As I drove down Galveston this morning I saw that for a third time the sign of new small business, Primal Cuts, had been vandalized.

While talking to the owner after the first time, he mentioned that it seemed pretty obvious that a large rock had been thrown through the sign. All this really disgusts me!  The only way I can comprehend what might be going on is that someone does not like meat eaters, but to cause big expense to a man who is just trying to make a living like the rest of us is a disgrace and embarrassment.

I don't want to be someone who complains without offering a solution, so here's a few things I came up with: 1) Go into the store and show moral support to the owner, maybe even like them on Facebook (They support community events, too). 2) Patronize the store (the quality there is excellent!).

Opening a new business is hard enough with out this discouragement.  Let’s show our small businesses support and counteract someone else's ignorance.

Almost 40 years ago, Gov. Tom McCall called for legislation to protect Oregon from the “sagebrush subdivisions, coastal condomania, and … ravenous rampages of suburbia” that were threatening to blight the state. The legislature responded with Senate Bill 100, which created a land use regulation system that became the envy of the nation.

McCall’s signature on the bill wasn’t even dry before the development-at-any-cost bloc began plotting to dismantle it, and it hasn’t stopped trying since. The opponents know they have virtually no chance of demolishing the whole structure, but that doesn’t discourage them from stealthily chipping away at it whenever and in any way they can.

That’s how much Mitt Romney’s inanely titled Super PAC, “Restore Our Future,” spent to woo Floridians in the run-up to Tuesday’s Republican primary. The massive outpouring of cash is just the latest over-the-top display of campaign spending in an election year that is expected to break all records, thanks in large part to the Supreme Court’s Citizen’s United decision. That watershed ruling opened the floodgates for so-called “soft money,” i.e. corporate dollars that are funneled through political action committees like “Restore.”

The Hon. Greg Walden

2182 Rayburn House Office Building

Washington, DC 20515

Dear Greg,

We, the citizens and voters of Bend, have decided to try to reach you by letter because you’re an awfully hard guy to see in person.

The problem isn’t that you don’t visit your home district often enough. We notice there’s a neat little Google Map linked to your congressional website that’s titled “Where’s Walden?” (very cute, Greg) and shows all the places in the district (and many outside the district) that you’ve visited in the past couple of years.

Judging by all the flags and push-pins stuck in this map, you sure do get around. You’ve been to town halls in Mitchell, Long Creek, Rufus, Arlington, Ontario and Eagle Valley, among other places. You’ve found time to attend the Miner’s Jubilee Parade and the Americans for Prosperity Hot Air Balloon Rally in Baker City and the Union County Business Leaders Breakfast in LaGrande. You’ve toured the Boise Cascade mill in Elgin, Interpath Laboratory in Pendleton and the Wallowa Lake Dam in Joseph.