Jeb Bladine: This week, too many stories, not enough space
It’s Spring Grab Bag week, with multiple stories that deserve at least passing commentary.
Muted Earth Day: Earth Day — April 22, often extended to Earth Week — involves more than 150,000 partners and a billion participants worldwide, according to EarthDay.org. But local activities were somewhat restrained, with one April 18 event at Miller Woods with combined activities of the Conservation District, Master Gardeners, Edible Landscapes, Watershed Council and Native Plant Society
Meanwhile, on national television, a comedic Earth Day segment reported new worldwide focus on alternative power sources spawned by the Iran war. The host then presented a globe-holding trophy to President Trump with the inscription: “Earth Day Award For Being A Reckless Idiot Who Accidentally Did Something Good.”
Church Demo Extension: Newspaper deadlines prevented reporting today about Thursday night’s decision by the McMinnville Historic Landmarks Committee on proposed downtown demolition of the historic Methodist Church building. But there’s plenty of time for stories.
If demolition is denied, developers likely will appeal to the Planning Commission. If approved - based on my reading of all the submitted letters - opponents will appeal. Meanwhile, I sometimes think inconsistent protection of old structures is less about buildings and more about choosing development winners and losers.
A Welcome Veto: Gov. Tina Kotek last week vetoed 2026 legislation that would have facilitated public decision-making in private government meetings. One journalism group testified, “This bill essentially guts a law that is foundational to democracy in this state.”
Judy Gerrard of Dayton sent me her letter to the governor with a nice note of appreciation for our newspaper’s strong opposition to the bill. I told her that citizen letters like hers can be more compelling to politicians than newspaper editorials.
Berschauer Comeback? Former Yamhill County Commissioner Lindsay Berschauer survived two recall efforts before losing in 2024 to Bubba King. But she continues campaigning for government policies and candidates on a Facebook page connected to her former political action committee.
This week, both Berschauer and her spouse circulated character assaults on 2026 commission candidate John Linder, based on a laborious search of his personal Facebook page. In 2011, Linder posted “Yay, Yamhillbillys” with a link to the Yamhill County History Museum. It was, they suggested, a slur on the rural Yamhill County populace, making Linder unfit for the office he seeks.
Turns out, Linder was just applauding one of his favorite music groups, the YamhillBillies, who were playing that week at the then-annual Farm Fest event. Oops, you might think! But those offensive FB posts still exist, attempting to distort Linder’s character.
One More AI Tip: Artificial Intelligence platforms often error badly by producing extrapolations from internal memory of diverse information, without initiative-taking research. One tip is to place these directions in your AI-collaboration “profile” for continuous reference by AI:
“Please enter this in my profile: Whenever I ask you questions, don’t just rely on internal memory. Before responding, please seek out official or primary sources and verify your responses with those sources.”
You’ll notice a different tone in your AI responses.
Jeb Bladine can be reached at jbladine@newsregister.com or 503-687-1223.
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