TriMet driver has a meltdown, refuses to drive

What would you have done?

What do you think I should do now?

On Tuesday, February 5 (today), I caught Bus 57 from Forest Grove towards Beaverton Transit Center. I got on the bus at 1:44 p.m. I do not know the bus number.

During the ride, as we were traveling, the bus driver said, in a loud voice, "You need to turn the audio off on your device! Turn it off, not just down." The passengers, most of whom were near the back of the bus, including myself, stared at each other. I didn't hear anything and it looked like no one else did either. There weren't even people talking.

After a few minutes, and another stop, the driver made the comment again. Again, the passengers looked at each other. Some double checked their phones and other devices to make sure they were off - I know I did.

The driver then pulled over, I believe at SW Tualatin Valley Hwy & 209th E, Hillsboro (Stop ID 5637), and said, "We'll continue when whoever it is decides to turn off his audio device." He shut down the bus, got off, walked down the sidewalk and began vaping.

The passengers all stared at each other. I didn't want to sit there forever, so I got up and walked nearer the front of the bus, up near two guys who were closest to the driver. One was, indeed, playing a video game on his device and it was making noise. Because he was in the front of all other passengers, we couldn't hear the sounds his phone was making - hence why we had all looked at each other in confusion when the driver was getting mad. I realized the guy probably didn't speak English and asked, in Spanish, if he spoke English. He said no. So I told him, in very poor Spanish, that the driver did not like the noises from his phone and he needed to turn the sound off. He was deeply apologetic. Then I went to the front of the bus, got off, and told the driver that the guy making the noise didn't speak English, he didn't know he was causing problems, he had turned his phone off now. The driver did immediately stop vaping and get back on the bus, and we continued on the way.

I was going to let this go, however, by the time we go to the stop I needed to get to, to take the bus to Aloha Community Library, I could not cross the four lanes of traffic in time to catch the bus I needed - it pulled away without me. The next bus wouldn't come for 30 minutes so, to make my meeting, I had to call a Lyft and pay $5.

I think Trimet should reimburse me $5. I should not have had to handle this problem on behalf of the driver so we could continue on our way, PLUS, I'm out $5. And, yes, I wrote them and complained.

So, what do YOU think?

Missing Gray Max

Early on, when Gray Max came into my life, I started singing him my own version of My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean:

My Gray Max sails over the ocean.
My Gray Max sails over the sea.
My Gray Max sails over the ocean.
Oh bring back my Gray Max to me...

He loved to be held and petted while I sang that over and over. And I was happy to oblige.

Sometime between 10:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, October 30, my beloved Gray Max went missing. When I went outside to feed him that cold and wet afternoon and called and called and he didn't come, I knew he was gone. Because Max always comes when I call, and on a day like that, he wouldn't be far. Even if he was at my neighbors, on the porch, with his buddy, my neighbor's cat, Trouble - they liked to hang out - he always came when called.

The rain and cold continued as night fell, and my dread continued. I held out hope that he'd somehow show up that evening, but he didn't. When I got up Halloween morning, I went to the backdoor immediately - and he wasn't there, those glowing eyes looking through the back window, waiting for me to let him in.

It's been 37 days. I miss him so much it's unbearable at times. But I don't think my Gray Max is coming back.

So many of you already know the story: we moved into our home in January 2013 and sometime after that, sitting outside in our backyard, enjoying a fire in the firepit, Stefan said, "We have a visitor." There, a few feet from where we were sitting, was Gray Max, sitting still, listening to us. After some cajoling sweet talk from me, he came over for some petting. The next visit, probably the next night, I dared to pick him up, and after that, he was happy to jump on my lap.

I assumed he belonged to some neighbor nearby: he looked well fed, he was fixed and he loved being with people. But it turned out he was being taken care of by a crazy neighbor who fed and housed six other cats - she said he'd shown up one day and never left, but that he never seemed interested in hanging out with her, though he tolerated all the cats and her two dogs. He sure loved hanging out with me.

She called him "Max." I called him "Not my cat," because Stefan and I had an agreement when we got married: no cats. For the next 20 months or so, I kept saying he was "Not my cat," though I called him "Gray Max" - I just thought that suited him more. And very quickly after that I started calling him "Graaaaay", and when I did, he would come running to me. I didn't feed him, but he loved being with me. And since our dog at the time, Albi, was blind, she couldn't see him to chase him, so we would all hang out together - Gray Max tolerated most dogs.

