Posted for Shelby Little, Source freelance writer extraordinaire

Thursday night I was one of forty or so folks who crammed into the Tin Pan Theater to witness the first Armchair Live Storytelling Night.

Like the Moth in New York City, Armchair features a series of storytellers who tell never-before-shared, true stories without the use of props or cues.

The theme was trespassing: a word that is steeped in treachery. I’ve only trespassed a few times in my life, experiences that were rites of passage in college, or moments of stolen entitlement in forbidden places.

What moments of mischief, brushes with the law, or forbidden places had these nine storytellers experienced?

In the suspenseful interlude between the doors opening and the beginning of the show, one storyteller, Pauly, shared with me that he had moved from a glamorous little ski town in Colorado to Bend because he wanted to live in a city with a soul.

This event proved to be the most intimate experience I have witnessed in Central Oregon. It was as if I were hearing stories from strangers that are usually reserved for close friends, late at night; well after a bond of trust is established. Some were gripping, others filled with hilarity, and a few evoked dread. If our city had a diary, pages would be lined with the stories from this event.

Each storyteller interpreted trespassing differently. There were the literal translations of trespassing: to wander where you are not wanted.

A member of a collegiate baseball team in Arkansas, Greg Bolt, told a heart-thumping account of being hazed by upperclassmen. They blindfolded and bound the arms of he and his freshmen teammates and drove them deep into the rural hills before stopping their trucks on a private farm. As the freshmen ran through cotton fields to flee dozens of eggs that the upperclassmen were firing at them, an angry farmer and his dogs retaliate. Bolt shared four sounds you never want to hear while trespassing on a farm at night: a door open, a dog bark, the command “get ‘em”, and the sound of a shotgun.

Others interpreted trespassing as the invisible divisions between social groups. Shelley Anderson’s story also occurred some years earlier while she attended college in Boulder. In her mischievous story, she and her friends use their beauty and wit to steal a keg from a fraternity party, trespassing in a social function in which they were not invited.

Tracy Treu’s story also dealt with social trespassing. Treu is a small-town Nebraska girl and women’s study major who somehow fell in love with a star football player. When her husband entered the NFL, she entered the NFL wives club. Initially she was swept up in the glamour and glitz, but after a run-in with the star quarterback’s wife, she realized she was treading where she did not belong.

René Mitchell gave a bold an unapologetic account of the day her husband committed suicide. Before she went onstage she told me, “I feel the need to share my story as a way of survival.” She displayed a rare and brilliant strength as she debunked many assumptions about suicidal people. He was not depressed. They were happily married. There were no warning signs.

“He was bright and beautiful. Maybe he was too beautiful for this world.” Mitchell’s story captivated everyone in the room, but what was the connection to the night’s theme? Was she inviting the audience to intrude into her life with a brutally intimate and frank story? Or is suicide a socially taboo topic, especially if the victim is at the top of his game and there is no clear explanation? “Silence is dangerous,” said Mitchell.

The Armchair Live Storytelling Event was put on by several of Bend’s creative all-stars: Cassondra Schindler, Matt Ebbing, Jordan Elliot, Gretchen Raynack and the night’s MC, Sara Yellich. The next event is planned for the fall with a tentative theme of Up All Night.

Posted for Shelby Little, Source freelance writer extraordinaire

Thursday night I was one of forty or so folks who crammed into the Tin Pan Alley Theater to witness the first Armchair Live Storytelling Night.

Like the Moth in New York City, Armchair features a series of storytellers who tell never-before-shared, true stories without the use of props or cues.

The theme was trespassing: a word that is steeped in treachery. I’ve only trespassed a few times in my life, experiences that were rites of passage in college, or moments of stolen entitlement in forbidden places.

What moments of mischief, brushes with the law, or forbidden places had these nine storytellers experienced?

In the suspenseful interlude between the doors opening and the beginning of the show, one storyteller, Pauly, shared with me that he had moved from a glamorous little ski town in Colorado to Bend because he wanted to live in a city with a soul.

This event proved to be the most intimate experience I have witnessed in Central Oregon. It was as if I were hearing stories from strangers that are usually reserved for close friends, late at night; well after a bond of trust is established. Some were gripping, others filled with hilarity, and a few evoked dread. If our city had a diary, pages would be lined with the stories from this event.

Each storyteller interpreted trespassing differently. There were the literal translations of trespassing: to wander where you are not wanted.

