that are just thrown away,” Polich said.

Food Services Director Tom Driscoll said there are pitchers of water at all catering events, and adding bottled water or other bottled beverages adds an additional cost.

University Catering’s average event calls for the Business Buffet, which includes water pitchers and an added amount of $1.25 per person for sodas and bottled water. If a campus bottle ban were to happen on campus, Driscoll said catering practices would not change, but Polich and Kaplan hope that students will change their own practices.

“Most students don’t know the impact they have by buying water,” Pollich said. “If they did, they wouldn’t buy bottled water.”

“The next war will be over water,” Kaplan said. “This isn’t fun and games, it’s a serious, serious issue.”

Some organ donors are improperly billed for surgery and wind up unable to obtain insurance because of their generosity, reports Mary Ann Roser of

 the American-Statesman. Last year Philip Knisely, 53, donated his kidney to his co-worker, Jose Luis Vara Jr, a father of three who was suffering from the same disease that killed Knisely's father. Knisely had some post-operative complications, for which he was improperly billed $18,000 (the charges were later refunded).

But now Knisely is worried that if he loses his job the "pre-existing condition" of having just one kidney will render him ineligible for new insurance. A 52-year-old mother of five in Wheaton, Ill. told the Statesman that that's what happened to her after she donated her liver in 2002.

While organ donation advocates say insurers do deem organ donation a pre-existing condition, the practice is hard to track, the Los Angeles Times reported in July; there's a dearth of data to support the claim.

Wind
There usually comes a point in the lessons where I do the inspirational high school speaker. I stand up, pace around the room and almost shout,” hey I don’t need a microphone”, as if lung power is enough to convey confidence. Then I go on and on about confidence and forward momentum.

Drummers often call the voice “the fifth limb”. When the commitment to that volume of air from the lungs takes place the body does have more resonance and the brain is taken out of play. Counting louder while playing makes the count harder to ignore. It centers. It energizes. It promotes the observer. More wind is more energy. Without energy of nothing much happens.


Note: This is a weekly column by long time Corvallis resident and jazz drummer Dave Storrs.

Sideways Portal will be playing Sunnyside. 4-6 pm. This is part of a series we hope to continue. If we can get interested listeners then it probably will ... So come on down and support live improvised music. -Dave

 When two dogs were found tied to a bench and abandoned at Brookings’ Azalea Park on Monday, it didn’t surprise officials at the Brookings’ South Coast Humane Society (SCHS) or the Curry County Animal Shelter in Gold Beach.

In the last year the number of abandoned pets has increased sharply in Curry County, and it’s not slowing down, according to SCHS animal care facilitator Audrey Morris and county shelter Supervisor Catherine Powers.

Monday’s dogs at Azalea Park are just the most recent example of the ongoing animal tragedy.
Brookings Police were called when an Fred Meyer store employee found a note in the elevator Monday morning. The note asked the finder to rescue her two dogs from Azalea Park.

At about the same time, Brookings Police responded to a report of dogs barking at the park, where they found a Dachshund and a Red Heeler mix tied to a bench with another note indicating that the owner had lost her job and her husband wouldn’t pay to feed them any more.

The dogs, which shelter volunteers have named Guy and Sandy, are 10 or 11 years old, and both are housebroken and healthy except for ear infections, Powers said.

The situation is repeated almost daily in Curry County: families are forced to give up their pets because they can’t afford them.

“We get four or five (pets) some days,” she said.

SCHS has picked up four puppies and three cats from Azalea Park in recent weeks.

“People leave them there thinking kids will find them and take them home,” Morris said.

Another recent find involved a litter of kittens left by a trash bin at McDonald’s in Brookings.

“They were soaking wet, freezing cold and scared to death,” Morris said.

Cats are abandoned more often than dogs because there is a popular view that cats can take care of themselves.

Housecats and kittens who aren’t raised by a feral mother don’t have the skills to hunt and survive on their own, said Morris.

Dogs are also being abandoned at the shelters.

“One morning I drove up just as a woman was driving out,” Powers said. “She had just tied a dog to the shelter’s door.”

The woman was trying to get out of paying the shelter’s drop-off fee, she said.

If the situation is that bad, the fee can be waived, she said.

A set of covered kennels owned by the county, for Brookings Police to drop off stray dogs, has been the site of several abandonments despite a heavy padlock on the gate.

Animal control only checks the pens, located near the U.S. Post Office on Railroad Street, when they are called, otherwise SCHS checks the kennels regularly to make sure no dogs are left there too long.

“Last year when it snowed we found a tiny puppy left there,” Morris said.

In recent months, renters have found cats left behind by former owners.

There are also more “strays” found wandering around town.

“No one is looking for them,” said Morris. “We’ve only had stray pets claimed two times in the last three months.”

Both shelters want to keep pets and their owners together, and have several programs to help keep pet families

Both shelters have pet food available, with no questions asked.

“We have puppy food, large dog food, small dog food, kitten and cat food,” Morris said.

SCHS gives away 300 pounds of dog food each month to help feed dogs and keep owners and their pets together.

“We don’t want animals to go hungry and we don’t want people to have to give up their pets,” said Morris.

There is also a program to help owners with veterinary care. In October, SCHS spent $1,200 assisting owners with necessary care for their animals.

Both shelters are also seeing an increase in purebred dogs showing up.

The Gold Beach shelter currently has a Corgi and Border Collies and recently placed a German Shepherd who arrived with registration papers.

Some of the purebreds are left at the shelter, but others are strays.

“People who lose purebreds tend not to call us to find their dogs,” Morris said. “They think their dog has been stolen.”

Recently a purebred stray was identified by his owner three months after the dog arrived. The owner came forward after the dog was featured as “pet of the week” in the Curry Coastal Pilot.

“His owners were watching Web sites, waiting for someone to try to sell him,” Morris said.

A land-use watchdog group has charged that Jackson County is attempting an end run around its own zoning laws that could clear the way for sprawl in rural areas.