Gray Max hung out with me in the yard always when I gardened. I violated the house rules and let him come in on my lap in the afternoons. When it got colder, I would close him up for the night in the guest room. When he got ripped open by a raccoon, I paid the bill to get him fixed up, but his "real" owner, the crazy neighbor, kept him housed up in her apartment for recovery. He wouldn't let her pick him up, and even bit her once when she tried - but he loved when I picked him up and kissed his face over and over.

Two days before we put Albi down, I gave her a bath - I didn't want her to smell like pee for her last days on Earth - and we lay in the yard outside together in the sun. Gray Max joined us.

After Albi died, I went for nine months without a dog. I haven't gone without a dog since I was 24 years old. Gray Max was my dog. He followed me all over the house and all over the yard - all before I ever started feeding him. At one point, a raccoon did some serious damage to him, and I laid out a few hundred dollars to get him sewn up. My crazy neighbor kept him inside during his recovery, much to his outrage and frustration. He healed up nicely - and it was just another reason for him to dislike her and like me more.

Then, in October 2014, my neighbor died. I had to find homes for her cats and her two dogs. But I knew I was going to take Gray Max. I couldn't bear the idea of someone else having him nor the idea of not having him in my life. He was a part of my home - and I spend a great deal of time in this house. I just couldn't imagine this home without him.

I got a discarded dog crate for airline travel and converted it into a cat house for the winter. Gray Max often preferred to be outside, even overnight, and he immediately loved the house. I asked Stefan to build cat ladders on both sides of our backyard fence, and he did. Then I asked him to build a platform for the cat crate, so Gray Max could be well off the ground, but his crate wouldn't take up any space on the porch and would still be under the roof, and he did.

Here's a blog I wrote months ago, but never got around to publishing:

The dog and cat dynamics of my house.

Inside in the morning, before meals: if the Gray Max the Cat comes in from outside, Lucinda the Dog does this sniffy, chewy thing on his head, and he loves it. He pushes his head up against her mouth for more.

If I lay down on the couch, Max sleeps on my belly. Lucy sleeps on her bed in the living room or comes over to the couch so I'll pet her. More head chewing if Max leans over.

If Stefan's radio alarm goes off, Lucy begins bouncing around the living room and making a noise like an excited Chewbacca. Max used to panic and hide behind the couch, but now he just stands there, waiting for me to come back and feed him.

Inside in the morning, after meals: if I'm in the floor, petting Lucinda, she will carefully maneuver so that she is in front of me, partially on my lap, so that she can see Max if he approaches and push him away with a paw. Max will circle us both, sometimes getting close enough to give my hand or Lucy a lick. If he licks Lucy in the same direction as her fur, he'll give her several licks. If he licks Lucy against her fur, he will jump back as though he's licked a needle.

Inside in the evenings, after meals: Gray Max lays on my lap as I sit on the couch. Lucy comes over and positions herself in front of me so as to say, "Pet my bum." Sometimes, Max puts his paw out and places it on her rump for a few seconds. No attempt at head chewing - in fact, Max meows great annoyance at her.

When both animals are outside: if Max has just gone outside, and Lucy rushes out or is already outside, she will tear after him and he will dash up the fence and away from her as quickly as possible. If Lucy is already outside and Max gets over the fence and onto the porch, he'll stand right at the door and she will stand out in the yard and bark - she won't come near him.

And sometimes, Max will walk across the living room and Lucy will try to play and Max will meow great annoyance while continuing to walk wherever he is going.

I have always wanted a dog and a cat.

Of course, I have also wanted a donkey, goats, and chickens. But I knew the farm animals were probably NOT going to happen for me - and now, unless we win the lottery and get to buy a ranch, it's not happening.

But I do I have a dog and a cat.

In the last several months, more and more, Max would stay indoors as day ended, laying on my lap most evenings, content while I watched TV. He snuck into the bedroom a few times, but I'd put him outside when I found him and he quickly got the message - no bedroom.

And Stefan didn't divorce me, though it frustrated him so, so much to have a cat in the house.  He barely tolerated it all because he knew how much I loved Gray Max.

