A team of agents from the DEA and WIN got together just before the weekend to take about a pound of meth and one suspected dealer off the streets.  The bust happened in Cornelius and cops suspect drugs sales were pretty routine at the house on Dogwood street.

Besides the hefty load of meth, 3 grand in cash and .380 caliber handgun, officers also took Francisco Hernandez-Heras home with them.  Hernandez-Heras was spotted nearby and they believe he’s the guy who made and sold the drugs.  

Besides the cops, Hernandez-Heras is also talking with Immigration . . . they put a hold on him because it looks like he may be an illegal immigrant.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

In the wee morning hours of Wednesday, MCSO Deputy Mike Lee spotted two cars, zipping through a red light and onto I-84 with speedometers twittering above the 100 MPH mark near Multnomah Village.  Deputy Lee gave chase only to find both cars a short time later, parked in the middle of 207th.

In a moment worthy of Laurel and Hardy or Abbot and Costello, David Paxton hopped out of the Honda Accord he was driving (which was stolen, by the way) and tried to hop into the (stolen) Honda Prelude driven by Patrick Briceno.  Problem was, the door was locked.  So Paxton runs around to the driver’s side, opens the door and tries to shove Briceno over.

Apparently, Briceno must hate riding shotgun more than being caught by police, because he wouldn’t budge.  The two got into a shoving match, while Deputy Lee watched in amusement.

After the slap fight had dragged on for a few minutes, Paxton gave up and took off on foot.  He lasted about 5 minutes before a Gresham K 9 sniffed him out.  Briceno decided that was a good time to scoot and led the deputy on a short chase before crashing into a Duplex near 223^rd and Stark (no one inside was hurt).

As both men were being booked for auto theft and eluding police and destruction of a porch, cops found another charge to tag the dynamic duo with:  Identity Theft.  One of the vehicles had over a dozen stolen credit and social security cards, plus a loaded handgun.

All of the victims have been notified.  Deputy Lee’s only injury appears to be a bruised shoulder after falling down on the pavement, laughing at the two criminal masterminds.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

For every grown up who says kids today have no manners, check out this in The Columbian.  Apparently a class of third graders are getting a crash-course in behaving themselves at the dinner table.  Now if only they could teach classes in turning down that darn rap music and pulling up your pants, we’d be in business.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

You can hop onboard WES (Westside Express Service . . . the new commuter train run by Tri-Met that goes from Wilsonville to the Beaverton Transit Center . . . think MAX line to Gresham but on the westside) in just two weeks.

The new rail line opens its doors to the public on February 2nd.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Forget warning people about testing their smoke alarms every six months.  Forget offering to give out free smoke alarms if people come down to the local fire station.  The Canby Fire District took things to a whole new level this week.

Firefighters went door-to-door in a high risk neighborhood (lots of older homes and elderly residents) for two days, checking existing alarms to make sure they worked and installing new alarms wherever they were needed.  More than 100 new alarms to be precise, all donated by the State Fire Marshall.

The service was spearheaded by firefighter Bob Bunnell who recently took a class in how to install and test the alarms correctly.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

A handful of Oregon Schools are getting props from US News and World Report.

Corbett HS brought home a Gold Medal and Lake Oswego High, Arts and Communication School in Beaverton, School of Science and Technology in beaverton, Lincoln and West Linn HS ALL earned Silver medal status in the magazine’s recent “Best High Schools” list.  Riverdale HS snagged a Bronze (Still no comment from Archie or Jughead, although Betty and Veronica seem super-pleased).  The medals are given out based on a variety of academic criteria.

Overall, Oregon ranks 22nd in the nation.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

IBM has a better-than-expected outlook for 2009 which put investors in a buying mood this morning (Our guess is that it’s kind of like when you took the trash out without being asked as a kid, mom and dad were more willing to hand over a fin so you could catch the matinee with your buddies).

The Dow rebounded 112 points early after a bit of a drop Tuesday.  Overall, the indexes were up over a full percent.  Not to be outdone, LM Ericsson (which makes wireless gadgets) also reported better-than-expected numbers for the end of Q4 (which is kind of like when your brother saw you were about to be rewarded for taking out the trash so he jumped in to volunteer and sweep the porch).

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

It’s a rare skin disease that left Jeremy Lees a prisoner in his own home  Xeroderma Pigmentosum (which we will call XP) means Lees’ skin can’t protect itself from UV rays (found in everything from light bulbs to natural light).  Day to day life has left Lees with countless skin cancers , the first appearing in his early teens.

While Lees sticks to long sleeves and high SPF coverage whenever he leaves the house, inside his home he was forced to avoid any open window.  That is, until some neighbors decided to give him a gift.

Clear Innovations Oregon donated and installed some special protective film made by 3 M  after they were tipped off to the situation but the XP Family Support Group.  The new layer on every window in Lees home guards against 99% of the harmful rays.  You can read more in this story from the Valley Times.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

According to The Columbian, a man in Washougal is designing a thrille park that will rival Oaks Park, Thrillville and amateur night at PIR.

Derek Hoyte is constructing a massive ZIP LINE park on his 83-acres east of Washougal.  It’ll offer 300ft high rides over trees and past massive water falls.

The only question at hand is what permits he’ll need to get to proceed.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Oregon is getting just shy of $20 million from the Federal Government to help areas hit hardest by recent foreclosures.  

The state’s Neighborhood Stabilization Plan is getting the cash from HUD.  It’ll allow people and companies to buy and rehab properties that were recently foreclosed.  

In theory, the infusion of money will help kill any ripple effect from the recent economic downturn.  One of the criteria is that people getting the cash cannot earn more than 120% of the media income of their neighborhood which insures the funds are getting to the people who really need it.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites