Mr. Polehn writes

 Earlier last month Oregon Secretary of State Dennis Richardson announced his plans for a constructional amendment to place the task of redistricting into the hands of an independent commission.  Currently Oregon is one of the many states in which redistricting is handled by the legislature themselves.  Democrats in the state were quick to reject the plan as a Republican power grab, an attempt to gerrymander the state.    In 2011 something that hadn't happened for several decades occurred in Oregon.  The legislature was able to pass a redistricting plan without challenge from the Supreme Court or the Governor.  This is especially surprising because the House of Representatives at the time was evenly split between Democrats and Republicans.  The redistricting bill passed with a wide margin.  You could say that the redistricting plan of 2011 was bipartisan, but were districts still gerrymandered? Gerrymandering in Oregon? ...

Running goals Since setting some running goals  for the year I've increased my weekly distance by about 10 km more or less meeting my target distance for each week.  I've also done better than I expected at improving my pace so far.  I participated in the Cherry Festival 10k run where I had a new personal record time for a 10k (57:46 according to strava ).   However, this last week I've started to feel sluggish and worn out every run.  I've been running three times a week since I started adding distance.  One of those runs for the last several weeks has been a 10k.  Last weeks pace was the first time since I started that I did not make my pace goal  I felt pretty miserable all week.  I think it's time to run four times a week at shorter distances and not have a weekly 10k until it's a necessity to reach 40k per week goal.  I'm only about half way through my goal of building up to that distance per week and I don't want ...

The Dalles Cherry Festival is coming up (Saturday April 22nd this year).  Despite the cheesiness and the crowds, this is actually one of my favorite "local holidays."  The 10k run is one of my new favorite traditions.  The run has been around longer than I have and goes right through where I grew up.  It's about time I started to "enjoy" it. """April 22nd – 3k and 5k are out and back, with a nice uphill at the start. The 10k does a LOOP, with rolling uphill the first half, then enjoy the nice 9+ miles of downhill to the finish.  Paved, scenic, orchard country roads. Awards to the top 3 in each age division, all runs. Great random prize drawings! Proceeds will benefit TDHS Cross Country Teams. Registration forms available at The Dalles Chamber office.""" If you're following along at home and can convert customary to metric in your head a run with 9+ miles of downhill is a comically long 10k.  Despite the obvious typo this is...

  Two months ago now I declared my candidacy for election to Northern Wasco County Parks and Recreation District Board of Directors Position Number Five.  A mouth full of a title.  I really enjoy our local parks and have no major qualms with the parks district or the current board.  They have done a fine job maintaining and improving existing parks and programs.  So there's question you are probably asking and I am required to ask myself.  Why am I running? Democracy requires contest   What is the point of an election with only one candidate?  Without contested races there is almost no need for real public discourse unless some controversy springs up.  This is all too common for local elections in Wasco County.  Uncontested races are akin to a business handing a job to the first and only applicant.  This wouldn't work in the private sector and it shouldn't work for public offices.   Surely the citi...

  Recently I came to the conclusion that I should write more often.  That is, I believe, I should start to consider myself a "writer."  That's the main reason there's been a bit of an increase in publishing to this blog (going from zero over the past few years to a couple times a month is a pretty huge jump).     I, like most humans, have thoughts and opinions which are a product of the times and places in which I live.  I figure I can do my part for future historians and write a few of them down.  I also just might have enough creative juice to pump out a story or two. This blog   I'd like to post to this blog at least once a week from now on, or at a minimum once a month.  Really, anything at all would be better than what I've been doing.  I'll mainly write about my life, family, interests, and opinions about, current events and local and state politics (I'll try to steer clear of national issues for my own sanity).  Pretty...

  I was recently subjected to some kind of a sick experiment, in which all my free time was completely taken away, my rights to privacy relinquished.  I survived at the mercy of an oligarchical panel of tiny despots.  Yes, I was a stay at home parent.   It isn't as easy as I thought. I don’t know about other homeschooling parents but I have a very picturesque view of how things should go.  Children gathered around listening intently to unabridged classic literature. My six year old asking thoughtful questions about historical figures and the times and places in which they lived. With the utmost patience and joy my kids sounding out words of poetry, naturally learning phonetic rules in beautiful rhythm.  We'd have nature walks every afternoon with plenty of time for music and art.   By now you can probably tell, I don’t do most of the schooling in my house.  Turns out my fantastic idea of how homeschooling should be was jus...

  Now that it's possible to step outside without fear of slipping, falling and cracking my head open on some ice it's time to put back on the running shoes and go enjoy the sun (or rain as the case may be) again.   Distance   There was a time last summer when I could run 30k in a week.  It felt great to be able to run 10k every other day without feeling 100% miserable the entire time.  After a break lasting several months I am nowhere near having that kind of a base.  My plan is to start things off with a goal of 15k per week moving up 10% every week until I get to 40k a week.  I can't really see myself being able to run more than that.  A t some point this summer I'll be adding regular biking and swimming into the mix.   I should probably leave time for family, work and sleep somewhere in my schedule... Pace   I'm pretty slow.  I've never really gotten much better.  Even when I was in decent running shape I was h...