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WINNERS
1. Fed-up, outraged and frustrated US West customers--pretty
much all of us--found a champion last week in Oregon Public
Utility Commission Chairman Ron Eachus, who scolded the
phone company for claiming that a bill passed last session
allowed it to lower customer-service standards.
2. Stalwarts of the Oregon Reform Party will get
face-to-face with their main man Pat Buchanan as he joins
seven (yes, seven) other Reform Party presidential candidates
for a debate in Portland this Friday. Alas, the Donald,
who has not formally declared candidacy, declined an invitation
to attend. No word yet on plans for a Pat Buchanan action
figure.
3. Despite Congress' meddling with assisted suicide, Oregon
physicians came out winners last week when the Oregon
Health Division said it would not let pesky feds, namely
the DEA, poke into suicide records to enforce a federal
bill designed to suffocate assisted suicide by clamping
down on prescriptions of deadly drugs.
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LOSERS
1. He may not have been the city's most successful entrepreneur,
but Macheezmo Mouse founder Tiger Warren had more flair
than a Saturn rocket. His tragic death deprives Portland's
business community of one of its most colorful stars.
2. Can you spell "conflict of interest"? Last week the
Portland Oregon Sports Authority urged the city to
save its foundering deal with Portland Family Entertainment
to take over Civic Stadium. Among the bigwigs listed on
POSA's masthead are PFE officials Marshall Glickman and
Mark Gardiner and the city's chief negotiator on the Civic
deal, lawyer Steve Janik.
3. Discouraging news for local proponents of Buy Nothing
Day: Portland-area retail sales on the day after Thanksgiving
jumped 4.5 percent over last year's. Maybe all the BND activists
were too busy not buying stuff in Seattle.
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