Elections: An informed citizenry, democracy at its best:
There are two local option levies on the ballot in Washington County, Oregon:
The county has an information website and has scheduled many Service Fairs around the county where you can get answers to your questions and talk to county employees and officials about the levies.
“A 52-year-old Aloha man was arrested Friday night for firing a gun at his own wall after his neighbors complained about him doing loud bird impersonations.”
You can’t make this stuff up! This is why you should always have friends in code enforcement, emergency rooms, and law enforcement. They have the most amazing stories and make even the crankiest amongst us feel downright normal:
A recent story reported on at OregonLive, from the Hillsboro Argus:
There are all kinds of writs: execution, attachment, review, mandamus, and assistance, to name a few.
The one most commonly asked about by pro se litigants is the writ of assistance. Here are some sources of information and forms:
Oregon State Sheriffs’ Association Civil Process Manual (aka “Sheriffs’ Manual”)
Forest Grove News-Times ran an interesting story about the May 2010 election for the Washington County Justice of the Peace:
“Not everyone votes in judge race: Low-key race doesn’t wind up on ballots in Hillsboro,” by Christian Gaston, The Forest Grove News-Times, May 6, 2010:
Excerpt: “…But if you live in downtown Hillsboro, chances are, you won’t see either of their names on your ballot.
Ballots will soon be mailed. If you don’t get yours, or want to check your registration, contact your county election office.
Yes, you can check online to make sure you are registered to vote. Link to the Elections Division.
I know, I know. The OJD website is just not that easy to navigate, and it often drops you into holes you can’t get out of without having to return to Oz (or Google), but it is the best place to find current and official Oregon Base Fines.
Here are some tips:
1) Visit the OJD website
a) Click on Materials and Resources
b) Click on Court Rules
c) Click on the drop down menu
d) Select Base Fine Summary and click on View to read the PDF.
e) Voila!
You can report a crime and print out a crime report:
Portland Police Bureau Citizen On-Line Reporting System is open for business:
From their website:
The ballot deadline is January 26, 2010. Please don’t mail your ballot at this point. Please find a drop box.
It has been said that people spend more time shopping for a TV than they do mulling over an election ballot. For crying out loud, in Oregon you can fill in your ballot while sitting in a comfy chair, drinking a beverage of choice, and mumbling or ranting to your heart’s content.
If you don’t vote you can’t complain. People around the world and through the centuries know that maintaining a democracy is a lifetime effort (and sometimes a death-defying one). You can’t vote once and expect to find yourself in Shangri-La (which may not be your cup of tea anyway). And voting once or twice a year is the minimum entrance requirement for keeping a country a free republic. It takes more, much more.
A few of the on and off-the-grid Portland-metro, Trimet, and traffic blogs for more than you might want to know about public transit in the Portland-metro area:
1) Trimet official website
2) History of Public Transit in Portland
3) Hard Drive: A commuting blog
4) Association of Oregon Rail and Transit Advocates (and their Transit Links)
5) Portland Transport
6) Transit Sleuth
7) Trimetofficialinformation
8) Trimetiquette
Traffic Week and Traffic Law OLR blog posts.
After reading yet another news story about someone who made an Unsignaled Lane Change and ended up in really deep trouble for other infractions (to put it mildly), I offer this public service notice.
(Oh, and you can find out what that infraction will cost you at the OJD Base Fine Schedule website.)
I know most Oregonians (including police and parking enforcement vehicles) don’t have working turn signals, or maybe there is a turn-signal force-field around the state that shuts them off, but get yours fixed, or figure out how to make them work, and then use them.
Oregon Legal Research Blog