This page contains a single entry from the blog posted on May 6, 2009 1:00 AM.
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Averting our eyes from the wreck (literal and figurative)
Unless he resigns or Kroger says something, we won't be writing about Mayor Creepy today. We need a break from that story. Tune in again tomorrow for the latest on our city's collective nervous breakdown. Today we'll look at some other subjects.
Comments (19)
Is it worse to drink alone than to not drink alone? (Who knew, and thus who gets a new job or a raise?)
Is it worse to be naturally impaired than occasionally impaired? (Are there actually instances of unimpairment? If water service would be cut off for failure to pay a street/bike "fee" that gets packaged as a "utility fee" that this is a "tax" on the delivery of water service, and folks that think otherwise are drunk on nonsense. Have you ever tried to argue with a drunk?)
The O reports that the Lavatory Love Machine is giving up driving for a month. Now if we can just convince him to give up the mayor's office for, oh, forever.
I was embarrassed by Adams before. Now, I'm beginning to feel embarrassed *for* him. He's accelerated his efforts to burn through gimmicks, pet projects and staged diversions, his voice getting higher, his hands shakier, his promises more frequent and earnest--and vapid.
Mayor of the largest city in the state takes his cues from the Mayor of a city that is a suburb of another city and is less than 1/4 our size.
Yes, Sam, walk and wait for your zip car reservation and ride your bike around town. That's just what we want someone managing a major metropolitan area.
He's accelerated his efforts to burn through gimmicks, pet projects and staged diversions, his voice getting higher, his hands shakier, his promises more frequent and earnest--and vapid.
Sh*t, I wish I'd said that - especially the "vapid" part.
That's the most concise one-word descriptor of hizz(dis)honor I've seen.
It's kinda like what happens as objects approach the event horizon of a singularity...
Adams' explanation about being confused about which way the car in front of him was turning is simply not believable. It is inconsistent with the lay of the land, and is only too consistent with his pattern to blaming others. "Sure I made a mistake, but somebody else created the situation."
And his claim that the sun was in his eyes is so meaningless that "lie" doesn't seem to fit; it explains no aspect of the collision and doesn't even support his own explanation of the primary cause.
Since the front car was in no way turning left and Adams was in no way attempting to pass on the right, it seems that the likeliest explanation is that he was distracted and didn't see that the car in front had slowed to turn. And when he saw that he was about to rapidly rear-end the car in front of him he tried to avoid a collision by turning to the right. And here his claim that he hit the gas rather than the brakes seems be an accurate account of what happened.
Car Toys employee Randy Schweitz, 22, told The Oregonian that after the crash he had gone to check on Reed. Schweitz said Adams got out of his truck, and walked up to him. "He asked if everybody was all right. I could smell alcohol. His zipper was undone and his (shorts) button was undone."
"Hey dude, your fly is down, and your pants are unbuttoned"
A mayor of a major city driving around
with his pants undone?
What was he doing?
Second police report
"I went over to check the guy in the white truck," Joslin said. "I said, 'Hey dude, your fly is down, and your pants are unbuttoned," Joslin recalled. "He said, 'Oh, thanks.' I said, 'Are you ok?' He was a little dazed.' "
Joslin said he smelled alcohol on Adams' breath, and said his eyes looked "a little glazed." He said Adams asked him if everybody was OK, then got in his truck, shut the door and got on his cell phone.
What is the big deal about Sam Adams not driving for a month? For years I saw Vera Katz rode the same #17 bus to City Hall and back. No one thought it was "sustainable", I never heard it mentioned once in the media. Of course our current mayor could not do that, he would not be caught dead exposed to the angry masses. His only exposure to the public is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYYczqJZjFg
Charamba, Douro 2008
Horse Heaven Hills, Cabernet 2010
Lorelle, Horse Heaven Hills Pinot Grigio 2011
Avignonesi, Montepulciano 2004
Lorelle, Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2011
Villa Antinori, Toscana 2007
Mercedes Eguren, Cabernet Sauvignon 2009
Lorelle, Columbia Valley Cabernet 2011
Purple Moon, Merlot 2011
Purple Moon, Chardonnnay 2011
Abacela, Vintner's Blend No. 12
Opula Red Blend 2010
Liberte, Pinot Noir 2010
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Indian Wells Red Blend 2010
Woodbridge, Chardonnay 2011
King Estate, Pinot Noir 2011
Famille Perrin, Cotes du Rhone Villages 2010
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14 Hands, Hot to Trot White Blend
Familia Bianchi, Malbec 2009
Terrapin Cellars, Pinot Gris 2011
Columbia Crest, Walter Clore Private Reserve 2009
Campo Viejo, Rioja, Termpranillo 2010