Rogue Advocates last week filed a 36-page challenge with the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals ((Read it here)) over a decision by the county to allow division of a 340-acre property near Johns Peak into 10-acre parcels.

"Our issue is that it generates sprawl," said Jimmy MacLeod, spokesman for the nonprofit group.

MacLeod said the county essentially sidestepped a more rigorous state process that is normally required for these types of zoning changes, an argument disputed by county officials.

The property owner, Edward Cox, has been attempting to develop the land near Jacksonville for years, including filing a claim under the failed property rights initiative known as Measure 37. He then applied for a zoning change from forest to rural use, a new county zoning designation that allows a 20-acre minimum if it can be proved the original zoning was incorrect.

However, Cox has since decided to ask Jackson County to change the property from forest to another zoning category known as rural residential, which would allow it to be divided into 10-acre lots. Cox presented arguments why the property should not be classified as forestlands, and the county approved the request.

Kelly Madding, the county's Development Services director, said the county disagrees with Rogue Advocates' position, citing recent legal actions that have come down in favor of counties that changed the zoning, if warranted.

She said the county's intention is not to encourage sprawl, but to look at each land-use application on an individual basis. If the owner presents arguments showing why a property shouldn't be considered forestland, Madding said the county will determine whether the arguments are valid.

"We're looking at this case specifically," she said.

Madding said the county's position is that the rural use and rural residential zoning are two different issues.

She said she has no way of determining whether the county's action would encourage sprawl as members of Rogue Advocates have maintained.

"I don't know the answer to their question," she said.

However, she said that in the past it has been difficult for many property owners to make the case that their properties aren't zoned appropriately.

The county created the rural use zoning in 2006 after planning officials and county commissioners agreed that a 20-acre minimum lot size was the most appropriate in rural settings because it would be less disruptive to wildlife and wouldn't strain police and fire services in nearby communities.

When the rural use zoning was first approved, commissioners adopted a 10-acre minimum, but the Oregon Court of Appeals upheld a challenge to that minimum by local cities. After much debate, commissioners finally adopted the 20-acre minimum.

Now, the county is permitting 10-acre minimum lot sizes on Cox's property, which runs counter to the logic of the rural use zoning, MacLeod said.

"Effectively, it nullifies rural use," he said.

Cox's Medford attorney, Mark Bartholomew, said the county's approval and the county commissioners' interpretation are correct in determining the property should have the rural residential zoning.

Bartholomew said his client provided ample evidence why the property wasn't zoned correctly.

"The record is loaded with evidence why this is not good timberland," he said.

MacLeod said that if the rural-use zoning weren't on the books in this county, Rogue Advocates would not have been able to file its appeal. He said other counties that allowed a zoning change on forest or agricultural lands do not have a zoning designation like rural use.

MacLeod said that if the organization loses its case with LUBA, it will likely not appeal.

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Despite a lengthy argument, and opposition from the mayor and two councilors, the Lafayette City Council approved an ordinance on Thursday making the city's odd-even watering schedule permanent.

The move came at the suggestion of Public Works Director Jim Anderson, who told the council the move will help maintain adequate well levels in the city's watershed. Between increasing demand as the city grows, and several years of declining rainfall, it is becoming difficult to ensure the city will have an adequate water supply otherwise, he said.

Opponents cited several reasons for raisin objection.

Mayor Chris Heisler argued the restrictions should be voluntary rather than mandatory, but Anderson said that hasn't worked in the past.

"We've tried education," he told Heisler. "Do I see the same results? Absolutely not."

Anderson said the city had to fine only one violator last summer. He attributed that to the mailing of warning notices to 70 or 80 households.

Councilor Leah Harper said she would be willing to consider mandatory restrictions from May to October, even though she dislikes them, but not for the winter months when little watering is taking place.

"I'm all for conservation," she said, "but that's not what this is about. We are regulating conservation."

Councilor Chris Pagella wanted to schedule a work session to allow members of the public to debate the issue. Eventually, he said, the council could probably reach unanimous agreement on some form of restriction.

Pagella said the summer restrictions legislate conservation. They don't regulate or restrict it.

However, he said year-around restrictions were destined to "upset 70 percent of the citizens, because we are telling them they can't water in November."

Councilor Bob Cullen disagreed.

"We aren't telling them they can't water in November," he said. "We're telling them they can't water every day in November."

Cullen accused Heisler and Harper of failing to support the city staff, which developed the recommendation after reviewing city water data.

Councilor Dean Rhodes said that he had researched the issue. He said he'd concluded, "There is no reason to water your lawn on consecutive days. It doesn't need it."

Rhodes noted the ordinance exempts new lawns established during extremely hot weather.

Because the vote wasn't unanimous, a second reading, followed by a second vote, will be required in December.

Dear Savage

I AM A 30-YEAR-OLD woman, married for five years to a man eight years my senior. Lately I have become more aware that I am turned on by the idea of bondage, specifically men locked up in chastity devices. I am ashamed of myself because it seems, well, pretty perverse and disturbed.

My husband is a pretty dominant alpha-male type. I am a relatively dominant personality, but I'm a bit submissive around him in order to keep the peace, as he will not tolerate any disagreement in certain situations. So I am wondering: Is this new fetish springing from my frustration at being dominated by the man in my life, or am I just becoming more aware of my proclivities as I get older? Is this a sign of a psychological problem? Should I discuss this at all with my husband?

Turning The Tables

The emotional dynamics in your marriage—he won't tolerate disagreement in "certain situations," you bite your tongue to avoid conflict—sound a hell of a lot more perverse and disturbed to me than your growing awareness/acceptance of your interest in bondage and chastity. Your interest in consensual power exchange is as sexy as it is common, TTT, and your kinks don't require his constant submission, e.g., he's not tied up once you untie him, his dick isn't locked up once you unlock it. His inability to "tolerate any disagreement in certain situations," on the other hand, requires your constant submission.

