Christopher Heaps The article below was written by Christopher Heaps. Heaps is a Sellwood resident who rides his bike daily to his job as a lawyer with Stoel Rives in downtown Portland. You might remember Heaps as the lawyer who garnered a headline or two for successfully carrying out the “citizen-initiated citation” process. We wrote … Read more
A DIY kid seat for a Kona Ute longtail bike. Photo taken in bike racks at Trillium Charter School on N. Interstate Ave.(Photos © J. Maus)
The Oregonian on July 15th, 2008. KGW reports that James Millican, who ran down and then drove with Jason Rehnberg on his hood after Rehnberg (who was on his bike) told him to slow down, has been sentenced to 45 days in jail. Along with jail, the 21-year-old Millican must do 160 hours of community … Read more
Riding naked is a “well-establishedtradition”.(Photo © J. Maus) The Oregonian reports that a Multnomah County Judge has thrown out indecent exposure charges in a naked biking case because he feels that it’s a, “‘well-established tradition’ in Portland and understood as a form of ‘symbolic protest.’” Here’s a snip from the Oregonian’s story: Judge Jerome LaBarre … Read more
Robert Pickett(Photos © J. Maus) Robert Pickett is a member of the Portland Bicycle Advisory Committee, an Alice Award nominee, a regular commenter and contributor to the Forums here on BikePortland.org, and he’s also a police officer in Portland’s Southeast Precinct. When he’s not working in our community, he likes to ride tall bikes. In … Read more
Deputy DA Chuck Sparks.(Photo © Jonathan Maus) The Deputy District Attorney for Multnomah County Chuck Sparks wants the community to know that upon further analysis, his office believes the injuries sustained by Steven Volz in a collision on July 31st in Gresham constitute “serious physical injury”. In a story posted on September 4th, I reported … Read more
“We couldn’t support the mental state required for a criminal prosecution.” — Gresham DA Ben O’Glasser on his decision to not seek a Reckless Driving charge against Lance Waddy The Multnomah County District Attorney’s office has elected not to proceed with a Reckless Driving charge against Lance Waddy, the man who let his car veer … Read more
Lawyer Ray Thomas during a press conference earlier this month.(Photo © J. Maus) Portland lawyer Ray Thomas has released a do-it-yourself toolkit of resources and case studies meant to help anyone who seeks to bring violators of traffic laws to justice. The process, known as a “citizen initiation of violation proceedings,” is based on an … Read more
“Everything riders do to be safe makes it easier for attorneys to protect their rights against insurance companies and in court.”–Lawyer Scott Kocher As part of their Continuing Legal Education (CLE) program, the Oregon State Bar is offering a seminar titled, Bicycle Law and Injury Prevention for Advocates and Riders. The seminar will be offered … Read more
“Tim and I would have been married 50 years this April but I celebrated this anniversary by myself because a dangerous driver ran him down on his bike.” — Mary O’Donnell The Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA) announced yesterday that they will pursue a vehicular homicide law in the 2009 session of the Oregon State Legislature. … Read more
[Note: I’ve updated the post (at 3:45pm) to include a response from the Deputy City Attorney.] The denial.Click to enlarge, (240k, jpg) The Records Division of the Portland Police Bureau has denied a request for information made by lawyer Christopher Heaps in an ongoing effort to utilize an Oregon statute to file “citizen initiated citations,” … Read more
A trail to nowhere, for now.(Photo © J. Maus) The BTA reports great news in the ongoing saga of SK Northwest and their battle against building a key piece of trail across their property on the Willamette Riverfront just south of OMSI. The BTA’s Michelle Poyourow writes on their blog that the Oregon Court of … Read more