Officer Bill Gannon's "Top Secret" Barbecue Sauce Recipe

This recipe is from the 1968 Dragnet television series episode "The Big High." I've never tested it, so I can't vouch whether this recipe is legitimate or farce.

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Officer Bill Gannon's "Top Secret" Barbecue Sauce Recipe

Ingredient list:
1 quart ketchup
1 can red pepper (might he mean this kind?)
1 can hot mustard
1 quart vinegar
1 pound peeled chopped red peppers
1 small jar oregano
4-5 big cloves of fresh garlic
5 chopped bermuda onions
1 quart vanilla ice cream*

Instructions:
Chill a bowl large enough to hold the above listed ingredients.
With electric mixer, mix the ketchup. Add red pepper, hot mustard, vinegar, chopped red peppers, oregano, and garlic.
Mix well, continue mixing, add bermuda onions and vanilla ice cream.

*Gives it that "hard to tell what's in it" flavor.

Garbage Dumping Fees: The Tide Has Changed

DOUGLAS COUNTY GARBAGE DUMPING FEES.

WE HAVE ENTERED A NEW ERA OF TAXATION.

     About 20 years ago, Douglas County Commissioners held an advisory vote. The simple question was whether or not Douglas County residents supported a new garbage dumping fee at the county landfill and transfer stations, to help pay for county services. Douglas County voters overwhelming voted no; I believe the advisory vote failed by about a two-to-one margin. (I don't have the patience today to do the research on line to verify the year of the vote and the exact number of votes. This election was held before the internet, and before the posting of election returns on  line.)
     Last night's election changed the tone of voters' support for new fees. Specifically, during a October candidates forum before the Roseburg Chamber of Commerce, three of the six candidates for Douglas County Commissioner indicated they supported a new garbage dumping fee. It wasn't that they directly said "we need new taxes." But it was more of a sense of resignation that a new garbage dumping fee was a done deal, and there was nothing they could do about it.
     Candidate Gary Leif was the only candidate who actively campaigned that he would keep the county landfill a free service for as a long as possible. And while garbage dumping fees certainly aren't the most important issue facing local politics, it surprisingly was the only issue that distinguished the commissioner candidates from one another. All six candidates were basically on the same page on all of the issues that were publicized, with the possible exception of the proposed liquefied natural gas pipeline between central Oregon and the Pacific coast.
     Therefore...because garbage dumping fees were about the only issue that divided the candidates (unless wants to ascribe a "R" or a "D" as a reason for voting for a candidate in a non-partisan race)...I believe the November 4th election was a referendum on a proposed garbage dumping tax. In a six-way race, pro-garbage dumping fee candidate Chris Boice won the election with 42 percent of the vote, compared to second-place winner Gary Leif with 34 percent of the vote.
     When I campaigned for Douglas County Commissioner in the past, I always campaigned against garbage dumping fees or other new tax proposals. IF the county revenue problem became serious enough where public safety (the sheriff's office's ability to protect the county was compromised), then I said any garbage dumping fee proposal should be on the table with all other county services. In other words, if the county enacted the garbage dumping fee to make the public works department self-sustaining, then other proposed fees should also be considered at the county library to make it self-sustaining, new fees at the county parks to keep them self-sustaining, etc.
     The bottom line is that I believe the VOTERS should have input on which new fees to approve or reject. It's arbitrary for Douglas County Commissioners to only consider a regressive tax (garbage dumping fee) which hits low-income people the hardest, without also considering other new taxes that are more optional in nature (i.e., not everyone is forced to pay for them). Everyone is legally forced to dispose of their garbage in a sanitary manner. Not everyone is forced to use the county libraries or county parks.
      If I ever run again for Douglas County Commissioner, garbage dumping fees will not be part of my campaign platform. By electing a pro-garbage dumping fee candidate over a non-garbage dumping fee candidate, Douglas County voters have made it clear they either support or are indifferent toward imposing a new garbage dumping tax.
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     Referendum may have been too strong of a word, considering that the winning candidate did not receive a majority of the votes. But I definitely believe the tide has changed in regards to garbage dumping fees, for a couple of reasons.
     This is the first Douglas County commissioner's race, where some candidates have openly endorsed/accepted a proposed new garbage dumping tax. Also, there were relatively few (hardly any) letters to the editor in local newspapers protesting a new garbage dumping fee. In the past, the newspapers were bombarded with anti-garbage fee letters, WITHOUT any of the commissioners even supporting a fee. It was in the discussion stage only.
     The one time when a garbage dumping tax was introduced by the county's budget committee, in 1990, the county commissioners' office was flooded with phone calls and letters, objecting to a fee. I still remember Douglas County Commissioner Doug Robertson calling a press conference (KPIC-TV, KOBI-TV, KMTR-TV, and KLSR-TV all had reporters present) to announce no fee would be imposed.
   