No relationship lasts unless both partners are willing to bite their tongues from time to time in the interests of keeping the peace. But when someone says her husband "will not tolerate any disagreement in certain situations," that worries me. Maybe the list of situations in which your husband won't tolerate disagreement is relatively short now, TTT, and maybe it's something you can live with. But if your husband realizes that he can successfully control you with this anger, the list is likely to grow. Be careful.

On to your fetish: It sounds like you were always turned on by the idea of controlling a man; you write that you've become "more aware" of this fetish, which leads me to believe that you've had some awareness all along. Why is it coming to the forefront now? It could have something to do with hitting your sexual peak, which women do around 30, and it could be because your kinks go so strongly against the grain of the established emotional dynamics of your marriage.

I would encourage you to discuss your kinks with your husband. They're not anything out of the ordinary (or the extraordinary, I should say), and lots of dominant dick swingers—guys like your husband—secretly fantasize about submission. The cliché about the high-powered CEO who goes crawling to a professional dominant to get his ass beaten is a cliché because it's frequently true. Your husband could be one of those guys—but you'll never know until you ask.
 
- Dan Savage

Hi, kids!  This week we are bringing in AN EDUCATION with Peter Sarsgaard. Opening Wednesday will be THE MESSENGER with Woody Harrelson.

We are holding over COCO BEFORE CHANEL with Audrey Tautou; THE BOYS ARE BACK with Clive Owen; and the ever-popular DEPARTURES for its 423rd week.

Be sure to check the schedule at darksidecinema.com before you come down.

Coming soon
THE DAMNED UNITED, BROKEN EMBRACES, LORD, SAVE US FROM YOUR FOLLOWERS, and THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS

Playing Friday, November 20 thru Thursday, November 26 (click a link to jump to the section).
AN EDUCATION
THE MESSENGER
THE BOYS ARE BACK
COCO BEFORE CHANEL
DEPARTURES
OTHER STUFF: MOVIE REVIEW
AN EDUCATION --PG-13
Review by Roger Ebert

AN EDUCATION imageAN EDUCATION tells the story of a 16-year-old girl who is the target of a sophisticated seduction by a 35-year-old man. This happens in 1961, when 16-year-old girls were a great deal less knowing than they are now. Yet the movie isn't shabby or painful, but romantic and wonderfully entertaining. It depends on a British actress named Carey Mulligan, who in her first major feature role is being compared by everyone with Audrey Hepburn. When you see her, you can't think of anyone else to compare her with. She makes the role luminous when it could have been sad or awkward. She has such lightness and grace, you're pretty sure this is the birth of a star.

All very well and good, you're thinking, but how is this film a romance? Oh, it's not so much a romance between the teenager and the middle-aged man. That only advances to the level of an infatuation. It's a romance between the girl, named Jenny, and the possibilities within her, the future before her, and the joy of being alive. Yes, she sheds a few tears. But she gets better than she gives, and in hindsight, this has been a valuable experience for her.

But wait? Doesn't this girl have parents? She certainly does. Jack and Marjorie (Alfred Molina and Cara Seymour) are proper, traditional middle-class parents in the London suburb of Twickenham, and there's nothing but love in the home. They aren't wealthy or worldly, but they wish the best for their girl and are bursting with pride that she's won a scholarship to Oxford. Then she springs David (Peter Sarsgaard) on them.

This is a smooth operator. He sees her standing at a bus stop in the rain, holding her cello case. He offers her a lift in his sports car. He engages her in conversation about classical music. He "happens" to run into her again, and they have a nice chat. He wonders if she might enjoy...

You see how it goes. Part of the genius of "An Education" is that it unfolds this relationship at a deliberate pace. The screenplay by Nick Hornby ("About a Boy" and "High Fidelity") is based on a memoir by a real person, the British journalist Lynn Barber. Barber writes: "What did I get from Simon? An education -- the thing my parents always wanted me to have... "
THE MESSENGER --R (Starts WEDNESDAY)
Review by Paul "The Darkside Guy" Turner

THE MESSENGER posterWhen I sat with Woody Harrelson and a group of other movie people in a comfy travel bus a couple of years ago talking about movies, he wasn't that impressive. He was a little guy who really didn't take up a lot of the room. When some of us took the conversation off in the direction of esoteric films, he pulled out of interviewee mode and you could see his real affection for the art. I avoid celebrities like the swine flu because my ego is big enough without trying to try to share the room with another one. What I liked about Harrelson was that filling the room didn't seem important to him. He was about the work.

I realize this may sound like name-dropping, and I guess, technically, it is. But when I saw him fill up the screen with the character of Captain Tony Stone in THE MESSENGER, I realized his performance was a transformation. I think they call that acting. He acted the hard-ass role in recent films, but he took it over the top and did it with a smirk on his face. In contrast, THE MESSENGER is a serious film addressing serious issues. Director Oren Moverman is not subtle in making Woody present with the intensity of a Marlon Brando or Robert Duvall. Matter of fact, there are more than a couple references to APOCALYPSE NOW. Yet Harrelson embodies these familiar iconic martial edifices and pushes out from there.

Captain Tony Stone (Harrelson) has been assigned Staff Sergeant Will Montgomery (Ben Foster) as a partner in performing the duty of notifying the next of kin that their loved ones have been killed in action. Will is just back from Iraq, with emotional wounds more debilitating than the broken bones and compromised vision he received in battle. He is a man who left a life at home that did not want him back when he returned. This is not new ground, but THE MESSENGER avoids being derivative, thanks to Ben Foster's ability to reach past the cliché "coming home" drama and pull us into the character's damaged soul. He has suffered and bled, and the military machine that put him in harm's way now treats him like a damaged weapon. For the remaining three months of his service he will be knocking on doors delivering the worst news people will likely ever hear. It was either the most thoughtless assignment for him or the very best. That, however, was not a consideration when he was assigned.

The job brings its challenges. Each contact is different. No two people react exactly the same. In a devastatingly apt cameo, Steve Buscemi plays a father on the receiving end of a visit. His grief-driven rage turns toward the messengers, and that shakes Will to his very core. But he does not run. He takes it. These scenes are so well rendered that we feel we can't turn away-more out of respect than shock.

