John Kitzhaber

A Kazakh fruit trader represented by Portland lawyer Tom Johnson ("Distant Justice," WW, Aug. 9, 2006) may lose the right to challenge his four-year detention by U.S. authorities at GuantÁnamo Bay, Cuba. Ihlkham Battayev is in danger of getting his case thrown out of federal court in Washington, D.C., because the recently enacted Military Commissions Act contradicts a 2004 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court establishing that so-called enemy combatants could challenge the constitutionality of their detention. Johnson says the law is "Congress' latest attempt to make things difficult" for his client and the 440 or so other "enemy combatants" held without charges at GuantÁnamo because of their alleged association with terrorists.

As the city's condo market slows, some sellers are getting tough. Late last month, Ticor Title filed suit in Multnomah County Circuit Court against two buyers of condos in the Meriwether at South Waterfront. Ticor claims the pair failed to close on their units and now wants the courts to sort out who gets a total of about $50,000 in earnest money Ticor is holding—the would-be buyers or the project's developers. Veteran real-estate agents—including one of those getting sued by Ticor, Jason Watkins—say the move is highly unusual. "The developers could just sell the unit I was going to buy at a profit," says Watkins. "Instead they're going to court, where all they'll get is bad publicity." Ticor and Gerding Edlen, the Meriwether's developer, didn't return Murmurs' calls.

Former Gov. John Kitzhaber may not be on the ballot, but he's still pitching his pet cause—on the sides of Starbucks cups. The ex-ER doc and draftsman of the Oregon Health Plan plugs his vision for health care in "The Way I See It," a collection of inspirational quotes printed on the coffee chain's paper cups. On Cup No. 161, Kitz says: "One of America's most cherished political illusions is that we all receive the same healthcare regardless of income. Another is that we don't ration healthcare. The reality is very different. A change is needed and we have the power to bring it about." The ex-guv's cup has been in circulation for the past year, joining those of soul songstress Leela James, National Review editor Jonah Goldberg, and other brainy types.

The executive director for Oregon's American Civil Liberties Union chapter is siding with the national board against critics who say it has deviated from the organization's core principle of free speech. Oregon's David Fidanque was among 18 state affiliate directors to sign on to a letter of support at VoicesfortheACLU.org, a website that popped up last week in support of ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero and board president Nadine Strossen. That site responds to SavetheACLU.org, which launched last month to criticize the national leadership for "serious breaches of duty or principle." Fidanque and defenders of current leadership strongly reject those charges, with Fidanque also telling Murmurs that since 9/11, ACLU membership has doubled nationally and tripled in Oregon.

Some local numbers to chew on in the immigration debate: A new study projects money sent home in 2006 by documented and undocumented Latin American adult immigrants in Oregon will rise 75 percent since the last time such a cash-flow analysis was done, in 2004. The $383 million predicted from Oregon in the national study released last week by the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington, D.C., would equal the annual salaries of 51,000 Mexicans earning that country's average annual per-capita income. Fernando SÁnchez Ugarte, Mexican consul general in Portland, also notes that it's enough to buy between 8,000 and 15,000 houses in Mexico.

WEB-ONLY MURMUR:

Golf advocates in Portland are alarmed about a proposed change scheduled for a City Council vote Wednesday, Oct. 25. The change deals with a longtime 50-cent surcharge per nine holes at the five golf courses maintained by Portland Parks and Rec. Money from that surcharge has gone toward two recreation staff positions and a youth trust fund that subsidizes after-school programs. But an outside consultant suggested temporarily redirecting the youth surcharge and funneling the $175,000 it generates annually into maintaining the golf courses. The city's golf manager, John Zoller, says that won't affect the youth fund or recreation staff because money for those services "can" come from other Parks trust funds. But Golf Advisory Committee member Lee Hill worries that "can" raises too many questions.