Letters to the Editor: April 17, 2026

Open and respectful

I am following the 2026 Commissioner races with interest.

Having served Yamhill County for eight years as sheriff and six as undersheriff, I am aware of what it takes to make county government effective and responsive. It is essential that commissioners make decisions only after the deepest examination of all issues involved.

Commissioners should welcome opposing as well as supporting opinions, but it’s clear to me that some members of the current board do not take this view.

Over the years, I have worked with a number of citizen advisory boards composed of diverse elements representing all parts of Yamhill County. Members have comprised a broad spectrum of professions and political interests.

My first advisory board developed from a group of citizens who approached the Sheriff’s Office about putting a sheriff’s levy on the ballot. These citizens wanted to find a way to increase available services throughout Yamhill County.

The levy that grew from their grassroots efforts provided essential funding for more than a dozen years.

My second advisory board sought to deal with our old jail. I reached out to another group of interested citizens whose energy and guidance resulted in building a new jail first and later a juvenile detention facility.

In both instances, the solution was crafted by the community.

My point is this:

County commissioners must encourage broad citizen participation in all planning and decision-making. This means welcoming conflicting points of view.

This does not mean loading boards with family and friends serving as comfortable rubber-stamps, as I have seen happen all too often in recent years.

I am supporting Neyssa Hays and John Linder. I am confident they will not permit the cronyism and nepotism that has defined boards of commissioners for too long now — that they will encourage all points of view and listen respectfully with open minds.

Lee Vasquez

McMinnville

No to violence

How did we ever become so accepting of the idea that those who can blow up, smash or destroy the most things, and kill the most people, are the ones best qualified and most deserving to be in charge of deciding how things go — of deciding how the problem is to be resolved? Yikes!

Say we applied that criteria to a problem at home, in our family? Blow up the house and kill … ? (I can’t even write it!)

What about problems at school? Burn down the school and … ?

For problems in our community? Blow up our bridges, roads, community centers, hospitals, power stations, girls’ school next to the Armory?

Oops. Mistake. Too bad about that last one. But “oops” doesn’t undo it. The girls are dead. So we turn to talking about the price of gas, not worrying about the forever sadness of those girls’ families and the preciousness of their lives ended. We don’t even know their names.

This doesn’t make sense. It is so wasteful, so cruel, so ridiculous. And it leads to others thinking they must retaliate, be cruel back.

When there is a problem, even a hard problem, isn’t it wiser to figure out the roots of the problem and the reasons for others’ perspectives? To listen, to learn, to know these people? To ask help from others who have had experiences different than ours? To use alternatives that have been proven to be effective in problem-solving, and are effective in preventing war?

Alternatives to destruction and death and cruelty are here. We can choose to use them.

We ask it of our children, our families, our communities. Let us ask it of our nation. Now.

Kathy Beckwith

Dayton

MAGA redux?

As a current and long-time owner of antique VWs, I was pleasantly surprised to see an iconic VW bus on Jason Fields’ very early distribution of many, many campaign signs. For many of us old-timers, VWs encapsulate a more innocent age of “Peace, Love and Rock ‘n’ Roll.”

But with a bit more research, I realized that many of Mr. Fields’ sign placements were in the same locations as our prior County Commissioners Mary Starrett and Lindsey Berschauer. Continuing to dig, I noticed his campaign funding also seemed to be somewhat consistent with that of Starrett and Berschauer.

So, who exactly are we being asked to vote for — an individual who will bring debate that is kinder and gentler, more rational and inclusive, to the board of commissioners, or, as is likely the case, the same MAGA approach to governance that brought us political gridlock locally and the brink of WW III nationally?

Patrick Evans

McMinnville

Accountability

I support John Linder for county commissioner.

We need accountability in our local government. We need to clearly define the desired outcomes and policies to implement those outcomes. We also need a rigorous evaluation progress to determine if the goals have been achieved.

Unfortunately, this kind of accountability has been largely absent over the past decade.

John trained as a CPA, so understands numbers and — most importantly — accountability. During his career he has advised investors, businesses and public boards, helping them to establish measurable goals and to develop systems to track the results.

One example to demonstrate Yamhill County’s lack of leadership arises from the $2.2 million ARPA grant, awarded in 2023 to address a critical lack of childcare.

A child care taskforce was formed. It presented well-reasoned findings, but the implementation fell short.

About two-thirds of the funds were directed toward afterschool programs — a worthwhile cause, but one that did not address the identified issue of childcare capacity.

Only one-third of the grant money ended up going toward increased capacity, and even then, without well-defined expectations or measurable outcomes. We are entitled to expect more from our local government.

Linder would bring a results-oriented approach to the board of commissioners. He understands that good intentions are not enough, that measurable outcomes and accountability are essential.

Electing John Linder is the best way to ensure we get the accountability, effectiveness, and outcomes we deserve.

