The founder of Earth Day murdered his girlfriend and tried to compost her in his backyard.

If you mean Ira Einhorn, he did claim to have been an Earth Day founder-- but then he claimed a lot of things...

That's what I thought; it didn't really make a difference because the boat just sailed on through but it did catch the world's attention. People here in Portland were mad about it just because we're overpopulated enough and the last thing we need is another bridge getting shut down, but you know what? Fuck those people who said they should've been hanging by their necks instead (there were a lot of those people.)

This particular bridge has actually been in the news a lot recently. Somebody allegedly threw a kitten off the bridge and it held on and was rescued by the firemen about a day later when somebody heard the meowing. The kitten is in good health. :)

You know who else caught the world's attention by being dedicated to a cause?

Hitler.

I lived up Germantown Ave near this bridge. I stopped someone from jumping off it a couple times (same person).

Cool! I used to take Barnes when picking up my client but I switched to Germantown kind of by accident. Much faster. When I was taking Barnes I'd go under the Vista, which now has barriers on the sides which make it nearly impossible to jump off of. I'm fortunate in that I've never had to be in that situation but I did talk someone out of suicide over the phone not too long ago, which is harder than it sounds.

I've had to talk people out of suicide over the phone as well, and it's just as hard.

Yeah, neither one's "easy" by any means, but I always though actually talking someone out of doing something in person would be a lot harder, because if they call you, it's a cry for help, even if that call is to let you hear their last breaths before intentionally overdosing on heroin. I like to think that I would stop and help a stranger who was about ready to jump off a bridge or had a gun or something but that takes some serious guts.