A rally was held Monday, May 11, asking public officials to protect the civil rights of undocumented people in Central Oregon. I was there because I have, for 12 years, run a low-income program for children. I started this group when, as a teacher, I became increasingly aware of children living in debilitating poverty.

The neighborhood I work in has changed over the years to one that is now mainly Hispanic. With that change has come growth and awareness on my part of the plight of immigrants who desperately want a better life for their children and are willing to risk and work hard to obtain it. They remind me each day that this is our heritage. This country is, has been, the “promised land” for all of us at one time in our history. Our common humanity, the reality that we are all children of God, with different stories is what motivates me to walk alongside these families in their struggle to survive.

We'd like to extend a big THANK YOU to the congregants of downtown's First Baptist Church for including us in their Day of Service. With their help and hard work, we deep cleaned the Tower Theatre on Sunday, May 22. The Tower is a wonderful community asset, and it takes a community of volunteers to keep it maintained and running. This is the second year in a row that First Baptist has helped with this project, and now the Tower sparkles.

Thank you so much.

– Ray Solley, Executive Director

Yoleen Faerber, Volunteer Coordinator

There is a cougar in Deschutes River Woods, maybe two, trying to make a living. DRW has a significant population of prey species making it good pickings for a large cat. Cougars have been hunting in the area for millennia.

Cougars are generally solitary animals, shy of human activities, and deathly afraid of dogs. They use stealth and cunning to acquire their food. When a cougar invades a residential area, most likely it has not yet learned to avoid humans and dogs. Which would indicate it is young and immature. If two cougars a traveling together they are most likely siblings recently run out of their mother’s territory.

I have read recently that the top five names for boys in the U.S.A. are: Jacob, Ethan, Michael, Jayend and William. Donald does not appear anywhere in the top five, nor in the top ten list. As a Donald myself, I find that very disturbing. I believe that the current unpopularity of the name Donald is directly attributable to Mr. Trump of the same first name.

Recently while walking through Drake Park I witnessed a bald eagle dive bomb a flock of ducks, nearly getting one. The duck got away and my companion and I stood in awe as the eagle flew directly over our heads and landed in one of the lodge pole pines. There was a young man standing about five feet away from us with head phones on, oblivious to the seven foot wingspan right above his head. I tapped him on the shoulder and pointed out the bird, still in the tree. He grinned sheepishly and replied, "Damn iPod."