Honor the Constitution by exercising your right to vote
Since pioneering vote-by-mail in the late 1990s, Oregon has developed an election system so free, fair and inclusive it has become the global gold standard. Voter registration has been automated and integrated ...
Vera, Warmbier best combo for local school board seats
Five candidates are vying for a pair of seats on the McMinnville School Board in Oregon’s May 18 special district election. That’s good news, as board seats have been contested only twice ...
Time running short to calm the roiling waters at Linfield
It’s not the fault of Linfield’s leadership that rising costs, declining enrollment, decreasing appeal abroad, inadequate endowment, a raging pandemic and burgeoning competition have jeopardized ...
New challenges hamper campaign against COVID
COVID-19 is a fearsome menace to our way of life, and has lingered far, far longer than any of us might have imagined when it began early last year. Along the way, it has killed more than half a million ...
With local effort, state resolve, homelessness not intractable
Houston, we have a problem. We have more people than we can manage to reliably feed and house, and the ones falling out the bottom are spilling into the streets because they have nowhere else to go. These ...
Board’s school chief choice sounds welcome ring to us
When Maryalice Russell was named superintendent of schools here in 2002, she was chosen over co-finalists Kris Olsen, Karen Richey and Dan Rodriguez, in addition to co-semifinalists Wayne Kostur, Gary ...
Proclamations have their place, but direct action speaks louder
At its March 16 meeting, the McMinnville City Council approved payment of $325,000, through its insurance carrier, to help settle a lawsuit alleging failure by state officials and local police to protect ...
Sunshine best disinfectant for insidious government secrecy
When the McMinnville School District refuses to join virtually all other American cities and school districts in disclosing chief executive finalists, how do you have any way to judge the choice its board ...
Big plans need time to gel; Priority is correct, not quick
Nothing lasts forever. That’s why McMinnville is looking to replace a public library dating back to 1912 (renovated and extended in 1982), a armory turned community center dating back to 1924 and ...
Second Amendment Sanctuary dangerous, divisive and foolish
Spurred by the recent seating of Lindsay Berschauer, commissioners have been in a rush to declare Yamhill County a Second Amendment Sanctuary, free from the enforcement of “all local, state and federal ...
Time to look on bright side: We're beating back this virus
It’s been almost a year since we last ran a positive headline on the COVID-19 crisis. And it was, “County: We’re ready for spread of virus” — a March 6, 2020, assessment that ...
It warms the heart to see how community responds to a crisis
It sometimes appears the digital communication channels wrought by today’s technology have become little more than cesspools of violence, racism and hate. Breeding grounds for bizarre conspiracies, ...
Berschauer conduct is indefensible
We were not surprised to see the Yamhelas Westsider Trail rejected on a 2-1 vote by the county commissioners Thursday. After all, Mary Starrett and Lindsay Berschauer both ran campaigns pledging uncompromising ...
Trail decision a detriment to parks system needing vision
Yamhill County Commissioner Casey Kulla captured our reaction to the fierce, expensive and ultimately successful Yamhelas Westsider Trail opposition almost perfectly in a post-decision post. “It ...
Resolutions and proclamations seldom worth the investment
It seems the season for local resolutions, declarations and proclamations, the vast majority having not even tenuous relevance to the adopting body’s authorized function. In response, we’d ...