When we adopted Lucinda, I was determined for her to at least tolerate Gray Max, and vice versa. Gray Max had lived in a home with two dogs with my neighbor, so I knew it was possible. I brought Max into the house with Lucy after we'd had her for a week and then just sat on the couch while Max howled at the back door and Lucy lay alert in the floor, staring at him. It took about two hours for the howling to stop and for Max to finally wander over to the couch and sit on my lap. But within just a couple of days, they were fine together in the house. It took about two years for Lucy to stop chasing Max in the backyard, however, and she still loved to just start barking her head off at him when they were both out there - he would just lay wherever he was and wait for me to come tell her to stop. They did sometimes sleep together - in the floor of the living room or out in the backyard. I loved finding them next to each other. I even found Gray Max in Lucinda's bed a few times - she really didn't know what to think about that.

In the last two years, I had to make sure Gray Max was in the house when I walked Lucy because, otherwise, he'd follow us. Stefan once realized he was with them four blocks away. Max was obsessed with following Lucy outside the house (but never inside). If he stayed out all night, then when I let him in in the mornings, he would happily tolerate Lucy's morning sniffs and nibbles all over his face. They were buddies, no question. And I loved it. I had wanted a dog and a cat, at the same time, since I was a little girl. It was a dream come true.

Gray Max was around 6 or 7 years old when he came into my life in 2013. Earlier this year, I took him to the vet for his annual shots and because he had so obviously lost weight - a few people had commented on it. The vet did tests and said he was absolutely fine but to switch him to wet food entirely. I did, and he gained weight and seemed absolutely his usual self. You could tell he was 11 or more years old - his sides were sunken in that old man way - but otherwise, he was fine: great appetite, still active, still liked to play a bit.

There were only two things that I wondered about: firstly, he suddenly decided he hated all dogs that dared to walk by our house, moving in to attack as they approached. I often had to pick him up and hold him as dogs passed. The other thing was that he started trying to sleep in my bed again. We started catching him again in the bedroom - always on my side, snuggled down, looking so content - it concerned me because it meant he preferred being in dark and quiet more than being on my lap, and I thought that might be a sign of... oh, I dunno... something... but I still don't think he slunk off and died. He wasn't sick. He was in fine form and spirits and appetite. I had been thinking of a way to make him an entirely indoor cat, but two things were stopping me: there was nowhere Stefan would tolerate a litter box, and Max loved being outside. He absolutely loved it. And since he never went far without Lucy, I thought we could go with this lifestyle for at least a couple of more years.

But Gray Max is gone now. The day after he disappeared, I walked along all the surrounding streets to make sure he wasn't on the side of one, hit by a car. I've posted flyers all over the neighborhood. I've posted online. I've registered with the local animal shelter's lost and found. But Gray Max has not been found.

My guess is that another animal got him - a raccoon or even a coyote. I just wish we could have found the body. And I hate the idea of him dying somewhere, alone, cold and in pain.

I miss Gray Max on my lap, or snuggled up against me on the couch. Or next to me in the yard. I miss his howl of demand to open the door to go out or come in. I miss his look of frustrated as Lucinda stood over him barking. I miss him beyond anything I can put into words. I think Lucinda misses him too.

Washington County Sheriff and District Attorney both oppose Measure 105 in Oregon

On Wednesday, August 08, 2018, Kevin Barton, Washington County District Attorney, and Pat Garrett, Washington County Sheriff, had their joint statement in opposition to Oregon Measure 105 published in various newspapers in the Portland, Oregon metro area. These newspapers require registration to read their statement online, and while registration is free, the registration step turns a lot of readers away. So below is the statement in full. One of the points the sheriff makes repeatedly, and rightly so, is that the current law (ORS 181A.820) provides no sanctuary to an undocumented immigrant who commits a crime in Oregon. 

As district attorney and sheriff, we are the elected law enforcement leaders in Washington County. One of our primary obligations is to ensure public safety. We believe every member of our community has the right to live, work and raise a family in safety and that an essential aspect of being safe is feeling safe and having access to justice.

Through our role as public safety leaders, we are aware of Ballot Measure 105 (formerly known as Initiative Petition 22). This measure seeks to repeal ORS 181A.820, a 31-year-old Oregon law that controls when local law enforcement agencies may use local resources to enforce federal immigration laws. We are compelled to speak because we believe this ballot measure may negatively impact public safety.

Oregon's Legislature passed ORS 181A.820 in 1987 to provide structure regarding how and when local police can be involved in enforcing federal immigration law. This longstanding law states local police cannot use resources to detect or apprehend persons whose only law violation is federal immigration law. Importantly, this law does not prohibit local police from using resources to detect, apprehend or even cooperate with immigration officials for people who have violated federal immigration law and committed a crime. In other words, the current law (ORS 181A.820) provides no sanctuary to an undocumented immigrant who commits a crime in Oregon. In fact, it specifically authorizes police to share information with federal immigration authorities.

