Oregon homegrown talent wasn't strong enough to out-pageant a very recent California transplant, Rachel L. Berry, in the Miss Oregon scholarship competition, which wrapped up last night. Before being Miss Orange County last year, Berry was Miss City of Orange 2010. She apparently didn't step down from her Southern Cal pageant winner gig until this past December, and then it was wham-bam-Miss Oregon.
Born in Indiana, she attended college in Orange County and worked as a TV reporter and production assistant there and in Los Angeles well into 2011. There's not much evidence on line of her setting foot in Oregon until a few months ago, after two unsuccessful trips to the Miss California show. She was Tweeting from sunny Cali into December.
This isn't the first time something like this has happened. Given the crazies impassioned people out there in the pageant "family" whom we met the last time we got into this issue, maybe we should leave it at that. But we can't help noting that the rules say that an entrant must be a "legal resident of Oregon at least 6 months prior to local pageant competition." They go on to state:
RESIDENCY - resided in the local pageant franchise area for a minimum of six (6) months prior to entering a local preliminary pageant. Proof will be a Oregon driver's license, auto registration, current lease, student ID card or any other official document establishing residency.
As best we can tell, the Miss Willamette Valley competition, which Berry won, was held the weekend of April 21, 2012. Six months before that would be October 21, 2011. The new Miss Oregon wasn't living and working in southern California past that date, was she? Let's hope not.
Wonder where she voted in November. Where she paid resident taxes for 2011. Hey -- maybe Charlie Hales can help us figure this out.
UPDATE, 7/19, 1:02 p.m.: We did some digging, and the results of our investigation were posted here. A couple of hours later, it was announced that Berry was relinquishing her Miss Oregon crown over the residency question.
Comments (28)
If we can't trust the wholesome sanctity of beauty pageants, what can we trust?
One bad sign about her residency: her talent in the Talent Competition was packing.
but but but...she looks SO happy and surprised in that photo.
Let's face it the beauty competition in CA is much! more than in poor ole' Or-ree-gon. 2nd or 3rd tier there, 1st in line here.
Someone cue Bert Parks...
Well, if she was looking for someplace to blatantly break the rules (or law), have it reported right on the front page, and yet still not face a single consequence, she definitely moved to the right state.
Face it - residency is only an issue for us slobs that work, pay taxes, etc.
Those who are too important for such little guy details can do what they want, when they want, where they want. Witness the swift political expediency to award an air tranpsort slot from DCA to PDX...but God forbid we can make sure people can safely and efficiently travel two miles from one's home in the Portland metro area to a good grocery store. Wyden's travel convenience is far more important than Joe Schmoe's ability to go to the bank. Hales' Streetcars are more important than one's bus on a Saturday afternoon. Miss Orange County, Oregon...maybe she can work as an actor on Leverage during the day; a parade performer at Disneyland at night. And probably have a "primary residence" in Vancouver so she can evade both sales and income tax.
Kinda like the Prince of Wales. Residency really doesn't matter. What *should* matter is six months ago she couldn't find the Willamette Valley on a map, let alone pronounce it. Now she's the fairest of the state. What does that say about the homegrown talent?
"Berry was asked onstage if she thought that Oregon should legalize marijuana.........but personally was drug free, because she did not believe that putting a foreign substance into her body was a good thing".
Foreign substance? She has a lot to learn about Oregon
I regret my implication that Miss Orange County/Oregon is anything less than a genius. For all I know she has to wear a special tiara to keep her brain in check.
Maybe she was forced into the pageant business, after NASA ended the Shuttle program, and laid off some rocket scientists.
The point is I don't know.
It's just that we're less than a month since a contestant in the Miss USA pageant was asked for an example of a movie that depicts women in a positive and accurate light.
I am certainly concerned.. please do some investigation on residency..this may well be a terrible moment in Oregon competitors for this title..
leaving others afraid to ever compete in Oregons titles....
Too many are questioning this decision to let her
compete.I find it concerning at even a possibility that oregon would let a non- citizen win this crown.
I know this young woman personally. I know she did not "blatantly break the rules". Oregon should be proud to have such a beautiful, talented, lovely, generous person representing their state! I feel we do live in fluid society and maybe state residency should not be the one kink in this young woman's plans to fulfill her dream. I can't believe there is some JACK-hole that has nothing better to do than troll Twitter to bust a pageant contestant! But more than that, I am appalled at the lack of humanity and kindness by the comments on this page. It's not OK to make fun of blacks or gays, but it's OK to completely de-humanize a pageant contestant and ASSume she is an idiot! You people need to put down your game controllers, step away from you cyber life and check yourselves. Horrible!!
