There are times, in this town, when I wonder whether our public officials mightn't have a little too much time on their hands. One of these times was on Tuesday, when I was listening to the spokesman for the sheriff's office talk to me about the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, asking, "When was the right time to increase security in Mumbai?"

Officer Paul McRedmond told me he wasn't trying to compare the situation in Mumbai to the hot dog stand outside the Multnomah County Courthouse, but went on to compare it anyway, saying that while the hot dog stand doesn't represent a looming security threat to the courthouse at the moment, they've decided to evict it now, regardless, before other food vendors decide to muscle in on the sidewalk, and, presumably, use it as a base from which to overrun the Taj hotel with machine guns. Er, right...

You can read the story in this week's news section. I'd also be very interested to hear your stories of "the time a hot dog threatened my security," if you have time.