As the characters develop, we see how the two messengers compare and contrast. When they have to deliver the news to Olivia, an unremarkable army wife played perfectly by the usually ravishing Samantha Morton, Will is moved by her stayed and controlled reaction. She even shakes their hands and tells them she knows how hard this must be for them. Will is drawn into her life one cautious inch at a time. There is a connection that is more than the emotional Velcro that can make grieving people stick to each other. It is the most genuine connection he has made with the world since he has returned.

In modern movies we have had our cinematic experience whittled down to two-second chunks. In THE MESSENGER, several long scenes are done in one shot. For many it feels uncomfortably voyeuristic to watch something unfold in real time without looking away. We are so used to turning away. Rapid cuts between scenes raises adrenalin, not awareness. A continuous thread makes it more like real life. We are in the room watching two men communicate deeply without using direct words. We are the TV watching them. But it doesn't become uncomfortable. It becomes a bit of a gift to travel with them, to feel the truth as they do. When Will and Olivia find themselves in a place where they have to choose what happens next, the viewer is sitting in the same kitchen watching two people try to do the right thing, because these characters are the type of people who want to do the right thing. And we love them for it. Because we all know what it feels like to love someone that way.

Harrelson's character, Tony Stone, lets his addictions be his moral compass. He is an asshole and knows it. He revels in it. It's better than feeling his pain. He's warned Will not to touch the next of kin. His emotional detachment from them and their grief only serves to feed his addiction. He is enraged when Will engages with the bereaved-attending to their needs rather than the rulebook. Stone's anger at Will really lets Harrelson fill the room.

THE MESSENGER is a complex movie rendered masterfully, making it accessible to even the least militarily inclined. Anyone can see that this film is about healing. There are many people coming back to our community who have served in the desert and have seen things that make them different people. This movie is a messenger from the future to tell us, and them, we can mend from this war.

This all may sound like THE MESSENGER is a heavy movie. Well, it is. Good cinema is often not easy. Then again, this is the time of year for nauseating music and the mercenary manipulation to spend. It is a great time for a movie of substance. THE MESSENGER is the perfect antidote for holiday cynicism. THE MESSENGER starts Wednesday, November 25th-roughly 30 shopping days before Christmas.
THE BOYS ARE BACK--PG-13

THE BOYS ARE BACK image"So here we are: a father and two sons surviving in a house without women." When Katy Warr (Laura Fraser) dies of cancer, she leaves behind loving husband Joe (Clive Owen) and their five-year-old son Artie (newcomer Nicholas McAnulty). A sportswriter who had previously spent most of his time away from home, Joe is determined to get to know his own son. But clueless in the domestic sphere and still haunted by his wife's ghost, he seeks solace in the bottle (and bottles up his anger), before deciding, in a transformative Eureka! moment--set, appropriately enough, around a bathtub--to make "just say yes" the new rule of the house.

With Joe now more playmate than father to Artie, their once clean abode becomes a "hog heaven" of piled-up dishes, unwashed clothes, and indoor rough-and-tumble. As the two struggle--together and alone--with grief, housework, and each other, into their lives from England comes Harry (George MacKay), Joe's teenage son from an earlier marriage, who is struggling with his own sense of loss and is desperate to reconnect with his father.

An affecting blend of warm comedy and high pathos, THE BOYS ARE BACK brings an unusual all-male perspective to its otherwise familiar themes of domesticity, death, and dysfunction. When local single mother (and almost love interest) Laura (Emma Booth) declares to Joe: "You drink too much and you live like a pig," she is only stating the obvious--but this film delves deeper by sticking sympathetically, if unflinchingly, with the porcine point of view. Joe's infantilized attitude of indulgent laissez-faire may seem irresponsible, but we are never left in any doubt that he is trying his best to get his family through a traumatic situation, and that every "big mistake" he makes is just another step towards honing the imperfect but valuable art of fatherhood.
COCO BEFORE CHANEL --PG-13
Excerpted from a review by Roger Ebert

COCO BEFORE CHANEL imageWe talk about people "inventing themselves." That assumes they know who they want to invent. COCO BEFORE CHANEL begins with an abandoned orphan girl named Gabrielle, watches her grow into a music hall chanteuse, who then sidesteps prostitution by becoming a mistress. All the while from behind the clouds of her cigarettes she regards the world with unforgiving realism and stubborn ambition. She doesn't set out to become the most influential fashion icon of the 20th century. She begins by designing a hat, making a little money and striving to better herself. She wants money and independence. One suspects she would have been similarly driven if she had invented a better mousetrap and founded a home-appliance empire.

The naturalism of Anne Fontaine's film would be at home in a novel by Dreiser. Her star, Audrey Tautou, who could make lovability into a career, avoids any effort to make Coco Chanel nice, soft or particularly sympathetic. Her fashions may have liberated women from the hideous excesses of the late 19th century, but she creates them not out of idealism but because they directly reflect her inalterable personality. She didn't put women in sailor shirts out of conviction. She liked to wear them.

Perhaps because of its unsentimental approach to Chanel's life, COCO BEFORE CHANEL strikes me as less of a biopic, more of a drama. It's not about rags to riches but about survival of the fittest. Is Coco, young and poor, used by the rich playboy Etienne Balsan (Benoit Poelvoorde)? Perhaps he thought so early in their relationship, but she uses him as well. She likes him, but she signed aboard for money, status and entry, not merely sex and romance. She sees their affair as a reasonable transaction. She isn't a brazen temptress but a capitalist, who collects on her investment.

Through Balsan, she meets the bold actress Emilienne (Emmanuelle Devos) and Boy Capel (Alessandro Nivola), an Englishman. It's clear that to Chanel, love with a man or a woman is pretty much the same, but Boy truly does love her, and this is a unique experience for Coco. Things might have proceeded quite differently in her life if that relationship had survived. Baron Balsan, not blinded by love, sees Boy as exactly what he is-something Coco, for once, hasn't done.

