It's been a blast. The Ridge might forget me someday soon (we reporters tend to be nomadic types, especially at smaller papers) but I'll never forget the Ridge.

Edge of your seat stuff going on, I'm telling you!

Us Post reporters aren't going into work until 4 p.m. today, in order to put out a special Wednesday edition of The Post with election results for our subscribers.

I'll be updating this blog as much as possible throughout election night, so you'll want to be checking this out regularly.

That being said, along with offering tidbits on the nationwide and local races, there's two other elections I'll be keeping track of:

Illinois Governor: No, not the Democrat and Republican candidates--I want to know what's happening with write-in Tim Nieukirk. The blog of Ryan Sabalow of the Redding Record Searchlight pointed me in the direction of the "Get Nieuked" write-in campaign. I'm rooting for him.

Phoenix, Ore. Mayor: I want to see if Murray LaHue (no relation) pulls it off. It's such a rare last name here on the West Coast, I can't help it...

On a side note, if you're not keen on any of the governor candidates, show your displeasure by writing in Kelly Reed.

What was it? Well, some journalists hold the concept of neutrality so strongly they don't even vote.

Two days before the election, this is an issue I struggle with. Should I, as a journalist, forfeit my voting rights in order to maintain a presentation of neutrality to the public?

KING: You are so impartial, you do not vote, right?

LEHRER: Yes, but that's not a big thing, Larry.

KING: Well, the editor of the "Washington Post" doesn't vote.

LEHRER: I know. I know. In my case, I was covering politics in Texas as a newspaper man in the 1960's.

KING: You were there at the assassination.

LEHRER: Yes, absolutely. But there -- the politics was just really an emotional thing in Texas at the time. And then you had to go into your polling place to vote in a primary. And you had declare publicly whether you were a Republican or a Democrat. And I walked into there to do that one day when I was the political editor of the "Dallas Times Herald." And everybody was staring at me. You know, I had to choose between the two parties. And I walked out, because I didn't want the word to get out: Oh, well, he's a Republican or a Democrat. Lehrer is writing politics. And the politics was ferocious. And I just decided: OK, I'm not going to do this. And so I stopped voting. And it's not a big deal. I don't suggest this for journalists or anything. It's not any creed of mine. It's just something that I do.

I'm conflicted in this situation. This will be my first election where I'm registered in the same place I'm working as a professional reporter. (Until last month, I was still registered in Siskiyou County)

I'm always concerned about presenting issues fairly to readers. In order to do this in a way that pleases as many people as possible, I consider it necessary to even make personal sacrifices in my life. I didn't join certain political clubs while at Chico State, even though I really wanted to.

I know that by voting, those who are desperate to paint the media as being against whatever they stand for (sound familiar to anyone?) will attempt to use that against me and then hold every other journalist on the planet accountable for what I did. It comes with the territory.

But, at the same time, when it comes to voting, I should be participating, because I do believe voting is the right thing to do. My dad didn't serve along the Korean DMZ, my mom didn't grow up a Navy brat and my grandpa didn't get shot up with shrapnel in Europe for me to sit on the sidelines.

But now I've determined the best way to go about this.

If it's an issue I've covered deeply, I'm not voting. There's too much at stake with questioning the neutrality of my reporting for me to risk that — even in the secrecy voting allows.

But everything else is fair game. On those subjects I don't write about, I'm just another person.

So, for this upcoming election, this means I'll be participating in full — with the exception of the District 3 Board of Supervisors race, which I'm eligible to vote in. Even though, by the end of this week, I won't be covering the supervisors anymore.

Call it a happy medium, where everybody wins.

Well, in a figurative sense at least.

UPDATE: Just to note I'm not the only one talking about this issue.

*Why does the Kristie's Law Web site go beyond the law itself--and other legislation related to police pursuit policy--and show the support for the death penalty by its creator(s)?

