Edited Out

Online newspaper comments are ruining my day and eroding any faith I once had in humanity

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 17:26:00 -0700

To the person who wrote this anonymous comment on a freaking tree planting article:

The teachers obviously use this ridiculous scam of a day termed “earth day”,
to further push their left wing agenda. They contact the local yokel media and advise them that their little kiddies are going to venture out and plant a tree, pick up garbage, wade around a creek, etc., and like the good little puppets they are the locals send out a reporter to cover such tripe. Do these Democrat teachers also read to their little naive skulls of mush several of the comments that the “earth day” leaders spewed back in 1970 when this sham day started. Just google “earth day 1970 predictions”. You will see these liberals were predicting that the world would basically be over by this time. It is unbelievable. They were wrong about everything. They have no credibility then and they have none now. But, they do attract the gullible fools who all believe their liberal pablum and the only way to solve all problems is momoney momoney momoney.
Just curious…Do these liberal teachers do anything extraordinary on Veterans day, Lincolns BD, Washingtons BD, Easter, etc. Answer….NO.

Your rantings in the comments thread of a feature article on a school event aren’t going to change anyone’s minds about climate change. It does nothing to foster constructive discussion about the issue. All you’ve done, likely, is make some 11-year-old kid, who was so excited to be in the paper, feel like crap. Why would you do this? Who are you? What does your day consist of? Do you sit at a computer screen for hours waiting for opportunities on Oregonlive to express your pent up rage?

Have you been to a school recently? They always do programs for Veterans Day and Lincoln’s birthday and Washington’s birthday and probably the little ones do stuff for Easter despite the fact that it’s a religious holiday.

Are you OK? Do you want to talk about it? I’m sorry your grandkids don’t call. I’m sorry you feel like no one is listening. Please stop watching so much cable news. Go outside. Get some fresh air. Plant a tree.

Please cancel my subscription…

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 00:13:08 -0800

Please cancel my subscription…

It's not goodbye, Tillamook, it's see you soon

Wed, 16 Jan 2013 11:49:00 -0800

Never doubt the power of print. Last Wednesday, The Oregonian ran an article in its business section, “Samantha Swindler to serve as editor of the Forest Grove Leader.” And within a few hours, dozens of people were calling, congratulating, and asking, “is it true?”

I’m both sad and excited to tell you, yes, it’s true.

I didn’t think the Big O would run a story in its main publication. I thought the story would only be in the new free-distribution weekly publication, the Forest Grove Leader, which I will join the first of February. And I thought I might have another week or two before having to pen this good-bye column.

I came to Tillamook in July 2010. I knew nothing about the area, except that it rained a lot and I’d better like cheese.

I liked the cheese far more than the rain.

But there’s a whole lot more to this community than dreary weather and “dairy air.”

The people, only the people, make this tragic weather bearable.

I wouldn’t blow smoke up your skirt, Tillamook County. You are awesome. You have amazing volunteers, a great County Commission, a diverse economy, natural resources, a wonderful community spirit, the best po’ boy west of the Mississippi (at the Schooner), and a locally-owned newspaper staff that cares about you all.

I didn’t go looking to leave Tillamook. I was approached about an opportunity to do community journalism for a paper owned by The Oregonian. It was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up, in a small and beautiful town that still has a sense of identity, but is close enough to Portland for me to make some big changes in my personal life.

My role for the Headlight Herald has changed since I first joined the staff as “general manager.” My title is now director of news for all of Country Media, which is headquartered in Tillamook and owns eight publications in Oregon and another eight in and around North Dakota. I work with the editorial staffs at all the papers and have less and less direct oversight of the Headlight Herald. I’ve left that in the hands of the very capable editor, Mary Faith Bell. She’s picked up where I left off, and has even better things in store for the paper.

I won’t be going too far, so I plan to still be involved in some things, namely as a member of the Tillamook Association for the Performing Arts.

I regret that I’ve never had the opportunity to see the Pig N Ford races. I still want to take a trip with Kayak Tillamook. I climbed Neahkahnie Mountain, but not yet on a clear day. There are still plenty of reasons to come back to Tillamook County. I’ll be around.

