Oregon On My Mind (Part 1)

I’ve got a lot of Oregon on my mind and I want to share my thoughts on my favorite subject to write about:

The University of Oregon increased the salary of its head football coach from $4.7 million to $7 million annually with an additional $200,000 every year until the contract expires in 2029. He will also receive $1 million in deferred compensation if he remains head coach through the length of the contract. The university offered this new contract to a mediocre, if not awful in-game coach who lost to OSU after leading by four touchdowns!

This new contract came approximately a week before the announcement that the University of Oregon is leaving the Pac-12 Conference to join the Big Ten in 2024. Surely the Oregon Legislature will pass a bill and the Governor will sign it into law that requires Oregon and Oregon State to play a football game every season. If not, an initiative drive should be begin immediately. I think it would pass by a 90-point margin. On the other hand, who gives a shit. It certainly doesn’t affect me or anything meaningful in the state. The extra television revenue does keep a lot of people lavishly employed in the athletic department and that’s what it’s all about.

We really have lost our way in this state if the University of Oregon can leave the Pac 12 for nothing but money. Yes, bring on Rutgers versus Oregon but not Oregon State versus Washington State.

Private donors raised millions to pay the Duck football coach more and who are these people to that dole out such obscene largess for a medicare football coach who hasn’t uttered a single original word at a press conference? How does this enrich their souls?

Two days later after the coach’s pay raise, the Oregonian reported that a program in Multnomah County that houses low-income families has almost run out of money and 200 people, including children, might be out on the streets soon.

Of course it’s two different pots of money, but really is it? It’s the wealth of a state not going for the good of the state.

Governor Kotek recently signed a bill into law that allows all Oregonians to pump their own gasoline, something we haven’t been able to do since 1951. I DON’T WANT TO PUMP MY OWN GAS EVER! Thankfully, the law stipulates that gas stations in the most populated counties must have an attendant onsite to dispense fuel if a customer prefers that option. AND I AWAYS WILL! The price per gallon must remain the same for self serve or full serve. I love talking to attendants and get the lay of the land. I sometimes tip them if I get my windshield cleaned. They know things about a town that Google will never know. They tell stories. They remark about the weather or my corduroy car coat.

In recent days I’ve had the good fortune to come across some ripened blackberries on my walks and I picked and ate them right there in the early morning. I have yet to see a homeless person eat any blackberries, and that surprises me. It would seem obvious to do so. Thimbleberries, too. I saw some ripe thimbelberries near a wetland down by the river and it reminded me of all the ones I used to harvest when I was caretaker of the Nestucca Bay National Wildlife Refuge. I made a compote from my haul and then used it to marinate salmon. Incredible. I may have to try and recreate that recipe with city thimbleberries.

I haven’t visited the refuge since I left in March 2008. I need to go back up there and see the thousands of trees I planted. It’s time.