Tag Archives: Oregon

Oregon Community Rallies to Renovate Elderly Couple’s Home after Teens’ Taunts

Last month, two teenagers taunted a 75-year-old man over the condition of his house.

“Look at this crappy house, they just need to burn it down,” one of the teens said among the degrading comments thrown at the home of Leonard Bullock.

Bullock was sitting on the porch of his home at the time and heard every word.

So did Josh Cyganik, a worker for Union Pacific Railroad who starts his workday across the street from Bullock’s home.

“I saw him put his head down and it was clear he was upset,” Cyganik told Today.com. “I thought about saying something to the boys, but sometimes anger is better left unsaid and I took a different course of action that ended up paying off more so than if I yelled at them.”

Cyganik spoke to a local hardware store, Tum-A-Lum Lumber, who agreed to donate the paint necessary to make the renovations to Bullock’s home.  The good samaritan then went on Facebook to ask his friends to help him during a workday on July 18th to make a difference in Bullock’s life.

It ended up much more than just a new coat of paint.

A family brought Bullock a new set of patio furniture so he could sit outside his home in comfort.  Starbucks brought six gallons of water and iced tea for the workers.

And then a lumber company showed up unannounced, unloaded new lumber and built Bullock a brand new porch.

“The house is real nice now,” Bullock told ABC News. “It makes me feel good to look at it, especially after what [the teenagers] said.”

“They’re great people. You never know about someone unless you get to know their struggles,” Cyganik told the Union Pacific blog. “Yeah, it was a random act of kindness, but to me it’s more about respect. I was raised to respect the people who came before you, to help others out who don’t have much. Leonard can now sit on his front porch for the rest of his years while feeling good about his home.”

Quakes Shake Oregon, Alaska, Utah

The Fourth of July weekend had more than fireworks shaking things up in Utah, Oregon and Alaska.

Oregon residents started their day out in an unusual way when a 4.2 magnitude quake struck around 8:42 a.m. Saturday.  The quake was centered about 12 miles east of Eugene.

Officials from the Lane County Sheriff’s office and the Oregon Department of Transportation reported no damage being reported.  Residents say that the quake caused some shaking of homes, pictures to fall off walls and wood piles to shift.

In Utah, a 4.0 magnitude quake struck around 10 a.m., 1 mile south of Panguitch or 200 miles south of Salt Lake City.

Panguitch Fire Chief Dave Dodds told the Deseret News the quake lasted between three and four seconds but caused no major damage.

Alaska was the most shaken up with weekend quakes.

The U.S. Geological Survey reported Alaska was shaken by two quakes within one minute.

The first, a 4.9 magnitude quake, struck around 4:49 p.m. about 24 miles southwest of Talkeetna.  The second quake a minute later in the same area was reported at magnitude 5.1.

Also, the Arctic community of Kaktovik in the Arctic Ocean reported a quake around 11:26 a.m. that measured 4.6 according to the USGS.

Volcano Monitors Proposed For Mount Hood

It may be “sleeping”, but scientists say the volcano within Mount Hood in Oregon is a giant that’s just waiting to wake up.

Scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey want to place four volcano monitoring stations on the mountain.  The stations would be unmanned, take only 105 square feet of space and be painted in a way to blend in with the surrounding environment.

“Seismic, GPS and volcanic gas data collected from the stations would be used as the basis for public communications and early warnings, to ensure the safety of adjacent communities as well as recreationists using the Wilderness and Forest,” Mt. Hood National Forest said in a statement.

Mount Hood was placed on a list of very high threat volcanoes on the 2005 National Volcanic Early Warning Systems list.

The volcano is considered active although it has not erupted.  There are frequent earthquakes and it releases steam and volcanic gases near the summit.

Church Revitalizes Gang-Infested School

An inner city Portland, Oregon school that at one time was scheduled to be closed because of gang violence and under performing students is now thriving after a partnership with a local church.

“Roosevelt High School was well known as the most under-resourced and failing school in the state. It had become a metaphor for failure, with a capital ‘F,”‘ Pastor Kip Jacob of SouthLake Church in West Linn told The Christian Post.