You will definitely be missed.

Gene Tish's awesome speech about the road bond and a county-wide hotel/motel room tax

Sat, 12 Jan 2013 16:20:00 -0800

First let me say that I think the road bond, if I have a problem with it, it’s that it’s too small, but you’ve got to take a step. And we’ve got to do it. Washington has solved the problem for us for a lot of years; the good news is maybe they won’t have enough money left to get in our way as much anymore.
But we’ve got to take care of this problem. We’ve got to do it. And I appreciate the fact that it should be spread over a number of different funding sources. I operate a 50-room hotel. We operate it as a bed and breakfast; it’s a retirement project for us. It’s only taking about 110 hours a week right now. And like most things it’s taken more money than we expected.
But the good news is, when we reopened, it was closed, the guests we got were coming to Garibaldi and looking for a place to stay. Now, a vast majority of our guests are people who are coming to stay at the Garibaldi House, and if we were in Newport they’d be going to Newport or if we were in Astoria they’d be going to Astoria. But we’ve been able to build, market that reputation as a comfortable place to put down anchor on the coast and then travel and do things.
Now, over half of our guests in the summer time are from east of the Mississippi. Many of those will come for a week to 10 days at a time, and they’ll then take day trips. Last year for the first time I found guests taking day trips to Portland. That was kind of fun. They didn’t want to stay there, they wanted to stay out here, but they take day trips to go see Portland.
Dan [Biggs, economic development director] mentioned our goal, and when Carol and I bought the Garibaldi House, we had determined that as an active retirement investment we wanted to buy a hotel. That was something that I had some background in and we wanted an early, active retirement project in that. We looked at over 30 properties across five states, and we chose this one. One of our criteria was that we wanted it to be in a location where the time and money we invested could potentially make a difference. So we looked for an area that was economically struggling and small enough that our meager resources and energy could potentially make a difference.
And one of our goals, and I shared this with Dan some time ago – and I’m happy to tell you that according to our rough calculations, which all we can do is really rough calculations, we did achieve that last year – was that the guests we bring in, from the fishing trips, from the restaurants, from the money they spend at the Cheese Factory or the Blue Heron and a lot of them down to the Pelican Pub, other places, we want to try to see if we can get our guests to leave another $1 million behind each year in other businesses.
And then the chamber of commerce statistics tell us that that’s going to turn four to six times. So that can have a big-time difference.
I think it’s really important. I mean, we collect a lot of money in TRT taxes now. Garibaldi has an 8 percent tax and one percent to the state. I don’t pay that. I collect it. I do not recall, and I know there are differences of opinion on this, but I can’t recall any of the 16,000-plus guests I’ve had so far [asking] what the TRT tax rate was. I don’t think it’s going to matter. I think it’s important that across the county it’s relatively close, doesn’t have to be identical, but it’s got to be relatively close. And I think that’s important and I think it’s important that we market Tillamook County. I don’t want to market my hotel; I don’t want to market Garibaldi. I want to market Tillamook County. We’ll all be better if we do that.
I think this is an important thing to do.
And I think that, when you think about the amount of money that’s going to be collected in the TRT taxes, think about what that can do when it’s invested. If the process of determining the expenditures is done intelligently and I’ve looked at what they have planned and I think they’ve done an excellent job with that so far, and the money will be spent intelligently, we can expect a tremendous return on that.
And as Dan pointed out, there’s a lot that can be done to promote the shoulder seasons. Let’s face it, from Thanksgiving to maybe early February, mid-February, we can’t do a lot. Although, two years in a row I’ve had over 100 percent increase in the month of December over the prior year, so you can do some, but 100 percent increase over not much is still not much. But it’s growing.
But the shoulder seasons, there’s some tremendous opportunity for all of us…
And I think we’ve got to fix the roads. That’s a responsibility for safety, for our kids, for our families, for the people that are involved in the economy and working, we’ve got to do that.
But the second part, I’m really excited about because I think it totally can be a game changer for Tillamook County. We need a diverse economy. We need several legs in our economic stool. Tourism is just one of those, but it’s a very positive one, it’s a low-impact one, it can really, really make a difference.

