I am thinking of dressing as dead Muammar Gaddafi for Halloween. But I want your opinion. Would it be too soon? What about dressing as slutty dead Muammar Gaddafi?

The University of Oregon community has been no stranger to death over the past couple of years.

In March students mourned the loss of University of Oregon student, Alexis Pennington. As reported by the Oregon Daily Emerald, Pennington died of meningoencephalitis. At her memorial service on March 30, students and teachers, teammates and family spoke of how Pennington had touched their lives.

Pennington’s death was barely a year after that of David Chai, who lost his life in a head-on car crash. When the story first broke, KVAL reported that nine people had been injured in the accident which happened on Highway 101.

Brandon Schooley of Eugene was believed to be the driver of the vehicle which caused the accident. The three passengers in Schooley’s vehicle and all of the other vehicles occupants were treated at various hospitals: Sacred Heart at Riverbend, Good Samaritan in Corvallis and Peace Harbor in Florence.

Chai’s family was able to make it to Oregon from Korea, before his death a week after the incident.

According to KVAL and KATU, Schooley is now facing criminal charges, a year and a half after the accident.

On KVAL’s website, the big question is why the 18-month delay and why the driver is being charged with assault? One user, YouBetccha, asks “7 counts of assault? what did he beat up the survivors? “

Tomorrow, Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Ron Paul (R-Texas) will introduce bipartisan legislation to end the federal prohibition of marijuana. Under the new legislation-to-be, each state would be able to legalize, regulate and tax it (or not) as they see fit, without interference from the federal government.

News broke earlier today, when the Marijuana Policy Project made a press release announcing the legislation, which was later confirmed by a spokesperson for Rep. Frank.

Here’s some more info from the press release:

Other co-sponsors include Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN), Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO), and Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA). The legislation would limit the federal government’s role in marijuana enforcement to cross-border or inter-state smuggling, allowing people to legally grow, use or sell marijuana in states where it is legal. The legislation is the first bill ever introduced in Congress to end federal marijuana prohibition.

Rep. Frank’s legislation would end state/federal conflicts over marijuana policy, reprioritize federal resources, and provide more room for states to do what is best for their own citizens.

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The UO Department of Public Safety sent this email to students earlier today:

April 22, 2011

To: University of Oregon students

From: Doug Tripp, Executive Director and Chief, UO Department of Public Safety

Today, the Eugene Police Department notified the community that there have been a series of potentially gang-related assaults in the West University area.  Please take necessary precautions for your safety and others.

EPD shared that during the past two weeks there have been five random assaults in the West University neighborhood that involve a group suspected to be street gang members. According to EPD, the suspects have been prowling the neighborhood, interjecting themselves into parties, some of which include underage drinking, where the suspects have assaulted unsuspecting men and women. Although no weapons have been involved, the assaults are violent and police are concerned that with the lack of victim reports, the crimes will continue and someone will sustain serious or life-threatening injuries.  More information is available at: http://safetyweb.uoregon.edu/content/eugene-police-news-release-potential-gang-related-assaults-w-university

The Commentator will be following up.

This installment of Oregon news briefs is all about nanny bills. Special thanks to the Oregon Legislature for plenty of fodder via their vaguely-sexualized obsession with getting involved in other people’s lives.

Despite the fact that we already have anti-littering laws, cops are complaining of a lack of enforcement when it comes to flicking cigarette butts on the ground. Their plan: make a new crime, and classify “unlawful disposal of a tobacco product” as a separate littering offense that would carry a $90 fine. Current laws do cover cigarette butts, but are seldom enforced, possibly because “offensive littering” carries potential jail time, and is sometimes considered too harsh.

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With the ever-popular HATE Issue coming up, I felt it would be appropriate to address some of the haters that have spoken out against the magazine, its staff, byline and mission statement.  The most recent form of hate being vandalism: dumping issues of the magazine outside the EMU as well as stealing one of the distribution boxes at 14th and Kincaid.  This has not happened to any other student ran publication on this campus, but according to the Student Press Law Center in 2009 Oregon State University’s Liberty had some of its distribution boxes removed in a similar fashion, claiming censorship as the cause:

The staff of an independent publication at Oregon State University says they are being censored by not being permitted to distribute across campus.

