Welcome back to Thebeerchaser.  If you are seeing this post through an e-mail, please visit the blog by clicking on the title above to see all of the photos and so the narrative is not clipped or shortened. (External photo attribution at the end of the post #1)

What a year it’s been, and the post below is an amalgamation of a bunch of random thoughts and clips I’ve collected.  Although a time of upheaval, we have much about which to be thankful. 

As the photo (above right) suggests, why not raise a mug of my favorite Benedictine Brewery beer – Hairshirt IPA.  Perhaps it can also help allay your guilt while you enjoy a great beer.

Here’s to Our First Responders and Health Care Professionals

I’m extremely thankful for both first responders and health care professionals – not only at this time of year, but every day.  I admit a bias, because both of our daughters are registered nurses (Lisa – radiation/oncology clinic and Laura – hospital pediatric emergency department) and I am proud and amazed at their dedication and expertise. 

I could go on, but these two photos (both from the archives) express it more aptly:

Oregon Health Sciences University is a large organization and gets a lot of bad press, but the patient care we have gotten there from every provider and all staff has been outstanding. 

Dr. Laura Byerley, our primary care physician in the Department of Internal Medicine, who is also an assistant professor at the Medical School is the most notable example.  She is an outstanding doctor and we are grateful for her. (#2 – #4)

The City of West Linn is a suburb twelve miles south of Portland, where we’ve made our home for the last forty-two years.  With a population of 28,000, it’s an ideal place to reside. 

The City Government is effective and services including the Police Department are excellent. It’s across the Willamette River from historic Oregon City, where I lived from the time I moved to Oregon in 1959 and graduated from high school. (#5 – #7)

I met Janet, my wife of forty-four years, at an Oregon City Planning Commission meeting in 1979 and she subsequently became the Assistant City Manager of West Linn, before working in the private sector. 

I’d been impressed with the West Linn Police Department and after we both retired, I decided to try to support them and find out a little bit more. So in 2022, I took advantage of the program entitled “Meet the Chief” and had a wonderful chat with him over coffee.

Chief Peter Mahuna is a native of Maui and a former college athlete (basketball) at Pacific University where he graduated with a BS in Social Work.  He has extensive law enforcement credentials and has been Chief since November 2021. (#8 – #9)

I’d always wanted to schedule a “Ride-along” with a police officer and based on the positive experience with the Chief signed up in the winter of 2023:

“(The goal is to) provide an opportunity for the community to see first-hand, the day-to-day workings of law enforcement, including familiarizing the public with the complex and unpredictable nature of police work.”

I rode along with Officer Matthew Goode on a Wednesday evening from 6:00 to 9:00 PM.  He introduced himself and gave me a tour of the Police Station which is a nice facility.  During that period, we only encountered traffic violations, but I had a chance to have a great conversation.

Officer Goode earned a BS in Finance and then graduated from the Oregon Police Academy before becoming a WLPD officer in 2019.  Chief Mahuna is a big man, but Matthew is  significantly taller as you can see from the photos. 

He’s a fine representative of the Police Dept. and loves his job although he was candid about the frustrations and challenges in serving, given perceptions of the police by many citizens.

For example, our last stop occurred after we followed a car for about a mile that was weaving and crossing the yellow line in a sparsely populated area of the City.  It certainly appeared as if the driver was intoxicated. 

When he could safely pull the car over, it was in the driveway of the owner.  Rather than being intoxicated, the young woman, aged 16, had just obtained her driver’s license and had not driven at night previously.

Mathew cautioned her and didn’t issue a citation, but the girl’s young neighbor came out of her house and chastised him for making the stop in the driveway with his red-lights flashing – go figure! 

He also told me that for every encounter or call, they have to enter in the car’s computer, the gender, race and age of the person stopped which goes to the State of Oregon.   Each department’s statistics are analyzed to determine if there is a preponderance of race from the people stopped.

I was impressed with Officer Goode and it did not surprise me last week to see that he and a fellow West Linn officer received lifesaving awards for separate incidents. Goode, in response to a call on Sept. 11 helped save the life of an unconscious 2-year-old who had stopped breathing.  Chief Mahuna stated:

“You immediately began administering CPR, checked the child’s pulse and began chest compressions. TVF&R arrived and you continued chest compressions working alongside TVF&R in your attempt at saving this child’s life.

After many minutes the child began breathing again. The child was then rushed to the hospital and the following day the child’s vital signs had finally been stabilized.” (#10)

Life in West Linn

West Linn is an upscale community and has a lower crime rate than many cities. Recent statistics from one data source based on 11/23 figures show:

• There were 310 total crimes committed in West Linn the last reporting year.
• On a rate basis, there were 1,154.9 total crimes per 100K people in West Linn.
• The overall crime rate in West Linn is -50.31% below the national average.
• West Linn ranks #11 safest out of 103 cities in Oregon.
• West Linn ranks #4,253 safest out of 9,869 cities in the United States.

I assume that one frustration for officers is the volume of mundane and frivolous calls to which they have to respond.  The West Linn Tidings reports these each week and I’ve been saving some of the best which are somewhat humorous. 

