4A COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL August 10, 2016
O PINION
Offbeat Oregon History
Truck bombing doomed the cause of
newspapers’ striking unions
BY FINN J.D. JOHN
For the Sentinel
I
n a retrospective article many
years later, Oregonian col-
umnist Steve Duin wrote that the
shotgun ambush of newspaper man-
ager Donald Newhouse by some un-
known lurker outside his basement
window was the moral turning point
in the newspaper’s struggle with its
unions.
That’s not entirely true. There was
another turning point — a much more
important one. It had happened just
two months after the union members
went out on strike.
At that time, the newspaper man-
agement was hurting badly. Most
Portlanders were pro-union. Union
members were going door to door
asking everyone to cancel their sub-
scriptions, and tens of thousands of
them were doing it. The only bright
spot for The Oregonian’s absentee
owner, New Yorker Sam Newhouse,
was that he’d gotten the competing
newspaper, the Oregon Journal, to
join the Oregonian in all labor ne-
gotiations, meaning the Journal had
been sucked into the fi ght by treaty
obligations. Had that not been the
case, hundreds of thousands of Port-
landers would almost certainly have
simply switched papers, and the
strike would have been over.
As it was, the unions realized it
was asking a lot of residents to give
up their daily newspaper, so they
pooled their resources and expertise
and launched a third newspaper in
Portland – at fi rst a weekly, and then,
as it became clear that this would
not suffi ce, a daily. It was called The
Portland Reporter; it was excellent,
if a bit thin; and, until its closure for
fi nancial reasons in 1964, it helped a
great deal.
Would that have been enough?
We’ll never know. Because one of
the stereotypers – the obsolete work-
ers whose walkout over equipment
upgrades had started the whole thing
– got impatient.
Which is why, at midnight on
Jan. 31, 1960, a series of 10 colos-
sal dynamite blasts shook sleepers
awake in Oregon City. Stereotyper
Levi McDonald had hired some
young fellows, given them dynamite
and fuses and sent them out into the
night to apply a little direct pressure
to some of the trucking companies
that had had the temerity to continue
doing business with the Oregonian.
Ten trucks had been blown up; luck-
ily, no one had been hurt.
Now, it’s important to understand
that in 1960, the vast majority of
people in Portland had lived through
or participated in the Second World
War. The way to win the hearts and
minds of people who have experi-
enced total war is not to show one-
self as the side most willing to resort
to such extreme measures as truck
bombs. Furthermore, the reckless-
ness of the action was appalling:
What if someone had been in one
of those trucks, or working nearby?
Unlikely, yes, but unlikely things do
happen sometimes.
The next day, the sun came up on
a completely new world. Now, when
union reps knocked on a Portland-
er’s door and asked him or her to
cancel his or her subscription, the
Portlander’s perception of the whole
affair would be different. It wasn’t
“local guys getting stiffed by a New
York mogul”; it was “bomb-throw-
ing union thugs fi ghting with a New
York mogul.”
It’s not hard to understand what
that change did to the union canvass-
ers’ success rate.
It is entirely possible that McDon-
ald was discreetly ratted out by fel-
low union members who, realizing
that he’d probably just lost them the
war, fi gured their only hope was to
show the world that the bombings
had been a rogue member’s free-
lance action, not an offi cial union
operation. It’s also possible – as
union members immediately after-
ward claimed – that the whole thing
was a false-fl ag operation, and that
McDonald had been put up to it by
the Oregonian.
The unions decried the bombings
immediately and even contributed
$1,000 to the reward offered for the
perpetrator’s capture. But it wasn’t
enough. Essentially, the bombings
turned a strike that had been on a rel-
atively fast track toward a successful
(for the union) resolution, into a los-
ing stalemate that would drag on for
fi ve years.
For Sam Newhouse, a fi ve-year
fi ght was tolerable. He owned a big
string of other newspapers, and rev-
enue from them could prop up the
temporarily-money-losing Orego-
nian nicely. Plus, he had, with re-
markable prescience, bought a very
expensive strike-insurance policy
before the whole mess broke out.
