Letters to the Editor: March 20, 2026

So much to say

There’s so much to talk about.

First, a rare commendation to the News-Register for a most excellent editorial, “Bipartisanship has moment in most self-serving of ways.” The drug of choice in politics is money, and it doesn’t matter which party affiliation.

One suggestion that would get as much traction as shutting off the dark money spigot is taxing donations to non-profits. No exemptions for any of them!

I would suggest a sliding scale, with political donations at the top. But that would allow for too much deception.

Next, the letter from Don Bowle, “Time to Move On.” It’s time all you sufferers of TDS, and we all know what that means by now, got over it and focused on local politics.

Our state and local taxes are among the highest, yet the state is pursuing ever more, at the expense of residents and businesses. Kotek does everything she can to thwart the will of the people, and her cadre blindly follows her lead with whatever she wishes.

The gas tax and negation of federal small business tax cuts are most unpopular, and then there’s her never-ending quest to take the kicker back from those who paid it. Oregon is also at the top for estate taxes.

She crows about no money for infrastructure and state police, but can find billions for homeless, housing and illegal immigrants, and was able to find $7.8 million for Planned Parenthood. It’s time you demonstrators got out there with “NO QUEEN” signs.

Locally, Cooperative Ministries wants to build a 72-unit affordable housing apartment building on prime downtown real estate, and with only 59 parking spaces. They’ve got to be kidding!

Housing for farmworkers? In downtown McMinnville, food and wine hub of the Willamette Valley?

I could go on, but am saddled with word limits.

Steve Sommerfeld

Sheridan

A new way

I have been anxiously awaiting a chance to respond to the News-Register’s Jan. 23 editorial, “Schools Face Crisis Point; Course Correction Needed.”

SB 1596 passed with bipartisan support during the recently ended legislative session and was signed by the governor. It directs the State Board of Education to allow “play-based learning” to be considered instructional time for students in kindergarten through grade 5.

The bill was introduced specifically to address our public schools’ declining enrollment and the rise in families choosing homeschooling, private online learning, private charter schools and other private schools over the public-school setting.

For years now, I have been working with a team of retired educators seeking ways to refresh, strengthen and bolster our public-school curriculum, ensuring it will actively engage our children in personally meaningful, socially interactive and joyful activities that can be incorporated into all subjects. It is a pedagogical technique, not a new course.

This “science of learning” technique is already being practiced in Connecticut, New Hampshire, Oklahoma and, most recently, Oregon. I personally visited Rogue Primary School in Central Point to observe its use in classrooms.

The editorial states, a “Transforming Schools project developed by the Learning Policy Institute calls for more innovation, empowerment, engagement, real-world relevance and individualized tailoring.”

The “play-based learning” approach goes beyond academic content to help students develop a range of skills for success in school and life. They include collaboration, communication, critical thinking, creative innovation and confidence.

These skills are particularly important in home and work environments increasingly dominated by social media, artificial intelligence and robots.

The Active Playful Learning team puts it this way on its website, found at www.activeplayfullearning.com: “The time is now to build a new approach, to reinvigorate education on the ground, rekindle teachers’ passion for their profession, and help students build a lifelong love of learning.”

Liz Marlia-Stein

McMinnville

Wall of apartments

I was speechless — well, almost — when I read the article about the massive apartment complex proposed on Second Street in downtown McMinnville, between Ford and Evans streets.

Four stories, 72 units and just 59 parking spaces! What are they thinking?

This is a residential area of mostly older single-family houses with a small number of barely noticeable low-profile apartment buildings of maybe 12 units scattered here and there.

I live in this neighborhood. I used to live directly across the street from the Cooperative Ministries, and am now just a few blocks down.

I can tell you first hand that this quiet, historic neighborhood in the heart of downtown cannot possibly accommodate this massive influx of new residents and their accompanying vehicles.

I am also a downtown business owner. In fact, the back door of my art gallery, where art classes are taught, faces the Methodist Church building currently occupying that corner.

Our students already have a hard time finding nearby parking spaces.

The project would have 59 parking spaces for 72 units. Would folks doing business downtown ever find a parking space?

I can’t believe this huge four-story apartment building could be judged compatible with the zoning laws in our downtown neighborhood. If so, then we must rely on the Historic Landmarks Committee and public opposition to help kill this massive project.

Phyllice Bradner

McMinnville

Sad intolerances

According to letter writer Robert Long, because I am a Democrat, I am the scourge of America and hate my country.

What good are these insults? What he is really saying is that because there are people in this country who embrace a different ideology than his, they are to be vilified.

The members of Congress who remained seated during the State of the Union were exercising their free speech. He forgets the outbursts and other rude behavior of the Republican Congress during the Obama and Biden administrations’ State of the Union addresses.

It’s sad to see such intolerance in our community.

Alanna Pass

Newberg

Dear Sir

Mr. President:

You say you will know when the war ends, based on how your bones feel.

I am, therefore, sending you some bone meal in a big gold box. This gift may help with your war effort, and maybe even with your bone spurs.

I am including a few pennies for your thoughts on this war. I know pennies are no longer accepted, but now some good “cents” may be needed.

I expect no reply, but perhaps I could get a subpoena in a big gold box.

Truly, from your favorite patriot:

Robert McNamee

McMinnville

Trump’s latest con

Donald Trump won zero cases out of sixty in federal courts trying to prove there had been voter fraud in 2020.

What a loser. He must think we are all stupid.

When his forces laid siege to the Capitol to stop the 2020 electoral vote count in the House, they failed. Then, after a day or two of eye-rolling outrage and stern disapproval, the cowards in Congress lined back up behind him.

More losers. Trump must think they are stupid, too.

In fact, the voter database maintained by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, lists fewer than 100 examples of non-citizens improperly casting ballots in the quarter-century spanning 2000 to 2025. The only election fraud in play now is Trump’s latest con, called the “SAVE America Act.”

Under the pretense of cleaning up the voter rolls, the idea is to make voting so difficult and expensive that only the “right people” get the opportunity. The only problem it hopes to fix is Trump’s political vulnerability.

Most people don’t have their birth certificates handy, and if they do, it may not have their current last name. Married women and adoptees could have a hard time straightening that out and getting their local election boards to review and accept their proof by November.

Most people do not have a passport and do not want to pay that steep poll tax in order to vote. Most people who vote by mail want to continue voting by mail.

We don’t need to save America from them. In short, our de-centralized election system is doing just fine under local control.

The last thing this 250-year-old democracy needs is some wannabe dictator taking over the elections. What it does need is a stiff dose of accountability for our Mad King and his enablers.

It also needs a Congress that will impeach him again. Let’s elect one in November.

Bill Johnson

McMinnville