That said, I’m well aware that a police officer never knows when a routine call might be hazardous or involve saving a life. As unbelievable as it sounds, none of these are made up. Heres’ some from the last several years.

10/13/ – 4:55 pm – A woman said a man was sitting outside a church and followed her, so she had to run inside and lock the door.  Police contacted the man who was a volunteer at the church and had arrived a bit early for an event that evening. (#11)

6/13/ – 4:22 pm – A caller expressed concern about a bank on Hood Street closing early.

4/10 – 9:54 am – An employee of a bank on Salamo Road called police because of suspicious circumstances.  An occupied vehicle had been in the parking lot outside the bank for a half-hour and another vehicle showed up fifteen minutes later. An officer contacted the vehicles’ occupants who were just waiting for the bank to open. (#12 – #13)

Musical Instruments

7/11/ – 5:44 pm – Police received a complaint about people playing bagpipes on Willamette Drive.

8/4 – 2:41 pm – A woman complained about a husband and wife playing the accordion on Hood Street.

Children and Young People (#14 – #16)

7/25 – 2:04 pm – A missing child was found in a garage.  Apparently he hid there after he was scared by a shadow in the backyard.

3/15 – 12:09 am – Girls buying two cases of toilet paper at Walmart claimed it was for a “school project.”

8/7 – 8:12 pm – A caller said a staff member at an undisclosed location grabbed a child’s tongue and yanked it.

1/28 – 11:48 am – Police received a call about a sixteen year-old who was expressing sexual frustration about his mother during therapy.

But the most bizarre incident has to be demonstrated with the headline from the West Linn Tidings and the news clip.

And just so you don’t think my former residence and crosstown high school rival isn’t squeaky clean, I leave you with this one from the City of Oregon City Police Log:

6/18 – An unconfirmed report of marijuana plants growing in the Senior Citizens’ Gardens remains a mystery. (#17)

The above incidents were culled from hundreds contained in the clippings I’ve saved and I have many more which I may post in the future.  My wife will at least be thankful that I’m finally recycling these!

Happy Thanksgiving!

External Photo Attribution

 #1.  Public Domain – Wikimedia Commons (File:2010.08.22.150922 Umzug Bierfass Kirwa Sulzbach-Rosenberg.jpg – Wikimedia Commons)  I, the copyright holder of this work, release this work into the public domain. This applies worldwide.   Author:  Hermann Luyken – 22 August 2010.

#2.  OHSU Facebook Page (https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=651984720287167&set=a.352160336936275).

#3.  OHSU Website (Laura K. Byerly MD | Health care provider | OHSU).

#4.   Wikimedia Commons (File:Oregon Heath and Science University, Marquam Hill, Portland – DPLA – 6e01f529e825c50a836d4955c257acca.jpg – Wikimedia Commons) This file was contributed to Wikimedia Commons by Oregon State Archives as part of a cooperation project.  Source: Gary Halvorson, Oregon State Archives – 31 October 2019.

#5.  Wikimedia Commons (File:Willamette Falls, Willamette River, Oregon City and West Linn – DPLA – 0649218212d8dc8ee462ef1911a3b29c.jpg – Wikimedia Commons) Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.  Source: Gary Halvorson, Oregon State Archives – 15 March 2021.

#6.  Wikipedia (File:WL flag.jpg – 

#7. Wikimedia Commons (File:Oregon City Bridge, Arch Bridge, Willamette River, Oregon City, West Linn – DPLA – b22b1b5705bedfad1bdb35b488a24655.jpg – Wikimedia Commons)  Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Source: Gary Halvorson, Oregon State Archives – 20 March 2019.

#8.   City of West Linn Website (Police Home | City of West Linn Oregon Official Website).

#9 – #10.  City of West Linn Facebook Page (https://www.facebook.com/@WestLinnPD/).

#11. Public Domain – Wikimedia Commons (File:Chase Bank branch in Palatine, IL.jpg – Wikimedia Commons).   Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. Mysterymanblue / Wikimedia Commons / Public domain.

#12.  Public Domain – Wikimedia Commons (File:Gaita seivane brocada.JPG – Wikimedia Commons) I, the copyright holder of this work, release this work into the public domain. This applies worldwide. Author: Susana Seivane.

#13. Wikimedia Commons (File:Scandalli Extreme Diva 1.jpg – Wikimedia Commons) Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.   Author:
Zygmusc – 3 December 2022.

#14.  Wikimedia Commons (File:Shadow 2 – panoramio.jpg – Wikimedia Commons) Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.  Author:  marco mini – 15 April 2007.

#15.  Wikimedia Commons (File:Toiletpapier (Gobran111).jpg – Wikimedia Commons) L licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic license.  Author:  Brandon Blinkenberg – 9 September 2004.

#16. Wikimedia Commons (File:زبان tongue.jpg – Wikimedia Commons) Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.   Author: Mahdiabbasinv – 12 March 2016.

#17. Wikimedia Commons (File:Cannabis sativa (marijuana plants) (Manhattan, Kansas, USA) 14 (48971448801).jpg – Wikimedia Commons) Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.  Author:  James St. John – 18 July 2015.