Monday, Dec. 26

Guess they’re considering the alternatives: Gallup Poll finds 47% of Americans approve of President Obama, first time since last summer that positive rating’s been higher than negative … Now this is a shocker: Independent panel finds Japan wasn’t prepared for disaster at Fukushima nuke plant … Arab “Spring” in December: Arab League observers arrive in Syria and tour city of Homs; residents say government troops fired mortars and machine guns at them … No spring in Moscow: After tens of thousands of demonstrators call for ouster of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, government says it’s open to “dialogue” but won’t give in to protesters’ main demands … Oh, the indignity! Jennifer O’Neill, former personal assistant to Lady Gaga, sues ex-boss for $380,000 in overtime, complains she was forced to “ensure the promptness of a towel following a shower.”

The Sandra Meyer Murder

The Sandra Meyer tragedy is one that we add reluctantly to this list out of respect to Meyer’s family members who endured much during the nearly month-long search for the missing Bend woman. Meyer’s mysterious disappearance became a matter of public discussion after family members and police called on the public to help locate her. Family members erected a billboard on the Parkway emblazoned with Meyer’s image and police searched the river around the Old Mill where Meyer’s car was found. Suspicion quickly turned to her husband John Meyer who later shot himself in the couple’s home. Still, Meyer’s family was left in limbo after police found evidence that she had been murdered, but failed to turn up her body. The case came to a shocking and sad conclusion when Meyer’s family members discovered her body on the couple’s property almost a month after the crime. It was an area that police had supposedly scoured thoroughly. Friends have memorialized Meyer by dedicating a room in her honor at the Bend women’s shelter, Saving Grace.

Monday, Dec. 19

Flameout: Newt Gingrich’s lead among Republicans evaporates; Gallup now has him in virtual tie with Mitt Romney … With friends like these: Website that promotes adultery endorses Gingrich, puts up billboard of him with caption: “Faithful Republican, Unfaithful Husband … The Daily Gaffe: Texas Gov. Rick Perry, fading fast in GOP presidential race, describes defunct Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il as “Kim Jong the Second.” Wonder what happened to Kim Jong the First? … No deal: With Department of Justice antitrust enforcers looking over its shoulder, AT&T drops plan to take over T-Mobile USA … Syria agrees to allow Arab League to send in monitors as violence rages on; UN says at least 5,000 killed since protests started in March … Stand by votre homme: Anne Sinclair, wife of sex scandal-plagued Dominique Strauss-Kahn, voted Woman of the Year in France.

Its no secret that irrigation withdrawals have a major impact on stream flows in the Deschutes Basin. From Wickiup Reservoir in the pine forested Cascade foothills south of Bend to the Juniper dotted canyons outside Terrebonne, the rise and fall of the river is dictated less by snow and rain than the opening and closing of steel gates that meter out water to the legions of farmers on the High Desert.

Over the past decade, irrigators, conservation groups, cities and other stakeholders have made major strides in restoring some of the diminished flows. This past summer, flows in the middle Deschutes were as much as four times the summer average recorded for much of the 20^th century when water-thirsty crops and inefficient irrigation methods left little for the river. Much of that restored flow has come as the result of piping projects that allow irrigators to leave some of their conserved water in the river without curtailing their own usage.