From East Asia to Oregon, greed has fueled opioid crises of the past and present
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Turkey Rama had good run; some will mourn its passing
The king is dead. Long live the dukes, earls, counts, barons and other vassals, as there is no heir apparent for the crown and scepter. We refer, of course, to Turkey Rama, apparently laid to rest after ...
Forfeiture ruling a setback, but fallout seems manageable
Did Yamhill County overreach when it sought and won a 2020 jury verdict authorizing seizure of Sheryl Sublet’s $350,000 Yamhill residence, citing it as the ill-gotten proceeds of large-scale meth ...
It may be the end of the road for this Oregon quirk
Oregon has many oddities embedded in state statute. One of the oddest — and most unusual, as it remains on the books elsewhere only in the East Coast enclave of New Jersey — prohibits the ...
Cutting county out of picture not necessarily a bad thing
Our initial reaction to county termination of its contract with the Salem-based Strategic Economic Development Corporation, known as SEDCOR, was all cloud and no lining — silver or otherwise. But ...
Political blinders keep county from finding its way forward
Our Yamhill County commissioners seem obsessed with the word “trail.” Even the word “road” seems to send shivers rippling up and down their spines, on grounds a road might prove ...
Deadly fentanyl epidemic demands serious response
When Belgian physician Paul Janssen developed the potent synthetic opiate fentanyl in 1960, it represented one small step for sedation and analgesia in medical settings. Sadly, it also turned out to represent ...
Water crisis calls for local coordination, starting now
Secretary of State Shemia Fagan last week sounded an alarm over water issues in Oregon, releasing an audit that summarizes how Oregon has failed to adequately address its growing water crisis, and how ...
Council on right track in suspending tax authority
The city of McMinnville and McMinnville Rural Fire Protection District now have all the wheels in motion for a May 16 merger election. It would create a new McMinnville Fire District with its own taxing ...
Support your local newspaper; our democracy depends on it
Jackson County’s Medford Mail Tribune ended more than a century’s reign as one of Oregon’s biggest and best daily newspapers last fall when it announced it was ceasing print publication. Earlier ...
Rich stew of local cultures worth accepting, embracing
Yamhill County’s almost 110,000 residents will get a chance to help their Asian-heritage neighbors celebrate the Lunar New Year Saturday at the Mac Market, cornerstone gathering place in McMinnville’s ...
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. Letters ...
Letters to the Editor: March 24, 2023
Bending the rules? I understand the state Department of Environmental Quality has been reviewing, and may have approved, a revised stormwater pond on a tax lot east of the Riverbend Landfill’s permitted ...
Letters to the Editor: March 17, 2023
Wrong on all counts This letter is my opinion on the News-Register article of Feb. 10 about the Yamhill County commissioners exempting themselves from the rule of law on harassment. They decided harassment ...
Letters to the Editor: March 10, 2023
No to Gwendolyn As young graduates, we moved to tiny McMinnville in 1978 for our first jobs and soon welcomed children. We discovered that this little town was the perfect place to raise our family, so ...
Letters to the editor: March 3, 2023
Taxation without service I don’t object to paying taxes for government services I and other residents benefit from. I do object to the government collecting our tax money for services it is not ...
Letters to the editor: February 24, 2023
Looking to DeSantis I was disappointed to see another Viewpoints issue that did not include even a hint of the conservative viewpoint. The article about extremism only included examples of violence caused ...
Letters to the editor: February 17, 2023
No to demolition Our McMinnville downtown is designated a National Historic District|. That provides benefits to the community and the property owners, but comes with certain preservation expectations ...
Letters to the editor: February 10, 2023
Common courtesy I am addressing the uninvited, unanticipated window-rattling booms we have all been experiencing over the past few months. I distinguish this from Fourth of July blasts, which we can at ...
Letters to the editor: February 3, 2023
Work for keep The conversation about what to do about homeless people in McMinnville, being driv- en by Mayor Remy Drabkin, has the poten- tial to turn our town into a deadly ghetto like Portland. Adding ...
Letters to the Editor: January 27, 2023
Taxing concerns How do we know that the fire district merger is popular with people who live in Mac? This is a question I’ve been trying to answer for several months. I think the idea of improving ...