Ravenswood, Cabernet Sauvignon 2009
Quinta das Amoras, Vinho Tinto 2010
Waterbrook, Reserve Merlot 2009
Lorelle, Horse Heaven Hills, Pinot Grigio 2011
Tarantas, Rose
Chateau Lajarre, Bordeaux 2009
La Vielle Ferme, Rose 2011
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Nobilo Icon, Pinot Noir 2009
Lello, Douro Tinto 2009
Quinson Fils, Cotes de Provence Rose 2011
Anindor, Pinot Gris 2010
Buenas Ondas, Syrah Rose 2010
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Conundrum 2012
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Atalaya do Mar, Godello 2010
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14 Hands, Hot to Trot Red 2009
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Abacela, Vintner's Blend #11
Portuga, White 2010
La Bourgeoisie, Red 2009
Januik, Red 2009
Three Rivers, River's Red 2008
Kirkland, Alexander Valley Merlot 2008
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Quinta das Amoras, Vinho Tinto 2009
Mauro Molino, Barbera d'Alba 2009
Garda Chiaretto Rose
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Garda, Classico Chiaretto Rose
Beaulieu, Cabernet, Rutherford 1999
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La Granja 360, Syrah 2009
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Trader Joe's Coastal Syrah 2009
Columbia Crest, Horse Heaven Hills Merlot 2008
Trader Joe's Coastal Chardonnay 2009
Vieux Papes Red
Domaine de l'Aujardiere, Chardonnay 2009
Santa Rita, Cabernet, Medalla Real 2007
Penfold's, Koonunga Hill Shiraz Cabernet 2008
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Laforet, Burgogne Chardonnay 2009
Columbia Winery, Merlot 2007
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Elk Cove, Pinot Gris 2009
Maquis Lien 2006
Scott Paul, Pinot Noir, Le Paulee 2007
The Occasional Book
Neil Young - Waging Heavy Peace
Mark Bego - Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul (2012 ed.)
Jenny Lawson - Let's Pretend This Never Happened
J.D. Salinger - Franny and Zooey
Charles Dickens - A Christmas Carol
Timothy Egan - The Big Burn
Deborah Eisenberg - Transactions in a Foreign Currency
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. - Slaughterhouse Five
Kathryn Lance - Pandora's Genes
Cheryl Strayed - Wild
Fyodor Dostoyevsky - The Brothers Karamazov
Jack London - The House of Pride, and Other Tales of Hawaii
Jack Walker - The Extraordinary Rendition of Vincent Dellamaria
Colum McCann - Let the Great World Spin
Niccolò Machiavelli - The Prince
Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird
Emma McLaughlin & Nicola Kraus - The Nanny Diaries
Brian Selznick - The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Sharon Creech - Walk Two Moons
Keith Richards - Life
F. Sionil Jose - Dusk
Natalie Babbitt - Tuck Everlasting
Justin Halpern - S#*t My Dad Says
Mark Herrmann - The Curmudgeon's Guide to Practicing Law
Barry Glassner - The Gospel of Food
Phil Stanford - The Peyton-Allan Files
Jesse Katz - The Opposite Field
Evelyn Waugh - Brideshead Revisited
J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
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Donald Miller - A Million Miles in a Thousand Years
Mitch Albom - Have a Little Faith
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William Shakespeare - A Midsummer Night's Dream
Ivan Doig - Bucking the Sun
Penda Diakité - I Lost My Tooth in Africa
Grace Lin - The Year of the Rat
Oscar Hijuelos - Mr. Ives' Christmas
Madeline L'Engle - A Wrinkle in Time
Steven Hart - The Last Three Miles
David Sedaris - Me Talk Pretty One Day
Karen Armstrong - The Spiral Staircase
Charles Larson - The Portland Murders
Adrian Wojnarowski - The Miracle of St. Anthony
William H. Colby - Long Goodbye
Steven D. Stark - Meet the Beatles
Phil Stanford - Portland Confidential
Rick Moody - Garden State
Jonathan Schwartz - All in Good Time
David Sedaris - Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim
Anthony Holden - Big Deal
Robert J. Spitzer - The Spirit of Leadership
James McManus - Positively Fifth Street
Jeff Noon - Vurt
Road Work
Miles run year to date: 21
At this date last year: 52
Total run in 2012: 129
In 2011: 113
In 2010: 125
In 2009: 67
In 2008: 28
In 2007: 113
In 2006: 100
In 2005: 149
In 2004: 204
In 2003: 269
Comments (19)
Is it worse to drink alone than to not drink alone? (Who knew, and thus who gets a new job or a raise?)
Is it worse to be naturally impaired than occasionally impaired? (Are there actually instances of unimpairment? If water service would be cut off for failure to pay a street/bike "fee" that gets packaged as a "utility fee" that this is a "tax" on the delivery of water service, and folks that think otherwise are drunk on nonsense. Have you ever tried to argue with a drunk?)
Posted by pdxnag | May 6, 2009 7:08 AM
Overheard yesterday:
"Why did the Mayor crash his truck on Jantzen Beach? He was driving angry after he found out BJ's was only a pizza place."
Posted by Bob | May 6, 2009 7:32 AM
uuuuummmm you just wrote about him.
Posted by jkpete | May 6, 2009 9:22 AM
Yeah, it's like watching Hannity and Rush try to not talk about Clinton. They try so hard but it's just too tempting...
