Who needs illegal wiretapping when you've got Murmurs?

[August 23rd, 2006] Former City Commissioner Charlie Hales gives Mayor Tom Potter a grade of C- for his first 18-plus months in office and calls the mayor's charter review commission, which is looking at changing Portland's form of government, a "pointless exercise." Hales, whose name gets bandied about when it comes to possible mayoral contenders in '08, made his remarks on Nick Fish's 6:30 am Sunday public-affairs TV program, Outlook Portland with Nick Fish, on KWBP. But when Fish asked Hales if he'd run for mayor in two years, Hales said "probably not" because the timing is bad, what with children in college and him enjoying his private-sector work in town for HDR Engineering. Hales added, "But it is sorely tempting...I grit my teeth a lot when I read the headlines."

An inmate from Portland filed a lawsuit last week against the state of Oregon, contending that a prison weightlifting machine broke and fell on his head in March. John Nguyen, who's in prison for identity theft, says he was pulling 160 pounds on a lat pulldown machine at the Columbia River Correctional Institution in Northeast Portland when the cable broke and the bar fell on him, according to his attorney, Kevin Lucey. Nguyen, 34, sprained his neck and is seeking $5,500 in his Aug. 17 lawsuit claiming civil negligence in Multnomah County Circuit Court. Prison officials declined to comment.

Portland...the new Buenos Aires? We may not tango like argentinos, but at least one of us can shell out money for polo like the best of 'em. In June, Portland polo player Sean Keys began construction on an 80-acre, four-field polo compound on what's now farmland near West Linn . Keys, a 34-year-old housing developer who owns 25 polo ponies, tells Murmurs the fields will be ready for matches in spring 2008. He wouldn't disclose how much money he's pouring into the venture.

Does TriMet have buses with different rules for whites and blacks? White TriMet passenger Sarah Lombardo believes it does, based on her experience last month riding the westbound No. 15 bus to Southeast Belmont Street. She says one of four black teenage boys on the bus "dropped the F-bomb," which prompted the driver to boom, "Excuse me, gentlemen in the back, this isn't the 4 or the 72. We don't use profanity on this bus." The No. 4 route includes North Portland and the No. 72 includes North Killingsworth Street, two areas with many blacks. TriMet spokeswoman Mary Fetsch says the transit agency got a complaint about the July 22 incident but could do little without corroborating information.

The custodians returning to work at Portland Public Schools will do so under the supervision of an entirely new three-person panel, although one incumbent did reapply for his post. The district's school board OK'd the three new appointments this week to the Custodian Civil Service Board, the panel whose previous members opposed the district when the district canned the custodians in 2002. Many of those custodians are now returning to their old jobs, thanks to a recent Oregon Supreme Court ruling. But Don Jeffery, who served as the custodian board's appointed secretary for about a decade, says the three new members face a hard road ahead because the district would prefer to "get rid of'' custodians' civil service protections. School Board member David Wynde says he's satisfied the new appointees will represent taxpayers, not the district or the custodians.