He moved with his family to Bend in central Oregon in 1943 where his father, a lumberman, became manager of the Shevlin-Hixon Lumber Company, one of the two large mills that used to operate on the Deschutes River.

[4] He went on to become chairman of the Oregon Criminal Justice Council in 1987 and was appointed to the State Sentencing Guidelines Board by then Governor Neil Goldschmidt.

Those guidelines remain in effect, though voters set mandatory minimum prison sentences for some violent crimes through Measure 11 in 1994.

[8] Chair, Portland Future Focus (city strategic planning process), 1990–91 (appointed by Mayor Bud Clark).

[4] Myers appointed by Metropolitan Service District Executive Officer Rena Cusma[4] to serve as chair of the Metro Charter Committee.

[8] Unlike counterparts in other states such as California and New York, the attorney general in Oregon can initiate some prosecutions, notably in election-law violations, organized crime and public corruption.

[8] Although Myers was not among the half dozen attorneys general negotiating directly with tobacco industry – Washington state's Christine Gregoire, now governor, was one of them – Oregon received a larger share of the 1998 national tobacco settlement than most other states as a result of the amount of legal work it had done to advance the case.

Myers believes one of the most important points in the settlement had nothing to do with the $246 billion payout that tobacco companies will make to the states during 25 years.

While Mannix ran a fairly strong campaign, he was hurt by the presence on the ballot of Libertarian Tom Cox, who drew nearly 58,000 votes – more than Myers' margin of victory.

[8] Myers drew headlines in 2001 when Oregon went to federal court to defend the Oregon Death with Dignity Act, the state's physician-assisted suicide law, against John Ashcroft who was then United States Attorney General, who opened the way for federal prosecution of doctors who prescribed lethal doses of medication.

[10] Under Myers, Oregon has been a leader in a series of multistate lawsuits against and settlements with big drug manufacturers in the past five years, as recently as October 22, 2008.

[8] In late 2007, the Recording Industry Association of America subpoenaed the University of Oregon, asking it to identify students who, it alleged, had illegally shared copyrighted music.

The lawsuit is in response to the EPA's denial of California's request for a waiver to set stricter tailpipe emissions standards than those set by the federal government, preventing California, Oregon, and other states from implementing stricter greenhouse gas emissions standards for cars.

[8] His public service awards as Attorney General include:[5] Myers married Mary Ann Thalhofer of Prineville in 1962.