Last month’s marathon Yamhill County Commission hearing on the Yamhelas Westsider Trail, focused on response to a Land Use Board of Appeals decision on specific legal issues, covered much ...
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Editorials
Fire service consolidation being driven by necessity
Fred Hertel, joint chief of the Sheridan and West Valley fire districts, recently authored a guest opinion headlined, “Not your father’s fire service.” And that, in a nutshell, explains ...
Air show could propel airport to new heights
Not to get ahead of ourselves, but ... Wheee! We’re going to have an air show! OK, Settle down. It’s not a done deal, yet. Organizers of the Oregon International Air Show are conferring with ...
Dog control a vital function in society
Where is it etched in stone that the county’s dog control function has to be self-supporting, but its myriad other functions do not? This seems akin to the city’s baseless mantra that the airport ...
Homelessness demands immediate city action
Some 200 people packed McMinnville City Council chambers Tuesday, and 12 stepped to the microphone. Those representing the homeless community spoke about needing receptacles for both solid and human waste, ...
Housing crisis is not going to solve itself
When Franklin Delano Roosevelt delivered the 1932 commencement address at Oglethorpe University in Georgia, thousands of Americans were living in “Hoovervilles” — makeshift tent cities ...
Narrowing death penalty basis a cause whose time has come
Uncompromising advocates complain by redefining aggravated murder to exclude all but acts of terrorism, Senate Bill 1013 would effectively eliminate future executions in Oregon. Wrong. Shifting public ...
Dump ideological posturing; get down to local business
Here we go again. Last week, advocates for unrestricted gun rights urged commissioners to declare Yamhill County a Second Amendment sanctuary, free from enforcement of all local, state and federal firearms’ ...
Buildings need bracing before coming quake
McMinnville finds itself caught between a rock and a hard place — and it might require a mere seismic shrug to inflict a crushing impact. Local firefighters moved into a new downtown station in ...
While tourism is important, so is having place to live
Jonathan Rouse appeared genuinely sympathetic last month when he was confronted by some of the low-income neighbors he will displace by building a 16-unit apartment complex on Northeast First Street. He ...
A look at growth from all angles
Today and next Tuesday, the News-Register is publishing a series that examines development near the intersection of Hill and Baker Creek roads. Fair warning: As enterprise reporting goes, this isn’t ...
Letters
Letters to the editor: April 19, 2019
Forsake the barbarism Thanks to the News Register for its April 4 editorial supporting SB 1013, which would limit death penalty cases to acts of terrorism. Thanks also to Rep. Ron Noble for supporting ...
Letters to the editor: April 12, 2019
Hard decision to make Thank you for bringing readers current facts, and potentialities, as to the possible need to expand low-income housing in McMinnville. (April 5 editorial, “Housing crisis is ...
Letters to the editor: April 5, 2019
Vaccination only way to go? Relative to the recent comment by Mr. Griffith about my credentials as an “unlicensed chiropractic doctor,” I submit the following for News-Register readers. I ...
Letters to the editor: March 29, 2019
No laughing matter I am a student at McMinnville High School. I wanted to bring to your attention the worry some students and parents have on school threats. High school kids do joke around about “shooting ...
Letters to the editor: March 22, 2019
Expand county commission I’m pleased to see Commissioner Casey Kulla is holding meetings around the county focusing on a five-member board of commissioners. When I first moved to McMinnville in ...
Letters to the editor: March 15, 2019
Bill threatens timber industry An open letter to the Yamhill County commissioners: My name is Jim LeTourneux, owner of Tripletree LLC, a family-owned timber farm in West County. I’m a silviculturalist ...
Letters to the editor: March 8, 2019
Stand for free choice In response to the article “Oregon duty-bound to tighten vaccination law,” I would like to add a few additional facts. First, infectious diseases had declined by nearly ...
Letters to the editor: March 1, 2019
Mill doing all it can As an environmental activist, I am seriously concerned about the extreme weather conditions we are experiencing. It is vital that all of us come together to seek common-sense solutions. In ...
Letters to the editor: Feb. 22, 2019
Lamenting a big loss Our community will soon lose a remarkable medical resource. We are saying good-bye with sadness and gratitude to a surgeon who set the bar for top-quality care in his work with patients. Dr. ...
