For the Benoits, politics runs in the family; Love for public service bonds two generations.
Byline: Bonnie Russell NORTHBRIDGE - J. Alfred "Freddie" Benoit served his community with pride, and his grandson hopes to follow in his footsteps. G. James "Jamie" Benoit, 35, says he is honored to serve as councilman for the fourth district of the Anne Arundel County...

BRIEFLY.
Byline: The Register-Guard German from Lane's sister county to speak The Board of Lane County Commissioners will host a commissioner from Germany at 10 a.m. Wednesday in the Board of Commissioners' Conference Room, Public Service Building, 125 E. Eighth Ave. Franz...

A blessing and curse.
Byline: The Register-Guard Lane County officials probably don't know whether to dance or drop from exhaustion. Or just keep slogging through the mile-deep muck of uncertainty. With mere days left before Lane County was prepared to finalize its budget for fiscal year 2007, Congress has...

Funding loss will slap rural counties.
Byline: Winston Ross The Register-Guard GOLD BEACH - To understand what the loss of federal timber payments in rural outposts such as Curry County means, have a seat in Travis Elder's office. The Curry County deputy district attorney recently asked sheriff's deputy Rod McAllister to...

Anti-income tax petitioners slate one-day signature drive.
Byline: Matt Cooper The Register-Guard Anti-tax organizers plan to collect enough signatures in a single day - Saturday, March 10 - to refer the Lane County commissioners' income tax to a vote of the people as early as September or November, a petitioner said Friday. ...

LETTERS IN THE EDITOR'S MAILBAG.
Byline: The Register-Guard Income tax is a poor choice The Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000 was an incentive to keep us from exploiting the last of the timber in old-growth forests. When those funds dried up, Lane County leaders chose an...

Bipartisan House Committee Leaders Urge Colleagues to Vote Against Horse Slaughter Ban.
Horse welfare and economic impact cited as top reasons to dismiss legislation WASHINGTON, Jan. 25 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In a "Dear Colleague" letter issued today by leadership of the House Committee on Agriculture and the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Reps. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.), John Dingell (D-Mich.),...

Marijuana more than medicinal.
Byline: GUEST VIEWPOINT By Jim Greig The Register-Guard As a registered cannabis-using patient in Oregon, I enjoy the benefit of one of the best medical marijuana programs in the country. If I actually could get access to my medicine in a safe, consistent manner - at a...

Mayor Crump Don't Like It: Machine Politics in Memphis.
Mayor Crump Don't Like It: Machine Politics in Memphis. By G. Wayne Dowdy. (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2006. Pp. xii, 159. $38.00, ISBN 978-1-57806-859-3.) In this slim volume G. Wayne Dowdy, a senior librarian and archivist at the Memphis Public Library and Information Center, argues that...

Getting together; State can play role in regionalism trend.
COLUMN: IN OUR OPINION The Patrick administration's plans to allow communities to benefit from state pension management and insurance purchasing may be the first of several steps to encourage a regional approach to local governance. To be sure, many communities have moved in that direction...