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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 20, 2019)
A4 THE ASTORIAN • TuESdAy, AuguST 20, 2019 OPINION editor@dailyastorian.com KARI BORGEN Publisher JIM VAN NOSTRAND Editor Founded in 1873 JEREMY FELDMAN Circulation Manager JOHN D. BRUIJN Production Manager CARL EARL Systems Manager WRITER’S NOTEBOOK Bend newspaper buy is an opportunity W hen Heidi Wright called me June 3 to suggest that our company should take a look at bidding on Bend’s daily newspaper, The Bulletin, I was at once startled, skeptical and intrigued. We hired Heidi as our chief operating officer in June 2017 — away from The Bulletin, where she had been the chief financial officer of its parent company, Western Communications. At that point, we had just bid on two other newspapers out of Wescom’s bank- ruptcy in Baker City and LaGrande. STEVE Pursuing the Bulle- FORRESTER tin prospect, the board of EO Media Group con- vened two impromptu meetings. For the first of these sessions, at the Sheraton Portland Airport Hotel, we invited Daily Astorian Publisher Kari Borgen, who had also worked within Western Com- munications. Asked what she thought of the opportunity, Kari said: “It’s exciting and it’s scary.” That typified our deliber- ations, during which we probed the risks and assessed the promise. My daughter, Susan Forrester Rana, flew up from Oakland for our second board meeting, during which we set our top bid for The Bulletin. By this time my cousin, Kathryn Brown, had made con- tact with a longtime family associate who is an executive of the Bank of Eastern Oregon. In addition to that bank financ- ing, Heidi was speaking with prospec- tive investors in Bend who were eager to have our pursuit of ownership succeed. The auction on July 29 occurred in the office of the Portland law firm Tonkon Torp. Our group — including my cousin The Bend Bulletin and headquarters of Western Communications. IN TAKINg OWNERSHIP OF THE BuLLETIN, OuR COMPANy IS NOT SIMPLy BuyINg ANOTHER PROPERTy. IT IS TAKINg HOLd OF A JOuRNALISTIC OPPORTuNITy THAT WILL BECOME IMMENSELy SIgNIFICANT TO ALL OF OREgON. Kathryn, Heidi and our CFO Rick Han- sen and our lawyers — were placed in one room while the three-man team from Adams Publishing Group was in another. Rhode Island Suburban Newspapers, the party that made the initial bid on The Bulletin, did not show up for the auction. To honor our family’s ambitions and the gravity of the moment, Kathryn wore a Pendleton jacket that had belonged to my mother, Eleanor. At 10 a.m. we moved to another con- ference room — the bidding site. When the Adams trio entered, we stood to greet them. Mark Adams, the company’s CEO, sat two seats away from me; Heidi was to my left. In a thrilling auction that would last 15 minutes, Adams would be their bidder, Heidi ours. The bidding requirement was to raise by minimum increments of $50,000, beginning at $2,550,000. After the ini- tial round of bidding drove the price to $3,050,000, the Adams group left the room to confer privately. There was a second conference at the $3,450,000 mark, after which Mark Adams jumped the bid to $3.6 million. Heidi hesitated for what seemed to me 20 seconds. But Rick clocked it at fifteen seconds. Even though we were below our ceiling, her hesitation seemed an eternity. Instead of raising our bid, Mark Adams graciously congratulated us on our acquisition. In taking ownership of The Bulle- tin, our company is not simply buying another property. It is taking hold of a journalistic opportunity that will become immensely significant to all of Oregon. With the decline of formerly influen- tial daily newspapers such as The Reg- ister-Guard of Eugene and others, The Bulletin will become a beacon in a part of Oregon that is gaining economic, cul- tural and political significance. The Bul- letin will become a heavyweight part- ner for our Eastern Oregon newspapers in Umatilla, Union, Baker, Wallowa and Grant counties — and for our papers on the Oregon and Washington coast and the Capital Press as well. Our newspaper group fosters a culture of collaboration. That has allowed us to punch well above our weight. In collab- oration with the Pamplin Media Group, we have formed a statehouse bureau that reverses the decline in coverage of the Oregon Legislature and state agencies. In 2006 our papers collaborated on a series of articles about climate change. In addi- tion to pieces that were informed by sci- ence, each newspaper developed cam- eos of scientists, naturalists, farmers and fishers who spoke about what they were noticing in their region’s natural environ- ment. That series won an award of Spe- cial Merit in the national Grantham Prize competition. The environment and climate change are the primary issues of the 21st century. Our series — 12 years old — is ripe for an update. And The Bulletin’s participa- tion in such a venture would give a new series even more impact. Steve Forrester, the former editor and publisher of The Astorian, is the presi- dent and CEO of EO Media group. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Congress, do your duty ’ve been reading the U.S. Constitution lately, and I’m puzzled. Would someone tell me where it says power is to be con- centrated in the hands of one, or even a few individuals, allowing them to run the gov- ernment like their own personal toy. The Founding Fathers were intelligent thinkers. They wrote what’s considered one of the greatest government documents ever. Wouldn’t you agree? Therefore, I think it’s an imagination stretch that they left loop- holes in it. With so many lawyers in Congress, why is the government having such a hard time following the law, i.e. the Constitution? In my opinion, if anyone in government, goodness forbid, told witnesses to ignore legal subpoenas, didn’t exercise their author- ity to stop that, or hindered votes designed to protect our elections from foreign inter- vention, and by extension, protect the Amer- ican people, it would smack of breaking the law, aiding and abetting and failure of duty to defend America. I’m no lawyer, so what do you think? Historically, most of our leaders either couldn’t find these loopholes, or knew better than to look for them. Congress has the authority, and obliga- tion, to prevent these abuses. Does it have the courage? I’ll keep looking for these loopholes. Maybe they are in the white print (between the lines), or the fine print (I haven’t gotten there yet). So, come on, Congress, the American people — you remember, they elected you — need you now, to enforce checks and bal- ances and accountability. That’s real democ- racy in action. CARL DOMINEY Astoria I Nonissue in Gearhart hursday, Aug. 8, The Astorian published a front-page article written by Nicole Bales, “Gearhart police chief calls out city councilor.” I find this article to be poorly investi- gated, and as a result has called into ques- tion the reputation of Councilor Kerry Smith. In the article, it reports that Police Chief Jeff Bowman states that Smith was “grossly wrong” when he came to his office in July to inquire about a dog bite case. Bowman said that Smith was asking about the case as a citizen, not as a coun- cilor. Bowman says he believed that Smith’s mannerism was that he was questioning as a councilor and not as a citizen. The arti- cle says that Smith was unavailable to comment. Without obtaining both sides of what, in reality, should not have been a major issue, The Astorian prints an article that only expands a nonissue, and fans the flames of division. Bowman says that he hopes this T sends a message to city councilors. The way this article was written it calls to question Smith, when possibly it could be the police chief who should be questioned. Is it possible that Mr. Bowman has some other issue with Mr. Smith? When the police chief wants “the mayor to know … and everybody else to know … this isn’t the city of Portland where the mayor is in charge of the police department and he gets to interfere.” Really? My ques- tion to Mr. Bowman is to whom does the chief of police report? MARK EDY Medford What’s wrong with this picture? e see in the news that the administra- tion in Washington, D.C., is order- ing Immigration and Customs Enforce- ment (ICE) to conduct more lightning raids on businesses employing undocumented workers. Just guessing, here, that we will see a fresh round of large men in uniform with weapons in military surplus vehicles, weep- ing children, adult men and women in handcuffs and production lines slowing or stopping. Meanwhile, not a single white-collar executive or supervisor who hired and paid undocumented workers is anywhere in sight, W much less in cuffs or court. What’s wrong with this picture? RD SMITH Gearhart ‘Shanghaied’ a treasure thought the Astor Street Opry Company’s Astoria Regatta Grand Land Parade entry of their 35th celebration of “Shanghaied in Astoria” — with 40-plus actors and a line of six vehicles with special honoring of cre- ators Del Corbett and Liam Dunn — was testament to the joy and power of commu- nity theater. There are only 17 more performances of “Shanghaied” left this season. The acting is good, the singing great, and there is plenty of popcorn to throw at the bad guys. Every- one needs to see this fun, historic melo- drama. “Shanghaied” is recognized as an Oregon treasure, and you are remiss if you miss it. SARA MEYER Astoria I Federal overreach address this letter to our elected offi- cials of the North Coast. I do not sup- port Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detaining individuals in sensitive loca- I tions such as schools, courthouses, medical facilities, churches, etc. I will not vote for any candidate who supports this type of federal government overreach in our community. I will also strongly discourage each and every per- son in my community from voting for such candidates. ALEX CARNEY Seaside Words matter could be wrong, but I think Claire Withy- combe’s article “State workers object to PERS changes” (The Astorian, Aug. 12) misstates the situation. She refers to the recent changes to the state Public Employee Retirement System as “slashing” benefits. If this were the case, then Gov. Kate Brown would appear to be taking the significance of the problem seri- ously, which she is not. Other articles I have read have indicated benefits would be reduced by 1 to 3%. This is a reduction, not a slashing. To me, Ms. Withycombe’s choice of words is inflam- matory, not impartial journalism. To reit- erate the saying “words matter,” this one word, for me, changed the whole tone of her article. NORMAN BROWN Seaside I