You can watch Tish’s speech, and the entire meeting, here: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/28361854

The Wave, the community newspaper serving Rockaway Beach, New...

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 17:38:09 -0800

The Wave, the community newspaper serving Rockaway Beach, New York, shared these photos with us at the Headlight Herald. Rockaway Beach, Oregon is holding a chili fundraiser for its sister city. The destruction is particularly eerie because here in the Pacific Northwest, we’re just waiting for the “big one.” One day our Rockaway will be in far worse shape, I’m afraid.

Thoughts on an election complaint

Mon, 29 Oct 2012 23:24:00 -0700

Candidate for Tillamook County sheriff, Bill Spidal, has filed a complaint with the Secretary of State Elections Division over a campaign ad paid for by Sheriff’s Office staff. You can read the nuts and bolts of the complaint here:
http://www.tillamookheadlightherald.com/news_paid/article_0fb68548-205e-11e2-8f77-0019bb2963f4.html

But here’s my two cents.
First off, Andy Long wasn’t involved at all in these ads. He couldn’t (wouldn’t) be, because that would be violating Oregon statutes that prohibit elected officials from pressuring public employees to vote a certain way. That was one of Bill Spidal’s first complaints on the Headlight Herald online message boards, but he soon dropped that argument and it does not appear in his official elections complaint.
If Long had been involved, it would be a much bigger issue than the complaint we’re currently discussing.
I see no validity to the argument that Long should have known something was wrong. This is not the first time Sheriff’s Office employees have gotten together to stand behind their sheriff. They did it for Todd Anderson back when he was running for office, too. Then – as now – I believe the staff thought they were doing everything by the book. The candidate wasn’t involved, didn’t pressure them or ask them to do it. The staff didn’t do it “on the clock” or at the office. And – a key point here – they signed their names to the ad.
Campaign finance laws exist so that people can know who is funding campaigns. Clearly, there was no intent to break the law – the staff wanted everyone to know who funded it. That’s the whole point of the ad.
I can understand why the deputies were confused. I read the ORS about campaign funding three times (it’s pretty darn long) and came away with a different understanding after each reading. It’s complicated. Nowhere does it specifically say that a non-candidate group of people spending any amount of money needs to register a “political committee.” They should add that to the FAQ. I only gleaned that information from a media spokesperson.
So, technically, if you and your sister go in together for a $50 custom campaign sign in support of your neighbor who’s running for City Council – on your own, without your neighbor’s knowledge – you need to register as a political committee.
Or maybe not. The law is confusing.
That’s the only issue up for review by the elections division – did a group of people spend money to fund a political campaign (clearly, yes) and did they fail to register as a political committee (clearly, yes.)
I predict the group will be found in violation of the law, for the simple fact of not filing the right paperwork. And the “penalty,” if any, will be insignificant. Certainly, there was no intent to break the law by hiding who contributed to the ad – while intent probably won’t be a mitigating factor considered by the Secretary of State in determining whether the law was broken, it might be when assessing a penalty.
Spidal also complains that the group didn’t keep accurate records of exactly how much money was contributed by each person who signed the ad. I’ve been told the amounts ranged from $5 to $20 – some folks likely signed and didn’t chip in any money but wanted to show their support. I have no doubt that the people who signed that ad thought they were abiding by the law, and because the individual contribution amounts were so small, they figured detailed record keeping wasn’t necessary.
And because the law is so difficult to understand, I’m still not sure if it was.
But I am sure that we shouldn’t miss the most important message in all of this. Sixty-eight people who work or volunteer with the Sheriff’s Office put their name to that ad, and they want you to know they support Andy Long.

Food cart 'pod' for Tillamook?