Will Rogers, executive editor of the Liberty, said campus officials removed the paper’s distribution bins during the winter 2009 term without warning, damaging some of them. Officials later told Rogers his staff does not have the same distribution rights as the Daily Barometer, OSU’s official campus paper.

“Basically, the school is setting up a state-sponsored form of communication that if you don’t play by their rules then you’re not allowed to distribute the message, which is censorship,” Rogers said. “They’re stifling our ability to communicate.”

The Liberty was also regarded as the campus conservative publication and Rogers commented on the fact that the other publication, the Daily Barometer had none of its distribution boxes removed.

According to e-mails in late April and early May between Rogers and Joe Majeski, a Facilities Services employee, university officials removed the bins — which involved cutting locks and chains for some — and stored them near a dumpster.

When Rogers retrieved them, he said some had been damaged. He noted the university gave Liberty editors in 2006 permission to place eight bins on campus. After one was stolen, the paper’s staff chained the rest in place.

A collection of e-mails between Rogers and university employees show the dispute is centered on Liberty not being the campus’ official paper. Several officials noted the Daily Barometer has been publishing for over 100 years. Officials also claimed they were controlling distribution to keep campus attractive for visiting parents.

An OSU spokesperson said that the boxes were removed in an effort to help with foot traffic and maintenance and yet again, none of the Barometer‘s bins or boxes were removed.  It is approximated that 150 copies of the publication were damaged along with the damages to boxes themselves.  Since then, the Liberty has had its distribution rights restored to the same rights as the Barometer.

In our case, reports have been filed with Eugene Police Department as well as the Department of Public Safety. All I can say is that if we’ve been striking nerves with people, good. Haters, keep up the hate. [Ed. note: But stop being a dick about it.] The OC does not sacrifice ideas or content for anyone. It is and always has been an alternative journal of opinion that does not curtail its content to vandalism or insults. The campus is indeed a battleground for the war of ideas; the war is raging and we are not stopping.

Picture borrowed from www.dutchbros.com

Thanksgiving Eve in Eugene this year was marred by a shootout at a Dutch Bros coffee stand. While one (alleged) robber, Sirius Combs was shot dead, another, allegedly Brandon Lee Plunk fled the scene. The trial began on Tuesday with the defense alluding that the robbery was not in fact a robbery, but rather a drug deal. According to the defense, Plunk had been told by Combs that Combs was picking up money which was owed to him.

When asked if he had framed Combs, the barista responded that he had “absolutely not.”

Plunks integrity was brought into question when Plunk was shown telling police that he was not with Combs that evening and then footage from a Wendy’s showed the two men eating together.

The bartista, who brought his .40-caliber Glock to work testified “I recognized I was in a vulnerable position all by myself.”

According to the Register Guard, while Combs was in the kiosk with the barista and distracted the barista “quickly pulled his own gun, from his waistband holster, put a round in the chamber, and began firing at Combs.”

(Perhaps this is a silly question, but if the barista had a gun in a waistband holster and said robber was in close proximity wouldn’t the  robber have noticed?)

Jonathon M. Seidl at The Blaze writes about a man who broke into a home in Portland and called the police for fear of the homeowner having a gun:

Lt. Kelli Sheffer says the intruder told police he had just broken into a home Monday evening when the owner arrived – and the caller was worried the homeowner might have a gun.

Accompanied by his two German Shepherds, the homeowner found the intruder and asked what he was doing in the house. That’s when the stranger locked himself in a bathroom and phoned police.

The homeowner called police with his account.

Sheffer says 24-year-old Timothy James Chapek, of Portland, was booked into jail for investigation of first-degree criminal trespass.

The phone call (it’s really funny):

Hey kids, this isn’t a good idea.

I am at a loss to expand on the nauseating quality of the following passage, from an obituary about a woman molested by ex-Oregon governor and ex-ASUO President Neil Goldschmidt as a teenager, which appeared in the Oregonian today:

Word of the rape eventually reached Goldschmidt. “I subsequently learned she was just brutally assaulted,” Neil Goldschmidt told The Oregonian in May 2004, “and bad things happened up there for which she’s probably blameless, in the sense that she didn’t invite it — I mean literally ask for it. But she was always putting herself in circumstances like that.”

That was in reference not to Goldschmidt’s molesting her, but to this:

But just three months after she began her job at the law firm, a man named Jeffrey L. Jacobsen kidnapped and brutally raped her. He was convicted and is now in prison.

