‘You’re a girl. You shouldn’t play baseball.
“You’re too short. You’re not strong enough. Why don’t you play softball instead?”
Editorials
Local government doesn't get the credit it actually deserves
If you limited your local government exposure in these parts to online forums and social media channels, you would find yourself subjected, in large measure, to a torrent of highly charged and sharply ...
Transportation bill serves as starting point on rough road
Until Sept. 29, Oregon hadn’t enacted a major new transportation funding package since 2017. In the world of politics and public policy, that’s a veritable eon ago. Over the course of the ...
City needs to remember it's not paying the piper
Big box shock? Pardon us, but we don’t find it shocking at all that national chain discounters, operating on a high-volume, low-margin basis, would be looking for McMinnville Landing building spaces ...
State faces big challenges; we need to step up locally
This isn’t your father’s Oregon anymore. And that isn’t a good thing, not by any stretch. During the last 25 years of the 20th century, plentiful stores of land and energy, a superior ...
Nothing's what it seems with edicts descending from D.C.
Sometimes it seems as though we’ve tumbled down Alice’s Wonderland rabbit hole and joined her at the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party, where nothing is as it seems. At least it has in the eight ...
Private and public failings leave toxic stench in Sheridan
Late last month, one of North America’s largest treated-wood producers pleaded guilty in Yamhill County Circuit Court to 10 misdemeanor counts of unlawful water pollution, based on a legacy of toxic ...
Fire district can't allow revenue to go untapped
“Declining Medicare reimbursement from the federal government, combined with an increasing Medicare patient load, have driven up the cost of providing ambulance service in the last few years. “The ...
Bond issue never easy sell, but good case can be made
The city’s community center has passed the century mark and its aquatic center is about to turn 70. The ravages of time have left both in a state where a serviceable makeover would run nearly as ...
Steering a school of tradition through a time of transition
Traditions and timeless features are hallmarks of Linfield University. Pioneer Hall, Streak Street, the Paul Durham statue, the Murdock Hall sundial, the acorn ceremony, to name a few. But this is a ...
Garvin fits the mold as interim manager of the city
Before being named city manager in McMinnville in 2017, Jeff Towery had already served four tours in upper-level city management posts, dating back 30 years. He had also earned a master’s degree ...
Letters
News-Register Letters Policy
The News-Register welcomes written opinions about issues of public interest and about the content of this newspaper. Letters from non-local writers are accepted only if they focus on local issues. This ...
Letters to the Editor: Oct. 10, 2025
Chance to be heard Attention Yamhill County citizens: Please attend upcoming hearings to let Commissioners Mary Starrett and Kit Johnston know they aren’t fooling anyone with their Oct. 2 attempt ...
Letters to the Editor: Oct. 3, 2025
Destroying democracy Thank you, Mayor Kim Morris, for putting a stop to the intellectual lynching of Sal Peralta. But sadly, this is not over. It didn’t take long for Season 2 of the Trump Show. ...
Letters to the Editor: Sept. 26, 2025
Just keeping pace I am not a landlord, but found it amusing reading the article about how rent prices have risen 54% from 2014 to 2024. The article stated the median apartment rent in 2014 was $847, ...
Letters to the Editor: Sept. 19, 2025
Parks for all Thank you for your July 25 editorial, “County takes first step in making parks a priority.” The Yamhill County Parks Advisory Board deeply appreciates your recognition of how ...
Letters to the Editor: Sept. 12, 2025
Oregon, not Ohio Thank you for highlighting in your Sept. 3 edition the quirk found in Dayton. When one sees these things every day, they can be taken for granted. Regarding the sign: When you Google ...
Letters to the Editor: Sept. 5, 2025
Lost trust The subject of mail-in ballots has been in our news lately, and not surprisingly, our left-wing Democrats don’t want the practice to stop in Oregon. As a Republican, I have to admit ...
Letters to the Editor: Aug. 29, 2025
Open letter Dear Chief Godfrey: Having served as an elected board member and vice president with the La Pine Rural Fire Protection District, I understand your financial issues with providing under-reimbursed ...
Letters to the Editor: Aug. 22, 2025
A cheaper way There is a significant shortfall in funding the transportation and water/sewer infrastructure projects that have been delineated by the city of Carlton, even at the most basic level. Some ...
Letters to the Editor: Aug. 15, 2025
Role of citizen In Germany, and across much of Europe, there is a project underway to commemorate the lives of the victims of the Nazi regime and the systematic disappearance of Jews, Gypsies, some Catholics ...