Sun, 30 Sep 2012 23:43:39 -0700

The city of Tillamook is holding an open house from 5:30-7 p.m. Oct. 11 at the Tillamook 911 Center (2311 Third Street) for the community to give input on the Parks and Recreation Master Plan.
Surely, a major topic will be the future of the old Safeway property, now completely demolished, taken down to dirt, and owned by the city. Nothing permanent can be built there – the purpose of the project was to alleviate flooding by creating a porous surface that will absorb more water. Plans are to put a “showcase” park in the area, though what exactly that will look like remains uncertain.
I’d like the city to consider putting some summer food cart spots along the Highway 101 frontage in the future park. A handful of carts have already located in some of the flood-prone spots in North Tillamook (such as Lindsey’s Lattes, shown above), but there’s no organized “pods” as you can find in Portland.
With kids running around, along the highway isn’t an ideal spot for park space – but it is ideal for retail. Permanent establishments aren’t a possibility, but portable food carts are – add a gravel lot, a few picnic tables, an awning, and you’ve got a nice gateway to a community park. The site is already set up for electric and sewer hook ups. It could be a “buffer” to the park proper. And it’s a way to allow temporary businesses to take advantage of the summer tourist traffic without enduring the difficult winter slowdown. Anyone who’s tried to turn left from that Safeway side street in the summer knows the kind of steady traffic that barrels through the area. If we offered some RV parking, surely there’d be business.
There would still be plenty of space behind a food cart row to develop a park that connected with the Hoquarten Slough. Rent from the carts could help pay for at least the park’s maintenance, if not development.
I was talking today to a couple who owns a food cart in Portland. They pay $650 a month for their rental spot, which includes utilities. In Tillamook, five or six carts together could generate a small but steady income to invest into the Parks Department. When I asked if they’d be interested in a summer-only Tillamook pod, the couple nodded and gave me their business card.
But that’s just one idea. Share yours with the City. If you can’t attend the open house (it is, after all, the same night as the Headlight Herald/AAUW Political Forum) give your input to City Planner David Mattison at 503-842-2472, ext. 3465.

“Pole Dancing for Jesus” during the Lower Nehalem...

Sun, 30 Sep 2012 23:04:19 -0700

“Pole Dancing for Jesus” during the Lower Nehalem Community Trust Harvest Festival in north county.

What is this? This cleared space of former-overgrowth on Pacific...

Sat, 07 Jul 2012 11:06:24 -0700

What is this? This cleared space of former-overgrowth on Pacific is proof that people care about downtown Tillamook. It was a patch of foot-tall weeds that I didn’t get a chance to clear during our downtown cleanup. In the weeks following, the property owner hired a crew to clear this and fix a few other planters. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Nerdiness

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 12:45:54 -0700

·         To write with a broken pencil is … pointless.

·         When fish are in schools they sometimes … take debate.

·         A thief who stole a calendar … got twelve months.

·         When the smog lifts in Los Angeles … U.C.L.A.

·         The professor discovered that her theory of earthquakes … was on shaky ground.

·         The batteries were given out … free of charge.

·         A dentist and a manicurist married … They fought tooth and nail.

·         A will is a … dead giveaway.

·         If you don’t pay your exorcist … you can get repossessed.

·         With her marriage, she got a new name … and a dress.

·         Show me a piano falling down a mineshaft and I’ll show you … A-flat miner.

·         You are stuck with your debt if … you can’t budge it.

·         Local Area Network in Australia : … The LAN down under.

·         A boiled egg is … hard to beat.

·         When you’ve seen one shopping centre … you’ve seen a mall.

·         Police were called to a day care where a three-year-old was … resisting a rest.

Smallness

Wed, 20 Jun 2012 21:34:00 -0700

“All the generations before this one have found it difficult to understand size, bigness. The human conception has been able only with difficulty to cope with the tremendous figures, cities, steamers, wars, rates of production, and so on, in the modern world. But I wonder if the time has not come when it is more difficult for most people to formulate an idea of smallness. Things have been big for so long now. For instance, a great many people are not only unable to imagine what a small weekly newspaper and a small town are like, but they do not even try, because they assume that anything small is simply an early and imperfect version of something big. I doubt if there are many who know that these particular small things, and of course others, are more different in kind than in size. They are not underdeveloped. They are mature, complete specimens of what they have always been and will always be.”