Tautou isn't stereotypically beautiful but more uniquely fetching. It's her spirit as much as her face, and the tilt of her upper lip more than her curves. She is above all a disciplinarian of herself; at the film's end, we learn Chanel died in 1971-"on a Sunday," at work, just as she worked every day of her life. She had an original vision of fashion, yes, but we get the feeling she didn't depend on it for her success. She worked hard, dealt with people realistically, drove hard bargains and saw fashion as a job, not a career or a vocation.

By underlining that, the movie becomes more absorbing. We've seen enough films about heroines carried along by the momentum of their blessed fates. That's not how it works. To the winner belongs the spoils, even if in life, you started pretty far back from the starting line.
DEPARTURES --PG-13
(Subtitled Japanese)
Review by Paul Turner

DEPARTURES image

Most movie reviews I write for films playing at the Darkside are not written to sell the film. If we're playing it, once the lights go down and the projector rolls it usually sells itself. The object of these reviews is to convince you that you need to see it here-to motivate you into coming through our door, up to the counter, and into an auditorium. Oftentimes the motivators can be that the movie may never be on DVD, or that the film must be seen on a big screen and experienced with other people, or that you can rent 50 FIRST DATES anytime (God knows why) and it is time to get the heck outta the house and take a chance with something that features neither Adam Sandler or Drew Barrymore.

When it comes to the movie DEPARTURES, there is little chance this film will not be in a single-digit position on your list of the top 20 films of the year. This Japanese feature won the Foreign Language Film Oscar in 2008. This doesn't always mean it's a great film, but it presents a pretty solid indication that the film is worth a look.

Daigo is a young man whose life as a musician in the big city falls apart. He is forced to relocate to his dilapidated childhood home in the country. This is a big step down for him and his wife. Soon after they arrive in his hometown he begins pounding the streets looking for a job and finds himself accidentally working with the dead.

Daigo answers an ad for a job in "departures." Figuring it has to be in the travel industry, he applies and happily shows up for his first day of work. This is when he finds out he is helping with the ceremonial "encoffination" of the "departed" prior to cremation. We know what's coming: the first day on the job exposes Daigo to the most odious and odiferous aspects of the job. It's not too much of a surprise that he doesn't tell his wife what he really is doing. Daigo finds that the work-and his avuncular boss, Sasaki-grow on him. But when Daigo's wife Mika stumbles across what he's been doing to pay the bills, she isn't too keen on her husband being one who handles the dead for a living.

DEPARTURES lets you into a different world and reality through the story of Daigo, his wife, his boss, and his return to the community he was raised in. But the movie uses the beauty and pomp of the preparation for cremation to address wider issues about death. It does so without bludgeoning us with sappy sentimentality. Okay, maybe a little. Daigo has developed a deep understanding that the ceremonial dressing, washing, and honoring of the departed is more for the benefit of the living than the dead. The subtlety and ease with which they dress the dead without compromising modesty in the presence of the mourners seems like a magic trick-at the same time intones reverence for the mystery of death. There is flamboyance and grace in the way Daigo and his boss do what they do. It's a bit of a show for the loved ones, who see that the care and ritual afforded the shell of those passed is a way of celebrating the life that has ended. And the lives of those yet to depart.

The magic of DEPARTURES is how quickly the viewer becomes familiar with the culture and landscape of the story. One is drawn into that life and away from one's own, which is the gift of cinema done well.

DEPARTURES is subtitled Japanese and is rated PG-13.
OTHER STUFF: MOVIE REVIEW

Yep, I wrote the one for THE MESSENGER. Scroll up a bit!

By the way, thank you for tipping the workers. Like everyone else, my employees are trying to get through their day in these tough times.

By the way, BIG thanks to those who have been buying advertising on our screens and who have been renting our facilities for parties and presentations. These extra events help us get through the not-so-hot months.

By the way, thanks for making us the coolest theater on Madison and 4th in Corvallis, Oregon.



As always, thanks for your continued support!

Lainie and Paul Turner


Darkside Cinema
215 SW 4th
Corvallis, OR 97333
darksidecinema.com
541·752·4161

Week of November 17th, 2009

BLOCK 15 RESTAURANT AND BREWERY
300 W JEFFERSON AVE (758-2077)
www.block15.com
Chalkboard Table Art Contest
We have seen some pretty amazing art drawn on our tables through the
year. Now is your chance to have your art permanently hung in our
chalkboard Table art Gallery. Through the month of December we will
be taking digital pictures of art drawn on the tables. Our staff will
then vote for the top three favorites.
1st Place: $100 gift Card
2nd Place: $50 Gift Card
3rd Place: Block 15 T-Shirt or glass
All entries will be framed and hung in our new art gallery in the
hallway between the game room and restrooms. Ask your server about
the details!

BOMBS AWAY CAFE
2527 NW MONROE AVE (757-7221)
www.bombsawaycafe.com
Thursday, November 19th, FREE, 7:30 pm
Curtis Monette
Curtis Monette takes every gig as an opportunity to experiment, freak out, and bedazzle listeners, as he loops guitars, percussion, and vocals live to create a playful blend of reggae, funk, and bluegrass that can only be described as, ‘curtronica.’ At one moment he may play the role of a singer/songwriter and then next he is blazing through a shredding solo over a trance groove.
Friday, November 20th, $3, 10:00
St Crow & The Sinners, Eric Nordby, Loaded For Bear & Pinelanguage
Rock show extravaganza featuring your favorite locals!
Saturday, November 21st, $5, 9:00
Laura Kemp
Consistently winning the Eugene Weekly reader’s poll for Best Local Singer-Songwriter, Laura Kemp has gained a reputation as one of the finest performers in the Northwest. She has been a fixture on the folk scene since moving to Oregon in 1990 and over the past 18 years has produced 5 studio albums as well as two live CD’s with the power girl group, Babes With Axes.
A singer and guitarist since the age of 8, she began performing while living in Germany in 1987, honing her skills in Irish pubs and busking in the streets. Accompanying herself on guitar, harmonica, and occasionally the banjo, her musical style is not one to be pegged down, though it is largely rooted in folk and influenced by her time spent living in Nashville and North Carolina.
In her 20 year career she has performed on numerous stages throughout the country, including Passim in Cambridge, MA, CBGB’s Gallery in NYC, Kuumbwa Jazz Center in Santa Cruz, CA, The Great American Music Hall in San Fransisco, The Crystal Ballroom in Portland, OR, Bumbershoot Festival in Seattle, Bald Eagle Music Festival in Haines, AK, Chamizal Festival in El Paso, TX, Bighorn Mountain Festival in Sheridan, WY, and in her hometown, Eugene, OR on the main stage of the Oregon Country Fair, the Willamette Valley Folk Festival, and the Eugene Celebration.

