Oregon Live reporting on an annoying law mandating helmets for anyone under the age of 18 who rides a skateboard or a bike (Seriously, how did our population survive until the new millennia?) is bad enough. But the companion bill leaves the choice out of the hands of adults should they choose to enter a contest or participate in a public demo: Senate Bill 741: Requires person of any age to wear helmet when using bicycle, skateboard, scooter, in-line skates or roller skates when participating in organized exhibition, competition or contest. It’s not a law yet, but has been introduced to the state senate by Chris Edwards. – Thanks to Mac for the tip.

Phase one of Gold Hill, Oregon’s new skatepark in memory of Tom Fish, has been completed. It’s a Dreamland project. It looks fully rideable now, but of course the grand opening is set for April 2nd. [Source: ABC KDRV ]

What used to be the second longest running skateshop in Portland shut it’s doors when they lost the lease on the Department of Skateboarding (DOS Bowl still lives) They were supposed to reopen but they kind of disappeared for a while. You hear rumors but nothing substantial, until a few years later you get an email. The Grand Opening at 1400 E Burnside this Friday.

The new skatepark at Schiffler Park in Beavertron, Oregon is officially open. Video barge courtesy of K.C. after the jump. – Thanks to Mike Estes for the photos.

Well, the skatepark isn’t quite funded yet, but the web site is up.

Indoors, a video from Elias Parise covers some of Portland’s indoor spots, well known and otherwise. 155 days of rain a year? Who knew?

Brooklyn Street Skate Spot – Benefit / Contest / BBQ / Meeting of the minds…. on Saturday December 15th. Hope the weather holds out. Sponsored by no less than three local PDX skate shops Cal Skate, Shrunken Head, and Rip City. Maybe there will be a wrestling match in the cage at the top of the stairs too. EVENT POSTPONED

In some sort of bizarre twist of fate, the city of Eugene, Oregon found itself with a giant surplus of cash and decided to fund floundering skatepark efforts. Sk8Eugene had this to say: In a monumental unanimous decision, the Eugene City Council today voted 8-0 in favor of endorsing the Eugene Parks Department’s recent proposal to allocate additional SDC (Systems Development Charge) funds for the development and construction of the WJ Skatepark in order to begin construction of the ENTIRE proposed skatepark in 2013. Just as importantly, the Parks proposal does not require additional private fundraising for near term ongoing maintenance. Although a continued capital private fundraising campaign will be necessary and ongoing, the Eugene Parks Foundation has stepped up to spearhead these additional private fundraising efforts. Those giant pylons in the design sketch above are actually piers supporting an overhead highway. Fly-throughs of the proposed Dreamland park design can be found here. – Thanks to Sarib and Andrew for the tip.

This week’s Shot of the Week is Rex Pearson in Hood River, Photo by Micah Breshears.

Considering the fact that 90% of voting Oregonians have probably already voted by mail, this very last minute “Official Skate and Annoy Endorsement” of Portland mayoral candidate Charlie Hales is pretty pointless, but here it is for all the procrastinating undecided voters.Charlie was instrumental behind legalizing skateboarding on the streets of Portland. On his own Facebook page he gets hassled for not wearing a helmet in this photo. [Source: Cal Skate via Facebook]