The choice in this race is an easy one. Peggy Kinkade has dedicated countless hours of service to the local schools both as a board member and a volunteer for the Bend-La Pine Education Foundation. Before that, Ms. Kinkade worked diligently to pass the school construction bond that helped alleviate the serious overcrowding in the district. Most recently, she has served as the board’s chairwoman, which has put her in the high-profile position of acting as the head of the board and the liaison between the elected officers, the administration and the public. By all accounts, she has served admirably in that position.

Usually, when a newspaper offers no endorsement it means that there simply isn’t a candidate worth supporting in a given race, but that’s not the case here. Instead, we have to two very worthy candidates in incumbent Beth Bagley and challenger Susanne Flynn. Both are intelligent, working moms with kids in the schools. They are both willing and eager to make a significant commitment to ensure that our children have access to the best possible teachers and programs. The only problem is that Ms. Flynn happens to be a longtime employee of the Source newspaper. That’s what’s known as a conflict of interest, or at least a perceived conflict. So in the interest of fairness and the preservation of our credibility, we’re sitting this one out. We’ll just say that whichever way you mark your ballot, you can’t lose. Sort of like trying to decide between steak and lobster when your boss or rich uncle is footing the restaurant bill. Speaking of which, why doesn’t this joint offer surf and turf?

There are two words that really stand out in the race for the parks board between incumbent Scott Wallace and newcomer Justin Gottlieb: goose poop. The fecal matter paving the paths and covering the lawns of our public parks is near the top (or perhaps at the top) of Gottlieb’s agenda. He wants to hire a special “Goose Poop/Goose Population Manager” and cites the fact that Wallace sat on the parks board while more than 100 geese were euthanized last summer as a reason for the public to make a change on the board.

Wallace didn’t spend much time discussing goose droppings during our meeting with him earlier this month, opting rather to hit on some of his key interests. One of his focuses is indoor recreation opportunities in the district, an area in which he feels the community is underserved. A youth baseball coach and an avid ice hockey player who organizes the local Steelheaders club team, Wallace recognizes that the current budgetary situation in the district doesn’t provide many expansion opportunities. However, he would like to see the community get more mileage out of its existing facilities.

We love our parks here in Bend—like really love our parks. In fact, the only thing that we love more than our parks is probably our pets, or our Subarus. So it’s probably no great surprise that our parks district isn’t without its politics. However for the last few years, the politics of parks has been thankfully devoid of partisanship. We’d like to keep it that way with board members focused on maintaining the Bend Metro Park and Recreation District’s (BMPRD) award-winning programs and responsible management of the park district’s coffers. To date, that approach has allowed the district to largely meet the growing needs of the Bend community through land acquisition and park development while focusing on improving indoor and outdoor recreation opportunities for residents.