Letters to the editor: Feb. 15, 2019
State control not the answer About a year ago, three of my tenants came to me with concerns about one of the other apartments. Cars would drive up. Someone would get out, go in for a few minutes, come ...
Commentary
Jeb Bladine: A clash of ideas on immunization
You can understand much about the current immunization debate from just two words on each side of the controversy: Proponents of change refer to “required immunizations”; opponents call it ...
Mike Colvin: Development threatens Baker Creek wetlands
Growth inevitably triggers impacts that ripple through the community. Executed unwisely, it can significantly reduce the quality of life in older, established neighborhoods and inflict damage ...
Jeb Bladine: Migration issues mix macro, micro
Most controversies produce macro and micro views of the issues. Consider the humanitarian crisis evolving on our southern border with Mexico, where “the past two months have seen a huge ...
An gram of prevention avoids a kilo of cure
By SEAMUS McCARTHY Of the Yamhill Community Care Organization The National Association for the Education of Young Children has proclaimed this the Week of the Young Child, aimed at spotlighting not only ...
Jeb Bladine: Who actually wins 'most sexist' title?
Biden, Basketball and Benevolent Sexism: I don’t know if I can cover all that in 400 words, but here it goes. Joe Biden drew heavy fire this week for his alleged past invasions of women’s ...
Hospital strives to meet changing needs
In healthcare, each day is filled with new discoveries and possibilities, a spirit we embrace at Willamette Valley Medical Center, despite the inevitable challenges. We are inspired each day to ...
Let good times roll, but beware the black swan
In the field of economics, a black swan is an unanticipated force that can disrupt a seemingly tranquil market. The theory arose from the dot-com bubble that burst between 2000 and 2003 and the ...
Jeb Bladine: The wrong kind of destination resort
We hear a growing background buzz about the considerable expansion of small and large homeless encampments in McMinnville. That murmur will grow after today’s News-Register story explaining why the ...
Veteran trail riders make their case
By JOHN & KAREN VANDERWALL My wife and I recently relocated to McMinnville from Wisconsin. In our short time here, we have been most impressed by the friendliness of the residents who have welcomed ...
Advocates don't get the story straight
By CORY VANDYKE Last week, the News Register published an editorial headlined, “Don’t let fringe elements derail local trail project.” The content was a reminder of how the power elite, ...
Jeb Bladine: A political feud spills over grave
A political feudspills over grave It now is clear: Donald Trump does not like John McCain. Whatchamacolumn Jeb Bladine is president and publisher of the News-Register. > See his column All ...
Jenny Berg: Interaction, discovery a route to better health
I just finished listening to an interview with Eric Klinenberg, author of “Palaces For The People: How Social Infrastructure Can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization, And The Decline Of Civic ...
Fred Hertel: Not your father's fire service
The menu of tasks undertaken by fire service agencies has undergone extensive expansion and transformation over the last three decades, and so has the roster of personnel and tools taking on the ...
Jeb Bladine: Our contributions to annals of fraud
Financial fraud, while nothing new, is distressingly prevalent. McMinnville has contributed to that unfortunate reality, as we were reminded this week. In the 1920s, Victor Lustic sold the Eiffel ...
Mike Kemper: Justice slow but sure in nuisance cases
As sole code enforcement officer for Yamhill County, I’ve been tasked since July 2012 with enforcing the county’s building, zoning and waste disposal ordinances. But I’m allowed ...
Have the public unions got a tax bill for you
By ALLEN ALLEY For the Oregon Transformation Project It’s tax season. With that in mind, I wanted to alert you to a tax you likely don’t realize exists — a tax you are certainly on ...
Jeb Bladine: Remembering two prominent politicians
Oregon, where statewide-elected Republicans are a rarity, lost two last week. They were leaders worth remembering. Ten days ago, sitting Secretary of State Dennis Richardson died after a public, courageous ...
Scott Gibson: Oregon duty-bound to tighten vaccination law
In recent weeks, the Pacific Northwest has confirmed some 70 cases of measles, a disease declared eliminated from circulation in the United States in 2000. For this dangerous outbreak, we can thank ...
Jeb Bladine: Students handcuffed by predatory loans
McMinnville acupuncturist Lisa Pool, for a time, was silently ashamed for not fully understanding the pitfalls of student loans that financed her medical degree. But her voice returned when she learned ...
