4 — THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS
Opinion / Politics
— Editorial —
Beware
the free
subscription
“We stopped subscribing to that
publication a year ago, but they just
keep sending it!”
We heard this phrase three times
last week alone regarding one publi-
cation—at least 50 times in the past
year. We imagine that for every time
we’ve heard it, there are probably ten
more instances of this situation hap-
pening.
In the cases we’ve heard, the
former customers of XYZ Newspa-
per quit subscribing one, two—and
in one case, six years ago because
they didn’t care for the publication,
didn’t read it, and no longer wished to
receive it.
At first blush, receiving free copies
of a magazine or newspaper sounds
fairly innocuous.
After all, as a customer, if one has
legitimately cancelled or decided not
to renew a subscription and continues
to receive the publication every week,
the responsibility falls on the publish-
er, right? Worst case, the issues get
tossed straight into the recycle bin at
the post office, correct? Maybe not
Let us explain the common reasons
a customer keeps receiving a publica-
tion months and years after cancella-
tion. Sometimes the error is simply
due to sloppy bookkeeping—but so
very often, it’s not.
When a newspaper or magazine
has drastically falling circulation
numbers, this is not a fact they’d like
publicized. The number of subscrib-
ers to which a publication is mailed
shows up on their bulk mailing re-
ports, and whether a large publication
in a large city or a smaller publication
in a small area, those numbers tend
to leak out to the public one way or
another.
Thus, publications of the not-so-
honest variety will pad their numbers
by continuing to mail out a certain
amount each week or month, using
the addresses of cancelled subscribers
to amp up their dwindling circulation.
There are laws regulating this
practice—somewhat. For example,
at least in Oregon regarding newspa-
pers—because this is the industry we
know—a subscriber is not considered
a legitimate subscriber in terms of
adding to the circulation count for
advertising bids, etc., unless they
actually pay for their subscription and
aren’t more than six months behind in
that payment.
So while it isn’t exactly illegal
to continue mailing to a cancelled
subscriber, it does become potentially
criminal if a publication deliberately
claims a circulation it doesn’t have
when approaching advertisers.
With circulation numbers miracu-
lously maintained, or even showing
an increase, the publication, which
relies in large part on advertising dol-
lars to operate, can verify on its rate
card that it mails out a certain number
of copies per issue. Do the recipients
actually subscribe? No. Do they read
the publication? Not often. But none-
theless, a publication like this will
fraudulently claim they do.
For advertisers who are spending
their hard-earned dollars, the effect of
this fraud is devastating, particularly
on small businesses. Imagine think-
ing your ad is being seen by 2,000
residents inside your own home area,
when in reality you’re reaching just
1,000 people who never shop any-
where near your business.
As you can imagine, this practice is
also damaging to all the honest com-
petitors who present themselves and
their numbers accurately.
There is a simple way to fight back
against this deliberate fraud—and
that’s to force the publication toward
more accurate bulk mailing numbers.
If you’ve been receiving a newspa-
per or magazine under these circum-
stances, call the editor or publisher.
Help protect the businesses and the
economy in your community. De-
mand that your name be removed
from their mailing list immediately. If
that doesn’t work, report the issue to
your local postmaster.
—The Baker County Press Editorial Board
— Contact Us —
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Phone: 541.519.0572
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TheBakerCountyPress.com
US Rep. Greg Walden
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Editor@TheBakerCountyPress.com
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Wendee@TheBakerCountyPress.com
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David@TheBakerCountyPress.com
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Walden.House.gov
Oregon Gov. Kate
Brown
503.378.3111
Governor.Oregon.gov
State Rep. Cliff Bentz
503.986.1460
State Sen. Ted Ferrioli
541.490.6528
Baker County
Commissioners Bill Harvey;
Mark Bennett; Tim Kerns
541.523.8200
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Opinions or Letters to the Editor express
the opinions of their authors, and have not
been authored by and are not necessarily
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FRIDAY, AUGUST 7, 2015
Bentz summarizes
complex legislative
session at luncheon
Brian Addison / The Baker County Press
Baker County resident Steve Culley speaks to Oregon Rep. Cliff Bentz (R-Dis-
trict 60-Ontario) during the Chamber of Commerce luncheon August 5. Culley
worked with Bentz to pass legislation to provide relief on fines to recovering
drug addicts.
• BENTZ SPEAKS
AT CHAMBER OF
COMMERCE
LUNCHEON
BY BRIAN ADDISON
Brian@TheBakerCountyPress.com
Oregon Representative
Cliff Bentz (R-District
60-Ontario) addressed
about 35 Baker County
residents at the monthly
Baker County Chamber
of Commerce luncheon,
Wednesday, August 5.
Bentz provided a brief
summary of the latest
Oregon legislative session
that began February 2 and
adjourned on July 6, 2015.
