Many happy returns.

[October 19th, 2005] WINNERS

Laid-off school custodians did a jig last week when the Oregon Supreme Court ruled the Portland School Board should not have replaced them in 2002 with non-union contractors. Still undetermined: whether the custodians get their jobs back—as well as up to $50 million in back pay.

Farm and forest conservationists celebrated after a Marion County judge ruled voter-approved Measure 37 unconstitutional. But beware to those nursing celebratory hangovers about 37's death: Property-rights advocates will no doubt be plotting their next pro-development attack.

Mayor Tom Potter's plan to end druggin', hookin' and crookin' in the South Park Blocks and elsewhere downtown raised cheers from jittery suburbanites and downtowners . From the perception-is-reality department, the plan comes despite a drop in downtown crime numbers.

Oregon sports fans bored by their current choices got two calendar treats. Big-time track returns to Eugene's Hayward Field in 2008, with "Tracktown'' landing the U.S. Olympic trials for track and field. And big-time boxing comes Nov. 19 to Portland's Rose Garden when light welterweight champ Floyd Mayweather Jr. tops a fight card.

LOSERS

No shrooming? The U.S. Forest Service's decision to react to a seemingly unrelated California court decision by no longer issuing permits for wild-mushroom harvesters deals a blow to Oregon's multimillion-dollar mushroom industry. All that as the chanterelle-hunting season gets into full swing.

Nature junkies hung their heads after state regulators put the kibosh on a speedy transfer of Ross Island from Robert Pamplin Jr.'s gravel company to the City of Portland. The handover was supposed to happen last year. But the state Department of Environmental Quality wants to monitor the island's dirt for the next five to 10 years, which raises concerns about who's liable if problems arise before the transfer takes place.

State Rep. Kelley Wirth (D-Corvallis) became the unwitting poster child for meth when she was charged last week with possession of the drug. Wirth, who announced her resignation on Friday, raised eyebrows last session when she was the only House member to vote against a crackdown on meth-related crimes.