The school was once part of a thriving community until the late 1980s when members of the Bloods and Crips gangs moved north from Los Angeles in an attempt to extend their criminal enterprise.   The church’s facilities and grounds crumbled and it became almost impossible for students to focus on their education with the rising crime level.

Then in 2008, SouthLake Church partnered with Roosevelt to turn around the culture of the area.

“When the opportunity for that first work day came, people rallied and communicated to the kids that they are really worth it,” Pastor Jacob told CP. “That is one of the things that has been so exciting for us to see is that it has led to a renaissance of the school and the community.”

The church provides the school with clothes, hygiene products and even food for the students when they need it.  The church members also work with each academic department to see what specific needs they have for their students.

“The clean-up day went so well, the school told us that it was about a $250,000 benefit to the school. That was their evaluation. They just kept inviting us in. The needs were so great,” Jacob said. “We just filled gaps and met needs and they kept inviting us in to do that to the point where they invited us to have a staff person with an office in the school to help coordinate volunteers.”

As a result of the church’s efforts, private businesses have now joined to help the school.

“I think what happened is the church was able to be a catalyst for others to come in, businesses to come in,” Jacob said. “Nike came on board once they saw the momentum and said, ‘We can build a [turf] football field,’ and they did. Then another business came in and built a track, the best track in the Portland area. It just really rallied the community around the common good of the kids.”

“Milky Rain” Across Pacific Northwest

Scientists across the Pacific Northwest are investigating a rain that left a residue on cars in two states.

The “milky rain” fell on both Oregon and Washington states, leaving a powdery resident on vehicles and buildings.  Samples have been collected by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the Benton Clean Air Agency in an attempt to discover what was in the rain.

So far the scientists have competing theories.  One is that a volcanic eruption in Japan has resulted in volcanic ash mixing with clouds to create the rain.  The other is that dust from central Oregon somehow mixed with a storm.

The National Weather Service has taken a mostly impartial view, stating dust storms were the likely cause but it could not rule out volcanic ash.  The NWS says they do not have the equipment necessary to analyze the rain and discover its origin.

Robin Priddy of Benton Clean Air says that air monitoring stations detected nothing during the rain but that they don’t feel it poses a health risk.

“We don’t have any reason to think there’s anything wrong, but there’s no reason not to be cautious if you’re concerned,” she added. “You may want to wash it off your car with water, rather than with your hands, and avoid touching it and breathing it in.”

Assisted Suicide Movement Gaining Momentum

Assisted suicide advocates are claiming a new wave of momentum following the highly publicized suicide of a 29-year-old Oregon woman with brain cancer.

A national campaign to allow doctors to assist people in killing themselves was launched Wednesday in California with the introduction of the “California End of Life Option Act” that is modeled after the 1994 Oregon law approving physician-assisted suicide.

A dozen other states will have similar measures introduced this legislative season.

The media stardom of Brittany Maynard is being used as a tool for the pro-death advocates.  However, they don’t highlight the fact Maynard’s story did not go viral on its own.  A group called Compassion and Choices, funded by major Democratic party donor George Soros, was pushing the story behind the scenes to major news outlets.

“It’s an organized campaign funded by Soros money, and they’re using the Maynard case as their launching pad,” said Wesley J. Smith, senior fellow at the Discovery Institute and a euthanasia opponent.

“Let’s think about this for a second: There have been over 700 assisted suicides in Oregon, and not one of them got this kind of attention. What you have is a movement that looks around for just the right kind of emotional kick,” Mr. Smith said. “You don’t get this kind of international, high-profile media by accident.”

The group reportedly arranged for Maynard’s profile in People Magazine.

Court Rules “Secular Humanism” A Religion

A judge in Oregon says that “secular humanism” can be considered a religion and be afforded all the protections under the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

This means that atheism is essentially a religion according to the government.

Judge Ancer Haggerty, a Clinton-appointed judge, ruled in favor of an atheist inmate who had sued after prison officials denied him the chance to form a study group on humanism.  The Federal Bureau of Prisons said that atheism and secular humanism were not religions under prison classifications.