Bentz had the task of
summarizing a very active
and complex legislative
session in a short one-
hour time period as he
addressed the luncheon
crowd. This included a list
of what he referred to as
“bad legislation Republi-
cans stopped. Bad legisla-
tion Republicans tried but
failed to stop. Bentz bills
passed. Bills Bentz sup-
ported which passed. Tried
but failed bills.”
During the last legisla-
tive session, Bentz had
drafted a total 82 bills. Of
that number, he told the
crowd that 10 of his intro-
duced bills were passed
into law.
Changes in land use laws
regarding Greater sage-
grouse habitat in Oregon
topped the concerns voiced
by Bentz.
The Oregon Land
Conservation and Develop-
ment Commission passed
regulation last week that
greatly curtails all activi-
ties on public and private
land classified as primary
habitat for the Greater
sage-grouse.
He said that exemp-
tions were made to allow
cattle grazing and haying
operations but warned that
environmentalist organiza-
tions in the state are con-
tinuing to target and limit
those agricultural activities
as well.
“This is land use plan-
ning of steroids—that’s
what just happened on all
public and private lands,”
Bentz said.
Interest in the Greater
sage-grouse habitat protec-
tion effort is expected to
heighten next month as
the US Fish and Wildlife
Service plans to reach a
decision on whether or not
to include the bird on the
nation’s endangered spe-
cies list.
Included on the list of
what Bentz referred to as
“bad legislation Repub-
licans tried but failed to
stop,” is Oregon SB 324
Low Carbon Fuel Stan-
dard. The new law directs
that carbon emission in the
state of Oregon be driven
down by 10-percent during
the next decade.
Bentz explained that
carbon emission reduction
will require conversions
to lower carbon emitting
fuel sources and by adding
corn based alcohol to fuel.
He said that a failure to
meet the 10-percent carbon
emission reduction would
result in the required pur-
chase of carbon credits.
Oregon Department of
Environmental Quality
published estimates that
place the increase in fuel
prices at 19-cents per gal-
lon under the new carbon
emission standard. Bentz
referred to industry ana-
lysts who put the increase
of fuel prices more toward
$1.06 per gallon in order to
adhere to the new law.
There is a local con-
nection to two of the bills
drafted by Bentz and
passed into law during this
last legislative session.
HB 3166 Teacher Licens-
ing, originally brought to
Bentz by a former Baker 5J
District Superintendent, re-
laxes the licensing require-
ments for some technical
industrial teachers.
This law comes as the
Baker Technical Institute,
part of the education pro-
gram offered by the Baker
School District, offers a
core technical program
and has faced difficulty in
finding licensed instructors
for some training programs
such as welding.
HB 3168 Monetary Obli-
gations of Defendants, was
passed into law and was
originally brought to Bentz
by Baker County resident
Steve Culley. The law pro-
vides relief from fines on
recovering drug addicts.
Also included on the
list of Bentz bills passed
into law are the HB 3011
Self Service Gas Stations
allowing Oregon citizens
in counties with a popula-
tion less than 40,000 to
pump their own gas during
nighttime hours; HB 3089
Mining Audit of Mineral
Potential; HB 3402 Speed
Limit Increase that will
raise the interstate speed
limit in Oregon to 70 mph;
HB 3015 Options for Last
Name Changes; SCR 16
Honoring Mabry Anders
by renaming the state
highway from Baker City
to Sumpter in honor of An-
ders who sacrificed his life
in military service to his
country; and, MOA and SB
5544 Sage-grouse Habitat
Reservation and Preserva-
tion Funding.
Making the list of what
Bentz referred to as “bad
legislation Republicans
tried to stop but failed”
are, the SB 324 Low
Carbon Fuel Standard; SB
941 Background Checks
requiring private person
to complete transfer of
firearm by appearing with
transferee before gun
dealer to request criminal
background check or ship-
ping or delivering firearm
to gun dealer in certain
circumstances; underfund-
ing K-12 education, with
the budgeted amount for
the 2015 through 2017
biennium passed at $7.373
billion. Bentz said that he
had pushed for education
funding at $7.5 billion of
the states expected $70
billion biennium expen-
ditures; SB 454 Misde-
signed Paid Sick Leave;
and, HB 2177 Automatic
Voter Registration “Motor
Voter,” which automati-
cally registers to vote all
people using services at
the Oregon Department of
Motor Vehicles.
Bentz provided a list
of internet sites where
detailed information may
be found on all the legisla-
tive activities from the
2015 legislative session.
Those interested may visit
the following web sites:
https://olis.leg.state.or.us/
liz/2015R1/2015-01-12;
https://www.oregonleg-
islature.gov/lfo/Docu-
ments/2015-17%20
Co-Chair%20Budget%20
Framework.pdf; and for
revenue information, http://
oregon.gov/dor/pages/in-
dex.aspx.