ORS 181A.820 strikes the right balance. Under this law local police cannot enforce federal immigration laws but can cooperate and communicate with immigration authorities if an undocumented immigrant commits a crime. While there are certainly ways the current law could be improved or clarified, and there appears to be some misunderstanding regarding how this law works, repealing it altogether is not the answer.

A repeal of ORS 181A.820 would likely create a chilling effect in our community. Certain members of the immigrant population may be less likely to report crimes, to access justice services such as restraining orders, or to even appear in court and testify as witnesses. Immigrant communities and families may become greater targets for criminals because they may be less likely to come forward or appear in court to testify. These are not hypothetical concerns; we have already seen these issues occur. If ORS 181A.820 is repealed, we believe these problems may increase.

Additionally, a repeal of the current uniform law that allows all law enforcement throughout Oregon to communicate with immigration authorities regarding criminal defendants would likely result in a patchwork of inconsistent ordinances and rules from various cities and counties.

Our community is safer when citizens and non-citizens alike report crimes and testify in court so we can arrest and prosecute criminals. We believe that ORS 181A.820 strikes the right balance to keep our community safe and we oppose the effort to repeal it.

Kevin Barton, Washington County District Attorney, and Pat Garrett, Washington County Sheriff.

Lucinda's first hike! Gravelle Brothers Trail, Tillamook State Forest, Oregon

 

Oh how we have been wanting to hike with our pup, Lucy - I asked about it when we took her in for her first veterinarian visit back in January. But our vet that we shouldn't take her on any big, day-long hikes yet because, as she's a puppy, she's still developing her muscles, and a really long, hard hike could permanently damage her muscles and joints. He suggested we wait until she was at least a year old.

Since then, I've built her up to walking three miles a day, AT LEAST, broken up into two walks, in our very flat neighborhood. Now at 11 months old, and having walked more than four miles in a day a few times, we decided she could go on a half-day hike of up to eight really easy, flat miles, with lots of breaks, or a on more challenging hike with hills of about five miles.

The quest for a nearby long, scenic hike began. We had been trying some hikes out before we got Lucy, per various web searches, and were getting frustrated to find that they were not-at-all scenic. It's so great that the greater Portland Metro area is building all these hike and bike trails in urban areas - I wish everyone was - but as I don't live along these trails, I drive there and I'm disappointed to find that we're hiking under power lines behind neighborhoods - not much scenic at all. It's great if your house is right on the trail, but it's nothing worth driving to. I downloaded the guide to "Great Dog Walking Parks in Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation District", but I couldn't tell how long any of the trails were. One, on Jenkins Estate, says the area is more than 60 acres, but every web search turned up just one trail, less than two miles long.

At OregonHikers.org, Stefan found the Gravelle Brothers Trail to University Falls in Tillamook State Forest, a less-than-30 minute drive from our house. It's 2.4 miles one way to the falls, making it 4.8 back and forth, and with the walk to and from the Roger's Camp parking lot, it's over 5 miles total. So that's what we decided to take - not the entire loop, but just to the falls and back out the same way. The Gravelle Brothers Trail is named for the Gravelle twins, Elroy and Edmund, who helped develop and maintain the Tillamook State Forest trail system.

We stopped at Bi-Mart first to pick up a Northwest Forest Pass. The woman staffing the guns and ammo counter couldn't handle the guys oh-so-slowly looking over every bullet option and me. Once she finally got to me, she said there were only two-year passes and day passes available - yet I could see the stack of annual passes in the drawer. Then she couldn't find the price for the day passes. It was 10 minutes of utter nonsense.

We were further delayed behind a large combine on Gales Creek Road that took up almost BOTH lanes of the road - I was terrified a motorcyclist would come around a curve and smash into one of the two giant wheels well over the center lane.

It turns out the Gravelle Brothers Trail head next to Highway 6 is very hard to find. We parked and then walked around the parking lot, amid way-too-many ATVs and dirt bikes for comfort, and were getting very frustrated at not being able to find it - and wondering if it would even be worth it, with all the noise from the riders everywhere. Even the Washington County Sheriff's Deputy that we stopped had no idea where it was - but he very nicely called someone and found out. Here's the scoop on how to find the start of the trail: after you park in the Roger's Camp parking lot, walk back down the road all the way to Hwy 6, and as you face the highway, turn and look to the left, even a little behind you - you should see a little brown sign down next to the highway barriers that ring the parking lot of the state of Oregon site right there next to the road - that is the start of Gravelle Brothers Trail to University Falls. Once you get close to the sign, you will be able to see that it is, indeed, the right trail. It starts off looking very ugly, but gets much better quickly.

