Just got the sad news that our skate buddy from West Linn took his own life over the weekend. No details to share, but plenty of sadness to go around. Our condolences to friends and family.

Sequence of Wes grinding over the stairs at West Linn before the Trifecta last year.

Great shot of the Kona Skatepark sign from Concretins.. Kona is the oldest continuously operating skatepark and will be celebrating their 30th Anniversary July 6-8. Thanks to SkateDaily for the heads up.

Update: Link to Kona Skatepark timeline on The Florida Times-Union web site, Jacksonville.com titled “The Ups and Downs of Kona Skatepark.”

Blackanthem Military News has a short piece on Marines who skateboard called “Lords of Devil Dogtown.” They don’t really make a connection with “devil” and “Dogtown” in the article, so I’m assuming “Devil Dog” has some special significance to Marines or military persons in general. Blackanthem.com seems to be geared for and staffed by U.S. servicemen and women, but the disclaimer at the bottom of the page says they are “not affiliated, endorsed, authorized, or associated in any way with any government, military or country.” OK, sure. Skateboarding in the U.S. military is nothing new. In the eighties I used to skate with a lot of guys from a nearby Air Force base in Rantoul Illinois. A couple of them became good friends for a while. heck, I’ just had the good fortune to get back in touch with one of them. I imagine there were lots of skaters serving during the 70’s as well. Some military bases even have skateboarding facilities on site, although ostensibly they were for the families of servicemen. I remember a few of those 80’s servicemen told me that skateboarding was frowned upon at the base, and they could find themselves in hot water if they got injured skating because it would interfere with their duties. Cut to the new millennium, skateboarding seems to be accepted in the military. There’s guys on the news skateboarding in Iraq, for cryin’ out loud. [Photos: Lance Cpl. Kyle Davis, Cpl. Raymond Peterson III and Lance Cpl. Kyle Davis by Cpl. Brandon L. Roach]

Your kids can overcome their allergy problems using Children’s Claritin, without making them jittery or drowsy. Must not be any good for making meth either. As always, if you can identify the rider or the skatepark, please leave it in the comments. Watch the commercial after the jump.

With Sarah expecting, the birth of Tom’s daughter and two completed parks under our belts (my babies: St. John and Glen Haven) Skaters for Portland Skateparks is currently regrouping and trying to figure out the best way serve the Portland skateboarding community.

We continue to advocate for Portland skateparks, keeping track of Portland Parks and Rec’s process on the new parks – getting the word out through various channels – and continuing to push the 19 skatepark system agenda. Citizens have continued to donate to the organization and we are banking that for an upcoming effort. A recent $700 donation recently came to us through the United Way (I’m guessing a workplace donation program).

13 years of highbrow Maximum Rock and Roll punk journalism has come to an end. Chicago’s Punk Planet is ceasing publication due to “bad distribution deals, disappearing advertisers, and a decreasing audience of subscribers.” You can get Punk Planet at my local hippie grocery store for cryin’ out loud. Those hippies must not be paying their bills. So it goes without saying (except I’m saying it anyway) that Punk Planet’s other title, the skateboard/culture magazine Bail, will officially die as well. Although I haven’t seen a new issue of Bail in what seems like years already. It’s got to be hard to keep an independent magazine in print. As one star fades out, another is in ascendance, so go on over to Razorcake.org and help them make it.

[Source: Time Out Chicago]

The July 1st issue of Bicycle Retailer and Industry News reports that Tony Hawk has inked a deal for a signature bike line with a company called Dynacraft. Tony Hawk will be joining Dynacraft’s illustrious lineup of brands that include Hot Wheels and Barbie. You can buy these performance machines at such fine cycling outfitters as Amazon.com and Target. What’s that? concerned about the quality? Not to worry, according to Bicycle Retailer and Industry News

Tony Hawk bikes will be completely different than anything Dynacraft has distributed in the past,” said John Bisges, managing director at Dynacraft. “They will have higher end components, updated frames and the most cutting edge graphics ever. We are all extremely excited about this new bike line, and are certain it will be a big hit when we showcase it to customers at this year’s Interbike show.” The line will be available in retail stores beginning in spring 2008.

I’m placing bets that Tony Hawk bicycles will likely be a BMX facsimile. Maybe we can expect a Matt Hoffman to start hawking toy skateboards in retaliation. Get a closeup of some previous Dynacraft “cutting edge graphics” after the jump. Update: Not just one bike line, but two! “Huckjam” gets it’s own series of bicycles.