Good Neighbors Gone Bad

Good Neighbors program gets mixed reviews
Newport bills itself as 'the friendliest.'
This moniker was promoted last week via the "Good Neighbors" program encouraging citizens to get together over their back yard fences.
While seemingly everyone enjoyed the event, others were heard whining, moaning and panting heavily. Some of these "parties" reportedly turned ugly with participants growling and snapping at each other. Thankfully our fence party had only one whiner and two droolers.

Visiting peace group to host symposium

International peace experts are gathering in town this weekend to lead a symposium entitled "Breaking down barriers in the dog-eat-dog world community."
At 7 pm this Friday night, in the Community Center auditorium, the first session will be held, "Beginning at Home: What to do with those conflicts in your own back yard."
Pie & coffee will be served after the symposium which is being sponsored by State Farm Insurance. Contact your local "good neighbor" for details.

Lillians' waitress retires with a mission

Lillian's Rooming House B&B is another of those boarding houses which sprang up with the lumber and fishing booms in the late 1800's now turned into a bed and breakfast. It has seen much over the years. Lillian's has seen high rollin' days and the dark days of the Great Depression. But through it all breakfast was served every morning in the family style dining room.
Over a plate of flap jacks and black coffee some of the great legends of the coast were born. Tales of heroism and hardship, faith and perseverance. It's an oral history worth preserving.
Long time waitress/housekeeper at Lillian's, Bernie Hansen, intends to do just that. She is retiring this week to begin recording the history of the hotel and the early missionary work along the Oregon coast. As the great granddaughter of a Danish immigrant preacher, who lodged for a time in the early days of his "mission" at the rooming house, she has a special connection to the project. "I'm sort of on a mission here" she said with a straight face.
Everyone is wishing Bernie all the best, but the local canine population around her home will be saddened by the lack of gourmet table scraps she would normally bring home for them. Dexter, the resident cat at Lillian's refused comment when asked about the retirement of the one housekeeper who wouldn't let him get away with his normal hotel scams. "Some are always unrepentant to the last," Hansen mused.