Watch Out When We Dip Into The Eggnog.

[December 28th, 2005] Multnomah County Sheriff Bernie Giusto has insisted for months that his relationship with Lee Jeddeloh is purely platonic. But Giusto spent this past holiday weekend with Jeddeloh's family in Virginia. Why should we care whose parents the sheriff is buttering up? This spring, Giusto staged a dramatic, taxpayer-funded intervention for Jeddeloh's husband, Jim. The head of the influential Citizens Crime Commission, Jim Jeddeloh ended up in the Betty Ford Center and got slapped with a restraining order after allegedly terrorizing Lee. Giusto claimed he would give the same special attention to any citizen in need. Despite their separate holiday plans, Lee and Jim Jeddeloh are still married.

Those who think Portland's benefits system for disabled cops and firefighters is far too cozy have a fresh case study to ponder. This fall, a police officer who sits on the system's board —and thus votes on whether fellow boys in blue should get disability cash—filed a claim of his own . On Nov. 1, Officer Leo Painton lost his post as second-in-command of the police union. Union officers don't actually do any police work, so Painton ordinarily would have returned to active duty. Eight days later, Painton went on leave, claiming new problems from an old back injury . He abstained from the vote on his own case, but his claim was approved. After collecting a couple of months' salary, Painton returns to work Jan. 3, in the Police Bureau unit that takes citizens' reports over the phone.

"Judi Johansen will resign, " blared the Oregonian headline last week about PacifiCorp's departing CEO. A surprise in Portland, perhaps, but not for utility insiders in Utah or Idaho. PacifiCorp's reputation in Utah never recovered from a disastrous 2003 snowstorm . It has waged a protracted lawsuit with Monsanto, whose Idaho phosphorous plant is the utility's biggest customer. Word from those states is customers there told MidAmerican Holdings, which is acquiring PacifiCorp, that Johansen had to go; the fact that the utility is paying her severance strongly suggests she did not resign .

Is the Chalkboard Project about to actually do something? Oregon's biggest foundations launched the group nearly two years ago "to do what it takes to inspire Oregonians to make our K-12 schools among the nation's best." So far, that's meant Internet surveys arriving at the shocking conclusion that parents should be more involved in schools. But before the effort sinks into the graveyard of well-intentioned failures, Chalkboard, which defines itself as "not your usual policy wonks or usual political suspects," is enlisting two of the state's most effective "political suspects." Democratic strategist Liz Kaufman and Republican operative Dan Lavey are aboard. The move hints at a major political effort.

In love-is-real-so-we're-going-to-appeal news, 10 same-sex couples and two pastors are taking the next step in challenging the voter-approved Measure 36 banning same-sex marriage in Oregon. Mark Johnson, an attorney representing the group, filed an appeal last week of the Nov. 30 decision by Marion County Circuit Judge Joseph Guimond that upheld the ban. One of the optimistic plaintiffs, Juan Martinez (partner of WW's Queer Window columnist, Byron Beck) says, "The goal here is to keep the discussion of gay marriage going."

Last chance, folks, to share a little holiday love (that's money, please) with the community, animal welfare, health and youth nonprofits in WW's Give! Guide. Deadline for donations is Dec. 31 (total collected so far is $49,840). Prizes for everybody. Bigger prizes for big donors. For more on what you can win and who benefits from your largesse, go to www.wweek.com/giveguide.

^WEB-ONLY MURMURS!

A bar that claims to be Portland's oldest African American-owned tavern will stay that way—technically. Joe Benjamin, owner of the building at 1801 Northeast Alberta St., has signed a five-year lease of Joe's Place to John and Michelle Crockett. A full liquor license for the new bar, "La La Land," has been approved, but not issued pending OLCC inspection and paperwork. John Crockett, a 43-year-old white Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard homeowner, hopes to re-open in February. "It's gonna go to somebody,'' Crockett says of the bar. "Why not me?"

Can't breathe in Portland? Maybe you're black. Murmurs ran across an Associated Press report that found blacks across the country are 79 percent more likely than whites to live in neighborhoods with the worst industrial pollution. Using an unscientific method of typing different addresses into the Web database turns up the fact that air pollution around Jefferson High, the city high school with the highest percentage of black students, was 75 times the national average. Around Lincoln High, Portland's whitest high school, it was only 38.5 times the average. North Portland's Chief Joseph Elementary was the worst school WW found: 369 times the average. All three of these schools (and WW's downtown offices) were in the top 5 percent nationally for potential health hazards from air pollution. To check your own neighborhood, go to http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/external/onlinenews.ap.org/pollution/test_searchy.html.