- “Country Editor,” by Henry Beetle Hough, 1940

This building is in the Tillamook Urban Renewal Agency district,...

Wed, 20 Jun 2012 13:01:01 -0700

This building is in the Tillamook Urban Renewal Agency district, and it’s the worst building in town.

Removing an eyesore from downtown Tillamook.

Sun, 10 Jun 2012 14:33:39 -0700

Removing an eyesore from downtown Tillamook.

International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 07:59:25 -0700

International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors

Minus tide in Oceanside. Photo by Dale Harmer.

Mon, 04 Jun 2012 21:07:08 -0700

Minus tide in Oceanside. Photo by Dale Harmer.

A few folks can make a difference downtown!

Mon, 04 Jun 2012 20:44:57 -0700

A few folks can make a difference downtown!

Tillamook, let's paint the town

Mon, 04 Jun 2012 20:44:18 -0700

How many times have you driven past or walked down Main Street? How often have you really studied the surroundings?

The chipped tile, the unwashed window, the empty storefront…

The daily views we have pushed to the corners of our minds are the first impressions we leave to visitors of our town. I don’t mean to sound negative – downtown Tillamook has great bones and wonderful businesses – but as tourist season begins, it’s time for a thorough cleaning.

The city and the Tillamook Urban Renewal Agency (TURA) are planning a downtown cleanup day for June 16. (The date has changed since our community calendar in this week’s paper went to press).

We need you, the community, to pitch in.

We may not be able to install a new awning in a day, but we can paint, caulk, plant flowers and clean windows.

As a member of the city’s association’s committee, I pushed for this downtown cleanup day. Not only is it important to look our best for summer tourists, it’s important to get residents actively engaged in downtown. We’re asking for local volunteers to register in advance of the event by calling the Chamber of Commerce at 503-842-7525. This is a great chance to get your church/scouting group/nonprofit/business involved in the community and show pride in your town. It’s amazing what you can do with a few dozen volunteers in one afternoon.

We’re also asking building owners and renters to tell us what they’d like help with. Some things can be done with cleanup volunteers. Other projects might qualify for funding through TURA, which receives a portion of tax revenues to invest in brick and mortar improvements to the TURA district, which includes downtown.

At this point, you might ask, why do we have an urban renewal agency? Why ask the community to pitch in when private businesses and building owners should take care of their own problems?

The question was raised at our associations committee meeting, and I’ll address it briefly here.

Across the country, Main Street revitalization programs have been formed because small towns are realizing how important downtowns are to the heart of a community. Sadly, in many cases, the importance of Main Street isn’t fully appreciated until it’s almost gone.

Downtown represents our town’s past and identity. It is the heart of the city, the source of pride, the face we present to visitors, and the gathering place for community and civic affairs. It is where locally-owned and start-up businesses can thrive. It requires more than just a private investment; a healthy downtown requires a public investment as well.

There are several reasons why Tillamook’s Main Street needs our help. First, many downtown merchants are doing well just to survive, and they don’t have the resources or staff time to invest in facade improvements.

Secondly, many buildings aren’t owned by the businesses that occupy them. They are owned by folks who don’t live in town and who aren’t particularly invested in our town’s future. We can’t let the revitalization of our downtown be slowed by the apathy of out-of-town investors. We need to push property owners to be responsible.

I happen to like the initial approach of gentle nudging through cleanup days such as this (and slight community shaming) rather than heavy-handed ordinance enforcement. When a few businesses start to bloom, others are likely to follow suit.

A rising tide lifts all boats, as they say.

The associations committee was formed by the city council to bring together various economic interests – the TCCA, the mills, the Port, the media, TURA, the chamber – for the rather vague purpose of supporting industry, public facilities, civic uses of the town center, and tourism.

We talk a lot about tourism on the associations committee. How can we get more tourists to stay in Tillamook? How can we combat our image as a smelly “cow town”? Those are good questions, but I’m more interested in the people who live here.

How can Tillamook become a more liveable place? How can we make residents proud of being an industrious “cow town”? If you address the latter, you fix the former. People with pride in their community don’t have cobwebs in the windows downtown, they don’t allow abandoned properties to blight their neighborhoods. They attract visitors.