Commentary
Leland Thoburn: A legacy of drug exploitation
From East Asia to Oregon, greed has fueled opioid crises of the past and present
Whatchamacolumn: Long ago unveiling of downtown event
I remember waking at dawn, dressing silently, and sneaking out on a mission to see the early unveiling of long-awaited festivities. I watched tarps pulled off to reveal all manner of equipment, table-top ...
Offbeat Oregon: Body-snatchers planned to hold ex-mayor’s corpse for ransom
The 19th century was a kind of golden age of body snatching. Digging up the freshly dead to cash the corpses in at the back door of a nearby medical school was — well, not common exactly, but far ...
Scott Shackelford, et al: Seabed mining raises concerns about unexplored ecosystem
By SCOTT SHACKELFORD, DAVID BOSCO, CHRISTIANA OCHOA & KERRY KRUTILLA Of Indiana University As companies race to expand renewable energy and the batteries to store it, finding sufficient amounts ...
Natalie Wood: Housing alone is not enough
By NATALIE WOOD Of the Catholic Charities of Oregon The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. told us, “A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of ...
Jeb Bladine: The sun never sets on 'Sunshine Week'
This may be the end of “Sunshine Week,” but the sun never sets on the importance of retaining and expanding access to government public records. Media organizations often join and lead others ...
Randy Stapilus: A better way to manage water
Idaho leading way with comprehensive approach; Oregon should look to follow
Melinda Burrell: Trouble in town? Send in the maroon people
By MELINDA BURRELL Somewhere in Dayton, Ohio, a 13-year-old girl was sassing her mom for expressing concern about strangers she had been talking to on her phone. When the mom reached over and snatched ...
The Conversation: Antarctica's riskiest glacier under assault from below
By TED SCAMBOS Of the University of Colorado Flying over Antarctica, it’s hard to see what all the fuss is about. Like a gigantic wedding cake, the frosting of snow on top of the world’s ...
Bladine: Taxes remain one of life's certainties
I’ve always been conscious of taxes … sometimes, too conscious. I’ve recognized, criticized and avoided them; I’ve counted, occasionally praised and willingly paid them; for 50-plus ...
Wokeness just another way of saying kindness
“Wokeness” is what folks on the political right love to declare themselves as being against these days. But, what is it, really, that they oppose?
The term “woke” was derived from African American Vernacular English meaning alertness to racial prejudice. For those who have used the term positively, something I am not sure anyone actually does anymore, its meaning evolved to encompass awareness of other social inequities and forms of oppression such as sexism, misogyny, white privilege, the oppression of any minority person or community, and human and environmental predations of exploitive corporations
Lynn McCoy: Carter's work encouraged democracy
When former President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn founded the nonprofit Carter Center in 1982, one of their goals was to help Latin American countries — many of which were emerging from decades of military dictatorship — transition to democracies.
Back, and Forth: Pie auction serves to dish up a healthy taste of community
Pi Day is coming up March 14. But however you plan to observe it, I think I have you beat, thanks to my involvement in a recent pie night. A key lime came our way courtesy of the drama program at Patton ...
McCracken: The high price of vaccine freedom
I like numbers.
At a time when it seems as if nearly every question is answered with a subjectivity of dubious veracity, I find the reliability of numbers comforting.
Numbers are dispassionate. Numbers are honest. Numbers are neither Republican nor Democrat.
Numbers do not lie. They simply are. You either have the correct answer or you don’t.
Bladine: A better plan for student debt relief
Three years ago, we reported a local woman’s campaign seeking debt relief and lending fairness in America’s federal student loan system. She had borrowed $108,000 for college 10 years before, ...
Israel’s drift to right eroding its democracy
By MEL GURTOV Of Portland State University Israel has always been touted as America’s most reliable friend in the Middle East, a bastion of democracy in a region dominated by autocracies. But that ...
Look at what we’re doing to others
By SHEILA HUNTER Concerned McMinnville resident Over the years, I have felt the pressure from Blacks to feel guilty about their plight. For a long time, I said, “I didn’t bring them here, ...
Back and Forth: Nobel laureate is part scientist, part magician
With atomic aplomb, William Phillips ‘blows things up’ and puts ‘the coolest stuff in the universe’ in perspective On the coldest night of the year, Dr. William Phillips invoked ...
Tyrants at the top
Stagnant wages. The opioid crisis. Job insecurity. Climate change. Economic inequality. Christine Bader Guest writer Chris- tine Bader is the author of “The Evolution of a Corporate ...