CALAPOOPIA BREWING CO.
140 HILL ST. ALBANY, OR
www.calapooiabrewing.com
Wednesday, November 18th, 8:00 pm
The Peculiar Pretzelmen
The L.A. Voodoo Swamp Jazz trio returns for an encore. $2 cover.
Thursday, November 19th, 7:30 pm
Rick Ross
Delta Blues
Friday, November 20th, $3, 8:00 pm
Lisa Mann
This vocalist, bassist and songwriter hails from the Portland, OR metropolitan area where she has made a name for herself with her inspiring original performances, as well as with her solid back-up role for some of Portland’s finest artists. Lisa Mann is a two-time winner of the Cascade Blues Association’s Muddy Waters Award for Bass Player of the Year, as well as a nominee for Vocalist of the Year for 2008
Saturday, November 21st, 8:00 pm
The Vicki Stevens Band
One of the hottest new bands to hit the Willamette Valley blues scene in a long time, the Vicki Stevens Band consists of five dynamite musicians. Led by dynamic vocalist Vicki Stevens, and backed by four talented veterans, they offer a fun, fresh approach to live rock, rhythm & blues. They like to call it “Vicki’s Warm-Hearted Soul!”
One of Vicki’s recent accomplishments was being in the final cut of performers competing to make it onto the television show “Nashville Star,” which is country music’s version of American Idol. Her vocal style and charismatic stage appeal has been winning audiences over whenever she performs. The VCB also features one of the area’s best guitar players, Dennis Monroe, who has spent many years as a full-time musician, including several years touring with the regional band, Mickey and the Runaway. His diverse style incorporates jazz, funk, rock, country and blues, giving him a unique style and sound.
Sunday, November 22nd, 4:00 pm
Blues Jam

CLOUD 9 & THE DOWNWARD DOG
126 & 130 SW 1ST St. (541-753-9900)
www.dinecloud9.com & www.drinkthedog.com
At Cloud 9
Wednesday, November 18th, 5:00 pm
Beer and Blog
http://corvallis.beerandblog.com/
Beer and Blog is a free meet up that takes place every Wednesday from 5pm until at least 7pm in Corvallis, OR. Bloggers and Twitters from the local scene show up and we help each other with our blogs. Sometimes we’ll arrange for a special guest to be there to help us on topics that are beyond the group’s skill set. Beer and Blog is like a networking event based around a group work session.
Friday, November 20th, 10:00 pm
Ala Nar
Ala Nar takes their audience on a journey through the Middle East with stunning music and dance. Their show consists of belly dance performance sets plus plenty of tunes for audience members to enjoy and dance with! Ala Nar specializes in the music of the Arabic and Turkic regions, merging sweet melodies with dynamic rhythms and drawing on some of the finest dance and classical compositions of the Middle East. The fabulous ensemble features Josh Humphrey on oud (lute), Mia Baki on flute and ney (Arabic flute), Jesse Ogle on acoustic bass, Leigh Ann Starcevich on saz (lute) and vocals, Tina Dreisback on riqq, and Christopher Pfeffer on Arabic table (doumbek).
Saturday, November 21st, 10:00
Kinda Delicious
As a musical Force we have been around since the dawn of… well music, but as a band we have been around for nearly a year now. We aim to explore the curiosities of lyricism in today’s, and yesterdays popular music. Although we are serious about our music we are more serious about fun. What we lack in talent we make up for in
ridiculousness as we always strive to entertain.

CROWBAR
214 SW 2ND ST. (753-7373)
Behind the Downtown American Dream Pizza
www.adpizza.com


FIREWORKS
RESTAURANT AND BAR
On Hwy 99 in South Corvallis (754-6958)
www.SouthtownSounds.com
Wednesday, November 18, 7pm
Al Rivers, Blues Guitar and Vocals
- Second Childhood features the local songwriting and extraordinary musical interplay of Alan Svec guitars and vocals, Stephanie Long keyboards and vocals, Don Taco bass and vocals, Jennifer Svec harmonies, Dan Gilman percussion, and Daniel Mahoney guitar and vocals. They play original electrocoustic panoramic indie folk rock. Alan and Stephanie have released multiple CDs available locally and on CDBaby – melodic insightful classic songs with spacious musical passages. Visit Alan Svec online at www.myspace.com/alansvec
Friday, November 20, 7pm
Al Rivers, Blues Guitar and Vocals
- “Aw yeah, this is blues the way we like it. Rain fall. Tree shakin’. Likin’ yo’ peaches. Truck broke. Good gal gone. Al Rivers walks the same old rode, but utterly without pretension or artifice. He has a great, scraping voice and a nimble, dirty way with the guitar.” – Victory Music Review, Tacoma, WA 2006. Hear Al’s music on www.MySpace.com/AlRiversBlues Enjoy exceptional Blues from a Eugene icon.
Saturday, November 21, 7pm
Guit-jo Kicks: Josh & Julia, Bluegrass Guitar & Banjo
- Guitjo Kicks is a guitar/banjo duo fresh from the Eastern Sierras in California and new to the Corvallis area. Josh and Julia have been playing music together for over two years, with influences ranging from Hot Rize, John Hartford, Tony Rice, and Doc Watson to Neil Young, Gillian Welch, Townes Van Zandt and many others. Julia’s original music features her soulful voice, developed through years of classical training, as well as banjo and guitar. Josh contributes to the instrumental aspect of songwriting and is honing his skills as a flatpicker and dobro player. Fast and slow, stop and go it don’t matter what you need to Guitjo Kicks. Hear Guit-jo Kicks at http://myspace.com/guitjokicks
Sunday, November 22, 7pm
Karl Smiley, Americana Blues
- Long time folk & blues artist from Summit and Open Mic favorite. Karl Smiley plays his finger-pickin’ eclectic mix of folk classics and originals.
Monday, November 23, 8pm
Southtown Open Mic Talent Search, with CASH PRIZE for Top 3 Acts!
- FireWorks hosts this weekly showcase of local talent – acoustic, vocals, percussion, blues, freestyle, spoken word, humorists – who knows what performance surprises the evening will hold? The show starts with a non-competitive Open Mic warmup round, then performers have a chance to compete in the Talent Search for the cash!