I firmly believe that with people and towns, you must first love yourself before anyone else can love you.

And I love Tillamook, but I love tough. I love her enough to point out her cobwebs and volunteer to clean them.

Do you have an idea for a cleanup or improvement project? Do you have a skill such as window painting? Can you lend your artistic talents?

If so, contact the Chamber or email me directly at sswindler@countrymedia.net.

Keepin' it real

Wed, 09 May 2012 21:20:47 -0700

About a year ago, I was asked to write a bio for the Tom & Pat Gish Award nominations. This is what I gave to Al Smith, an amazing newsman who we simply refer to as “The God of Kentucky Journalism.”

I was born in Metairie, La. and graduated high school in Houston, Texas. At age 20, I graduated from Boston University’s College of Communication with a degree in mass communications. I had a few odd jobs before I landed my first reporter gig at the Daily Progress in Jacksonville, Texas. My parents had moved to the town while I was in college. I loved reporting, and quickly worked my way up the ranks to managing editor.

That’s where I first got a taste of investigative reporting. The city manager was fired after we reported he was illegally burning down condemned houses in the poor part of town. My lead reporter and I also uncovered a myriad of problems in the Jacksonville Police Department, including officers allegedly involved with drugs and prostitution. My reporter won an AP Managing Editors Association of Texas Freedom of Information Award for her reporting.

CNHI offered me the managing editor position at the Times-Tribune in Corbin, Ky. and I moved there in August 2006.

There was the sheriff story, but there were plenty of public corruption battles to fight there.

• We found out the city of Corbin spent $20,000 on tickets to a Montgomery Gentry concert for city employees and their friends: http://thetimestribune.com/local/x1065253188/City-spent-20K-on-tickets

• I called out the county for its illegal tourism tax: http://thetimestribune.com/local/x1065239786/Is-it-tourism/print

• We looked into the state’s judicial nominating commission process: http://thetimestribune.com/local/x1065245372/Last-minute-Republicans-make-judicial-nominating-commission

In July 2010, I took a job with Country Media and moved to Tillamook, Oregon. Things are much quieter on the Oregon Coast, but many of the issues that affect rural America are the same wherever you go. Our citizens in rural Oregon struggle every day to have access to public and private services no one thinks twice about in Portland. Tillamook struggles with prescription pill abuse, poor access to health care and a lack of educational and economic opportunities.

And for all of those reasons, I never thought I’d end up loving life in a small town. But rural America needs more advocates, and I’m proud of the work small papers can do. I get a sense of accomplishment from this kind of work that would never come from being a copy editor at some major metro. I’m excited to go to work every morning and (usually) to stay late every night. And I’ve made plenty of good friends along the way.

Small town papers are in a better financial position than most city papers, but they need to provide quality journalism to keep readers in the digital age. And, sadly, most small papers are content to cover car wrecks and bake sales and call it a day.

I’ve seen too many J-school graduates – and even long-time editors – who don’t have any passion for newspapers. Sure, you’re overworked, underpaid, short staffed… but that’s no excuse for not fulfilling your role as the Fourth Estate. Rural towns need good journalists who both care about the communities they report on, and aren’t afraid to ask the tough, uncomfortable questions when necessary.

It’s a difficult role to play in a small community, because you’re not isolated in an urban sea of newsroom cubicles. You’re out in the community every day, justifying your work to friends and neighbors.

And that’s what I love about community journalism. It keeps you real.