The hike turned out to be perfect: a well-maintained trail, mostly dry. The flora was gorgeous this time of year: everything lush and green, lots of clover and moss and flowers that I cannot name. I loved the views from high above down onto streams below. There are some mud pits and streams we had to hop over or ford, and the rocks in the stream crossings could be quite slippery - and it can feel a bit scary when you're very high up on the side of a steep hill, trying to cross a stream on slippery rocks. There are hills, and at a few points, the trail is quite steep. You will go up and down a lot, but if I can get my fat ass up and down it, anyone can. It was shade almost the entire way, which is what we prefer on hikes. The entire day, we met about 10 mountain bikes, all of them going uphill, and only about four groups of hikers - we were stunned at how few people we met and how alone we were most of the time on such a gorgeous Saturday.

Being the dumbass that I am, I forgot my hiking sticks. I really do need them, especially for steep hikes, up or down. Luckily, some kind soul left a self-made walking stick at a point near the start of the trail where it could easily be seen. It was hugely helpful for the hike, especially for those tricky creek crossings. I left it at the trail head after we came back - hope someone else got to use it.

You think you are going to hear ATVs and dirt bikes the entire time hiking - you aren't. We didn't hear them most of the time, despite there being oh so many on their own OHV trails all around.

The footbridge over the river is very narrow and not for anyone absolutely terrified of heights. I am quite scared of heights, but can usually swallow my fear to do something I really want to - I took the ski lift one summer in Lillehammer, Norway, and though I was terrified the entire time and shivered all the way up, I was willing to do it to see the view up top, and that was oh-so-worth it. The footbridge here is so much skinnier and higher above the water than it looks in our photos. Stefan had to walk Lucy over because I was too scared - if she panics, I'll panic, and we'll both end up falling off the bridge and breaking our legs. So oh-so-calm Stefan led her over both times.

We got to University Falls at the perfect time - the seven people there were finishing up their visit and leaving. We ate lunch there by ourselves for several minutes, and when a group of people showed up, it was time for us to leave. The falls can get quite crowded, since there is a parking lot above the falls and most visitors drive there, but our timing was perfect and we avoided the crowds.

On our way back out on the trail, unfortunately, someone started shooting at a nearby quarry. The sound of gunshots so close by was terrifying. Lucy did well - she was curious, but never panicked. We met one group of hikers that had turned around and was going back to the trail head, scared of where the guns were and where the bullets were going. After about 30 minutes, the shooters let off a large explosion, and I had an immediate, split-second PTSD moment, thinking, "I've got to call security" and then realizing I wasn't in Afghanistan. I was much more annoyed than traumatized, but because of the shooting, I'd have to advise anyone who has served in a combat zone, in the military or as an aid worker, who has issues with the sounds of gunshots and explosions, to think twice before doing the Gravelle Brothers Trail.

Lucy stayed on the trail almost the entire time, and well out front of Stefan on her leash - it was only when we left University Falls that she suddenly wanted off the trail to smell things under bushes, but that only lasted for about 20 minutes, tops. Lucinda's favorite parts of the hike were meeting other dogs! She was scared of all people we met on the trail UNLESS they had a dog - then they were just dandy. At the end of the hike, as we were about to get in the car to leave, two horses came by. We think this was Lucy's first time seeing horses. She was spellbound - but didn't bark. She's the first of my four dogs not to have a meltdown over horses. As they passed, I said, "See, Lucy, see those HUGE dogs?!" And Stefan said, "Yeah, Lucy, some day, you will grow up and be that big, and then we'll ride YOU!" And Lucy chose that exact moment to give Stefan a scared look, and we laughed and laughed...

Some people did have their dogs off leash on the trail, but their dogs were right next to them, and I think that's okay - but you should not have a dog far out ahead of you, on leash or not, as they could get hit by a bicyclist, and that would be a tragedy for everyone.

The Tillamook State Forest is a 364,000 acres (1,470 km2) publicly owned forest in the U.S. state of Oregon. Managed by the Oregon Department of Forestry, it is located 40 miles (64 km) west of Portland in the Northern Oregon Coast Range, and spans Washington, Tillamook, Yamhill, and Clatsop counties. We intend to see a LOT more of it in the coming years!