PEACOCK BAR AND GRILL
125 SW 2ND ST (754-8522)
www.myspace.com/peacockbargrill
SUNDAYS: On the Main Floor: Karaoke with Sqwig-e-okie (No Cover!)
$5 All-U-Can-Eat Spaghetti dinner 6pm to Midnight
MONDAYS: On the Main Floor: Karaoke with Sqwig-e-okie
On The Top: DJ Mike; Margarita Mondays! (No Cover)
Monday Night Football: 2 MINUTE DRILL PROGRAM with 50 cent Tacos!
TUESDAYS: On the Main Floor: Karaoke with Sqwig-e-okie
On The Top: DJ Alex; Techno Tuesday (No Cover)
$5 Any Burger, All Day, All Night!
WEDNESDAYS: On the Main Stage: JONNY DARK and THE WONDERTONES
On The Top: DJ Rooster (No Cover)
THURSDAYS: On the Main Stage: Karaoke with Sqwig-e-okie
On The Top: DJ Mike
FRIDAYS: On the Main Stage: Karaoke with Sqwig-e-okie
On The Top: DJ Rooster
Prime Rib Dinner Special!
SATURDAYS: On The Top: DJ Alex

For more than eight months in 2009, a PETA investigator worked undercover inside the laboratories of the University of Utah (UU) in Salt

Undercover Investigation Reveals Kitten Deaths and Other Animal Suffering. Learn More.

Lake City and documented miserable conditions for and terrible suffering of the dogs, cats, monkeys, rats, mice, rabbits, frogs, cows, pigs, and sheep confined there.

Our investigator learned that homeless dogs and cats—obtained for a few dollars from area animal shelters through an archaic Utah state "pound-seizure" law, which requires government-funded shelters to turn animals over to laboratories that request them—were used in invasive, painful experiments and killed.

A pregnant cat pulled out of the Davis County animal shelter gave birth to eight kittens the very day she arrived at UU's laboratories. When the kittens were just 7 days old, a chemical was injected into their brains to cause fluid to build up. After the surgery, the distressed cat—who showed great affection for her kittens before they were taken for the experiment—stopped nursing her babies, and they all died.

In other experiments, a cat named Robert, who was also bought from the Davis County animal shelter, had a hole drilled into his skull and electrodes attached to his brain, and dogs bought from a local shelter had their necks cut open so that medical devices could be implanted inside. For more than eight months in 2009, a PETA investigator worked undercover inside the laboratories of the University of Utah (UU) in Salt Lake City and documented miserable conditions for and terrible suffering of the dogs, cats, monkeys, rats, mice, rabbits, frogs, cows, pigs, and sheep confined there.

Our investigator learned that homeless dogs and cats—obtained for a few dollars from area animal shelters through an archaic Utah state "pound-seizure" law, which requires government-funded shelters to turn animals over to laboratories that request them—were used in invasive, painful experiments and killed.

A pregnant cat pulled out of the Davis County animal shelter gave birth to eight kittens the very day she arrived at UU's laboratories. When the kittens were just 7 days old, a chemical was injected into their brains to cause fluid to build up. After the surgery, the distressed cat—who showed great affection for her kittens before they were taken for the experiment—stopped nursing her babies, and they all died.

In other experiments, a cat named Robert, who was also bought from the Davis County animal shelter, had a hole drilled into his skull and electrodes attached to his brain, and dogs bought from a local shelter had their necks cut open so that medical devices could be implanted inside.

 Portland Public Schools will get a visit in one week from state officials who will assess whether the district has sufficiently improved its teaching program for about 5,000 English-language learners.

A February state audit of the program, which followed a 2008 federal discrimination complaint against the district, painted a damning picture of PPS. Among other things, it found the district in violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act for failing both to ensure that all students had “meaningful” access to on-grade-level core courses and that their parents readily received information in their native languages A scene inside a low-income Southeast Portland apartment complex last Friday brought the consequences of PPS’s response to that audit into stark relief for one teenager.

Ismail Abdikadir, wearing a Nike T-shirt and a sarong, sat on a couch on the fourth floor of Catholic Charities’ Kateri Park Apartments in the Creston-Kenilworth neighborhood. An 18-year-old senior at nearby Cleveland High School, Abdikadir is Somali Bantu.

Clutching a paperback copy of H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds, he read haltingly, “No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man’s and yet as mortal as his own.”

Steve Levy, a volunteer tutor who works with Abdikadir at Cleveland, interrupted with a question: “What does ‘intelligences’ mean?”

Abdikadir, who hopes to be a Bollywood actor, took a deep breath. He looked as if he were gathering steam to answer. But then his eyes moved from Levy and the book to the flickering TV screen in the living room of the four-bedroom apartment he shares with his older brother, sister-in-law, younger brother and five nieces and nephews.

His eyes glazed over and he shrugged his shoulders. Only moments before he had insisted he understood the 224-page book, which had been assigned to him by his English teacher. “I didn’t finish,” he admitted sheepishly. “But my friend finished.”