But for the Oregon Journal, times
were tough indeed. Remember, this
was just a few years after the last
member of the founding Jackson
family, Maria, had died. Maria had
tried to pass her stock in the news-
paper on to the employees, but the
three trustees in charge of her estate
challenged the bequest in court and
won, thereby essentially robbing
the employees of their inheritance
– and, more importantly, leaving the
trustees in control of the newspaper.
It was the trustees who had made the
deal to jointly negotiate labor con-
tracts with the Oregonian. And it
was soon very clear that the trustees
— who were charged with caring
for the entire Jackson estate, not just
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Thanks from the bank
My staff and I would like to thank
all the people and organizations in Cot-
tage Grove that have been so thought-
ful and kind to us over the last couple
of weeks. No one likes to go through
a negative experience, but it also true
that bad times often bring out the best
in our community. The response from
our Police Department was reassuring
and professional. We are most grateful
to each of you.
Jim Gilroy
Banner Bank Branch Manager
CONTACT YOUR
ELECTED
OFFICIALS
Cottage Grove City Hall: 942-5501.
www.cottagegrove.org/
Cottage Grove Mayor Tom Munroe:
942-5501.
Cottage Grove City Councilors:
Mike Fleck, At Large: 942-7302
K. Michael Roberts, At Large: 942-
5501
Jake Boone, Ward 1: 653-7413
Jeff Gowing, Ward 2: 942-1900
Garland Burback, Ward 3: 942-4800
Amy Slay, Ward 4: 942-5501
Please see OFFBEAT, Page 8A
Initiative ordinance is
illegal
We are concerned that some members
of the Lane County Board of Commis-
sioners do not understand the concept
of separation of powers enshrined in the
U.S. Constitution. The commissioners’
interest in giving themselves the power
to deny “we the people” the right to
vote on county-wide ballot measures
that we ourselves have initiated seems
decidedly un-American, given that the
courts in this country are the bodies that
decide on the constitutionality of laws,
not elected lawmakers.
After a ballot measure has been ap-
proved by voters, it can be challenged
– in the courts. If the commissioners
enact this illegal ordinance, they will
Lane County
Commissioners:
Faye Stewart, East Lane Commissioner
Lane County Public Service Building
125 East 8th Street
Eugene, OR 97401
Phone: (541) 682-4203
Fax: (541) 682-4616
Oregon State House of
Representatives:
Rep. Cedric Hayden (REP)
District: 007
900 Court Street NE
Suite H-288
Salem, OR 97301
Phone: (503) 986-1407
Fax: (503) 986-1130
Email: rep.cedrichayden@state.or.us
Oregon State Senate:
Sen. Floyd Prozanski (DEM)
District: 004
900 Court Street NE
Suite S-319
certainly be wasting taxpayer dollars
defending it in court. Ironically, saving
money is their stated reason for consid-
ering the ordinance, but perhaps they
have other motives. The commissioners
who have expressed the most interest in
selectively squashing citizen initiatives
are the same ones who are well funded
by the timber industry, which opposes
a citizen initiative currently collecting
signatures for the ballot.
The Cottage Grove Blackberry Pie
Society:
Leslie Rubinstein
Cathy Bellavita
Steve Kilston
Gail Hoelzle
Julie Parker
Brian Forge
Alice Doyle
Salem, OR 97301-0001
Phone: (503) 986-1704
Fax: (503) 986-1080
Email: sen.fl oydprozansski@state.or.us
Governor:
Kate Brown
160 State Capitol
900 Court Street
Salem, Oregon 97301-4047
Phone: (503) 378-4582
Fax: (503) 378-6827
CORRECTION:
The Sentinel published a letter
in its July 20 edition inquiring as
to why there is no wireless Inter-
net access at the Cottage Grove
Library. In fact, the newspaper
has learned that the Library
indeed offers free WiFi access,
which is available throughout
the Community Center. The
Sentinel apologizes for the error.
