Downtown activist and City Hall regular Irwin Mandel has gone to DEFCON 1 in his feud with Mayor Tom Potter. Mandel, a Potter appointee to the Chief's Forum police advisory panel, this week announced his resignation from the forum. Mandel, the Forum's 79-year-old co-chair, is still smarting from Potter telling him at a City Council meeting this month to shut up ("As the Charter Turns," WW, Feb. 14, 2007). Says Mandel, a huge backer of Potter's 2004 mayoral run: "I am no longer willing to be his appointee...I want to be de-linked" from the mayor. Potter says he respects Mandel's decision, but declined further comment.

Revolving-door redux: WW reported this month that the state Department of Environmental Quality has given Waste Management permission to line a Hillsboro landfill with about 7,500 tons of glass originally picked up for recycling ("Dump Luck," WW, Feb. 7, 2007). Here's an interesting bit of background: Mark Reeves, the Waste Management engineer who sought and got permission for the novel use of recyclables, had two years earlier—as a DEQ engineer—let Waste Management use glass to make landfill roadbeds. Reeves didn't return Murmurs' calls or an email seeking comment. But his supervisor at Waste Management, Dan Wilson, confirms the waste-hauling company hired Reeves from DEQ in mid-2006. Some state agencies restrict employees from going to work with the companies the agencies regulate. DEQ does not.

What do hotrods, pinup calendar girls and an unsolved hit-and-run death have in common? In this case, "Miss June" in hotrod pinup calendars sold at last weekend's "Rod & Custom" car show at the Expo Center is Kaytee Daniel. The 21-year-old bank teller modeled a skimpy cowgirl outfit to raise awareness about her 23-year-old sister Kimberly Powell's unsolved hit-and-run death near Multnomah Falls last June. One-quarter of the proceeds from the $5 calendars, which feature a picture of Kimberly on the back with a blurb about her case, will be donated to the Justice for Kimberly Powell Fund.

Coffee-guzzling Portlanders in Southwest and Northwest were nearly denied their morning grande nonfat caramel macchiatos last Friday. At least five Starbucks coffeeshops had their locks glued shut in the early hours of the morning. Police got 10 separate reports of lock vandalism that same day, but not all the incidents were at Starbucks, and not all locks were jammed with glue. Disaster was narrowly avoided when all Starbucks locations were open and pulling shots by 7 am.

The Portland Public Schools Board of Education election May 15 will mark a minor historical moment. For the first time in three election cycles, all board incumbents up for re-election have chosen to run again. Doug Morgan, who represents Zone 1 covering Southwest Portland, became the fourth and final incumbent to enter the race when he filed his candidacy Tuesday. As of Tuesday, Morgan was the only candidate to have a known challenger—Ruth Adkins, a founding member of the Neighborhood Schools Alliance and a longtime activist from Southwest.

Meanwhile, here's an insta-update on Ron Chinn, the Multnomah Educational Service District board member who came under fire last month after calling special-education students "slabs" for being "slow, low and belows" (Winners and Losers, WW, Jan. 17, 2007). A woman on Chinn's voicemail message says Chinn is "very sick" and unable to return calls "for quite some time." One call Chinn is still ignoring is from his MESD colleagues, including the superintendent, one board member and other district staffers, who in January asked him to resign. Meantime, Chinn has not filed for re-election yet, though he does have until March 15 to do so.

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