*Why did somebody at the very least claiming to be Candy Priano--Kristie's mother--post a link to the Kristie's Law Web site in The Post's online feedback, although I would imagine someone as close to the law as she would be would have known it wouldn't have applied in the crash that killed Kathryn Bogosian and Shayne Tinnel?

I headed toward the garden section where all the Halloween merchandise and signs had been just two days before when I was buying a clown mask, rainbow wig, plastic cleaver and fake blood. (don't ask)

But the Halloween signs were gone. In their place were not Thanksgiving signs, but signs about Christmas.

When I went into the garden section to get a bag of fun-size Kit-Kats, the madness was confirmed. Right next to plastic pumpkins and people scurrying for last-second Halloween costumes, there was a display of artifical Christmas trees.

One can complain about rabid consumerism in this situation, but I'm prefering to look at the religious irony of this whole situation with a bit of a laugh.

Think about it. You've got the decorations for Christmas -- the day celebrating the birth of the son of God, of God himself in the flesh -- right next to the decorations for Halloween -- the day with the stereotyping of roaming evil spirits.

I had a laugh. Also, I planned how to snag some discounted candy early Wednesday morning before work.

For some reason, ParadisePost.com's poll question wasn't updated from last week. But the new question, when it's updated, will be "Do you think law enforcement handled the Shayne Tinnel pursuit properly?"

Meanwhile, over at Magalia-based online scanner Web site TheNet411.net, the question being asked is more direct, "Should police pursuits be outlawed on the Ridge?"

Feel free to take part.

Nobody's going to be happy.

I wasn't on the Ridge at the time this accident occurred; I was driving back from Oroville where I was covering a court hearing. But when I got back into the office, I became involved in the process of adding updates to the web stories with information coming from police scanners and reporters (or editors) on the scene.

But something was different this time around—the Web site's feature allowing readers to post comments to a story started going crazy, a level of activity this particular newspaper has not seen online before.

It's an interesting cross-section of thoughts. Here's a sampling, warts and all:

"If Police had shot him when they had him stopped before the accident occurred, an innocent life would not be lost today."

"It is amazing to me how no one ever says a word about the police/sheriff until something bad happens and then everything in the world is their fault. Our little "sleepy" town is not so sleepy and it is time people woke up to the fact things will only get worse."

"If the man was known to be armed and dangerous, then when the car stopped, and the girl got out of the car...why didn't the police shoot him? Shoot him in the leg, or how about shoot the tires out???"

"Do you honestly believe that that man would have slowed down if the cops had stopped chasing him? HE was the idiot, he was the one who killed her. I'd bet that he would have been going just as fast to where ever he was headed even if they did slow down."

"This guy Shayne has a long rap sheet. You can look it up at www.buttecourt.ca.gov. I think there is a major problem in our Justice System. He should have never been able to post bail, he has a history of violence and being a wanted criminal."

Even so, I've spent a long time around Internet message boards both posting and moderating, so I'm taking everything being posted with a grain of salt. Anonymity plus a general disability to easily prove you're someone you claim to be (such as a family member or friend of the victim) brings about high risks of trolling, flaming and pie fights -- Internet terminology relating to a breakdown of civil discussion.

But, what do these comments say?

First off, many people badly want to find someone to blame in this ASAP. The likely suspects:

*The Butte County Sheriff's Office for not busting down the door to Tinnel's house and grabbing him before the collision, for not shooting him at the traffic stop, for not shooting out the tires of the SUV or for not calling off the chase regardless of whether their pursuit was actually motivating Tinnel's speed or not. All of those have been suggested as alternative actions by posters.

*The Paradise Police Department, who were still responding to the scene when the collision occurred.

*Shayne Tinnel for deciding to try and make a run for it rather than face his third strike and a life prison sentence, even though he would still have to be convicted.

*Tinnel's girlfriend, Jennifer Street, the SUV's original driver, for harboring Tinnel rather than turning him in.

*Mike Ramsey and Perry Reniff for what some believe will be an eventual clearing of officer wrongdoing, although it's a state law enforcement agency (in the form of CHP) handling the accident investigation rather than various agencies in the county which handle an office-involved shooting.

