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"Whatchamacolumn" by Jeb Bladine

The News-Register publisher writes about the community; people; local, state and national affairs; and sometimes whimsey.

Whatchamacolumn: Businesses may close, but memories aren't lost

Change is inevitable. Businesses come and go. Entire industries fade from memory, from typewriters to phone booths, pagers to print encyclopedias, film photography to VHS tapes. While we embrace changes ...

Whatchamacolumn: Time for city to focus on a new aquatic center

New political leadership — as seen daily on the national scene — can bring new sets of eyes to challenges of best serving the public interest in a democratic society, and not always for the ...

Whatchamacolumn: City budget transparency faces information overload

A newly constituted McMinnville City Council took office on Tuesday, that following Saturday’s council goal-setting retreat. Along the way, discussion of the sprawling city budget produced an interesting ...

Whatchamacolumn: Scammers come at us every day in every way

Here’s a disquieting New Year’s thought: Every day, in every way, criminals are preying on vulnerable people via phone, mail, texts, email; all manner of print, digital, video and audio misrepresentations; ...

Whatchamacolumn: City governance to represent all the people

McMinnville City Council’s final 2024 meeting on Wednesday began with extended, well-deserved accolades for long public service by Mayor Remy Drabkin and outgoing council members Kellie Menke and ...

Whatchamacolumn: Producing history with downtown development

There are several well-known, foreboding quotes about failure to learn from history, but my favorite is the lighter touch provided by Mark Twain: “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often ...

Whatchamacolumn: Local election results are short on details

Taking a deep dive into election results is fun for some, boring for others … for me, it’s a deep-seated habit from 50-plus years of writing news and commentary about election outcomes. Computers, ...

Whatchamacolumn: Drug programs ‘building the plane while it’s flying’

Oregon’s experiment with drug decriminalization became a governmental, political, social and financial fiasco. But for better or worse, the money keeps on flowing. It’s impossible to quickly ...

Whatchamacolumn: Investigative reporting on ills of Measure 118

Readers today will see the newspaper’s strong opposition to Oregon Ballot Measure 118, a major tax increase disguised as a magnanimous government handout to every Oregonian regardless of need. One ...

Re-do revealed on downtown development plans

McMinnville’s Third Street Improvement project, long a topic of controversy about trees, design and parking, became a source of background murmurs earlier this year. It first came to my attention ...

Whatchamacolumn: Newspaper viability messages in a new format

We’ve known for years that this time was coming. In the first quarter of the 20th century, automobiles and electric streetcars overtook a horse-drawn transportation system dating back to ancient ...

Whatchamacolumn: Presidential win predicted; but focus on local

Labor Day weekend led us directly and deeply into election season, with high stakes votes coming on local, regional, statewide and national candidates and issues. Look for spirited campaigns for city ...

Whatchamacolumn: Making sure trust is tempered with wariness

The older I get, the more cautious I become about financial transactions with anyone I don’t personally know and trust. Sometimes, even that isn’t enough protection from fraud. Take Ruben ...

Whatchamacolumn: System development charges replace tax increases

Tax increase proposals, always controversial, can be defeated by voters. Local government tax increases for infrastructure development, also controversial, are being avoided with significant increases ...

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