About one out of every 10 PPS students is like Abdikadir—still learning English. In educational jargon, Abdikadir was “pre-literate” rather than illiterate when he arrived in 2004 and enrolled at Hosford Middle School. But like many districts, PPS assigns refugee students to grades by age, not educational attainment, which means Abdikadir started eighth grade instead of much lower.

Beyond its findings that the district had violated the Civil Rights Act, the February audit of PPS’s program for teaching students like Abdikadir also found too many immigrant students were in the equivalent of educational silos. They were enrolled in classes to improve their English but had little or no access to classes beyond electives. Besides missing out on opportunities to learn what the general student population was learning, immigrant and refugee students weren’t earning the credits they needed to graduate.

In response to that finding, PPS started to shift high school students like Abdikadir from segregated English-language classes to classes open to all students. To prepare, the district offered three days of voluntary instruction to teachers so they could perform what’s called sheltered instruction for immigrant students in classes with native English speakers. Essentially that meant teachers were supposed to lead two classes at the same time—one for the general population and one with supplemental materials for immigrant and refugee students, all in the same period.

Despite good intentions, the shift doesn’t represent a marked improvement, some teachers say. Now instead of getting special instruction that didn’t let students earn enough credits to get their diplomas, immigrant students are in credit-bearing core classes—but barely passing, if at all.

“This is a tragedy,” says Elisabeth Gern, resident services coordinator for Catholic Charities at Kateri Park. “They are forcing them to fail. I’m seeing children who were excited about school being overwhelmed.”

Abdikadir is no exception. Last year, he required assistance to read The Breadwinner, a novel written for middle-schoolers about an 11-year-old girl in Afghanistan. Just a few months later, he would be in a senior-level English class, reading H.G. Wells’ classic account of a Martian invasion of Earth.

In addition to a course called “English reading,” Abdikadir last year was enrolled in “English writing,” “academic support,” a low-level computer-based algebra class, instrumental music, integrated science and U.S. history. This year, Abdikadir is taking just one class specifically for English-language learners, he says. The rest—economics, second-year algebra, senior-level English—are the same classes taken by mainstream students.

Abdikadir is upbeat about the transition, which does put him within reach of graduating, even if his reading skills remain far below those of his peers. “First, I need to finish college,” he says. “Second, I need to make a new life. Third, I want to be an actor.”

Administrators are also optimistic about their overall response to the audit.

“I think they’ll find that we made progress,” says Xavier Botana, chief academic officer for PPS. “I hope they’ll find we’ve made significant progress.”

AT ABOUT 2:30 AM last Wednesday, November 4, two drunken drivers in two separate cars struck and killed 31-year-old Kipp Crawford on N Willamette. Three days earlier, a car struck and killed 23-year old Lindsay Leonard as she was crossing SE Foster on a marked crosswalk.

Ironically on Monday, November 9, five days after Crawford died, a national study named Portland one of the 10 safest cities for pedestrians in America. But the two tragic deaths last week highlight the dangers of being a pedestrian or cyclist—even in one of the nation's "safest" cities.

Lents neighborhood activist Jeffrey Rose drove past the scene of Leonard's death minutes after the crash.

"We saw a couple people lying in the street and we just sort of shook our heads. It wasn't a real surprise," says Rose, referring to Leonard and her injured companion, Jessica Finlay. "We've got people coming off the freeway and tearing down Foster Road. It's not a hospitable place for pedestrians."

Leonard, who worked at Southeast sock store Sock Dreams, and Crawford, a well-liked drummer in several local bands, are the 13th and 14th pedestrians or cyclists to die in Portland crashes this year, according to the city.

Without strict punishments and tough enforcement of dangerous driving, lawyers and alternative transportation advocates say that even fatal traffic crimes often fall through the cracks of the state's justice system.

"If you want to kill somebody and get away with it, you should do it with your car," says Portland lawyer Ray Thomas, who has written legal guidebooks for Oregon pedestrians and cyclists, and says Oregon is one of only four states with no vehicular homicide law. Thomas notes that while there are strict punishments for people who drive drunk, drivers who kill out of pure negligence like talking on a cell phone are often quickly back in their cars with only a slap on the wrist.

The driver who accidentally killed Leonard, Tito Jose Feliciano, was released last week with no charge or citation. One of the two drivers who struck Crawford, Felisa Washington-Berry, had a string of prior traffic troubles, including getting her license suspended after crashing into another car in 2003. Washington-Berry's license was restored in 2006.

"Unfortunately what you see time and time again is situations like this where drivers who have a history, [a history that] points in the direction of a train wreck, those are the kind of people that the system has done a horrible job of keeping off the road," says Thomas.

Portland bike attorney Mark Ginsberg echoes Thomas' thoughts. "All the people dying because of cars are almost viewed as the cost of doing business in our society," says Ginsberg. "We need that separate law—like a vehicular homicide law—because it would give us an additional tool in holding drivers responsible for their actions."

The Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA) spearheaded a vehicular homicide law in the legislature last spring that would have given drivers who kill someone while driving with a suspended license a felony rather than a ticket. But the bill never made it to a vote.

"People could kill someone and don't even have to show up in court, they could just get a citation and mail it in. End of story," says BTA Executive Director Scott Bricker.

The report from transit think tank Transportation for America that ranks Portland the ninth safest city in the country for pedestrians notes with outrage that cars kill an average of 5,066 pedestrians and cyclists every year in America.

"Though these are labeled 'accidents,'" reads the report, "they usually occur on roads that are dangerous by design, streets that were engineered for speeding cars and make little or no provision for people on foot, in wheelchairs, or on a bicycle."

Mayor Sam Adams vowed to quickly improve the design of the SE Foster intersection where Leonard died, visiting the site on Monday, November 9. In addition to installing brighter lights on the sidewalk and a "pedestrian refuge island" in the center of the street, Adams says the city has been spending $11 million to fix its 25 most dangerous intersections over the last three years. But despite the efforts, Adams notes, "We have a $400 million safety and maintenance backlog."