*The state Legislature for not passing Kristie's Law, even though the chase would have been free and clear anyways since Tinnel was wanted for a violent felony, the one exemption in the most recent form of the bill written by Senator Sam Aanestad. (On a personal side note, anybody catch local TV's blitz on the Kristie's Law angle? I'm questioning that, especially because of the violent felony exemption)

That's just the stuff off the top of my head. A more detailed re-read likely would have produced more.

Second, I have seen some interesting questions asked by posters—such as placing dashboard cameras in police vehicles, just how clear local law enforcement policy is on police pursuits are, etc. The public can have some good ideas despite the large amount of finger-pointing dominating discussion.

Third, posters are giving the possibility of future stories in their posts. It will be interesting to see if anyone actually brings up the issue of pursuit policy to the Town Council. Or if anybody actually tries to petition for Reniff and Jerry Carrigan to lose their jobs over this.

Fourth, posters are also taking the chance to remind people of donation jars for Bogosian's family at Albertsons or the memorial fund at Butte Community Bank--both ways to help out the one person all sides are agreeing was the innocent in this entire ordeal.

All interesting stuff. It will be fun to see where this goes, and whether such use of The Post's Web site continues in the future.

But, it's going to be on the tail end of this blog. For soon it wll be no more.

I'm not a big guy as far as change goes, so this move is simultaneously frightening and exciting. It's a weird place to be in emotionally.

But, have you gotten your PG&E bill for October yet?

You're getting 15 percent off whatever you were charged in July. Here's PG&E's plan for this bill credit, filed with the California Public Utilities Comission.

Now, here's the interesting part for me. Because the only energy hog in my apartment is the air conditioning, my October bill is now $1.14.

I'm seriously considering writing the check, instead of utilizing another payment option. It's just The Dude in me.

But then there's ones that just get under your skin really bad.

I found one in a July press release from California's own Senator Dianne Feinstein.

Let me set the stage here. Engle is a Chico State graduate, practiced law in Corning, was Tehama County District Attorney for eight years, was elected to the state Senate, won a vacant congressional seat and held it for 16 years, then was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1958.

Engle was just one of 67 votes that broke the filibuster of Southern Democrats over the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but his the most memorable. I'll let the description from Senate.gov go from here:

Never in history had the Senate been able to muster enough votes to cut off a filibuster on a civil rights bill. And only once in the 37 years since 1927 had it agreed to cloture for any measure.

The clerk proceeded to call the roll. When he reached "Mr. Engle," there was no response. A brain tumor had robbed California's mortally ill Clair Engle of his ability to speak. Slowly lifting a crippled arm, he pointed to his eye, thereby signaling his affirmative vote. Few of those who witnessed this heroic gesture ever forgot it.

Engle died one month after casting that vote. He's buried in Red Bluff, and for a time Trinity Lake was renamed for him.

So, in an attempt to paint herself as grand and wonderful over her own personal piece of legislation, Feinstein thought it a great idea to coattail on Engle's vote. But, her office managed to botch it (look at the bold print for what I mean):

On this day, I am also mindful of the contributions Californians have made in the fight for civil rights.

On June 10, 1964, the Civil Rights Act was being filibustered on the Senate floor. No filibuster of a civil rights bill in the 20th Century had ever been broken. Senator Claire Engle of California, who held the seat I now occupy, was suffering from terminal brain cancer. He was wheeled into this chamber. Though he was too sick to speak, he indicated his “aye” vote for cloture by gesturing toward his eyes.

Claire Engle?

Where did the "e" come from?

Isn't that the female spelling?

Senator, I didn't serve with Clair Engle. I didn't personally know Clair Engle. But Senator, you're no Clair Engle.

If you're going to try to compare yourself with another senator, and one from the real Northern California at that, could you make sure your people at least spelling his CENSOREDing name right?

Photo courtesy of Alli's MySpace

Yeah, there is a town in that photo. I swear.