Good people, working hard.

1 Comments

Tags:

Locked up at Southwest 10th Avenue and Yamhill Street.

* You may have seen it on Jay Leno or in the New York Post: the simple get-out-the-vote message "November 2," emblazoned across the chest of celebs such as actress Helen Hunt, R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe or young songstress Joss Stone. The T-shirt-borne campaign was created by the first class of students enrolled in WK 12, an ad school at Portland's big-deal agency Wieden & Kennedy. Also part of the campaign are TV spots with the phrase "We decide." The TV ads won top honors in a national get-out-the-vote competition hosted by MTV and Urbanworld, a nonprofit. They were aired on six national cable stations, at 21 film festivals, and on jumbo-sized screens at nine U.S. sports stadiums.

* Sources say when the corpse of well-regarded Portland lawyer Doug Swanson was found in the Mount Hood National Forest, he was bound by duct tape, having been asphyxiated using a plastic bag. This helps explain why law-enforcement officials consider his murder a kidnapping and robbery, one in which an attempt may have been made to coerce him into revealing financial information after he met up with alleged prostitute Lydia Way. The two alleged murderers, 22-year-old Way and 32-year-old Stuwart Lueb--a 1990 Cleveland High grad--are believed to be meth-addicted "tweakers," an ilk that gravitates toward organized identify-theft scam rings. So stay tuned: At press time, the reason many details were not being released was that authorities believe at least one other person was involved in the murder.

* Texas Pacific Group's reputation among large customers took another knock last week when the Portland Building Owners and Managers Association asked the Public Utility Commission to suspend the regulatory approval process for TPG's acquisition of PGE pending the outcomes of investigations by Attorney General Hardy Myers. Even if the state does not suspend the approval, the group wants the PUC to reserve the right to cancel the transaction when the investigations are completed.

* Meanwhile, over at the Portland Tribune, staff meetings may be strained these days. Last month, a female writer there filed a complaint with the state Bureau of Labor and Industries alleging that Editor Roger Anthony subjected her to a "sexually hostile work environment." The woman claimed that despite her protests, Anthony "followed me around the office inappropriately touching my hair, made sexually suggestive comments" and repeatedly asked her out for "after-hour drinks." She also said two other women, no longer at the paper, were upset by Anthony's behavior. Publisher Dwight Jaynes declined to comment on the matter.

* Readers who were riveted by WW reporter Zach Dundas' voyage into the world of transgendered hobbit impersonators ("Hobbits Gone Wrong," WW, July 14, 2004), take heart. Salem mom/author Jeanine Renne, who was taken big-time by a pair of scamming Middle Earth lovers, just released a book on the ordeal. The paperback expose is available for $14.95 from Renne's website, www.turondo.com. The title? When a Fan Hits the Shit.

10.31.2004 at 10:00 Reply

Story Forum Archive

Troubled SoCal religious network cancels live "Praise-a-thons"Associated PressLOS ANGELES - The world's largest Christian broadcasting network, whose founder reportedly sought to cover up a homosexual affair with a former employee, has dropped plans for its live telethon next week and instead will show 40 hours of telethon reruns.The twice-annual "Praise-a-thons bring in more than $90 million each in pledges for Trinity Broadcasting Network. They have been a core source of fundraising for the Orange County-based network since its creation more than three decades ago.Network officials said the decision was made earlier this month due to concerns about the health of network co-founder Paul Crouch, 70, and his wife Jan, 66, who are its most popular on-air personalities.But they also acknowledge the decision would take the pressure off of guest pastors concerned about the controversy.It was reported last month that Paul Crouch secretly paid a former employee $425,000 in 1998 to keep quiet about claims of a homosexual tryst. Crouch has denied the allegations."To take the live broadcasting off -- I can't imagine" that, said R. Marie Griffith, a scholar at Princeton University who studies evangelical Christians and the media. "It suggests a very strong sense of the chaos they are undergoing there."The cancellation also comes after newspaper articles detailed the Crouch's lavish lifestyle and the ministry's wealth, with its average annual surplus of $60 million.Paul Crouch Jr., a network executive and son of its founding couple, said his mother had been slow to recover from recent gallbladder surgery and was not up to the weeklong telethon.A "best of" format, with segments from past shows spliced together would allow for a faster-paced show, he said.But he added, "It seems that when TBN is persecuted, so goes the whole body of Christ," and that other ministries were concerned that "they are going to be next on the hit list."Paul Crouch reached the 1998 settlement after the former worker threatened to sue over claims he had been unjustly fired from the network.Crouch later won a closed-door ruling against the employee, Enoch Lonnie Ford, 41, after Ford tried to violate a provision of the settlement that barred him from discussing the alleged encounter. http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/10027119.htm—Guest

A Lovers' Guide to Tonight's Blazers/Wizards Game: An Almost Live Special Report

Valentine's Day in the Naked City: Couple Arrested After Sex Role-Playing in Grocery Parking Lot

Washington State Senate Approves CRC Tolls

Sam Adams is on Yelp

Good people, working hard.