By KEN DOLLINGER As I enter my eighth decade circling the sun, now the oldest male in my family going back three generations, I find myself being nagged by an increasing amount of introspection. I guess ...
Editorials
N-R editorial: Jobless benefits for strikers violates standard of fairness
Extending unemployment benefits to striking workers in both the public and private sectors — a national first the Oregon Legislature now seems poised to sign off on — is a bridge too far for ...
Cool heads and wise choices called for in manager search
Jeff Towery’s decision to leave McMinnville after putting in a bit over eight years as city manager here, presents the community with both a challenge and an opportunity. We hope local leaders will ...
Don't let highway finance fall victim to partisanship
When the Oregon Legislature opened its 2025 session on Jan. 21, crafting a new state transportation package promised to prove one of the most demanding tasks on its agenda. And with a statutorily imposed ...
Hoping we can restore the luster to police work
Facing a $3 million shortfall in McMinnville’s fiscal 2025-26 budget, city staff recommended cutting 11.6 positions, six of them in the police department. On Wednesday night, the budget committee ...
Region faces power crisis demanding concerted action
Oregon has joined Washington in pledging to put its electric utilities on a carbon-neutral footing by 2040. Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek noted the two states had been “leading the way for years on courageous ...
Time county got serious with dog control function
Dog control has remained an orphan function of Yamhill County government for decades, starved for even a welcoming embrace from the powers that be, let alone extension of meaningful financial support. ...
Chemeketa and Sheridan bonds deserve our votes of confidence
There are 45 school, fire and park district seats up in Yamhill County in the looming May 20 election, but only 12 are being contested. One seat drew no candidates, and 32 seats drew just one. If you ...
New stormwater fee justifiable only as replacement, not add-on
Three years ago, McMinnville began assessing the need to follow the path of most cities its size and larger in establishing a separate stormwater utility operation with its own fee structure. To that end, ...
Board got parting right, needs to get hiring right
In response to the naming of Debbie Brockett as school superintendent in the spring of 2021, we opened our editorial this way: “When Maryalice Russell was named superintendent of schools here in ...
Reliable local transit a linchpin for many
We live in times marked by something akin to a crisis a day, if not an even more frantic crisis of the hour or minute. It’s so dizzying, it can numb us into a state of near paralysis. So one of ...
Letters
News-Register Letters Policy
The News-Register welcomes written opinions about issues of public interest and about the content of this newspaper. Letters from non-local writers are accepted only if they focus on local issues. This ...
Letters to the Editor: June 13, 2025
Putter in place What if they throw their “really big show” and no one shows up? What if all those who would protest against the parade get really smart. Instead of walking into a set-up that ...
Letters to the Editor: June 6, 2025
Share the burden Did anyone else follow the recent city of McMinnville budget hearings? They were lengthy and often exhausting, as city officials worked to address a projected $3 million shortfall. After ...
Letters to the Editor: May 30, 2025
Backing the blue I would like to express my support for the budget committee members who voted to allocate partial funding to mitigate potential position losses within the McMinnville Police Department. The ...
Letters to the Editor: May 23, 2025
Do the right thing In 2021, my husband and I made the decision to leave Los Angeles and relocate to Oregon. Yes, we’re those people. We knew we wanted to settle in a small town, so we turned to ...
Letters to the Editor: May 16, 2025
Retain period look As a downtown McMinnville resident, co-owner of a Third Street business and former historic restorationist, I would like to express my concerns about the latest plans for the Third ...
Letters to the Editor: May 9, 2025
Passionate and committed As someone who was raised in McMinnville, as a proud graduate of our public schools, and as a parent whose children have also come through the system, I care deeply about the ...
Letters to the Editor: May 2, 2025
Skills and commitment Based on my 23 years of experience working for the McMinnville School District, including 10 years as an elementary school principal, and now as an active volunteer, I want to encourage ...
Letters to the Editor: April 25, 2025
Communication breakdown After being gone for several weeks, I was stunned and upset when I returned home to discover Superintendent Debbie Brockett was being terminated. It was my impression that she ...
Letters to the editor: April 18, 2024
Hispanic community issues I am a concerned school district parent serving as vice president of the Hispanic PTA of McMinnville. I would like to share some of my concerns and frustrations with you. One ...
Commentary
Ken Dollinger: Approaching aging with an adventurous attitude
By KEN DOLLINGER As I enter my eighth decade circling the sun, now the oldest male in my family going back three generations, I find myself being nagged by an increasing amount of introspection. I guess ...