Posted by Gener | May 6, 2009 10:24 AM
The O reports that the Lavatory Love Machine is giving up driving for a month. Now if we can just convince him to give up the mayor's office for, oh, forever.
Posted by RJBob | May 6, 2009 10:58 AM
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/05/after_crash_adams_promises_to.html
I was embarrassed by Adams before. Now, I'm beginning to feel embarrassed *for* him. He's accelerated his efforts to burn through gimmicks, pet projects and staged diversions, his voice getting higher, his hands shakier, his promises more frequent and earnest--and vapid.
Posted by ecohuman | May 6, 2009 11:44 AM
Anybody who wants power had better learn to master any feelings of shame. Or, better yet, have none at all.
Posted by ep | May 6, 2009 12:40 PM
Mayor of the largest city in the state takes his cues from the Mayor of a city that is a suburb of another city and is less than 1/4 our size.
Yes, Sam, walk and wait for your zip car reservation and ride your bike around town. That's just what we want someone managing a major metropolitan area.
It's all about the optics with this guy.
Posted by john | May 6, 2009 1:20 PM
His zipper was down, his undershort button unbuttoned, his eyes glazed. You couldn't make this s**t up. Read the second police report released today.
Posted by m | May 6, 2009 1:35 PM
Awwww, geeeze...
http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2009/05/second_mayor_sam_adams_acciden.html
I really wanted to follow Jack's lead and take a break, but, c'mon...
Posted by PDX Native | May 6, 2009 1:46 PM
He's accelerated his efforts to burn through gimmicks, pet projects and staged diversions, his voice getting higher, his hands shakier, his promises more frequent and earnest--and vapid.
Sh*t, I wish I'd said that - especially the "vapid" part.
That's the most concise one-word descriptor of hizz(dis)honor I've seen.
It's kinda like what happens as objects approach the event horizon of a singularity...
...never mind.
Posted by cc | May 6, 2009 1:46 PM
There are so many better things to think about.
Adams' explanation about being confused about which way the car in front of him was turning is simply not believable. It is inconsistent with the lay of the land, and is only too consistent with his pattern to blaming others. "Sure I made a mistake, but somebody else created the situation."
And his claim that the sun was in his eyes is so meaningless that "lie" doesn't seem to fit; it explains no aspect of the collision and doesn't even support his own explanation of the primary cause.
Since the front car was in no way turning left and Adams was in no way attempting to pass on the right, it seems that the likeliest explanation is that he was distracted and didn't see that the car in front had slowed to turn. And when he saw that he was about to rapidly rear-end the car in front of him he tried to avoid a collision by turning to the right. And here his claim that he hit the gas rather than the brakes seems be an accurate account of what happened.
Posted by ep | May 6, 2009 4:55 PM
Car Toys employee Randy Schweitz, 22, told The Oregonian that after the crash he had gone to check on Reed. Schweitz said Adams got out of his truck, and walked up to him. "He asked if everybody was all right. I could smell alcohol. His zipper was undone and his (shorts) button was undone."
Posted by READDON | May 6, 2009 4:55 PM
And that would be an awkward time to admit to being distracted.
Posted by ep | May 6, 2009 5:19 PM
This reminds me of
"don't tase be bro"
"Hey dude, your fly is down, and your pants are unbuttoned"
A mayor of a major city driving around
with his pants undone?
What was he doing?
Second police report
"I went over to check the guy in the white truck," Joslin said. "I said, 'Hey dude, your fly is down, and your pants are unbuttoned," Joslin recalled. "He said, 'Oh, thanks.' I said, 'Are you ok?' He was a little dazed.' "
Joslin said he smelled alcohol on Adams' breath, and said his eyes looked "a little glazed." He said Adams asked him if everybody was OK, then got in his truck, shut the door and got on his cell phone.
Posted by Ben | May 6, 2009 5:48 PM
There's a statement in Sergeant Berry's Special Report (first report released) that I've been wondering about:
"No witness made any statement about there being a passenger in ADAMS'S vehicle."
Seems like a gratuitous observation. Just out of the blue?
Posted by A Hopeful | May 6, 2009 5:56 PM
What is the big deal about Sam Adams not driving for a month? For years I saw Vera Katz rode the same #17 bus to City Hall and back. No one thought it was "sustainable", I never heard it mentioned once in the media. Of course our current mayor could not do that, he would not be caught dead exposed to the angry masses. His only exposure to the public is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYYczqJZjFg
Posted by Brian Morisky | May 6, 2009 11:34 PM
Well, the story's on UPI. Is the New York Times next?
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/05/06/Mayor-denies-drinking-before-car-crash/UPI-56741241643791/
Posted by A Hopeful | May 6, 2009 11:54 PM
His zipper was down, his undershort button unbuttoned, his eyes glazed. You couldn't make this s**t up. Read the second police report released today.
Jay Leno will not be short of material once this story gets to his writers.
Posted by john | May 7, 2009 7:40 AM