METV And HDTV

     The Rockford Files, Adam-12, Emergency, CHiPs, Star Trek, Wonder Woman, Batman, The Beverly Hillbillies, The Brady Bunch, Perry Mason, Ironside, The Love Boat,  F-Troop, The Donna Reed Show, Gilligan's Island, Daniel Boone, Bonanza, The Outer Limits, The Andy Griffith Show, I Love Lucy, and more.
     I don't watch all of these shows, but I'm interested in most of them. Perhaps it's more nostalgia than actually enjoying the television shows, because the shows are mostly from the period of time when I grew up in the 1970s and early 1980s.
     Watching all of these vintage television series on one channel reminds me of TV Land, when it first debuted as an offshoot of Nickelodeon or Nick-At-Nite. These television series are on "Memorable Entertainment Television," or METV.  Eugene ABC-affiliate KEZI-TV just launched METV as its secondary channel, offered by Charter Communications on cable channel 186 on the Roseburg-Sutherlin-Oakland cable TV system.
     American society has high definition television to thank for the recent proliferation of over-the-air TV channels. Digital television allows a broadcast station to broadcast on four different frequencies, not just one. The over-the-air broadcast spectrum has increased significantly, as one television station can now broadcast four different types of programming.
     However, splitting one's frequency into four different channels gradually degrades the quality of the signal. Each "new" television channel becomes more and more marginal in picture quality the more the frequencies are split. That's why most broadcast stations have only opted to offer a second channel. Splitting the frequencies into two channels is negligible, or not very visible to the human eye. Some stations like Medford PBS-affiliate KSYS-TV offer three channels.
      Here are the secondary channels offered by some of the local broadcast stations:

KVAL-TV, Eugene, CBS   -   This TV

KEZI-TV, Eugene, ABC   -   METV (KEZI initially launched a 24-hour local news channel as its secondary channel, but later cancelled it.)

KOBI-TV, Medford, NBC   -   This TV (KOBI initially launched a 24-hour weather channel as its secondary channel, but later cancelled it.)

KMTR-TV, Eugene, NBC   -    CW  (CW is an actual network, that originated with over-the-air channels in the larger cities, before HDTV. CW is a merger of the short-lived United Paramount Network (UPN) and Warner Brothers (WB) network. Eugene's KEVU-TV was originally UPN-affiliated and Roseburg's KROZ-TV, later KTVC-TV, was originally WB-affiliated.)

KTVL-TV, Medford, CBS   -   CW

KLSR-TV, Eugene, Fox  --  MyTV (The interesting thing about this arrangement, is that KLSR-TV 34 and KEVU-TV 23 were two separate over-the-air television stations before HDTV. They were located in the same broadcast facility on Chad Drive in Eugene and owned by the same company. However, KEVU was only licensed as a low-power television station on channel 23. When HDTV presented the option of one high-power station offering multiple programs, high-power television station KLSR opted to use KEVU/MyNetwork TV as its secondary channel.

     There are now obviously many more television channels than any one person or family will watch. That's why "a la carte" television appears to be the wave of the future. Instead of being forced to pay for dozens or hundreds of channels by one cable company or satellite dish provider....television viewers in the future may be able to choose which channels they purchase.
     Instead of buying a "bundled" package of most every channel, television viewers may be able to select only a few channels that they actually watch. CBS and HBO recently launched this new phase of television viewing by offering direct access to only their programming.
     Things were so much simpler when we "only" had three broadcast networks (CBS, NBC, ABC) and PBS offered on "only" twelve cable TV channels or less for $5.00 per month!

Election Night Recap 2014

ELECTION NIGHT RECAP, NOVEMBER 2014

     I made the journey into Roseburg today. First, my chemotherapy session lasted 11:30a.m.-3:30p.m. After some casual grocery shopping, I ventured to downtown Roseburg where most election night festivities were taking place.

A VISIT TO THE COURTHOUSE

     Much has changed since I covered election night stories as a television news reporter for 20 years. In the past, two rooms (#310) of the courthouse were the designated "media/candidates" room. For one thing, much space was needed for reporters to interview candidates who trickled in and out during the night. Also, KPIC-TV did live reports from room 310 in the courthouse, and several staff members were on hand transcribing hard copies of the election returns into the television station's computer system.
     Tonight, I found the media/candidates room in the basement just down the hallway from the elections office. It was in room #111: the cramped courthouse break room with a couple of tables and vending machines. The size of the room didn't matter. I learned later this evening that room #111 was void of people after 9:00p.m. Apparently, because people now glean their election results off the internet, there's no need for the media and candidates to linger around, waiting for hard copies of election returns.