Commentary
Quirk of the Week: Switching back to Mac
Folks living west of Hill Road might beg to differ, but McMinnville is essentially a flat town. Walkers and bikers are almost always on the level. Yet, head out Northwest Wallace Road to where, in this ...
John Olson: Parks and recreation bond an investment in community
Imagine a McMinnville where families, young professionals and businesses all thrive — a city with modern recreational facilities, vibrant community connections and strong economic growth. That vision is within reach, but it requires action.
Jeb Bladine: Shutdown crisis reports spawn more questions
Every crisis-related news report about our 9-day-old federal government shutdown seems to raise as many questions as it answers. Warnings of air transportation gridlock cite understaffing because so many ...
Quirk of the Week: Curiosities mark time-tested YCHS ballpark in Yamhill
There’s life in the Yamhill Carlton High School softball park, but the place looks a bit bedraggled. For years now, the vinyl sponsor banners on the north side of the field house have steadily deteriorated. ...
Quirk of the Week: Nailing down a grab bag of oddities, from the obscure to the obvious
Time for an autumn grab bag. Quirk this week includes a bit of new, a revisit or two and something seen in the rear-view … also, something obvious. Since it’s October and that means basketball ...
Investigating the Bible: Being like salt
By DAVID CARLSON PASTOR Jesus told his followers: “You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except ...
Eric Schuck: Nothing like a wedding to expose economic realities
It is a running joke in our house that while I’m great at protecting national security, I’m not exactly a vault when it comes to keeping family secrets.
Sonda Martin: Conduct of commissioners ‘dismissive and patronizing’
I gave public comment at the Sept. 25 meeting of the Yamhill County Board of Commissioners. I was prompted by the outright dismissive bullying and condescension that I witnessed from Commissioners Mary Starrett and Kit Johnston toward Commissioner Bubba King, both after Marvin Bernards’ public comment and on multiple occasions prior.
Jeb Bladine: Complicated federal shutdown has 'rules of 60'
A federal government shutdown this week comes complete with public confusion, heated rhetoric, misleading claims, maximum partisanship, political demonization and all the related anxieties. Heading into ...
Leah Gneiting: This is what learning should feel like for me
What first drew me to the Southern Oregon community of Butte Falls wasn’t the small-town setting or the school itself.
Jeb Bladine: Kent Taylor memories can be passed forward
It seemed fitting, after being privileged to speak at his celebration of life, to reminisce here about the late Kent Taylor, McMinnville’s city manager from 1986 to 2014. Much of that, however, ...
Investigating the Bible: Overcoming mistakes
James Keller, in his book, “One Moment Please!” wrote about a corrections officer at a Nebraska jail who received a letter for a man who was not an inmate. He was puzzled until he read the note scribbled on the back of the envelope: “If not in jail yet, please hold until he arrives.” Everyone makes mistakes. One leader in the Bible paid a high price for his mistake.
Quirk of the Week: In the pits
Whatever happened to horseshoes, the game? While not a dead sport (see Willamina, below), it is a great American tradition but has a forgotten feel. That is, if a fair indication is the neglected state ...
Jeb Bladine: AI takes a dive into ambulance service finances
Readers — here and far beyond — will continue and expand their engagement with artificial intelligence, which has become the quintessential research tool of our age. Each time, readers should ...
Sheri King: Hoover's humanitarianism serves as beacon for us all
When I began working as a tour guide at Newberg’s Hoover-Minthorn Museum, in the spring of 2024, I knew about as much about Herbert Hoover as most Americans — that he was the Great Depression president.
Quirk of the Week: Now you see it, now you don’t
And sometimes you see it again How do you give a second look to something no longer there? The question lends itself to Quirk, and this week we celebrate examples mentioned in 2024 and 2025 that are ...
Brad Lunt: Kent Taylor was one of the good ones
I went to get a new phone a couple of months ago and endured a conversion process that keeps getting harder the older I get.
Rob Davis: Spread of misinformation torched wildfire risk map
About the writer: A native of Maryland’s Eastern Shore, Rob Davis cut his journalistic teeth in Virginia. He’s spent more than a decade now working as an investigative reporter in Oregon. Before ...
Investigating the Bible: Age is not a barrier
Economist and prolific author Thomas Sowell is ninety-five, so he is qualified for opinions about old age: “Some people age like fine wine and others just turn into vinegar.” An elderly champion of the Bible demonstrated how to keep living productively.
Jeb Bladine: City manager transparent on costs for bonds
Interim McMinnville City Manager Adam Garvin this week provided some welcome candor about taxpayer costs being estimated for McMinnville’s proposed $98.5 million recreation bond measure on the November ...