“The court finds that Secular Humanism is a religion for Establishment Clause purposes,” Judge Haggerty wrote in his ruling last Thursday. “Allowing followers of other faiths to join religious group meetings while denying Holden the same privilege is discrimination on the basis of religion.”

The anti-Christian organization American Humanist Association had co-filed the case with the prisoner because they want to be given special treatment for their non-religious belief system.

Church Youth Director Banned From School Because of Atheist Youth

An atheist student has taken steps to have a church’s youth director banned from her school because she was offended he was talking about Jesus with students at her lunch table at Salem, Oregon’s Straub Middle School.

The student claims she has no issues with Christianity and that the church director made nasty comments to her, but witnesses say that Shelby Conway is not telling the truth.

The director, Tim Saffeels, says that he only sat at the table of Conway because a member of his church’s ministry.  He said that some of the other kids at the table brought up the issue of Christianity and that he did not insult or berate anyone at the table.

Saffeels has been visiting schools for three years until the campaign by Shelby Conway to have him banned.

“I didn’t say at all any of the comments concerning atheists are evil, that their opinions are illogical,” Saffeels said. “In no way, at that moment, did there seem to be any issue concerning a confrontation or anything like that. The first time that I saw that there was an issue was when I received a call from the principal.”

He said that he doesn’t go into the schools to preach but rather to build relationships with the students who are already part of their ministry.

Christian Cancer Patient Write Pro-Life Plea

A Christian woman who is dying of cancer is writing a pro-life plea to counter the massive amount of publicity being given to the woman in Oregon who announced the day of her death by suicide.

Brittany Maynard has been gaining attention on major news networks because she plans to kill herself rather than live through the final stages of brain cancer.  Many right-to-die media outlets have been airing her story, calling for assisted suicide to be allowed across the nation.

However Kara Tippetts, a Christian woman who is dying from cancer, is challenging Maynard’s claims and calling on her to realize the value of her life even if she has a terminal disease.

“Brittany, I love you, and I’m sorry you are dying. I am sorry that we are both being asked to walk a road that feels simply impossible to walk,” Tippetts wrote. “[But] in your choosing your own death, you are robbing those that love you with the such tenderness, the opportunity of meeting you in your last moments and extending you love in your last breaths. … That last kiss, that last warm touch, that last breath, matters—but it was never intended for us to decide when that last breath is breathed.”

Tippetts pleads with Maynard not to take an overdose of drugs on November 1st.

“Knowing Jesus, knowing that He understands my hard goodbye, He walks with me in my dying,” she explains. “My heart longs for you to know Him in your dying. Because in His dying, He protected my living. My living beyond this place.”

Portland Area Teacher Loses Job For Standing Up To Planned Parenthood

A former Portland-area teacher who stood up to Planned Parenthood is filing a lawsuit after the school punished him and refused to renew his contract.

Bill Diss, an 11-year math and computer science teacher at Benson High School in Portland, Oregon, has been an outspoken critic of Planned Parenthood and their abortion services.  In March 2014, police removed him because he refused to allow the abortionists in his classroom.

The abortionists were going through the school bribing students to sign up for a program by promising gifts and cash.

In 2012, he had refused to allow the group into the classroom.  The principal and vice principal then came into the room and temporarily removed him from the room.  The next day, the school forced him to sit on instruction from Planned Parenthood.  The school also used his name on documents sent home with students promoting Planned Parenthood without his permission.

“Because he expressed his opposition to the activities of Planned Parenthood at Benson High School, [Diss] became a target,” the legal challenge reads. “They launched a full-scale assault on the plaintiff as a teacher. He was observed and evaluated on the most minute aspects of his teaching.”

“As the attention mounted, the plaintiff was summoned for questioning by Benson High School administrators,” the lawsuit states. “He was interrogated about his activities by the principal and by an attorney for the district. The activities in question occurred on his own time, not at school, nonetheless he was specifically instructed not to mention the fact that he was a teacher or where he worked when making public statements.”

The school denies they persecuted this teacher because he would not support the abortionist group.