Greens, beans and fruits: The best anti-diabetes foods
BY JOEL FUHRMAN, MD
For the Sentinel
D
iabetes is the seventh
leading cause of death in
the U.S., and the disease dou-
bles the risk of heart attack and
stroke. However, Type 2 Dia-
betes is a lifestyle disease - our
food choices can either prevent
or promote insulin resistance
and resultant diabetes.
$ PUUBHF ( SPWF 4 FOUJOFM
116 N. Sixth Street · P.O. Box 35 · Cottage Grove, OR 97424
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JOHN BARTLETT, Regional Publisher..............................
GARY MANLY, General Manager................942-3325 Ext.
207 • publisher@cgsentinel.com
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Ext. 203 • robin@cgsentinel.com
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RON ANNIS, Graphics Manager
(USP 133880)
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M a n y
convention-
al diabetes
diets rely
on meat or
grains as the
major calo-
rie source.
H o w e v e r,
these strat-
egies have serious drawbacks.
High-nutrient, low glycemic
load (GL) foods are the optimal
foods for diabetics, and these
foods also help to prevent dia-
betes in the fi rst place:
Leafy greens and other non-
starchy vegetables: Green and
non-starchy vegetables have
almost nonexistent effects on
blood glucose and are packed
with fi ber and phytochemicals.
A recent meta-analysis found
that greater leafy green veg-
etable intake is associated with
a 14 percent decrease in risk of
Type 2 Diabetes. One study re-
ported that each daily serving of
leafy greens produces a 9 per-
cent decrease in risk. Greens,
mushrooms, onions, garlic, egg-
plant, peppers, etc. are essential
components of an anti-diabetes
(or diabetes reversal) diet.
Beans: Beans, lentils, and
other legumes are the ideal car-
bohydrate source. Beans are
low in GL due to their moderate
protein and abundant fi ber and
resistant starch, carbohydrates
that are not broken down in the
small intestine. This reduces
the amount of calories that can
be absorbed from beans; plus,
resistant starch is fermented by
bacteria in the colon, forming
products that protect against co-
lon cancer. Accordingly, bean
and legume consumption is as-
sociated with reduced risk of
both diabetes and colon cancer.
Nuts and seeds: Nuts are low
in GL, promote weight loss, and
have anti-infl ammatory effects
that may prevent the develop-
ment of insulin resistance. The
Nurses’ Health Study found a
27 percent reduced risk of dia-
betes in nurses who ate fi ve or
more servings of nuts per week.
Among nurses who already had
diabetes, this same quantity re-
duced the risk of heart disease
by 47 percent.
Fresh fruit: Fruits are rich in
fi ber and antioxidants and are
a nutrient-dense choice for sat-
isfying sweet cravings. Eating
three servings of fresh fruit each
day is associated with an 18 per-
cent decrease in risk of diabe-
tes. For those who are already
diabetic, I recommend sticking
to low sugar fruits like berries,
kiwi, oranges and melon to min-
imize glycemic effects.
This approach works. In a re-
cent study on Type 2 Diabetics
following this diet, we found
that 62 percent of the partici-
pants reached normal (non-
diabetic) HbA1C levels within
seven months, and the average
number of medications required
dropped from four to one. A
diet of vegetables, nuts, seeds,
beans and fresh fruit can prevent
and even reverse diabetes while
promoting long-term health.
If you have type 2 diabetes,
learn about my diet and lifestyle
plan for naturally reversing dia-
betes in my new book, The End
of Diabetes.
Dr. Fuhrman is the #1 New
York Times bestselling author of
Eat to Live, and a board certi-
fi ed family physician specializ-
ing in lifestyle and nutritional
medicine. Visit his informative
website at DrFuhrman.com.
Submit your questions and com-
ments about this column directly
to newsquestions@drfuhrman.
com.
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