The six pillars of Murmurs.

[January 17th, 2007] Reprising a classic scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Vancouver Fire officials are investigating their "thoroughness" during a Dec. 3 medical call. Why? Because the patient wasn't quite as dead as firefighters thought. The Clark County medical examiner's office confirmed an employee went to pick up a body and discovered it was alive. One firefighter/paramedic who responded to the undisclosed westside address has been put on paid leave, Fire Chief Don Bivins says. Bivins could release few details before press time (such as whether the patient is still with us). Stay tuned to wweek.com for updates.

While waiting (and waiting) for Commissioner Sam Adams to announce the winners of the "Name the Tram Cars" contest , the TriMet rumor mill is churning out the comedy. Buzz has it that employees are referring to the cars as Tess and Tickle.

Bad enough that Rep. Mitch Greenlick (D-Portland), hospitalized for knee surgery, paid $500 for an ambulance to take him to the Legislature's Jan. 8 opening. Greenlick hoped to vote for House speaker, then return to a Portland hospital. But as ouroregon.org first reported, House minority leader Wayne Scott (R-Canby) thwarted the 71-year-old Greenlick's request to leave by refusing to withhold one of his party's votes that afternoon on an ethics package . The result: Greenlick spent more than four hours in an ill-fitting wheelchair, waiting to vote. But the unkindest cut came the following day when a Salem hotel owned by Scott reneged on a handicap-access room Greenlick had been discussing with the hotel for several days. "It's hard not to draw the conclusion that the owner had something to do with it," Greenlick told Murmurs. Scott's spokesman didn't return a call seeking comment.

PacifiCorp, the utility most upset with a 2005 state law compelling utilities to collect from ratepayers only those income taxes that the companies actually pay, is circulating a second draft version of a bill that ratepayer advocates say would gut the truth-in-taxes law. State Sens. Vicki Walker (D-Eugene) and Rick Metsger (D-Welches) are both skeptical of PacifiCorp's new bill. They'd like to see how the existing law works for a couple of years before making any changes. Dan Meek, the watchdog utility lawyer who wrote much of the law, is more blunt: "The PacifiCorp draft bill would spoil the law," he says.

National kudos to a local editor: The current issue of The Utne Reader, honoring the country's best magazines, singles out New Mobility for "Best Lifestyle Coverage." The magazine serving disabled readers is published in Pennsylvania but edited locally by Tim Gilmer, a 61-year-old paraplegic who also runs a 10-acre organic farm near Portland from his wheelchair. Gilmer, who has edited the magazine since 2000, told Utne he is the enemy of "the inspirational cripple story," and tells Murmurs he was "very pleasantly surprised. No, that's too mild. I was just really happy because we work hard to be on the cutting edge."

CORRECTIONS: Last week in its "Street of Dreams" story about Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, WW incorrectly reported the timing of a breakfast meeting between Mayor Tom Potter and former state Rep. Jo Ann Bowman at Hannah Bea's. The pair actually dined the day after Potter won the mayoral election in 2004.

Also, last week's Murmurs incorrectly said Attorney General Hardy Myers can't run again because of term limits. In fact, there are no such limits for the AG.

WW regrets the errors.