Foes carried the day in grueling landfill battle
On June 22, 2006, Waste Management Inc., an international waste disposal behemoth based in Houston announced plans to expand its 87-acre Riverbend Landfill. Otherwise, the company said, the local disposal ...
Mac video rental business has been model for local companies
There’s plenty to boast about when describing McMinnville to outsiders: The abundance of agriculture-rich landscape surrounding the city sets the stage for world-class wine and dining. Our public ...
Debate on fate of landfill loses sight of big picture
The denouement of Yamhill County’s 10-year Riverbend Landfill expansion saga, triggered by the state’s November remand of a 2-1 county commission approval, degenerated into something surreal, ...
Environmental agencies prove incompetent around the nation
A couplet on current environmental hazards in America would fit nicely into Peter, Paul and Mary’s “Blowin’ in the Wind.” We wonder how many toxins must be released into our neighborhoods ...
Issues with vagrants need prompt actions
Debate at the McMinnville City Council’s annual goal-setting session last month led to a shift in one of its objectives from combating homelessness to fostering more affordable housing. The timing ...
Locals save the day on bypass with an 11th-hour compromise
The Newberg-Dundee Bypass, which has dodged a bucket load of bullets since its inception several decades back, just escaped yet another. And just in time, as bids were due by 5 p.m. Thursday on its northern ...
Recent job losses lend urgency to efforts to draw new industry
The recent sequence of job reductions in Yamhill County is worthy of some concern. Hopefully, it will spur a renewed effort on the part of local leaders, in both the public and private sectors, to make ...
Oregon's independent voices need to be heard
The Motor Voter Act, which Democrats rammed through on a straight party-line vote last year, promises to prove a win-win for them. It not only will swell voter rolls with youthful and often disengaged ...
Museum's bankruptcy filing raises some cause for concern
Filing for bankruptcy was the logical course of action for the Michael King Smith Foundation, in order to avoid a sheriff’s foreclosure auction on the courthouse steps. But it was hardly a predetermined ...
County should adopt set of specific goals
Annual goal-setting is something McMinnville’s mayor, city manager and city councilors undertake most seriously. They devote many hours each January — almost seven this year, in the course ...
Bag of big-ticket items not what voters were promised
In 2010, we supported Measure 71, which created a new 25-day legislative session in even-numbered years. At the time we believed the additional session would “allow approximately one month the following ...
Bankruptcy the best bet for long-lasting museum
Filing for bankruptcy is deeply imbued with negative connotations. But in the cases of the McMinnville troika of Evergreen International Aviation, Evergreen Vintage Aircraft and the Michael King Smith ...
It's way past time to rein in runway energy boondoggle
The Oregon Department of Energy, charged with encouraging conservation of conventional sources and development of renewable alternatives, went about its task quietly and commendably for decades. But the ...
If we pull together in harmony, no problem ever looms too large
Next week, volunteers will do their best to tally an official count of the local homeless population. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development requires the county to conduct such a count every ...
Clash over bypass interchange doesn't require state involvement
Here’s our take on the northern terminus of the Newberg-Dundee Bypass: With no perfect option available, all routes — Springbrook Road to 99W in Newberg, McKay Road via Highway 219 and, yes, ...
