WINNERS
Don’t call him Ralph Nader, but independent John Frohnmayer (right) gave a boost to U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) by announcing he’ll run for Smith’s seat. A former head of the National Endowment for the Arts under Bush I, John Frohnmayer (brother of UO president Dave Frohnmayer) will probably siphon votes from Smith’s yet-to-be-determined Democratic challenger.
If Trail Blazers center Joel Przybilla had any vertical leap, he’d be jumping for joy over Greg Oden’s knee injury. News that Oden will miss the season (see page 19 for more) means Przybilla will get off the bench and have a chance at redeeming himself after last year, when he averaged all of 2 points and 4 rebounds a game after signing a five-year, $32 million deal.
Deformed and wounded deer aren’t just roadkill anymore in Oregon. Reader outrage over stories in The Oregonian about the state possibly euthanizing two pet deer owned by a Molalla family had the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife backtracking faster than Bambi from Godzilla.
LOSERS
Reporting for endless war duty, sir! A 180-soldier Oregon National Guard unit has been voluntold for a yearlong deployment in Iraq, doing one of the most dangerous jobs in the war—convoy security. Don’t worry, Mom, Gen. Petraeus says everything will be fine.
Let them eat graham crackers! Hungry kids who forget their lunch in the Reynolds School District will get just crackers and milk after the school board ended its unrestricted free breakfast and lunch programs. No soup for you, kid!
The Oregonian got two recent stains: one for getting a career Starbucks barista fired when columnist S. Renee Mitchell wrote Aug. 17 about a racist cartoon the woman had drawn on the Southwest 3rd Avenue and Jefferson Street store’s chalkboard. That was then was followed by Mitchell’s column last weekend that the barista shouldn’t have been canned. The second screw-up? The paper hasn’t pulled its multipart ATV series off the Web—even after Columbia Journalism Review lambasted the daily for using botched statistics in the report.
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"Oregon State University political science professor Bill Lunch said Frohnmayer could have a major effect on the Senate race, perhaps drawing as much as 10 percent to 15 percent of the vote. `My sense going in is that John's candidacy will hurt Smith more,' Lunch said. `He's got an institutional bone to pick with the Republican Party.'"
Political analyst Jim Moore said (in the Forest Grove News-Times, Sep 13, 2007): "If the race is based on past party activity, Frohnmayer will give moderate Republicans a place to put their votes. This would hurt Smith, be good for the Democratic nominee. However, if Frohnmayer's policy stances (impeach Bush, single-payer health care) become the main issue in the race, he will take voters from the Democratic candidate.
http://www.wweek.com/editorial/2938/4155/
She says (and I quote):
"Be ethical: It is a reporter's responsibility to be fair and check with people mentioned by name in news stories, especially if the reporter is making accusations about that named person."
It's signed:
"Yours for quality journalism,
S. Renee Mitchell
Columnist, The Oregonian"