A member of a collegiate baseball team in Arkansas, Greg Bolt, told a heart-thumping account of being hazed by upperclassmen. They blindfolded and bound the arms of he and his freshmen teammates and drove them deep into the rural hills before stopping their trucks on a private farm. As the freshmen ran through cotton fields to flee dozens of eggs that the upperclassmen were firing at them, an angry farmer and his dogs retaliate. Bolt shared four sounds you never want to hear while trespassing on a farm at night: a door open, a dog bark, the command “get ‘em”, and the sound of a shotgun.

Others interpreted trespassing as the invisible divisions between social groups. Shelley Anderson’s story also occurred some decades earlier while she attended college in Boulder. In her mischievous story, she and her friends use their beauty and wit to steal a keg from a fraternity party, trespassing in a social function in which they were not invited.

Tracey Treu’s story also dealt with social trespassing. Treu is a small-town Nebraska girl and women’s study major who somehow fell in love with a star football player. When her husband entered the NFL, she entered the NFL wives club. Initially she was swept up in the glamour and glitz, but after a run-in with the star quarterback’s wife, she realized she was treading where she did not belong.

René Mitchell gave a bold an unapologetic account of the day her husband committed suicide. Before she went onstage she told me, “I feel the need to share my story as a way of survival.” She displayed a rare and brilliant strength as she debunked many assumptions about suicidal people. He was not depressed. They were happily married. There were no warning signs.

“He was bright and beautiful. Maybe he was too beautiful for this world.” Mitchell’s story captivated everyone in the room, but what was the connection to the night’s theme? Was she inviting the audience to intrude into her life with a brutally intimate and frank story? Or is suicide a socially taboo topic, especially if the victim is at the top of his game and there is no clear explanation? “Silence is dangerous,” said Mitchell.

The Armchair Live Storytelling Event was put on by several of Bend’s creative all-stars: Cassondra Shindler, Matt Ebbing, Jordan Elliot, Gretchen Raynack and the night’s MC, Sarah Yellich. The next event is planned for the fall with a tentative theme of Up All Night.

Have fun over there Kroger.

[video:http://youtu.be/bcdWMaYWzGg 560x315]

The council is talking about these things tonight:

Visit Bend’s Business Plan and Budget. This could be interesting because of the debate over Visit Bend and Central Oregon Visitor’s Association needing to resolve some sort of conflict. And also because Visit Bend has floated a proposal for changing how tourism groups are financed, which may have something to do with that potential conflict. You may also want to hear about how it appears Visit Bend has been kicking some ass on the tourism marketing front. Our tourism revenues are up.

That whole false alarm thing where people and businesses will likely soon be required to register their alarms and pay for times when it goes off and there’s no real danger. Bend PD estimates they spend $111,000 on false alarms every year.

A new noise ordinance, which will likely be approved by council. New rules specify no loudness between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. and sets specific decibel limits on said loudness. Should make life easier for concert organizers, residents and police because now everyone knows what to expect.

Putting the breaks on sewer upgrades because of financial constraints. Guess what! They want to hire a consultant to figure out how to do that, and create a “citizen stakeholder group” to help with the whole process.

Waiting to impose extra strength wastewater charges on new businesses. There was a bit of a backlash over the city’s proposal to increase fees on breweries and other businesses. The city is also going to keep suspend ESC charges on the businesses that currently pay the fee until it decides how to handle all of this.

And, finally, whether or not to let some businesses defer their system development charges, which are fees imposed on new development because of the increased burden the development puts on city infrastructure. The city is considering letting some businesses wait up to three years to pay.

Stay tuned to our LIVE TWEETS! of the meeting for up-to-the-minute coverage!

We had our eye on a few key races during the May 15 election. These are the unofficial results from those contests as of 9 p.m. Tuesday night, with all precincts reporting, according to the Deschutes County Clerk's Office. Full election results for Deschutes County can be found here.

United States President

Rick Santorum—6.18%

Ron Paul—8.89%

Newt Gingrich—5.31%

Mitt Romney—78.74%

Measure 9-85, New 911 District Formation

Yes—46.11%

No—53.89%

State Senator- 27^th District

Chris Telfer—31.79%

Tim Knopp—68.11%

Judge of the Circuit Court- 11^th District

TJ Spear—16.58%

Beth Bagley—40.42%

Andrew Balyeat—28.93%

Aaron Brenneman—13.88%

County Commissioner- Position 2

Tom Greene—68.86%

Phil Henderson—29.59%

County Commissioner- Position 2

Alan Unger—64.05%

Dallas Brown—35.23%

Attorney General

Dwight Holton—38.12%

Ellen Rosenblum—61.80%

Source: Deschutes County Clerk’s Office

We had our eye on a few key races during the May 15 election. These are the unofficial results from those contests as of 9 p.m. Tuesday night, with all precincts reporting, according to the Deschutes County Clerk's Office. Full election results for Deschutes County can be found here.

