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Letters to the editor: Aug. 13, 2021

Stealth candidates

A year ago, I noticed an influx of very vocal candidates who had either recently moved here or whose resumes reflected little or no experience in governance.

They tended to be highly dismissive of anyone who disagreed with them and quite willing to smear their opponents. Their funding either came from a few wealthy brokers or PAC sources that couldn’t easily be traced.

They claimed the system was broken. They had a well-tuned “message machine” with tons of signs. They campaigned via Twitter and Facebook so they never had to answer questions.

I was alarmed because I had seen this before in Colorado — when a group of eight families moved into our school district with the intent of targeting our local elementary school.

Their objective? To ban books and seize control of the curriculum. They targeted material relating to evolution, other cultures, non-Christian religions, sex education, untraditional lifestyles and elements of American history not considered sufficiently “patriotic.”

Our librarian was vilified. In the short space of six months, they managed to fracture our school community and create a climate of hostility, anger, fear, hate, distrust and prejudice.

Bullying, name-calling, lawbreaking and retribution came to run rampant. Jewish and ethnic parents began to sell their houses and move, calling the hateful atmosphere intolerable.   

It took two years to expose this guerrilla group and another three years to restore our cooperative, tolerant school where every child felt valued.

We were naive. We didn’t understand that this group didn’t play by any rules we recognized and was backed by  dark money from outside our community.

Be careful, Yamhill County. You are just beginning to see how destructive these stealth candidates are. It can and will get worse.   

Margaret Cross

McMinnville

 

Radical agenda

Your editorial call, “Root parties and partisans out of local decisionmaking,” rings hollow after you attack the Republican Party while giving the Democratic Party a free pass to continue its scorched earth policies.

Those policies have opened our borders to illegal aliens, turned our cities into war zones, promoted inflation-fueling spending and condoned radical, Marxist-inspired political organizations like Antifa and Black Lives Matter.

In the schools, the teaching agenda promotes “equity” by lowering the requirements for student achievement.

The new normal is that your birth sex doesn’t matter. You can adopt whatever orientation you desire, and we’ll team you up with a teacher who can help you figure it out.

Meanwhile, the new critical race theory will teach you your race determines what you will achieve because you are either a white oppressor or Black victim. Our white children will learn by repetitive teaching that they are guilty of the sins of their forefathers.

In the 1619 Project, our children will learn the new woke “truth” — that America was founded as a slave-focused nation and it’s still in our DNA. The Black Lives Matter movement includes tearing down institutions like the police so they can be rebuilt to its satisfaction. We Republicans, conservatives and Christians prefer to live peaceful lives. We tend to speak up only when we sense a dire need. Unfortunately, that time has arrived.

The Democratic Party has had unfettered control of the sandbox in recent months, and we can already see the result. We are facing a perfect storm of violent crime, loss of freedom, curbs on free speech, a breakdown of historical social norms, loss of control of our borders, out-of-control spending and a weakened military.

The last straw — and the most important of all — is its attempt to teach our children its radical agenda.

Steve Wozniak

Newberg

 

The editorial voice

My thanks goes out to the News-Register for publishing Mr. Hughes’ Viewpoints cover piece on the need for newspapers to continue publishing editorial matter.

As Mr. Hughes stated well, local papers have a duty to be a marketplace of ideas, and that requires an active editorial page featuring a menu that includes letters to the editor.

These elements truly represent the soul of the community. We are treated to its richness by scope and scan of its contents.

Like many, I am very weary of the blow-dried pundits who pass off the muttering of their handlers as if it were the word of God.

Little of it seems to have much truth contained within. Rather, it appears, and often is, whatever proves  commercially reasonable and non­-offensive to the sponsors.

I would especially like to thank Mr. Bladine, who continues to keep an active editorial page as part of the paper’s  task — something I imagine is harder than it appears. He seems to wave off the slings and arrows of locals who periodically accuse his paper of runaway Bolshevism, and to presents a fair and egalitarian slice of local thought.

I don’t know how much red pen, along with Strunk & White, he applies to whatever comes out of the cornfield in the way of letters. But he seems to let most stand as submitted.

Lets not forget that it is up to us to make known what we hold true and self-evident. It is our responsibility to keep politicians on the straight and narrow, and to watch out for our best interests.

The editorial page of the local newspaper is one of our most effective tools in that regard.

T.L. Elton

McMinnville

 

Not appropriate

Tom Hammer, you were so chivalrous to defend Yamhill County Commissioner Lindsay Berschauer last week with your letter to the editor. You chose only one issue to defend, however, and many were left out.

For instance, when she attempted to break the current law and create new law (which can only happen by legislative action and a governor’s signature) in trying to prevent adolescents from seeking medical help without parental consent. I worked in child welfare services for a long time in another Pacific Northwest state, and was horrified by her disregard for the health and safety of vulnerable adolescents and her excessive control issue. 

The recall petition is being circulated because people believe her aggressive, win-lose behavior is not appropriate for public office and does not represent Yamhill County in the 21st century. But, hey, you are apparently going to support her no matter what.

Sheila Hunter

McMinnville

 

Where was the vote?

Dear Commissioner Berschauer: I was surprised to hear you raise the Yamhelas Westsider Trail earlier this month as you were admonishing the city of Newberg to take its proposed Urban Renewal District to a vote of the people. I don’t recall you asking for a vote on the trail before you threw away as much as 1 million taxpayer dollars. I wish you had.

Susan Watkins

McMinnville

 

Hot paws

Please pay attention to the temperatures listed below: Air 78, concrete 95, asphalt 114.

Air 85, concrete 105, asphalt 130.

Air 91, concrete 125, asphalt 140.

These concrete and asphalt temperatures will burn your dog’s paws. Please walk your dogs early in the morning or wait until the sun goes down and the pavement is cooler.

Sandra Ponto

McMinnville

Comments

Bizzyditchaz

Let's put the trail to a vote by The People. If Lindsey insists on The People having that voice, make it so!

Tom Hammer

To those frustrated that no Trail will be built: Recite the Land Use Law that disallowed this non-conforming use in EFU zoning. It cause LUBA to rule against the Trail every time. Quantify the potential economic loss from reduced farm practices on land adjacent to the proposed Trail. Extend that using the multiplier effect to quantify the economic loss for our area. State with certainty the cost to build the Trail. State with certainty the cost to maintain, provide fire and emergency services, litigate claims against the County and farmers for the proposed Trail. State the details as to why a County official announced his resignation when it was revealed conflicting claims were made to justify expending $1 million in grant money on an illegal bridge. Name other officials complicit in this conduct. All of this occurred before Berschauer took office. Are you interested in solutions that consider all citizens and taxpayers? Can you acknowledge wrongdoing that got us to this point?

tagup

“Potential economic loss from reduced farm practices on land adjacent to the proposed trail “
That’s some major BS.....This is a strip of property owned by the county, not the few farmers that take advantage of free use.....maybe looking at the net worth of the people that signed on and financed the opposition to the trail ( and Berschauer’s campaign) will clarify the motive....

Don Dix

tagup brings up question that all citizens should be privileged to know before elections -- who is buying the politicians? Yeah, each have a benefactor, whether it be individuals or a special interest PAC, so it's the 'who' -- everyone knows the 'why'.

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