Thanks to UO Matters for the link.

ABC is reporting the arrest of former UO Adjunct Professor Bill Hillar in Millersville, Maryland. Hillar was under investigation for defrauding students into believing he was a member of the US Army Special Forces and that the movie “Taken” was based on his life.

You can read the story here. According to the site, it will be updated as the story unfolds.

The effectiveness of this judge won’t be influenced by his recent lapse in judgment.

Starbucks is introducing 31 ounce drinks- I’d discuss this further but I’m otherwise engaged writing an enthused letter to Starbucks outlining my disappointment in the lack of 64 oz cups.

Doin’ it right: If you’re going to do something wrong, you might as well do it thoroughly wrong, right? Disney seems to think so- their reusable shopping bags aren’t just over the federal limit for lead, but 15 times the federal limit! YAY (props also go to Safeway for distribution and Advanced Publisher for manufacturing), congratulations seem to be in order for their epic failure.

And, just because I want to ruin your day and leave you in an identity crisis- everything you know about astrology is a lie! Now that we’ve all come to that realization, we can use cool words like “Ophiuchus.”

The BCS Championship isn’t the only thing that’s been catching attention in Arizona lately. On Saturday morning, Representative Gabrielle Giffords (D. Arizona) held her first “Congress on Your Corner” event and was seriously wounded when a gunman opened fire on her and others attending the event (Oregonian, New York Times). In total, 14 were injured (including Rep. Giffords) and 6 died.

Recently reelected for a third term, Rep. Giffords’ website describes her as “…one of the most centrist legislators in Congress she is a strong supporter of fiscal responsibility, bipartisanship and government accountability.” Her facebook page displays her favorite quote, from Abraham Lincoln:  “With malice toward none, with charity for all, …let us strive on to finish the work we are in, …to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.” Rep. Giffords represents a southeast corner of Arizona and according to the NYT, “has been an outspoken critic of the state’s tough immigration law, which is focused on identifying, prosecuting and deporting illegal immigrants, and she had come under criticism for her vote in favor of the health care law.”

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Recently, students at Stanford had a novel idea: they petitioned to be excused from classes during the Orange Bowl. Of course, that went down in flames- glorious flames. Their commendable effort leaves me wondering “why UO hasn’t asked the same?”

The petition, signed by over 1,600 Stanford students did not ask for a shift in the academic calendar, but merely the excusal of those students traveling with the team. The petition argued that Stanford was known as a team that didn’t travel well and students wanted to change their reputation but were worried about missing valuable class time:

Stanford has been ruthlessly defamed across the country as being a school that doesn’t “travel well”, a highly contestable assertion given our presence at last year’s Sun Bowl. We believe that Stanford students should have the chance to attend the Orange Bowl without fearing that a professor will drop them from a course.

Therefore, President Hennessy, we petition you, Provost Etchemendy, and Vice Provost Elam to excuse the absences of those students who will be traveling to Miami, so we may witness a piece of Cardinal history while once and for all putting to rest the notion that Stanford fans do not support their world-class sports teams.

The request was both logical and reasonable, in fact, too reasonable. Why should campus only close for traveling students and students affiliated with the team? All of these students take up a significant portion of the student population, at UO it’s estimated at about 2,000 students (out of the university’s 23,389). With all of these students absent from classes, it would make more sense to shift the academic calendar.Yeah, it would be slightly inconvenient, but less of a mess than the disaster no-show drops are going to cause. In addition, when too many individuals are absent, the whole class suffers as they try to catch up.

Furthermore, traveling students are not the only ones affected by Bowl games. It’s not an excuse, but it’s a fact that for many students, watching their team on TV and getting smashed are simultaneous. Presumably, faculty also partakes in the football watching, though  the after game tradition of celebrating by drinking or drinking ones sorrows away seem to include the whole community. The day after a bowl game is a day needed for necessary recovery. Therefore, when a bowl game conflicts with an academic calendar, it is in the best interest of that school to readjust its schedule. But I digress; students from Stanford were met with a somewhat pointed letter from the Provost (emphasis mine): (more…)

More evidence that trains silently creep on unsuspecting victims.

These parents are winners.

& Oregon students can finally stop their endless worrying about spelling on state tests.