Offbeat Oregon: Second-largest city, Camp Adair, built in six months
By early 1941, the U.S. Army knew it was about to get sucked into at least one of the wars that were already raging around the world. The Selective Service and Training Act had passed the previous fall, ...
Jeb Bladine: Maintaining connectivity among local leaders
McMinnville’s history includes eras with long-serving leaders integrated throughout what admittedly was a smaller, more cohesive community in less complex times. That history wasn’t without ...
Madilynne Clark: House Water Resources bills assess double what's needed
By MADILYNNE CLARK Of the Cascade Policy Institute House Bills 2808 and 2165 seek to address the Oregon Water Resources Department budget shortfall of $875,000, but through different methods. Instead ...
N-R editorial: Jobless benefits for strikers violates standard of fairness
Extending unemployment benefits to striking workers in both the public and private sectors — a national first the Oregon Legislature now seems poised to sign off on — is a bridge too far for ...
Letters to the Editor: June 13, 2025
Putter in place What if they throw their “really big show” and no one shows up? What if all those who would protest against the parade get really smart. Instead of walking into a set-up that ...
Investigating the Bible: A father’s forgiveness
By David Carlson Pastor As a father, President Harry S. Truman, gave this guidance: “I have found the best way to give advice to your children is to find out what they want and then advise them ...
Quirk of the Week: Where the sidewalk oddities begin
From arm-span vineyards to imbedded bricks, we return this week to sidewalk scenes, a seemingly-endless Quirk resource. Sidewalk surfaces, wherever you go, are themselves examples of Quirk, on several ...
Charles House: Stop rewriting history to downplay the pandemic
The lunacy continues. Now the demented head of HHS, clearly beset by his own brain worm, has decided for all of us that we basically should not have free rights to the Covid vaccines unless we are over 65 with other unspecified underlying conditions.
Investigating the Bible: Unanswered prayers
The late Ravi Zacharias was a senior research fellow at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford University and a respected Bible scholar. In his book, “Has Christianity Failed You?” he wrote about his family’s experience with prayer when his mother suffered a stroke at the young age of fifty-seven.
Jeb Bladine: Setting pride aside to focus on city leadership
McMinnville City Manager Jeff Towery’s resignation announcement sparked a flurry of community talk, news stories and commentary, all of which will continue with background of the semi-charged politics ...
Quirk of the Week: Signs designed to guide, instruct and divert
Signage is an anchor when it comes to Quirk. We are surrounded by signs; they serve critical needs and varied interests. Official or otherwise, they provide information, guidance and entertainment. This ...
Jan Iversen: Learning how we can take a step closer to each other
Standing in the crowd along Adams Street holding up my homemade sign of protest, I was in a good position to study the faces of the people driving by — especially since the signal at Fifth often slowed drivers to a crawl.
Journalism faculty warns against curbs on speech
An open letter to our journalism students and the University of Oregon community from faculty and staff of the School of Journalism and Communication: Dear students, colleagues and our community, Journalism ...
Jeb Bladine: Oregon leads fast-moving tariffs lawsuit
Federal courts, usually a tortoise in the race for justice and resolution, can still move quickly and decisively, as the Trump Administration learned again this week. Activation of new U.S. tariffs began ...
Investigating the Bible: Painful accountability
By DAVID CARLSON PASTOR Attempts to evade taxes have a long history. In the 1950s a man reported that he had imbibed two quarts of wine each week and two quarts of gin each month to conserve water during ...
Quirk of the Week: At Linfield, ‘curiosities’ scroll out in time for commencement week
With Linfield University commencement scheduled for Sunday in the Oak Grove, this Quirk of the Week takes a tour around the hallowed halls and pleasant paths of campus. First, a stop at the community ...
Rusty Rae: Hardy entrepreneurs honor Oregon newspaper heritage
What does it take to publish a community newspaper these days? It may seem a strange question to ask here, but these days, running a newspaper is fraught with challenges no ordinary person would take, even on a dare.
Jeb Bladine: Financial uncertainty of downtown development
Plans for major renovation of downtown McMinnville infrastructure have been studied, debated, expanded, delayed, amended and delayed again to the point of great financial uncertainty. The long-promised ...
Investigating the Bible: Good gossip
Here’s a word for Scrabble: quidnunc. It’s Latin for what now? Webster’s Dictionary says this a person who is “…avidly curious and given to speculating, especially about ephemeral or petty things.” A quidnunc is a gossip and it is little surprise how the Bible treats this behavior.
