What could suspended Police Chief Derrick Foxworth, city Commissioner Sam Adams and Everclear frontman Art Alexakis possibly have in common?

[May 31st, 2006] What could suspended Police Chief Derrick Foxworth, city Commissioner Sam Adams and Everclear frontman Art Alexakis possibly have in common? They're among dozens of prominent locals who recently contributed accounts of their lives when they were 15 to the Multnomah County Department of Community Justice's project encouraging adult mentors for teens. We learn in the essays that Foxworth (now under investigation for sexual harassment) apparently did little more than work and study as a teen, that Adams says a couple of key mentors kept him going when he moved out of his heavy-drinking dad's home, and that Alexakis traces his juvenile delinquency back to his arrest for burglary at age 12. For more youthful sins of big-name Portlanders, go to www.whenyouwere15.org .

Murmurs hears heavy buzz outta the Multnomah County Building about the "Mean Girls" wanting to offer retiring finance director Dave Boyer (Rogue of the Week, WW, March 29, 2006) a severance package of 18 months. The Mean Girls, a.k.a. Commissioners Serena Cruz Walsh, Lisa Naito and Maria Rojo de Steffey, aren't commenting, but Commissioner Lonnie Roberts' office confirms that those rumors are floating around. Boyer resigned in March, saying Chair Diane Linn asked him to misrepresent information to the public. But Boyer later withdrew his resignation, seeking a 12-month, $140,000 severance package, which would be unusual for someone leaving of his own accord.

Meantime, in other county news of the weird , Assistant Multnomah County Attorney Chris Crean is negotiating the terms of his departure after he made a seemingly innocuous statement quoted May 19 in The Oregonian, according to a source close to the case. Crean, who has worked for the county since 2003, was quoted in a Measure 37 story as saying he thought it logical that landowners and the county tended to disagree over the changing urban growth boundary. "Political officials are merely a reflection of the population," he told the paper. "In Multnomah County, they tend to be liberal. " County Attorney Agnes Sowle declined to answer questions about who found the quote so offensive and why. Crean also wouldn't comment but has retained an attorney and appears ready to fight for his job.

Paul Van Orden is getting national love after receiving about 10 percent of the vote as a Multnomah County sheriff write-in candidate May 16. Van Orden landed an in-studio radio interview Sunday night with rapper Chuck D (above left) on the legendary Public Enemy MC's show on Air America. The invite came after Van Orden struck up a conversation with an Air America staffer at LaGuardia Airport (Van Orden was in New York City to visit family and friends). Van Orden, whose day job is enforcing noise ordinances for the City of Portland, says Chuck D was impressed with his underdog effort to unseat Sheriff Bernie Giusto. And Van Orden tells Murmurs that the rapper "had a lot of good things to say about the beautiful outdoors" in the Northwest.

CORRECTIONS

In last week's Murmurs, we incorrectly reported the year when Lon Mabon is aiming to put two initiatives on the ballot, and the significance of June 8 in those efforts. The initiatives are proposed for 2008, and June 8 is the deadline for comment to the state Elections Division on those proposals. WW regrets the errors.

^WEB-ONLY MURMURS:

The Oregon Natural Resources Council is raising the alarm over logging slated to begin this summer in two of Oregon's protected roadless areas in the Siskiyou National Forest. Enviros say if the logging proceeds, it would be the first time a formerly protected roadless area was commercially logged following a Bush administration overhaul of conservation rules last year. And that concerns them because it would set a national precedent for roadless areas to be logged, mined or drilled.

Forget the importance of everything you just read on page 11 about biodiesel. The alt-energy flavor of the month got its real seal of approval last year when Lars Larson, Portland's leading radio rant-jockey for the conservative Hummer set, began pimping ads for the money-saving virtues of biodiesel Jeeps. Want one more sign that gas prices are seriously outta whack? Asked recently by Murmurs if he's a supporter of the alternative fuel now expanding beyond hemp-clad VW owners, Larson says he's unsure the overall energy costs work out, but "if people want to use it, that's great, and hey, sometimes it smells like French toast."