Michael Crabtree: A healthier Miller Woods
The Yamhill Soil and Water Conservation District (district) completed a much needed thinning project at our Miller Woods property last summer. Managing a forest for the overall health of the trees, understory ...
Jeb Bladine: Attention spans continue to shrink
If one thing is clear — and I’m not sure anything truly is clear these days — it’s that our attention spans have grown dangerously short. Some blame 24/7 news programming, while ...

Kathy Beckwith - Breaking the habit of war
Have people given up on “Peace on Earth?” When January rolls around, do we pack the words away with the decorations for another year, and assume it’s a nice, but unlikely, concept? Perhaps ...
Jeb Bladine: By all means, don't tamper with the 2nd
Although I prefer congressional legislation to unilateral executive decree, I understand President Obama’s frustration. Despite the ongoing slaughter, Congress refuses any common sense action seeking ...

Ellie Gunn: Building community one block at a time
Last summer I was alone most of the time as my husband was on a long distance hike on the Pacific Northwest Trail. My neighbors helped me with various garden chores, and I only had to text someone if I ...
Jeb Bladine: Smallest stories can be the biggest
It’s time again to look back on the year’s news and remember some high profile stories. Sometimes, however, the biggest stories are the smallest. It’s hard to argue with various selections ...

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus
[Much of the holiday season traditions are repeated each year, from watching favorite movies to singing timeless carols. In the newspaper industry, there is no tradition that can hold a candle to that ...
Jeb Bladine: Growing MacHub, one donor at a time
The MacHub project has been growing, one donor at a time, since Dec. 1. You can join that donor list the hard way: Go through the hundreds of items accumulated on your shelves and tabletops, in cabinets ...

Steve Macy: Say yes for our kids
In May of 2016, the McMinnville School District Board of Directors will ask voters to support the passage of a facilities bond measure. This measure was recommended by the Long Range Facilities Task Force, ...
Jeb Bladine: Marijuana 'horse' may be out the door
The state of Oregon is going to operate separate, complex regulatory systems for medical and recreational marijuana. There are justifications for a dual system, but pitfalls if it reduces safety for recreational ...
Cami Nyquist: 21st century fundraising
As we are in this wonderful season of giving, wouldn’t it be miracle if we could all pause, even for a moment, in our busy, cluttered lives to ask what can I do or what do I have to give? Where is ...
Jeb Bladine: Trump's campaign uncovers deep pool
Donald Trump may have lost to Angela Merkel as Time’s Person of the Year, but in American politics he definitely was Person of the Week. For Trump, that oft-received award carries a strong dose of ...
Sal Peralta: Buyers, beware
If a single theme has started to emerge in the 2016 election cycle, it is the growing number of voters ready to break out the torches and set fire to the entire political establishment. In the GOP presidential ...
Jeb Bladine: Here's a number we can remember
Even if you have trouble remembering numbers, try to memorize this one: $2.6 billion. Yes, that would be two-point-six-billion-dollars. If this is too many dollars to contemplate all at once, here are ...
Ossie Bladine: Wired to shop local
To prepare for this article, I read up on the past 25 years of “Shop Local” themed columns printed in this section the week of Thanksgiving, most of which were written by my father, Publisher ...