Like slugs from a sewer....

[May 12th, 2004] * Penny Harrington, the controversial former Portland police chief, recently moved to the San Luis Obispo, Calif., area and promptly stirred things up. Sparked by a slew of negative headlines, Harrington, who served 18 months as Portland's top cop starting in 1985, has launched a drive to set up a citizen oversight board of the sheriff's department. Sheriff Pat Hedges has launched a counterattack, telling one reporter, "She's got some issues of her own." The result? Local newspapers, including the San Luis Obispo New Times, are rehashing ancient Portland history, like the time Harrington's husband was accused of blowing an undercover operation.

* Talk about your view from the couch! The Portland Development Commission couldn't find a tenant for its Creative Services Center in Old Town, so the city agency is moving in itself. On this week's PDC agenda: permission to spend $2.2 million in tenant improvements for the building--and another $950,000 for new furniture.

* For years, J. Graigory, former McMinnvillian (and son of Republican state Rep. Donna Nelson), has been a top fundraiser for the annual AIDS walk in Los Angeles. As a reward, he won a spot in last Thursday's Friends finale: He was the guy standing in the background in the final scene at Central Perk.

* The ever-humming Portland State campus rumor mill spit out a good one this week, when a number of ivory-tower residents whispered that PSU Vice President Jay Kenton might be ready to cruise. Kenton, who runs PSU's finances, is widely seen as the most energetic and creative administrator at the fast-growing school. Kenton didn't return Murmurs' call, but speculation has it that the University of Idaho--which is hunting for a new finance VP--could be courting him.

* Word is that such Hollywood hotties as Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire and Jake Gyllenhaal are battling for a tour of duty in Jarhead, the movie version of Anthony Swofford's penned-in-Portland memior about Marine life during the first Gulf War. "I've read the script, and I'm really happy with it," says Swofford, who's also happy that Oscar-winner Sam Mendes (American Beauty) has signed on to direct. Swofford, who now lives in Northern California, will be marching back to P-town this July to join literary lions Mark Strand, James Salter and others on the faculty at the Tin House Summer Writers Workshop (check out tinhouse.com/workshop or call 219-0622 to enlist).

* The cable-access show PDXposed bills itself as "Portland's coolest reality TV show" and will prove it this week by replaying highlights of the Candidates Gone Wild! forum at the Aladdin Theater. Hosted by Jon Olson and Heather Fralia, the show airs at 10 pm on May 13, 14 and 15, and plays Sunday morning at 1:30 am. It's also available through Comcast's "video on demand" feature.

* Local cable's original purveyor of PDX-exposed, James Spagnola--better known to television viewers as Jim Spagg--died Saturday morning, depriving Portland's crowded mayor's race of one of its more colorful candidates. The often-naked free-speech advocate and performance artist had vowed "to try to awaken those of the real world to the reality that there is no God." Check jimspagg.com for information on memorial services.