Photo Essay at SafeHaven Humane Shelter

The SafeHaven Humane Shelter, located 33071 Highway 34 SE, Albany, OR does not believe in euthanizing for space. Here, they work tirelessly to provide a warm temporary home for cats and dogs.

For Christmas, SafeHaven created a giving tree for their animals, with pictures of all the furry friends people can donate to even adopt this winter.

There are several ways to volunteer at SafeHaven, including morning cleaning assistant, dog socialization, cat socialization, photographer, community outreach, fundraising/special events and foster care provider. For more volunteer information, follow this link at http://www.safehavenhumane.com/?q=node/20 or give them a call at 541-928-2789.

Alicia Neuschwander instructs her children on the proper ways to hold a cat in the cat's room. The cat being held is Meeko, a female Snowshoe Siamese X, only three years old.

Moving clockwise is Alicia, Caitlynn, age 8, Elsa, age 5 and Maggin, who is holding Meeko, age 4.

The cat's room is well lit and warm. These felines enjoy being able to lounge around and spend some time out of their cages. Pictured is Caitlynn, comforting a new friend.
SafeHaven is able to provide shelter for around 60 cats and between 30 to 40 dogs at one time. SafeHaven has earning revenue to afford renovations for a new, larger location. In about two years from now, they hope to have the means to renovate their new home, which would allow more cats and dogs to be sheltered.

Meeko takes a liking to Caitlynn.

In a slightly more active area, Calvin Prucha, age 11 spends some time teaching Malamute mix puppies how to earn their treats. The Malamute mix puppies are new to the shelter. Sadly, puppies tend to find homes quicker than older dogs.
Calvin enjoys his time with the puppies. They certainly enjoy those tasty treats he offers.

Movie review: “Something Borrowed”

“Something Borrowed” follows the old cliché of a great girl who has everything but no man to make her complete. One part of her life has remained constant, her best friend from childhood, Darcy. “Something Borrowed” takes the old adage with a twist: Rachel (Ginnifer Goodwin) has found the man of her dreams, and the only problem is he is already engaged … to Darcy.


After a night of drinking on her thirtieth birthday, Rachel sleeps with Darcy’s fiancé Dex. Matters only worsen as Rachel and Dex struggle to undo past mistakes and the wedding day quickly approaches. There are several comical moments when tensions flare and a few nice twists to keep you guessing. However, with the running time at 103 minutes, the ending is quickly wrapped up due to the long lead in.

The film is the adaptation of the bestselling novel, “Something Borrowed” by Emily Giffin. “Something Borrowed” illustrates the pressure set upon single women, while it begs the question, “What would you do in the name of love?”

Rachel fits her character’s descriptions, while Kate Hudson struggles to sell her role as dominating and selfish. John Krasinski (The Office) plays Rachel’s friend, Ethan and her rock when things get tricky. He delivers well, providing his normal go-lucky demeanor.

Despite the usual flaws found in every romantic comedy, the actors mesh well with each other. There is talk of creating a sequel to follow the second book, “Something Blue.” If so, hopefully the same actors return to deliver again.

“Fast Five:” Lights, Camera, Action!

The boys are at it again in “Fast Five,” in the next part of “The Fast and The Furious” franchise, when Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and former cop Brian O’Conner find themselves on new territory.


After breaking Dom out of custody, they seek a new haven in Rio de Janeiro, where they plot to one last job to set them free. Meanwhile, federal agent Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) is hot on their trail.
Directed by Justin Lin, audience members can rest assure they will not be shortened on any action scenes or hot … cars. In “Fast Five,” all the old faces are back to settle the score including Jordana Brewster (Mia), Tyrese Gibson (Roman) and Ludacris (Tej) among many others.

The returning characters jived well together except for Dwayne Johnson, who started off a little ridiculous with an overkill tough guy performance. However, the macho-ness settles down and pulls you in for the ride of a lifetime.

Car enthusiasts as well as action junkies delight with the numerous and lengthy car chases and fight scenes.

Usually the more movies you add to a series, the worse they become, however, “Fast Five” destroyed the stigma. Setting the stage with the jaw-dropping and appealing cars and action did well to set silent those who might have disliked the originally cheesy and overrated previous “The Fast and The Furious” movies.

What lacked in car-drooling screen time was made up for with squealing tires, fists and lots of damage.

Cooper Shows Limitless Range

There are many times when a wonder drug could be helpful. In the new movie “Limitless” that fantasy becomes a reality for Eddie Morra (Bradley Cooper).

Eddie is a writer, stuck in a rut until he is introduced to a mysterious and provocative drug that allows him to access his full mental capacity. He soon finds himself more successful than ever and climbing the rungs of the ladder. Everything Eddie has seen or heard in his life, once locked away, becomes available and useful. Eddie becomes everything he ever dreamed of. However, as supply begins to dwindle, Eddie soon discovers the underbelly of success.

“Limitless” is directed by Neil Burger (“The Lucky Ones,” “The Illusionist”) and takes place in New York. Also starring in “Limitless” is Robert De Niro and Abbie Cornish.

In the opening weekend premiere, “Limitless” raked in a decent $18,907,302 in the box office. Following “A-Team” and “The Hangover,” Cooper proves in “Limitless” his range of abilities.

Shia LaBeouf was originally cast for the part of Eddie, but was replaced by Cooper when he had to discontinue due to an injury.

Although the story idea is not outlandish in its originality, the movie holds your attention to the end. The beginning scene was a nice touch to bring the audience through the starting (and slightly boring and shallow) development of the character. The relationships of Eddie are hardly established therefore the audience has to piece certain elements together.  However, once the story gets going, there are several sustaining scenes.