VICTORY CELEBRATION WITH COMMISSIONER CANDIDATE GARY LEIF

     It wasn't a victory party in the traditional sense, as Gary Leif came in second in a six-candidate race. However, as Leif told a KQEN-AM radio reporter after the second election returns had come in around 9:15p.m., everyone's a winner in the election. A number of prominent people stopped by Little Brothers Pub, on Main street a block from the courthouse, to wish Gary Leif well and compliment him on a positive, well-run campaign. Several dozen Leif campaign supporters had congregated there to see the election returns come in.
     I stayed for a little more than an hour at the Pub, waiting for the second election returns to come in. The silent television set in the Pub was tuned in to KVAL-TV. Early on, the crawler at the bottom of the screen indicated that Oregon Ballot Measure 92, the one the requires labeling for growth modifying organisms (GMOs), was winning by a 58-42 margin. Later on, the crawler showed Measure 92 going down to defeat by a 52-48 margin.
     I couldn't believe that there had been such a significant change (10 percent) between the first and second election returns. Historically, election results never waver more than a 2-5 percent change in election returns. I speculate that what actually occurred, was probably that KVAL-TV reported only the Lane County election results (a progressive populace that would typically support Measure 92) in the first returns....while the statewide returns for Measure 92 were reported in the second election returns.
     I must admit that being around election night festivities tonight, re-ignited a passion for me in public service. I don't mean to sound morbid, but there's a fair chance that I'll be dead from stage four cancer, before I have the opportunity to run again for public office. But I also believe in miracles and don't rule out anything of what the future holds.

Political Mudslinging In Douglas County

Is God Affiliated With A Political Party?

What Is A Jeffersonian Democrat?

     God is not a Republican. God is not a Democrat. I would even guess that God is not a member of the Bible-based Constitution party. God is above the political fray on Earth.
     The Bible makes it clear that Christians are to set their sights on Heaven and not the secular pleasures of the Earth. However, the Bible also makes it clear that Christians are to uphold their leaders in prayer and to obey the laws of a secular society. (When in Rome, give unto Caesar that which is his.)
     One could extrapolate that it is a Christian's duty to participate in the political process. Running for office for anyone, Christian or non-Christian, is a noble calling. That's why I'm dismayed when letters to the editor in the local newspaper attack candidates simply because they're a "D" or an "R." Or, in the example listed below, a Republican's patriotism is attacked simply because he donated money to a Democratic candidate!
     I have great respect for one of my former high school teachers, whom I've known for decades. He has always been a fundamental Christian and a member of a local Assembly of God church. I was somewhat surprised one day when he told me that he was a Democrat. He made it clear that he was a "Jeffersonian Democrat." In other words, he didn't support radical environmentalism or other extreme left-wing positions that the national Democratic party has embraced in recent years.
      My former teacher taught me, long after I graduated from high school, that it didn't matter whether a person was a "R" or a "D," or any other label that one chose to attach to a person. What mattered was the person's actions and their individual belief system.
     It's a shame that mudslinging has to occur in small-town elections, where everyone knows everyone else on a face-to-face level. But sadly, the current race for Douglas County Commissioner has degenerated to that level in the eleventh hour, as the Roseburg News-Review letter to the editor printed below demonstrates. I guess that means the election will be a close one.?.
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Stand against political games

      When it comes to the current county commissioner race, there’s only one candidate who will stand strong for Douglas County; who will stand strong for you. That candidate is Chris Boice.

Chris Boice is a hard working man with a passion to become a great leader for Douglas County. Chris Boice is a willing student who will quickly learn what he needs to know and how do use what he knows for the benefit of Douglas County.

     Chris Boice understands the nature of the battle we face. It’s a battle against a radical Marxist ideology using the environmental movement as its vehicle for the implementation of its agenda. That agenda has absolutely no regard for the well-being of Douglas County, you, your children, or your grandchildren.

     Chris Boice will not play political games or support candidates and causes that are opposed to freedom and free enterprise, as Gary Leif has done by financially supporting the campaign of a pro-Obama, pro-Nancy Pelosi, pro-Harry Reid, pro-Obamacare, pro-illegal immigrant, pro-corrupt Governor John Kitzhaber candidate for state house Kerry Atherton.

     I withdrew from the commissioner race so the pro freedom, free enterprise and rule-of-law vote would not be split and thus allow an individual to be elected who lacks the intestinal fortitude and personal character that Douglas County needs at the county commissioner level.

     All that is required for evil to triumph is for good men and women to do nothing. It is time to choose between freedom and tyranny. Which side are you on? I urge you to not only vote, but urge everyone you know to urge everyone they know, to not only vote, but to vote for Chris Boice. He’s far and away the best choice, my choice, for county commissioner.

Rich Raynor

Roseburg

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     I strongly object to the insinuation that commissioner candidate Gary Leif is a tyrant ("All that is required for evil to triumph is for good men and women to do nothing. It is time to choose between freedom and tyranny. Which side are you on?") because he gave a few dollars to a statewide Democratic candidate. I believe it would be prudent to examine what Ephesians 4:29 has to say.