EXTRA EXTRA'
THIEF STEALS COLLEGE NEWSPAPERS
MORE THAN 200 ISSUES OF ‘THE CLACKAMAS PRINT’ VANISH
BY KRISTEN WOHLERS
The controversial cover story on the final winter term
issue of “ The Clackam as Print” m ay have been the
reason hundreds of newspapers were stolen from the
Oregon City campus of Clackamas Community College.
On W ednesday, M arch 9, the new spapers w ere
distributed to the stands in each building on campus.
By Friday morning, Melissa Jones, journalism adviser,
noticed that many of the bins were empty, including
some in Randall, Streeter, Niemeyer and the Community
Center.
• “ I m ight have not noticed that, except they were
also m issing from outside of our office here at Roger
Rook and in my time working here, that has never been
emptied in nine years. And this was two days after we
put them out,” said Jones, “ At least 200-300 issues
were picked up.”
No suspects have come forward in regards to the theft.
Campus Safety Officer Edward Markell confirmed that
there are no security cameras in the buildings where
newspapers were stolen.
Members o f the new spaper sta ff believe that the
papers were probably stolen by someone who didn’t
like the cover story.
The March cover story reads, “ See you after class?
College blows it on staff, student relationships.” In
the article, former sports editor Katie Archer revealed
that the college has no policy against staff and student
relationships. Her story focused on the relationship
of former cross country distance
coach D rew W asm und and
K ennedy R ufener, a stu d en t
a th le te . A fte r th e se a so n ,
Wasmund’s yearly contract was
not renewed.
Co E d ito r-in -C h ief for “ The
C la ck a m a s P r in t,” A n d re w
Koczian, maintains that the article
was handled appropriately.
“We didn’t cover it in a way that
bashed on anyone,” Koczian said.
“ That was never the intention.
We just asked a question, ‘Was
this fair and how does the school handle this policy?” ’
Stealing newspapers is a crime. Even though “ The
Clackamas Print” is a free publication, the theft cost
the paper more than $200 in printing costs.
The consequences for stealing papers range from
campus disciplinary action to criminal charges. However,
editors of “ The Clackamas Print” would simply like to
talk to the person who stole the papers.
Koczian said, “ It m akes me feel disrespected and,
quite frankly, a little upset because we put a lot of hard
work into this.”
T h e s e c rim e s th a t su p p re ss
o b je c tio n a b le in fo r m a tio n are
considered by the Student Press Law
Center to be a form of censorship.
Jones suggested that the topic of the
controversial cover story is one that
staff and students should be talking
about.
She concluded, “ It’ s a great story.
Even though the new spapers w ere
stolen, the story still exists online. You
can take the physical product, but you
can’t really remove the story from the
world. It’ s out there. You can remove
the new spapers that the story was
printed on, but the issue still remains.”
The Student Press Law Center has
documented cases of college newspaper thefts across the
nation and calls it, “ a serious and threatening trend.”
Mt. Hood Community College was struck on April 1,
when school officials took 600 copies of their student
newspaper, “ The Advocate,” from distribution bins,
according to the newspaper’s website.
Read the March 9 cover story, “ Vague relationship
policy at Clackam as raises q u estio n s,” on line at
TheClackamasPrint.com.
Merari Calderon Ruiz contributed to this report.
Illustration by Saige Keikkala
OAi7H£COV£/?.*>itoi3ho<Mil<nrohri|aetiteeäm|(yTi^jbBrt|^1yÄMesMDraÖ[rie®BnJidLÖrti5fiarsity on Friday, A pril 8. Photo by V ictoria Tinker.
theclackamasprint.com_____________________________________________/
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Edttors-in-Chlef Andrew Koczian & Megan McCoy, chiefed@dackamas.edu; News Editors Merari Calderon Ruiz. Shaylyn Strona. newsed@dackamas.edu; Arts & Culture Matthew Rowning. aced@dackamas.edu; Sports Editor James Harley, sportsed@clackamas.edu; Associate Sports Editor Travis Whittaker;
Copy Editor Blake Swan. copyed@dackamasedu; Design Editor Brendon Chorum Photo Editor Victoria Tinker, photoed@dackamas.edu; Illustrator Saige Keikkala; Web Editor Lexie Wagar. wetKditor@dackamas.edu; Ad Manager Robin Scott, admgr@dackamas.edu; Videographer Taras Kovch.
Staff Writers I Photographers Edgard Valencia. Elizabeth KesseL Debbie Fox. Kristen Wohlers. Tom Boggess; Production David Avis; Journalism Adviser Melissa Jones, melissaj@dackamas.edu; The ciid a m a s Print awns to report the news in an honest, unbiased and professional manner. Content published in
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