I’m a bit surprised by the article about China Hat Road and the surrounding area in today’s Bulletin; I mean, growing up in this area, sure, you’d expect that type of area to have the usual motorized vehicle, shooting, and dumping problems, but this makes it sound like something out of the Sopranos:

"It’s a hot spot law enforcement-wise, probably the hottest spot in the district," Bend-Fort Rock Ranger District Recreation Forester Marv Lang said. "There’s all kinds of stuff that goes on, from shooting to dumping to murders and everything else in between."

Murders? Have I been missing something?

Of course, there’s no follow-up to the murder comment anywhere else in the article…

Bottom line, if you want to go rural or back to nature on China Hat—or anywhere else in Central Oregon for that matter—use common sense and be alert for potentially dangerous situations like shooting. Even though Bend is growing and becoming more urbanized and such, there’s still a lot of wild country out there and people acting like idiots (or worse) on it.