Robert Higgins

McMinnville

Forum insights

At an April 11 forum, the four candidates for Yamhill County commissioner shared their thoughts. There was one theme of agreement — costs have been increasing faster than revenues, resulting in growing gaps in the provision of essential services.

They also agreed raising taxes on county taxpayers is not a solution. The difference comes in how each plans to respond.

Jason Fields proposes to sell the fairgrounds for housing development and use sales revenue to develop a new fairgrounds and amphitheater on other county-owned property. The idea is the amphitheater generating revenue to fill the gap.

Neyssa Hays proposes we restore the lost grant-writing position to help us get back our fair share of state and federal tax dollars. The current board fired our professional grant writer and put the responsibility on the various county departments, but grant writing is a specialized skill, so we have fallen behind other counties.

Hays also proposes to focus on helping existing businesses grow. Meanwhile, John Linder proposes we grow our tax base by re-engaging with SEDCOR to attract more traded business investment supporting living-wage jobs.

Linder also proposes we ask visitors to pay a lodging tax. After all, if our visitors don’t pay for services they use, it falls to the rest of us.

Kit Johnston favors the status quo with regard to both grant writing and SEDCOR. And he’s a “hard no” on a lodging tax.

Linder said, “If you like the way things are going, you should vote for Kit.” Johnston agreed, the impression being four more years of the same.

I will be supporting Neyssa Hays and John Linder — Hays because of her credible background raising grant money for a successful nonprofit, and Linder because of his strong finance background and focus on re-engaging business development professionals.

Phil Forve

McMinnville

Unconditional support

I’m writing to wholeheartedly endorse John Linder and Neyssa Hays for Yamhill County commissioner because they reflect the values I want in the position: transparency, honesty, trust and knowledge.

I served with John on the McMinnville School District’s budget committee. I valued his knowledge and expertise in our discussions and understanding of fiscal responsibility.

He knows how budgets work and would apply that knowledge to ensure fiscal responsibility and accountability in our county budget. He would work to obtain grants that will bring back money to Yamhill county, whereas dollars we pay in federal and state taxes are currently being lost to us because of commissioner beliefs.

I work with Neyssa when I volunteer at outdoor learning experiences for McMinnville students. She brings a wealth of knowledge about how to run a successful business and collaborate with other agencies and people.

She genuinely cares for our community and environment. She is an intelligent thoughtful woman who listens and seeks to understand what needs to be done. She manages a successful nonprofit, so she knows how to budget and be fiscally responsible.

Both of these candidates would work with — not against — county partners. They would exercise fiscal responsibility and bring hard-earned dollars back to our county via grants — grants that for far too long now, we haven’t sought.

Both of these candidates actually listen.

They have my unconditional support and vote. I hope they have yours as well.

Lu Ann Anderson

McMinnville

Find your voice

1) The people who want to mess with Social Security don’t need it or depend on it.

2) The people who are defunding our national parks have never visited them and don’t appreciate or love them.

3) The people who are trying to abolish the Education Department only send their own children to private schools.

4) The people wanting to abolish or diminish funding for food stamps and Medicare have never been hungry or poor or known anyone who was.

5) The people getting rid of diversity, equity and inclusion seem to care nothing for people facing disabilities, marginalization or discrimination..

6) The people defunding VA hospitals and program always say they support our veterans, but in truth, treat them with utter disrespect.

7) The people calling most loudly for making America a Christian Nation seem to have none of the attributes of a Christian — you know, the ones Jesus talked about, such as feeding the poor, welcoming the stranger, loving your neighbor, making sure widows and children are cared for and giving people a second chance.

8) The people who want to defund programs like PBS, Head Start, NPR and SNAP claim they’re from the party supporting families.

9) The people who claim to love our troops are putting them in danger, with their needless wars and careless security procedures.

There is so much more, but you get the picture. If you are noticing these things too, it is time to do something about it.

Please find your voice, find your courage and show your love for America. Otherwise, we will lose the democracy countless people have fought and died for.

I want to be proud of our country and what we stand for. I bet you do, too.

Gloria LaFata

McMinnville

Follower of Jesus?

We’re told that Jesus would never pray to inflict overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy.

Hegseth says he’s a Christian. So by extension, he considers what he does is what Jesus would do.

Yet, watch him here, courtesy of YouTube: tinyurl.com/ssxyd8jt.

From everything I’ve seen and read about this administration, I believe Gandhi was right when he said, “I never met a Christian.” He meant he never met a person who really followed the Jesus model.

For proof, consider the case above.

Jesus would not kill Iranians, especially unmercifully. He’d heal them!

Sheila Hunter

McMinnville

Stop the corruption

It’s time to restore common-sense solutions, responsible fiscal management and respectful productive communications with leaders who are capable of making Yamhill County work for all of us.

Stop the cronyism and corruption. Please join me in voting for Neyssa Hays and John Linder to ensure a brighter future for this beautiful place we call home.

Deborah Weiner

McMinnville