A view on ‘the view’

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 10:15:20 -0700

It’s spring and – in case you haven’t seen the letters to the editor in two months – it’s also election time.
On Thursday, the American Association of University Women (of which I am a member) and the Headlight Herald co-sponsored a political forum featuring 15 local and state candidates. All candidates in contested May 15 elections were present – that includes two candidates for tax assessor, two candidates for county commissioner Position 2 and seven candidates for county commissioner Position 1.
Written questions were solicited from the audience and candidates each had one minute to answer.
It’s an intense election, with Charles Hurliman’s commissioner seat up for grabs by a newcomer. At the Headlight Herald, we’ve worked to expand our elections coverage by (for the first time) conducting in-depth video interviews with each of the commissioner candidates.
Another first – we live-streamed video of the political forum online, as it was happening. Granted, you can see me and reporter Anthony Rimel fiddling to get the video started, but I was pleasantly surprised with the audio quality. You can watch the entire forum at http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/21975614 or follow a link from tillamookheadlightherald.com.
One forum question in particular drew my interest – candidates were asked their opinion on the potential for ocean energy devices off Tillamook County’s shores.
The first to answer was David Downs. He responded in part, “I live down in Pacific City and I really have a great view, and in all honesty, just drive I-5 toward San Francisco and you see all these wind producing machines, and it looks terrible. It’s just a bad view. It couldn’t be any worse… I think I’d rather see an oil rig out there than a couple hundred windmills.”
I don’t mean to pick on David. Several candidates weren’t thrilled with the prospect. You can listen to all the candidates answer this question starting at the 1:39 minute mark.
But of all the reasons to oppose ocean energy development, I have trouble with “the view” defense.
I fully admit that I come to the issue of “the view” from a skewed standpoint. I have lived in Tillamook for less than two years and cannot see the ocean from my window.
For four years prior to coming to Oregon, I lived in the hills of Eastern Kentucky, where the view of the mountains is just as beautiful as the ocean. In parts of Appalachia, a practice called mountaintop removal mining blasts 500-800 feet off the tops of these mountains in order to reach the coal seams below.
(You can learn more about this devastating practice at ilovemountains.org).
A field of windmills generating electricity atop one of those mountains would look beautiful, because it would mean the mountain would still be there.
Kentucky is not my birthplace. I was raised along the Gulf Coast in New Orleans and Houston, where the ocean plays a vital part in the livelihoods of local residents.
Two years ago, a BP oil rig in the Gulf exploded. I wish our need for crude oil hadn’t played a part in the deaths of 11 men and the widespread damage to an eco-system and an economy.
Am I asking to throw energy devices into Oregon’s waters tomorrow? Heck no. I don’t know if it will be feasible in the long-run. I don’t know what effects it could have on other marine life. The big one – I don’t want to harm our fishing industry.
But these are the reasons we might oppose – or perhaps approach with caution – the placement of energy devices off our shores. The worst excuse, the most blatant example of “not in my backyard” syndrome, is to dismiss the entire industry because of its potential to mar the view of the horizon.
And I happen to think the wind turbines along the Columbia Gorge are beautiful, because of the values they represent.
Many months ago, a very “green” fella from north county was telling me we needed to oppose these ocean devices, which surprised me. He said the Native Americans thought the view over the Pacific was sacred and we had a duty to preserve it.
Well, I’m sure that’s true. I’ll only counter that the mountains are sacred to the people of Appalachia, and the wetlands are sacred to the people of southern Louisiana.
In other parts of this country, people sacrifice their health and environment to power America. I can’t think of anything more selfish than to say we won’t sacrifice “the view.”

Why I hate OJIN

Sat, 10 Mar 2012 17:24:33 -0800

OJIN – the Oregon Judicial Information Network – is an online database that allows access to judgement records in the state’s 36 counties. Sounds like a great way to provide access to public documents, right?

Well, the site has a $295 setup fee and a $10 monthly user ID fee. That’s something attorney offices may cough up, but the average citizen (or small weekly newspaper) looking for one case outside of the county will not.

This frustrates me because the federal court equivalent, PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records) only bills based on the number of pages you request to view. There’s no sign up fee, you pay the equivalent of a few cents per page.

With those high fees, I suspect OJIN is a source for revenue generation for the Oregon Judicial Department. If that’s the case, that’s just wrong. Public documents belong to the citizens; they are simply entrusted for safe keeping by government officials. I’ve said this before, but providing access to public records should not be a revenue-generating service of the state.

I need to file an open records request for the financial statements of OJIN. I want to know how much money the web program collects, and how much it costs to maintain. I can only guess how much that request will cost me…