"Media" is the plural of "medium." This week's headline is equivalent to "When computers and cellphones becomes an obsession." The inside heading is the same as saying, "Computers and cellphones is creating a whole new brand of addiction." It's hard enough to get people to spell words correctly; the Source is not helping educate the public when it uses incorrect grammar in its headlines. – Val Gerard

I’m so sad. The parent company of the great Bend Bulletin has filed for bankruptcy, citing “difficulties renegotiating an $18 million loan.”

I know that this was purely the fault of that evil bank, and not at all due to poor choices the noble editor, John Costa, or the brilliant publisher, Gordon Black, could have made. They’re just too honorable and wise to have made bad management decisions. And the oft-cited perception that the Bulletin is a lap dog for the development industry, spinning the real estate news any way it can to keep the house of cards upright—well, that’s just crazy talk! So the smart decisions of these two savvy entrepreneurs had nothing at all to do with the failure of the business, as Mr. Costa himself has assured us—nothing, I tell you!

I also know that this is clearly the sole time our beloved free market system could have resulted in bankruptcy and/or job losses. In all other instances, one must continue to blame the current Administration. Obviously, if anyone loses their job at the Bulletin, it’s because of Obama.

While Wednesday brought this sad, sad bankruptcy news, it is Monday’s edition that serves to again demonstrate what a credible, important newspaper the Bulletin really is: where the Oregonian featured a detailed story about some rebels overtaking some place called Tripoli and effectively ending the reign of some person named Gaddafi on its front page, the Bulletin wisely ignored that non-story and ran a front-page feature about a teenager’s apparent difficulties battling obviously pointless forest regulations.

I hope and pray the Bulletin continues to give us such relevant, balanced stories, and continues to ignore silly nonsense like world events.

Please keep the great Bulletin and its brilliant management in your thoughts and prayers, fellow citizens.

Respectfully,

– Peter Gramlich

More bike races in Bend? Hey, we get it. Bend hosts a lot of cycling events, including four national championships in the past two years. So why the fuss over the two USA Cycling national championships coming to Bend in the next three weeks? It’s pretty simple, really.

Between the USA Cycling Masters Road National Championships Aug. 30-Sept. 4 and the USA Cycling Marathon Mountain Bike National Championships Sept. 17, we’re anticipating the arrival of more than 1,500 participants and 4,000 total visitors from every state in the country. The economic impact of these two events, including lodging, dining, shopping, and entertainment, is anticipated to exceed $2 million. That’s a lot of money.

While it’s true the bike races are entertaining to watch and fun for locals, tourists and riders, make no mistake about it – these events are great for Bend’s economy.

It’s also a chance for us to put our best foot forward as a community. Ideally, many of these riders and their supporters will be so impressed that they’ll return to the area again and again.

In the coming weeks, you’ll see an unusually large number of cyclists riding around town. You can do your part by simply being aware of their presence and giving them a little extra room on the road. And if you feel like thanking them for choosing to spend their discretionary time and money in Bend, that would be the icing on the cake.

So please join me in welcoming the participants, spectators and support staff of both races to Bend, and in wishing all racers the best of luck during the upcoming competitions. Let’s show them what makes Bend so amazing.

Sincerely,

Doug LaPlaca, President and CEO Visit Bend

The biggest misconception about CrossFit is that it is "too intense" or "too hard" for "normal" people. I don't know how many times I've talked to people and had them tell me they are scared to try it...obviously the writer of this blurb fits into that category and hasn't done the research to back up his comments.

I'm not sure what exactly folks think happens in CrossFit gyms, it seems that maybe they think we show up, get yelled at and made to lift super heavy weights and wreck our bodies with no thought to our fitness level or goals.

The awesome thing about CrossFit is that EVERYTHING you do is scalable. Which means there are many movements you can substitute for the "prescribed" movements and this can change daily, weekly, monthly as your fitness level gets better and better. That is why it works! And CrossFit coaches are trained to make sure that everybody who shows up is doing the correct movements (in the correct way) for where they are at fitness wise.

Two letter writers in last week's Mailbox expressed the (uninformed) opinion that talking or texting on a cellphone while driving is no more dangerous than talking with a passenger in your car. While this would seem to make sense, statistics show it is not true. The reason? People who study these things say a passenger in your car acts as a second pair of eyes and ears.

The passenger may even see potential danger before the driver does and scream "Watch out!" or "Brake!" The person on the other end of your phone call or text just blats on, oblivious to what's happening in your world at the moment. The caller cannot help you, and may distract you for the split second it takes to avoid tragedy.

Pull Over, Please

M. Berry