Black Friday — the day after Thanksgiving — long has been the day our annual “Shop Local” promotion leads off the Viewpoints section. In this 32nd year of that campaign, we want to start with the epilogue of our 2020 installment:
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Editorials
Habitat's remarkable impact stands tribute to our humanity
News-Register reporter Starla Pointer recently told the story of McMinnville Habitat for Humanity’s first 30 years through the eyes of Becka Morgan. And her words painted a powerful picture. To ...
Berschauer continues flouting norms of reasonable conduct
There she goes again. We refer, of course, to embattled County Commissioner Lindsay Berschauer, who can’t seem to resist pursuing her own personal and political agendas at the expense of any and ...
Downtown showstoppers not a matter of mere coincidence
The hits just seem to keep on coming for McMinnville’s locally cherished and nationally heralded downtown. The latest is the announcement last week that a group of deeply rooted locals have banded ...
Delivering on decriminalization requires a complete turnaround
Editor's Note: Several numbers were substantially off in this editorial due to a faulty interpretation applied to the initial set. Fortunately, those numbers, corrected here, did not affect the underlying ...
Democrats’ redistricting plan embraces insidious status quo
Thousands of barrels of ink have been spilled by American newspapers decrying the partisan gerrymandering of legislative and congressional districts every 10 years, based on new census figures. And in ...
Native Americans worthier than wayward 15th century mariner
Christopher Columbus, anglicized version of the Latin Christophorus Columbus and Italian Cristoforo Colombo, never set foot in North America. He landed on Caribbean islands on all four of his voyages of ...
Editorial warnings of the past come true in three local cases
The juxtaposition of National Newspaper Week and a trio of news stories breaking on the local front prompts us to take readers on a tour of editorial memory lane. Admittedly, there’s a thread of ...
Blackface incident leaves yet another ugly blemish
Here we go again. Republicans from Oregon’s far right fringe have begun wading into non-partisan local elections of late, and the infusion of money, manpower and ideological fervor is increasingly ...
Keeping our children safe should be a priority for all
More than 50 million children from 14,000 districts have headed back to school for face-to-face instruction — or soon will — for the first time since March 2020. But the timing is fraught with ...
With COVID raging at FCI, conditions deserve a look
The federal prison system is a growth industry with few peers in either the public or private sectors. When Sheridan began trying to sell itself as a future federal prison site in 1981, the system housed ...
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: Nov. 26, 2021
All the best No matter where I have lived, I have always subscribed to the local newspaper. It is a way of knowing my community. That way, I have a better understanding of issues, concerns, celebrations ...
Letters to the Editor: Nov. 19, 2021
A Dayton perspective I grew up one block from Dayton Landing Park and tossed rocks into the river from the platform above the broken concrete steps. I sometimes fished from the waterlogged dock and even ...
Letters to the Editor: November 12, 2021
Legacy lives on In a time when criticizing others seems to be the norm, it’s nice to reflect on the positive impact one person has had on our community. I was reminded of this when looking at the ...
Letters to the Editor: Nov. 5, 2021
Lost opportunity During a 2015 survey, the state Marine Board determined the concrete boat ramp at Dayton Landing, owned and operated by Yamhill County since about 1956, had separated. This made it hazardous ...
Letters to the Editor: Oct. 29, 2021
Please resign Open letter to Lindsay Birschauer: Please resign. We can’t afford to have you in office. Your actions on the board of commissioners have cost Yamhill County taxpayers more than $3.5 ...
Letters to the Editor: Oct. 22, 2021
Baker Creek congestion Well, this letter is not about Lindsay Berschauer or the Newberg School Board. It is about McMinnville and its growing traffic congestion. Do we point a finger at the city councilors ...
Letters to the Editor: Oct. 16, 2021
Feeding the mind “Reading, living and breathing our history:” What a terrific essay on history from beginning to end. It feeds the mind to see what has happened in the past so you can repeat ...
Letters to the Editor: Oct. 8, 2021
Women on march Last Saturday, I walked with men, women and children in McMinnville’s Women’s March to protest the recently enacted Texas abortion law. The law bans abortions after six weeks, ...
Letters to the editor: Sept. 24, 2021
Racism the real threat The real state of emergency in our country is racism. It is embedded into our history, but continues to be ignored or perpetuated by our elected officials. It is the disgusting ...
Commentary
Back, and Forth: Good memories, new impressions formed in revisiting theater venues
A significant pleasure in returning to McMinnville this year has been attending local theatrical productions. We’d missed these samples of local culture, which only gradually started returning earlier ...