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
Columbia Crest, Les Chevaux Red 2010
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
Benvolio, Pinot Grigio 2011
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
Les Fiefs d'Anglars, Malbec 2009
14 Hands, Pinot Gris 2011
Conundrum 2012
Condes de Albarei, Albariño 2011
Columbia Crest, Walter Clore Private Reserve 2007
Penelope Sanchez, Garnacha Syrah 2010
Canoe Ridge, Merlot 2007
Atalaya do Mar, Godello 2010
Vega Montan, Mencia
Benvolio, Pinot Grigio
Nobilo Icon, Pinot Noir, Marlborough 2009
Portuga, Rose 2011
Revelation, Chardonnay, Pays d'Oc 2010
Beaulieu, Cabernet, Rutherford 2005
Monte Alto, Tinto Reserva 2005
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Cabernet, Indian Wells 2009
Espiral, Vinho Rose
Vin-Koru, Pinot Gris 2011
14 Hands, Hot to Trot Red 2009
Rodney Strong, Cabernet, Sonoma 2009
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
Muga, Rioja Rose 2010
Quinta das Amoras, Vinho Tinto 2009
Mauro Molino, Barbera d'Alba 2009
Garda Chiaretto Rose
Columbia Crest, Two Vines Vineyard 10 White
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Pinot Gris, Columbia Valley 2009
L'Hortus, Rose de Saignee 2010
Maculan, Pino & Toi 2008
McKinley Springs, Bombing Range Red 2008
Trader Joe's Pinot Gris 2009
Montes Alpha, Cabernet 2007
Gran Sasso, Sangiovese, Terre di Chieti 2009
Garda, Classico Chiaretto Rose
Beaulieu, Cabernet, Rutherford 1999
Picos del Montgo, Tempranillo 2008
Chateau de Montmirail, Vacqueyras 2008
La Granja 360, Syrah 2009
Montgras, Carmenere Reserva 2009
Lange, Pinot Gris 2009
Columbia Crest, Horse Heaven Hills Cabernet 2008
Kirkland, Pinot Grigio 2010
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
Guild, Red, Lot #02 2008
Dievole, Dievolino Sangiovese 2008
Laforet, Burgogne Chardonnay 2009
Columbia Winery, Merlot 2007
Bonterra, Cabernet 2008
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
David Sedaris - Holidays on Ice
Donald Miller - A Million Miles in a Thousand Years
Mitch Albom - Have a Little Faith
C.S. Lewis - The Magician's Nephew
F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby
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 (28)
If we can't trust the wholesome sanctity of beauty pageants, what can we trust?
One bad sign about her residency: her talent in the Talent Competition was packing.
Posted by Bill McDonald | July 1, 2012 8:16 AM
What does an Oregon Beauty Pageant winner from California have in common with a talking urinal cake?
Bill, can you finish this?
Posted by gibby | July 1, 2012 8:20 AM
Sure I could finish it, Gibby. But I don't want to spend the rest of the weekend apologizing.
Posted by Bill McDonald | July 1, 2012 8:26 AM
Write the joke, Bill. I'll spend the weekend apologizing.
Posted by Anon | July 1, 2012 10:03 AM
The mobile society. Does residency matter? How about citizenship? Maybe we should just have an internet address and forget the rest.
Posted by Don | July 1, 2012 11:36 AM
Quite a scoop, Jack.
Maybe we can finally get a serious investigation of election law violations from our Secretary of State.
Posted by Mister Tee | July 1, 2012 11:47 AM
but but but...she looks SO happy and surprised in that photo.
Let's face it the beauty competition in CA is much! more than in poor ole' Or-ree-gon. 2nd or 3rd tier there, 1st in line here.
Someone cue Bert Parks...
Posted by portland native | July 1, 2012 12:12 PM
"But I don't want to spend the rest of the weekend apologizing".
That'll do for my Sunday chuckle.
Posted by gibby | July 1, 2012 12:22 PM
Rachel Berry for mayor. If Charlie can anyone can!
Posted by Steve | July 1, 2012 12:47 PM
Well, if she was looking for someplace to blatantly break the rules (or law), have it reported right on the front page, and yet still not face a single consequence, she definitely moved to the right state.
Posted by Snards | July 1, 2012 12:56 PM
Maybe she's been "occupying" a bank held home for the past few months to meet the residency ruless
Posted by NEPguy | July 1, 2012 1:32 PM
Now contrast the level of insights here with this comment on an Oregonian story today:
"meatroom, is it just me, or do you have your head up your a**?"