Please Sir, I Want Some More

As many anticipate, summer tuition is set to be $91 per credit. Any potential increases in tuition or reductions there may be are still up in the air, since the budget for the 2011-12 biennium has yet to be finalized.

The State Legislature is still deliberating on how much revenue will be distributed to Oregon community colleges. As part of this deliberation, the State Legislature’s Ways and Means Committee has been conducting public budget meetings in order to hear the concerns and testimonies of those effected by community college budgets, such as community members, students and staff.

On May 6, in Newport, members of community colleges as well as members of surrounding organizations attended one of these meetings. Several members from LBCC, including LBCC board members, staff members, and students traveled to attend and give testimony about the financial hardships caused by increases in tuition and lack of financial support.

The meeting was separated by counties, which allowed 70 people to give their testimonies. “It was very interesting – it opened my eyes to all of the people who need their budgets met,” said Barbara Horn, LBCC student activities coordinator.

Horn recognizes the difficult decisions legislature members face in their deliberation. “Some won’t be able to operate as they are.”

James Smith, vice president of Student Life and Leadership, was one of the members to attend and present his side. He advocated for the continuation of funds to support “Day Programs,” which allow individuals with disabilities the opportunity to work.

Every individual presented a unique testimony; no two were exactly the same. However, what many can agree upon is that community colleges are a critical element in society and are an investment for the economy.

The approved budget for the 2011-12 is said to be finalized between late May and June.

Related articles

• LBCC Preparing for More Reductions (lbcommuter.com)
• Tuition Situation Hovering Over Community Colleges (lbcommuter.com)
• Students Lobby to Save Oregon Schools (lbcommuter.com)
• Community Colleges Historically Short-Changed (lbcommuter.com)

“Bridesmaids” – Here Comes the … Trouble

Weddings are a stressful time; it helps to be surrounded by people who make matters go smoothly. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case.

In the movie “Bridesmaids,” Annie (Kristen Wiig) is chosen to be her best friend Lillian’s (Maya Rudolph) maid of honor. Despite her own relationship troubles, Annie embarks on a mission to make Lillian’s big day a memorable one. However, there are numerous glitches along the way, including a rag-tag group of bridesmaids and food poisoning.

Maybe it is just the season, but there are a lot of bridal-themed movies to please any nuptial-minded gal, or just those looking for a good laugh. “Bridesmaids” is chock-full of hilarious moments to break up the predictability attached to every rom-com.

Wiig, who co-wrote the film, polished her comedic style with her roles on “Saturday Night Live,” along with Rudolph, a fellow SNL star, which translated into some of the improvisation that occurred in the film.

“Bridesmaids” is directed by Paul Feig, also known for his film “Knocked Up.” The hilarious moments helped to break up the lengthy runtime. “Bridesmaids” proves that it can play well along side the male-dominated comedies, such as “The Hangover” and “Wedding Crashers,” delivering similar raunchy scenes.

Of course, the ending follows that of a typical chick-flick, but overall “Bridesmaids” is worth watching.

Editor Swap

Former Editor-in-Chief: Justin Bolger	Incoming Editor-in-Chief: Jill Mahler
Catch You Later, Team! It’s been swell, ladies and gentlemen, but it’s curtains for me!  My time serving the campus as the editor-in-chief of The Commuter has been a fantastic experience, but as with all things, it must come to an end. Have no fear! I’m leaving you in the hands of someone who is more than capable of maintaining and furthering the excellence of your friendly neighborhood newspaper. Honestly, Jill Mahler already has more experience leading a news team than I do, so I’m excited to see what new wonders she’ll bring about. Yes, I’ll still be around to see how it goes. Until Winter term of next year, I will be going through extensive training under the tutelage of Webmaster Marci Sischo, acquiring the secrets behind the most elusive of all journalism skill-sets. I’m going virtual, baby! Though I need to stay down to earth just a bit longer. I feel like I could monologue forever about the people I’ve learned from, grown with and struggled alongside of – those I would thank. For brevity’s sake, I’ll leave it at this: Thank you, team. I am sincerely thankful for everything we’ve done together, and I wish you the best in all things. You’re awesome – never forget! More specifically, I’m going to give a shout-out to Ryan Henson, editor-in-chief during the beginning of the 2009-10 school year. He invited me to write for The Commuter and is the reason I was able to pursue college in the first place. That said, I’ll catch you next year, LBCC!	Embarking on a New Journey After one year quickly passing by, I find myself embarking on a new adventure as the next editor-in-chief to lead The Commuter.  Not only is my new position a great honor, but a great responsibility. I am excited to be working alongside several talented and hardworking individuals, who have dedicated themselves every week to produce a quality product. In order to follow in this excellence, I have huge shoes to fill. Justin Bolger has led our staff incredibly over the last year and thankfully will continue to be a part of our paper for another year. His dedication is evident in the countless hours spent to ensure each page of The Commuter was above par. The staff of The Commuter works well together and produces a solid and integral publication for the community because they have a strong leader. Among many other goals, my first priority to the readers of The Commuter is to advance the range of news we cover and produce an excellent paper. I believe that students deserve stories that are entertaining, informative, and that cover areas of interest in addition to campus events. With the assistance of returning staff and a number of new members arriving, I have no doubt we will be able to increase readership and deliver worthy news. The news isn’t much good, if it is not integrated with its readers, so I encourage anyone who has feedback, a story they’d like us to investigate, or wants to be involved, to contact me at The Commuter.