Zika: Accord marks new dawn of new era in Oregon forestry
After nearly a year of scientific review and negotiations, timberland owners and environmental groups have reached an historic agreement to overhaul Oregon’s forest laws and create significant new protections for salmon habitat in Oregon’s private forests.
Bladine: Don't just shop local; think, act and be local
Black Friday — the day after Thanksgiving — long has been the day our annual “Shop Local” promotion leads off the Viewpoints section. In this 32nd year of that campaign, we want to start with the epilogue of our 2020 installment:
Barton: Safety a fundamental right in need of citizen advocates
I received a phone call not long ago from a young woman. The call was unexpected, as was the question she asked — “Do you remember me?”
As the district attorney for Washington County, Oregon’s second most populous county, I have interacted with tens of thousands of people over the course of my career. So I cannot honestly say that I remember each of them. But I absolutely did remember her.
Koehler: It’s time we faced truth about America’s history
By ROBERT KOEHLER When you’re losing the game, summon the Commies. And conservative white America has been losing for quite some time — losing control of the future, that is. The good old ...
AFSCME pledges its support for Newberg staff and students
By STACY CHAMBERLAINExecutive Director, Oregon AFSCME As one of Oregon’s largest labor unions, Oregon AFSCME is proud to be an effective advocate for the more than 33,000 workers we represent. This ...
Bladine: Winding road to Bayou renovation
In a strange way, the late Del Smith had a hand in current plans to refurbish Bayou Golf Course and remodel the stately Colonial-style mansion. After all, Smith’s creation of the Evergreen Museum ...
Davis: Growth isn’t paying its way
The continuing population growth in McMinnville comes with costs. More residents demand more infrastructure (water, sewer, stormwater, street, sidewalk, power and transportation systems), expanded public amenities (park, library pool and community center facilities) and more public employees (police, firefighters, librarians and parks maintenance staff).
Enticknap: Not a matter of if, but when
Cascadia Zone megaquake is coming, likely bringing unprecedented devastation with it
Bladine: Breakthrough stats defy easy analysis
It was clear from the beginning – about 6 months ago – that any investigation of COVID-19 “breakthrough” cases would not only be a moving target, but soon would become a statistical ...
Croman: Times are a-changin’, and not everyone’s OK with that
By ZOE CROMANSheridan resident Another fall time change has now come and gone, but the semiannual grousing about it still lingers. So do the arguments for keeping it — or not. The U.S. Department ...
Bladine: Note to self, staff: triple-check names
Every year — without any kudos received, or deserved — we publish thousands of correctly spelled names in the newspaper. But if your name gets misspelled, you likely consider us careless verging ...
Rae: Fire threat calls for a better battle plan
Guest writer Rusty Rae is an award-winning photojournalist, writer and photo educator. He’s worked for the News-Register for the last five years, as sports editor, photojournalist and associate editor ...
Hays: Political retribution taints community’s core values
By LINDA HAYSSecond-Generation Downtown Merchant This week, my downtown toy store, Hopscotch, has experienced a rash of one-star reviews, negative comments and unsubscribes from its newsletter. If it ...
Back, and forth: Courting a new place via mostly-solo ‘Hoops Tour’
Gritty or ground-up asphalt courts, loose rims and bedraggled nets, tree branches as shot-blockers and some cosmic bounce-backs only begin to describe my six-month Yamhill County Hoops Tour. I started ...
French: A whiff of civil war in the air
Last month, the University of Virginia released polling results that should shock exactly no one who closely follows American politics and culture. A majority of Trump voters (52 percent) and a strong minority of Biden voters (41 percent) strongly or somewhat agree that it’s “time to split the country.”
Bladine: Waves of stories crashing together
Scientists and news media called it a “bomb cyclone” this week when a nor’easter on steroids shut down power to more than 600,000 New England homes and businesses. That attention-grabbing ...
Matthews: LGBTQ kids desperate for affirmation
Guest writer Paige Matthews is a queer Licensed Professional Counselor and Certified Drug and Alcohol Counselor. Holder of a master’s in counseling from Oregon State University, with a concentration ...
Lowery: Seccession 2.0 idea is a non-starter
By RICH LOWERYEditor, The National Review A cadre of apocalyptic writers on the right, believing the country too far gone to save, has become obsessed with a Secession 2.0 designed to cleave red America ...