United States President

Rick Santorum—6.18%

Ron Paul—8.89%

Newt Gingrich—5.31%

Mitt Romney—78.74%

Measure 9-85, New 911 District Formation

Yes—46.11%

No—53.89%

State Senator- 27^th District

Chris Telfer—31.79%

Tim Knopp—68.11%

Judge of the Circuit Court- 11^th District

TJ Spear—16.58%

Beth Bagley—40.42%

Andrew Balyeat—28.93%

Aaron Brenneman—13.88%

County Commissioner- Position 2

Tom Greene—68.86%

Phil Henderson—29.59%

County Commissioner- Position 2

Alan Unger—64.05%

Dallas Brown—35.23%

Attorney General

Dwight Holton—38.12%

Ellen Rosenblum—61.80%

Source: Deschutes County Clerk’s Office

Voting for the May 15 election closes in 2 hours and 41 minutes.

It's time to find your ballot under the pile of mail you've been ignoring, fill it out and get it down to any of the drop boxes listed below before 8 p.m. tonight!

Bend

Deschutes Service Center Drop Box

1300 NW Wall St.

Located on Parkway side of building

Drive- By Drop Site

Parking lot at the corner of Wall Street and Lafayette Avenue

Deschutes County Road Department Drop Box

61150 SE 27^th St.

Open ‘til 8 p.m. on Election Day

Redmond

Redmond City Hall

716 SW Evergreen Ave.

Redmond Public Library Drop Site

827 SW Deschutes Ave.

Sisters

Sisters City Hall

520 E Cascade Ave.

Sunriver

Sunriver Area Public Library

56855 Venture Ln.

Terrebonne

Terrebonne Sheriff Substation

8154 11^th St., Ste. 3

La Pine

La Pine Public Library Drop Box

16425 First St.

Visit Bend leaders have declined a request from Deschutes County Commissioner Tammy Baney to sit down with Central Oregon Visitors Association for a one-on-one meeting between the organizations.

Baney, who is also a board member of COVA, hoped to bring leaders of the groups together at a sort of tourism summit on June 5 to discuss what appeared to be a degree of conflict over coordination, redundant efforts and tourism industry funding that’s come to a head in recent months, according to Baney and other sources.

Baney had proposed a morning meeting of Visit Bend and COVA, and an afternoon session with the other three tourism marketing groups in Deschutes County at the summit. Those groups are located Sisters, Redmond and La Pine. All groups receive transient room tax dollars to market our region to visitors.

While Visit Bend leaders said they are looking forward to getting all five tourism groups together, Visit Bend Director Doug LaPlaca said the proposed meeting between just COVA and Visit Bend would be inappropriate and that there is no conflict between the two organizations.

Jodie Barram, a member of Visit Bend's board of directors and a Bend city councilor, had emailed with Baney about frustration over some aspects of the meeting last week as reported in The Bulletin. Baney learned of the group's determination not to attend on Tuesday, she said in an earlier interview.

The news of Visit Bend declining the one-on-one meeting came as a surprise to Alana Houston, director of COVA, when the Source contacted her for comment on this story today, despite that Visit Bend leaders had made the decision not to attend the meeting earlier this week. Lack of communication between the groups is one issue Baney aimed to address at the meeting.

LaPlaca cited several reasons for declining the sit down.

One, any meeting about tourism in Deschutes County should include all five tourism groups. Two, Visit Bend and COVA are already meeting on a regular basis about becoming more effective. Three, Deschutes County funding of the meeting would be a poor use of public funds because the two groups are already meeting. Four, Visit Bend would also not feel comfortable with an anonymous private donor funding the facilitator for a Visit Bend/COVA meeting because that would create a problem with transparency.

 “There are five destination marketing organizations in Deschutes County,” wrote Visit Bend Director Doug LaPlaca in an email earlier today. “It is inappropriate for Visit Bend and COVA to…have these conversations without involvement from other DMOs.”

Houston was disappointed to hear that Visit Bend had declined the meeting, but said she could not comment extensively until learning more.

“We would have loved to have the chance for the two boards to come together,” said Houston. “But…we really can’t force anybody to the table.”

Baney could not be reached for comment.

Visit Bend leaders have declined a request from Deschutes County Commissioner Tammy Baney to sit down with Central Oregon Visitors Association for a one-on-one meeting between the organizations.