Followed by someone else saying, "It's just you."
Posted by Bill McDonald | July 1, 2012 3:40 PM
Face it - residency is only an issue for us slobs that work, pay taxes, etc.
Those who are too important for such little guy details can do what they want, when they want, where they want. Witness the swift political expediency to award an air tranpsort slot from DCA to PDX...but God forbid we can make sure people can safely and efficiently travel two miles from one's home in the Portland metro area to a good grocery store. Wyden's travel convenience is far more important than Joe Schmoe's ability to go to the bank. Hales' Streetcars are more important than one's bus on a Saturday afternoon. Miss Orange County, Oregon...maybe she can work as an actor on Leverage during the day; a parade performer at Disneyland at night. And probably have a "primary residence" in Vancouver so she can evade both sales and income tax.
Posted by Erik H. | July 1, 2012 7:45 PM
Rachel Berry? Isn't she a character on "Glee"?
Posted by Dutch | July 1, 2012 8:59 PM
Same name.
Posted by Jack Bog | July 1, 2012 9:19 PM
Kinda like the Prince of Wales. Residency really doesn't matter. What *should* matter is six months ago she couldn't find the Willamette Valley on a map, let alone pronounce it. Now she's the fairest of the state. What does that say about the homegrown talent?
Posted by Bean | July 1, 2012 10:41 PM
In a Tweet just a week or two ago, she confessed that she got lost driving to the Portland Airport and wound up "in Washington."
Posted by Jack Bog | July 1, 2012 11:39 PM
But that was great because she always wanted to see Our Nation's Capital.
Posted by Bill McDonald | July 1, 2012 11:53 PM
She even stopped to take a picture of the Red Lion Vancouver at the Quay because she thought it was the Pentagon.
Posted by Bill McDonald | July 2, 2012 12:01 AM
Turns out she lives in Aloha now.
Posted by Jack Bog | July 2, 2012 1:23 AM
"Berry was asked onstage if she thought that Oregon should legalize marijuana.........but personally was drug free, because she did not believe that putting a foreign substance into her body was a good thing".
Foreign substance? She has a lot to learn about Oregon
Posted by Gibby | July 2, 2012 6:24 AM
I regret my implication that Miss Orange County/Oregon is anything less than a genius. For all I know she has to wear a special tiara to keep her brain in check.
Maybe she was forced into the pageant business, after NASA ended the Shuttle program, and laid off some rocket scientists.
The point is I don't know.
It's just that we're less than a month since a contestant in the Miss USA pageant was asked for an example of a movie that depicts women in a positive and accurate light.
She picked the hooker in "Pretty Woman".
Posted by Bill McDonald | July 2, 2012 6:38 AM
"....because she did not believe that putting a foreign substance into her body was a good thing".
I volunteer to check her for breast implants.
Posted by Larry Legend | July 2, 2012 10:52 AM
Is that Aloha...like, Hawaii?
Posted by Erik H. | July 2, 2012 2:29 PM
I am certainly concerned.. please do some investigation on residency..this may well be a terrible moment in Oregon competitors for this title..
leaving others afraid to ever compete in Oregons titles....
Too many are questioning this decision to let her
compete.I find it concerning at even a possibility that oregon would let a non- citizen win this crown.
Posted by GINGER RAIA | July 3, 2012 2:57 PM
I know this young woman personally. I know she did not "blatantly break the rules". Oregon should be proud to have such a beautiful, talented, lovely, generous person representing their state! I feel we do live in fluid society and maybe state residency should not be the one kink in this young woman's plans to fulfill her dream. I can't believe there is some JACK-hole that has nothing better to do than troll Twitter to bust a pageant contestant! But more than that, I am appalled at the lack of humanity and kindness by the comments on this page. It's not OK to make fun of blacks or gays, but it's OK to completely de-humanize a pageant contestant and ASSume she is an idiot! You people need to put down your game controllers, step away from you cyber life and check yourselves. Horrible!!
Posted by Caren Nelson | July 21, 2012 3:13 PM
"What does an Oregon Beauty Pageant winner from California have in common with a talking urinal cake?
Bill, can you finish this?"
=======================
Sometimes the actual answer to a question is irrelevant. The "answer" is actually in the beauty of the question.
Thank you for sharing.
Posted by Allan H | July 22, 2012 9:24 AM
Ah, Caren. You epitomize so many of the wonderful people in the pageant "family." Thank you for your thoughtful comment.
Posted by Jack Bog | July 23, 2012 7:41 AM