First, introductions… my name is Dan and I’m the editor of the Wilsonville Minute and President of Wilsonville Media LLC, which produces this new Wilsonville blog, dedicated to reporting up to the minute news and features, for the great town of Wilsonville, OR. We also have a very talented writer and full time reporter "on the beat." Her name is Francy and she’ll be the engine behind the reporting here at the "Minute." But the most important reporter we have is YOU, the reader.

Unlike the traditional newspaper, with a very limited space in which to convey a message, the sky is the limit here. If you live on SW Jamaica and you…

have a pot hole on your street… let’s talk about it! If you see some guy being weird in front of Albertson’s… let’s talk about it. If you saw someone being arrested on Wilsonville Rd… let’s talk about it!

The goal of this blog is to create a central location for us to share the entire experience that Wilsonville has to offer. We’ll always have links to all the school schedules, community activities, government meetings… everything you can ever want to know about Wilsonville… we’ll have it here and if we don’t, let us know where it is so we can get it.

In order to make this blog something of value to the community, though, it’ll take more than myself and Francy to do it. We need you. We can’t be at all places and at all times but you are everywhere. "You" being our readers. There’s NOTHING that can happen in this town without someone in this town knowing about it. Now we have a tool to bring all this news together. We might find out that Wisteria Lane from Desperate Housewives has nothing on Wilsonville when it comes to all that happens. Ha!

So, if you have something to report, just click on the "Contact" link above and give us all the details you have about something. If it’s relevant to Wilsonville, we’ll report it. Then when others read about it, they can comment in the comments section of that post. This creates a dialogue in which we can all participate.

You might be saying… "But we already have a new reporting outfit here." Well, technically, yes… but as great as the Wilsonville Spokesman is, it’s not very good at daily news updates since it’s a weekly publication. Plus they are limited by space. So they must pick and choose their topics. As a result, only a fraction of what goes on in Wilsonville is actually reported to the public. We want to be the place where you go each and every day to keep your finger on the pulse on what’s going on in our town.

We have some really cool plans, too. We’re going to feature homes for sale in Wilsonville, as part of our reporting. But not just a normal picture and explanation. We’ll be doing video and interview the home owners in ways that you’ll never see in traditional real estate listings. We’ll also be integrating video reporting of interviews and "person on the street" features.

How are we paying for all this? With good ‘ole fashioned advertising, that’s how. As time goes on, you’ll start to see some ads on the side bars as well as the bottom of each post. But all advertising will be from local businesses. When I say local, I mean from businesses that could reasonably expect to get business from a Wilsonville resident. So, a plumber in Tualatin would be an acceptable advertiser. However, a mortgage company in CA will not be acceptable.

In parting, I’d like to ask a favor of you. Tell someone you know about 97070.com today. Right now… email or call your friend and tell them to check out 97070.com. Community blogs like this are only effective if the entire community participates. If they don’t, it withers and dies. YOU are the lifeblood.

The future of news reporting has come to Wilsonville through the Wilsonville Minute. I’m very happy and proud to be a part of this process.

I’m excited! I hope you are too. See you ’round town. I’ll be the one in an orange shirt. (I’ll explain that in a future post!)

The key with a push mower is to keep the blades sharp, and mow when the grass is good and dry.  The benefits are - you get a really good workout - how good depends upon the size of your lawn - you don’t use precious gasoline, the noise is negligible compared with the gas mower, and your lawn is still getting mown.

It’s a thought.  And just a note from me - I think for those of you who are sticking with the noisy gas powered mowers, consider getting together and picking a day to mow, would you?  I hear mowers going all day, all weekend long.  There’s a relaxing noise.  Does anyone else notice that?

Expert geologist Richard Waitt will give a presentation on the impact of the Missoula ice Age Floods on the local area. (Hence the name for the event - Missoula Palooza)

Sunday’s main event is a bike rodeo.

If you typically lose some of your berries to birds, here is a tip I found that will save your berries for yourself.

When your strawberries set on and are still green, paint some small strawberry sized rocks red, and scatter them near the plants.  The birds will try to eat the ‘fruit’, but will soon realize these aren’t good to eat.  By the time your berries ripen, the birds will have moved on to someone else’s untended berry patch and you’ll be able to harvest yours.

5/19/08  Susan Michelle Brown charged with Theft I, held on PV Assault IV (Bail = $5,000)and on a warrant out of Yamhill Co.  for Resisting Arrest (Bail = $5,000)

5/27/08  Daniel Tinoco-Garcia  Charged and Cited with Offensive Littering and Placing of Offensive Substance in Water.

5/28/08  William Dix Winslow II  Held on a charge of Failure to Register as a Sex Offender.  (Bail = $40,000)

5/29/08  Michael floyd Jordine  Charged and Cited with DUII

5/30/08  Kevin Lawrence Guild Charged and Cited with  DUII

6/01/08 Melinda Sue hawkins  Charged and Cited with Wreckless Driving.  Specific charges include exceeding speed limit 100+, driving uninsured, and unlawful or unsignalled lane change.

6/02/08  John Khanh Nguyen  Charged and cited with DUII- Drugs

6/02/08  marlena Nell Swann  Charged and Cited with DUII

6/04/08 Sarah Althea Cooper Charged with Assault III (Bail = $15,000) and Menacing I (Bail = $7,500)

6/06/08 Lisa Terese Cinnera was charged and held for Detox

6/07/08 Kevin Patrick Baumer charged and Cited with Theft III

6/08/08 Johnie Joe Davila was arrested on existing warrants out of Malheur County.  (Bail was set at $5,000 for each of three counts.)

6/8/08 Sean Michael Briggs Charged and Cited with DUII

6/10/08 Brian Lance Bouska Held on a Warrant for Theft II out of Washington County. (Bail = $3,710)

Coaching a team requires a time commitment from October through March. Parents of current sixth graders with an interest
in robotics are encouraged to consider the position. The 2007-8 team had five seventh graders and two sixth graders. There is room for three more students on the team in the 2008-9 season.
I

nterested persons please call Craig Faiman at 503.970.5471 for more information.

First, after your first batch of blooms, get busy pruning those rose bushes.  They need to be thinned, and the spent blooms need to be removed.  This will discourage black spot, which is most prevalent during the mid summer months, and will encourage more blooms throughout the summer.

This can be a really thorny job, so be sure to wear protective gear on your arms.  A tip I just read about in 1,001 Gardening Secrets by Gayle K. Wood suggests using tongs to hold the stems as you prune.  This definitely reduces the risk of you looking like you just got out of a fight with a feline after a rose pruning session.

Also, when you are pruning, keep some rubbing alcohol and some cotton pads with you.  As you move from rose bush to rose bush, take a second to clean your pruners with the alcohol to reduce the spread of any diseases such as blackspot.

In this climate, especially, I find that pruning roses does nothing to slow down their production of blooms.  Have at it, and enjoy a colorful yard all summer and autumn.