From Oregonlive.com: After storybook boom, Bend faces a tough chapter.
Once upon a time not so long ago, developers seeking magic money poured $4 million into a "Lord of the Rings" subdivision here complete with hobbit holes and thatch-roof houses.
This month Umpqua Bank, which foreclosed on The Shire, unloaded the moribund development for just $750,000.
It's hardly the storybook ending J.R.R. Tolkien might have written for a project that symbolized the extremes of Bend's legendary boom. But central Oregon has become the Middle Earth of unemployment -- at 17 percent, Bend suffers the second-highest rate among metro areas nationally -- as retirees scramble for work and homeless people supplant outdoor enthusiasts.
Down the road, more bargain hunters cruise the aisles at Gottschalks, an apparel chain that's liquidating six months after opening its newly built Bend outlet. Along the same highway, the Westward Ho Motel promotes a $29 "stimulus special."
At the hobbit-themed Shire development, Greg Steckler, the lone homeowner, yearns for an economic recovery that would give him some neighbors. "I want some help mowing these lawns," he says.
Lawd, it's a dumbfest out there!
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