<span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: ‘Lucida Sans’;" class="R~sep~ACopyBody">I was watching the Portland Trail Blazers game, and I noticed that on their jerseys they have “Rip City.” I have several friends that are into the NBA and I asked them, I said, “What’s ‘Rip City’?” They said, “Have no idea.” What is it?</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The phrase, which dates from the team’s first NBA season, was first uttered by former Trail Blazers radio announcer Bill Schonely.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Schonely, who served as the voice of the team for nearly 30 years, called it out as a Blazers player sank a long-range shot in a game against the Los Angeles Lakers on Feb. 18, 1971.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“Portland was down by 20, 25 points. Then, all of a sudden, it came to the point where the next bucket made would tie the Lakers,” Schonely told SI.com.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“There was a big crowd, and we were all into it. Jimmy Barnett came over the midcourt line, and for whatever reason, he let it fly.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">More from that story, which appeared on the site’s The Cauldron blog in November:</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyInfoBox">“He was ready to criticize me</span> <span class="R~sep~ACopyInfoBox">on the shot,” Barnett recalls. “Like ‘What in the world is he doing?’ ”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyInfoBox">Forty-five years later, Schonely’s voice still crests at the thought, the story’s pace quickening with each sentence.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyInfoBox">“I was right there at midcourt,” Schonely says, “and he literally stopped in front of our broadcasting spot, and, why, I’ll never know … but the ball was in flight. I watched it all the way, and I came out with … why, I have no idea … ‘RIP CITY, ALRIGHT!’</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyInfoBox">“We go to commercial, and I sit down at my chair to relax for a minute or two, and the guys at press row said, ‘Rip City? I said, ‘Yeah’.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyInfoBox">“They said, ‘Leave it in.’ ”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Incidentally, Portland lost that long-ago game, 136-114.</span>

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<span style="font-weight: bold;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">Online:</span> <span class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">www.nba.com.</span>

<span class="R~sep~AHeadBrief">Stakes part of survey for barrier project</span>

<span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: ‘Lucida Sans’;" class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Why are there stakes with tape set up every eighth of a mile or so along Interstate 210?</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“We have been surveying for a cable barrier project on I-210,” Deidra Druilhet, state Department of Transportation and Development spokeswoman, wrote in an email.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“Cable barriers are a safety feature designed to deflect a vehicle that enters the median, keeping it from potentially crossing the median into oncoming traffic. They are designed to absorb the impact of the collision and to hold a vehicle in the median, not pushing the vehicle back into traffic.”</span>

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<span style="font-weight: bold;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">Online:</span> <span class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">www.dotd.la.gov.</span>

<span class="R~sep~AHeadBrief">LC solid waste office oversees collections</span>

<span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: ‘Lucida Sans’;" class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Who do I call to complain about my trash not getting picked up in Lake Charles?</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Call the city’s solid waste office at 491-1220.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The office’s responsibilities, as listed on the city’s website:</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">“Furnish once-a-week garbage container collection.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">“Provide container maintenance and repair on all city-supplied-and-owned containers with 24 hours of reported request.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">“Provide collection of trash and yard waste from residences a minimum of four times monthly.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">“Provide a citywide collection of white goods from residences when required.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">“Operate a wood waste processing facility for the general public.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">“Enforce the provisions of Chapter Nine of the Code of Ordinances for the City of Lake Charles.”</span>

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<span style="font-weight: bold;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">Online:</span> <span class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">www.cityoflakecharles.com.</span>

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<span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">The I</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">nform</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">er answers questions from rea</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">ders each Sunday, Monday a</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">nd Wednesday. It is re</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">searched and written by</span> <span style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">Andrew Perzo</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">, an</span> <span style="font-style: italic; font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">American Press</span> <span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">staff wri</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">ter. To ask a question, call</span> <span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">494-409</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">8 and leave voice mail, or ema</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">il informer@americanpress.com.</span>