Baney, who is also a board member of COVA, hoped to bring leaders of the groups together at a sort of tourism summit on June 5 to discuss what appeared to be a degree of conflict over coordination, redundant efforts and tourism industry funding that’s come to a head in recent months, according to Baney and other sources.

Baney had proposed a morning meeting of Visit Bend and COVA, and an afternoon session with the other three tourism marketing groups in Deschutes County at the summit. Those groups are located Sisters, Redmond and La Pine. All groups receive transient room tax dollars to market our region to visitors.

While Visit Bend leaders said they are looking forward to getting all five tourism groups together, Visit Bend Director Doug LaPlaca said the proposed meeting between just COVA and Visit Bend would be inappropriate and that there is no conflict between the two organizations.

The news of Visit Bend declining the one-on-one meeting came as a surprise to Alana Houston, director of COVA, when the Source contacted her for comment on this story today, despite that Visit Bend leaders had made the decision not to attend the meeting earlier this week. Lack of communication between the groups is one issue Baney aimed to address at the meeting.

LaPlaca cited several reasons for declining the sit down.

One, any meeting about tourism in Deschutes County should include all five tourism groups. Two, Visit Bend and COVA are already meeting on a regular basis about becoming more effective. Three, Deschutes County funding of the meeting would be a poor use of public funds because the two groups are already meeting. Four, Visit Bend would also not feel comfortable with an anonymous private donor funding the facilitator for a Visit Bend/COVA meeting because that would create a problem with transparency.

 “There are five destination marketing organizations in Deschutes County,” wrote Visit Bend Director Doug LaPlaca in an email earlier today. “It is inappropriate for Visit Bend and COVA to…have these conversations without involvement from other DMOs.”

Houston was disappointed to hear that Visit Bend had declined the meeting, but said she could not comment extensively until learning more.

“We would have loved to have the chance for the two boards to come together,” said Houston. “But…we really can’t force anybody to the table.”

Baney could not be reached for comment.

Visit Bend leaders have declined a request from Deschutes County Commissioner Tammy Baney to sit down with Central Oregon Visitors Association for a one-on-one meeting between the organizations.

Baney, who is also a board member of COVA, hoped to bring leaders of the groups together at a sort of tourism summit on June 5 to discuss what appeared to be a degree of conflict over coordination, redundant efforts and tourism industry funding that’s come to a head in recent months.

Baney had proposed a morning meeting of Visit Bend and COVA, and an afternoon session with the other three tourism marketing groups in Deschutes County at the summit. Those groups are located Sisters, Redmond and La Pine. All groups receive transient room tax dollars to market our region to visitors.

While Visit Bend leaders said they are looking forward to getting all five tourism groups together, Visit Bend Director Doug LaPlaca said the proposed meeting between just COVA and Visit Bend would be inappropriate and that there is no conflict between the two organizations.

The news of Visit Bend declining the one-on-one meeting came as a surprise to Alana Houston, director of COVA, when the Source contacted her for comment on this story today, despite that Visit Bend leaders had made the decision not to attend the meeting earlier this week. Lack of communication between the groups is one issue Baney said a sit down meeting aimed to address.

LaPlaca cited several reasons for declining the sit down.

One, any meeting about tourism in Deschutes County should include all five tourism groups. Two, Visit Bend and COVA are already meeting on a regular basis about becoming more effective. Three, Deschutes County funding of the meeting would be a poor use of public funds because the two groups are already meeting. Four, Visit Bend would also not feel comfortable with an anonymous private donor funding the facilitator for a Visit Bend/COVA meeting because that would create a problem with transparency.

 “There are five destination marketing organizations in Deschutes County,” wrote Visit Bend Director Doug LaPlaca in an email earlier today. “It is inappropriate for Visit Bend and COVA to…have these conversations without involvement from other DMOs.”

Houston was disappointed to hear that Visit Bend had declined the meeting, but said she could not comment extensively until learning more.

“We would have loved to have the chance for the two boards to come together,” said Houston. “But…we really can’t force anybody to the table.”

Baney could not be reached for comment.

Dude with Cascadia Forest Defenders climbed 80 feet up a flagpole outside the Capitol building in Salem today, hung a banner and camped out for about an hour and a half.

Perry Thompson Graham, 23, from Eugene, was promptly arrested by Oregon State Police after descending the pole voluntarily.

The banner he left behind reads "Schools vs Trees? We want both!"

The legislature is not currently in session and it's not clear exactly to what Perry was referring.

He’s been charged with disorderly conduct, criminal trespass and criminal mischief and booked in the Marion County Jail.

Good day to be an American.

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvgJEYuKPyc 560x315]